Champion Nicolle returns to the Elite Foursomes final
THE holder remains on course to defend the title.
Jeremy Nicolle might have changed playing partners since he won the inaugural Guernsey Press Elite Men’s Foursomes Championship with Jake Marshall a year ago, but he and CJ Elmy are proving to be a formidable combination in the second edition, too, and yesterday they knocked out the top seeds Danny Bisson and Tom Pattimore in one of two nip-and-tuck semi-finals at a sunny but breezy L’Ancresse.
While that first match went the distance, a full 18 holes was not enough to separate the other semi-finalists and it required an extra hole for Tom Le Huray and Wayne Moore to see off Dave Jeffery and Ollie Chedhomme in a thriller.
A good-sized evening crowd was able to see the exciting culmination of both matches with a couple of holes having opened up between them, and it was Nicolle and Elmy who were the first to progress.
It was a close throughout, although Bisson and Pattimore were the first to open up a significant lead as they reached the turn 2 up having won both the eighth and ninth.
In true match-play fashion, the turning point came on the 11th where the L’Ancresse duo were just short of the green in two while Elmy and Nicolle were in an awkward spot in the rough, pin high to the right of the green.
Bisson’s approach putt from the fairway rolled 6ft past the hole while Elmy’s chip ran 10ft past, but after Nicolle crucially sank his par putt, Pattimore’s shaved the hole and the deficit was halved against the odds.
The match was back to all-square when Nicolle and Elmy made an excellent up-and-down at the 13th after the latter drove to pin-high off the right and they edged ahead with another birdie on the par-five 14th where they were on the green in two.
A wayward approach from Pattimore to the 15th led a concession before their opponents had to putt, but they quickly got that hole back when Nicolle found a fairway bunker off the tee at 16 and the gap was back to just one.
That is how it remained, though, as both pairings finished par-par with Nicolle nervelessly knocking in a knee-trembler on the last.
Just as that semi-final ended, Moore was hitting a superb approach into 6ft at the 16th which took him and Le Huray back to all-square.
The response from their opponents was very impressive as Chedhomme hit a big drive up the hill and into the wind at 17 before holing a 22ft birdie putt to go 1 up heading to the last.
Jeffery found the back left fringe off the tee at 18, but the reply from Le Huray was outstanding as he landed a gap wedge at the front of the green and the ball ran up to within 3ft of the flag.
That birdie sent the match down the 19th and it was Moore and Le Huray who prevailed with a par with Jeffery unable to reach the green after Chedhomme’s tee shot finished in thick, lush rough up on the hill.
Guernsey Press Elite Men’s Foursomes Championship semi-finals
Elmy/Nicolle beat Bisson/Pattimore 1 up;
Le Huray/Moore beat Jeffery/Chedhomme at the 19th.
Final is on Friday, 4.45pm
