Chedhomme beats champion Blondel at L'Ancresse

Junior Ollie Chedhomme has prevented Danny Blondel from reaching a sixth final in a row after overcoming the four-time winner 3 & 1 last night in the second round at a dull, windy and cold L’Ancresse.

The unseasonable weather, though, did not match the 17-year-old’s mood as he was left with wide smile that told the whole story of what he had achieved by beating the top seed in what was always likely to be the big match of the last 16.

Despite all he has achieved in his young career to date, Chedhomme would not have expected to have been 4 up through eight holes against a player of Blondel’s calibre.

He was, though, and he halved the ninth to ensure that advantage was maintained at the turn.

However, the teenager would have known to expect a response from the champion and it came as he won back-to-back holes at 10 and 11 to quickly halve his deficit.

It looked for all money as if Blondel would have a good chance to reduce his arrears even further when his tee shot at the 12th, which was playing particularly difficult into the biting wind, landed on the front edge of the green.

All it needed was to bounce forward by an inch or two and it would have left him a good look at birdie, but on pitching it initially dug in before cruelly inching backwards and rolling down the slope to several yards short of the putting surface.

Chedhomme’s reply finished on the hill just off the right of the green, so it came down to a short-game duel and the youngster showed great composure in making his up-and-down for an excellent par, which Blondel failed to match – what had very briefly looked like becoming just a one hole lead was back to three.

The pair halved the 13th but Blondel then narrowed the gap to two once more on the long 14th, which he played nicely in par, coming mightily close to holing his birdie putt, whereas Chedhomme was in the left-hand rough off the tee and his club turned over as he played his second, the result seeing the ball bounce into a gorse bush from where he could only make six.

The 15th was to prove decisive, though.

Both hit fine drives into the wind, but Chedhomme did not quite get the draw he was looking for with his second, leaving it just short and right.

Blondel’s approach, on the other hand, was magnificent, finishing pin high little more than 6ft from the hole.

It was, though, on the side slope and after his opponent made yet another sublime up-and-down to save par and put that much more pressure on the putt, Blondel missed his putt on the low side and his big chance had gone.

Although he came within a whisker of holing his chip from the hollow to the side of the 16th green for a three, the champion just could not make any further inroads and when Chedhomme lagged his approach putt on 17 up to hole-side, Blondel conceded to his young foe.

In the quarter-finals, Chedhomme will face another previous champion in Andy Eggo, who was in control of his second-round match with Dave Jeffery from an early stage and finished it in great style by holing his second shot at the 13th from around 90 yards for an eagle two.

Another junior has also made it through to the last eight in the top half of the draw as Rory McKenna battled through an extremely tight encounter with Daniel Griggs, winning at the first extra hole.

Arthur Evans, who overcame an early deficit to knock out Chris Hurley, is next up for McKenna.

The best second-round match in the bottom half of the draw went the distance and saw Danny Bisson edged out CJ Elmy 1 up.

Elmy had been a couple of holes ahead through 13, but Bisson fought back to be level by the time they reached the 17th.

Playing uphill into the elements, Elmy’s approach shot stalled in the wind and finished short of the green.

Bisson learnt from seeing the flight of his opponent’s ball and took plenty of club to reach the putting surface.

He went on to make his par, which was good enough to take the lead.

With the honour, Bisson safely found the 18th green with his tee shot, but Elmy stuck his reply closer to set up a grandstand finish.

However, his birdie putt stayed above ground and Bisson knocked in his knee-trembler for a par to progress.

He will now face club-mate Jamie Blondel who, like Eggo earlier, finished his match against Mick Marley in style, chipping in for birdie at the 15th.

At the bottom of the draw, Jason Savident followed up his shock victory over Bobby Eggo on Tuesday by coming from 2 down to Wayne Harwood at the turn to win at the 17th where he stiffed a nine-iron to wrap up the game in terrific fashion.

He will now meet Tom Le Huray, who has only played 20 holes to reach the quarter-finals.

Yesterday, with Le Huray 3 up through the first six holes, his opponent Andrew Boyd conceded the match as he was feeling unwell.

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Second round results

O Chedhomme beat D Blondel 3 & 1; A Eggo beat D Jeffery 7 & 5; R McKenna beat D Griggs at the 19th; A Evans beat C Hurley 2 & 1; J Blondel beat M Marley 4 & 3; D Bisson beat CJ Elmy 1 up; T Le Huray beat A Boyd by concession; J Savident beat W Harwood 2 & 1.

Thursday's quarter-finals (from 4.42pm)

T Le Huray v J Savident, J Blondel v D Bisson, R McKenna v A Evans, O Chedhomme v A Eggo.