Rowe repeats his Captain's trick

PHIL ROWE has become the first L'Ancresse player in recent history to successfully defend the Captains' Prize title and he did so with a miraculous round of 41 Stableford points. Almost a year to the day and with the same club captain in office, Rowe was delighted to once again receive the generous winner's prize as donated by captain Dick Young.

In 2002 he scored 42 points off a 16 handicap. A year on he came within one point of that haul off a 14.

But it was close.

Daryl Tapp (6) holed out on the greens from all angles and lengths to also total 41, but scoring 22 as opposed to Rowe's 23 on the back nine meant the former Vale Rec player lost out on countback.

Winning and losing can often come down to one hole and this was the case for Tapp.

Playing well and with confidence having made two gross and three net birdies in the previous eight holes, Tapp came to the last requiring only a par at the short par three to win.

The easiest hole on the course is never straightforward when you are trying to protect a good score, but with the pin at the back of the green and only a short iron needed Tapp's playing partners would have banked on him collecting the couple of points required.

Sadly, a bogey four and only a single point was the end result, which in turn handed Rowe victory by the narrowest of margins.

Rowe, too, made a four at the last, but that came after the defending champion had got off to the perfect start with a birdie and four points at the very first hole.

Consistent scoring thereafter kept Rowe in the hunt for victory and a run of 15 points over five holes that started from the 13th tee and concluded with back-to-back birdies at the 16th and 17th, was the finale required to set-up overall victory.

Rowe went on to compliment captain Dick Young's generosity by donating his winning sweep money to charity.

Other prize winners included Daniel Bisson (1) who finished with a hat-trickof threes on his way to 38 and a converted 69 gross to collect the scratch prize.

THE Royal's Cromlech Cup sponsored by Ernst and Young produced some remarkable scores, including three players who fired gross rounds in the 60s.

Bobby Eggo (+2 handicap) was a familiar face with a 69, but Nigel Le Noury (2) and eventual winner Laurence Graham (4) were in a class of their own as they shot rounds of 66 and 65 gross respectively.

Net scores of 62 and 63 are often associated with players with mid to high handicaps, but on this occasion category one players Graham and Le Noury both had the prospect of equalling the course record of 64 within their sights.

Le Noury got closest with his round of 65 and forfeited the best scratch prize to collect second place overall and a handicap reduction to one.

On a day when scoring under par was common place for over 10 per cent of a 160-strong field, Le Noury kicked off with two birdies in the opening three holes.

But given his final total, rather surprisingly her hit a run of three fives starting at the par four fourth hole.

The big man's putting touch reigned supreme over the back nine where after dropping a further shot at the 11th hole, a miraculous run of six consecutive birdies found their way onto the card.

A par at the last sealed a back nine of just 30 strokes.

Still, a converted net 63 was not enough for outright victory with Graham producing his own fabulous round of golf.

After a front nine which produced eight pars punctuated by a birdie at the long fourth, Graham also dropped a single stroke at the tricky 11th before going on to birdie four out of the next six holes.

A round of 66 was a fabulous achievement and a converted and winning net 62 was Graham's deserved reward.

Other notable rounds came included that of young Sean Mills as he collected yet another best junior prize with his net 66.

In a season where he has already reduced his handicap by no less that eight shots and he now enjoys the prospect of playing off single figures for the first time.

TO CAP a week of some astonishing feats and scores, St Pierre Park's Paul Bourgaize put the icing on the cake.

The alleged 24 handicapper commenced his June medal round with birdie, par, par, birdie and went on to make light work of the opening nine holes with a quite outstanding level par gross 27.

Even the Eggos and Marleys of local golf would be pleased with such an opening account around the tough par three course.

On the inward half however Bourgaize came down to earth a little with a gross 35, but a total of 62 converted to a par-defying 16-under net 38 comfortably won him the top prize.

Marcus Haysom (19) never had a chance of winning as his net 46 was only good enough for runners-up spot on this occasion and Rob Laine (8) shot the day's lowest scratch score with a 57 gross which included four birdies, three of those twos coming back to back.