Moving out of the shadows

LIVING in the sporting shadow of a parent or older sibling is seldom easy. It is a pressure Andy Eggo knows only too well.

But, at the age of 32 and with a handicap of one, the six-times L'Ancresse Golf Club champion is coming out of the shade cast by the island's best post-war player, plus-three handicap, former Walker Cup player and Andy's brother, Bobby.

As a new regular competition season eases in at L'Ancresse, Andy is relaxed about the challenges ahead. Prime target is to win that elusive first island title. Target two is to retain the club strokeplay title and anything else is a bonus.

'Baby Egg' as he is affectionately called by golfing colleagues, opened the season last Saturday with a no-more-than-average performance in the club curtain-raiser - the Louie Goubert Cup against par.

Three down to the course at the turn, Andy began to find his feet on the back nine and eventually tied for 26th place after coming home in one under. But it's early days.

'I really don't play seriously until April. Once the clocks go forward, I will start practising more,' he said back in the comfort of the 19th.

Before the spring is out, the island championship will have come and gone and Andy is keen to emulate his brother and qualify to take on the Jersey champion.

'I would like to win the island championship for sure - I've been close twice before.'

That was in 2000 when he lost in the final to Nigel Vaudin and in 2002 when this time Mick Marley won over 36 holes.

He looked back at those defeats and said it was all part of the learning experience.

'Once you've experienced losing, you get to realise what is needed to win it.'

Eggo has also got the monkey off his back of beating brother Bobby.

In his early days as an island player, there was no doubt Andy appeared intimidated by his brother's excellence.

A decade on he's matured to the extent that playing big brother is no more a concern than taking on any of the other established stars.

'The turning point was when I beat him in the island quarter-finals. I felt it was big weight off my shoulders. I've gone on to beat him a couple of times since.'

With his 33rd birthday only days away, Andy maintained he was an improving player, although in 2003 he failed to retain the scratch status he reached at the end of the previous summer.

'I feel better about my game,' he said, having achieved another ambition in 2003.

'Last year I was ranked two in the island and that was my real goal because realistically Bob's not going to lose his top spot for a long while yet.'

And as 'Baby Egg' improves as a player, so does his club. L'Ancresse are no longer the whipping boys of the Channel Islands League and having won the four-club event in 2002, they have earned the respect of the big three - La Moye and the two Royals.

With more and more quality players joining L'Ancresse - former CI junior champion Luke Blondel is the latest - the club has increasing depth.

'Our actual first-team average handicap has come down from six or seven to three and we're as strong as the Royal on basic handicap.'

He pointed out, too, that while the Royal squad was not getting any younger, L'Ancresse had a comparatively youthful team.

This year's Alexander Forbes-sponsored CI League is scheduled for Eggo's home course during the first weekend of July.

Other major highlights of the Guernsey campaign include RBSI Royal Guernsey Open Foursomes on 1 May, the L'Ancresse Open on 7 August and the Challenge Trophy match against Jersey on 11-12 September.

By then the L'Ancresse club season will be over for another year - ridiculously early, some of their top players maintain - and you can be safe to assume that the name of Andy Eggo will appear on a few of the many trophies to be contested over the next six months.

*Jason Savident's weekly golf

column resumes next month.