Mitchell joins Eggo to win scratch prize

SOUND judges say St Sampson's Secondary Year 11 pupil Jack Mitchell will soon be playing for the full island golf team. His handicap has edged down to scratch and on Saturday he joined forces with the local master - Bobby Eggo - to win the scratch prize at the RBSI Challenge Trophy foursomes event.

Playing off scratch, the new Eggo-Mitchell partnership scored 33 points to beat off the challenge of other talented and low-handicap partnerships, such as Ian Thomas and Steve Mahy, Andy Eggo and Mike Hamon and David Warr and Steve Birkett.

Given that the Royal Bank of Scotland International financially supports the Guernsey Junior Golf Club, it was somewhat appropriate that the GJGC's leading performer should take home one of the major prizes on offer at the prestigious annual event which featured 340 players representing all the island?s five clubs.

'He's a tidy player and swings the club well,' said former island champion David Warr and not so long ago president of the GJGC.

Eggo, who turned to Mitchell when Richard Harrop, his regular open foursomes partner from Jersey, dropped out, is not one for making excitable statements, but had liked what he'd seen from his junior partner.

'He is going to be a good player,' said Eggo, who also observed that with a bit of luck, the pairing could have done much better.

Not that a 33-point haul was a bad effort, particularly as it came in the worst part of the day.

'We just played okay really, with nothing much happening,' said the Channel Islands' lowest handicap.

Mitchell showed his class on several occasions, notably a fine bunker shot which helped rescue a par at the third and an excellent pitch which set up a birdie at the sixth.

Out in 37 shots, the top scratch pairing came home in one fewer, with Mitchell holing out from eight feet for a par at the last.

Two other talented juniors joined their respective father to challenge for the impressive array of prizes.

Emile Thompson went off with Chris at 7.48am when the thick fog threatened the tournament.

With visibility particularly poor, course ranger Peter Mudge was armed with hooter and close to pulling the players off the course. But the fog gradually gave way to rain and, by early afternoon, mood-lifting sunshine.

By then the Thompsons, playing off seven, were away, having carded a very useful 37, including a handy birdie at the last.

Bill and Tom Le Huray also finished stronghly off their 14 handicap, the same number of years the latter has been on this planet.

The youngster's game has come on rapidly in the past 14 months.

He started the 2003 season as a 34 red-tee handicapper. By the start of the 2004 campaign, he was playing off 20 on the whites and now he is down to 15.5.

On Saturday he had a few problems with his three-wood off the tee-boxes, but after a disappointing front nine (13 points), the father-and-son combination were firing down the home straight.

They parred the final five holes, the highlight being a superb 30ft par-saving putt on 16 by Le Huray senior. Having failed to score on three of the first nine holes, the Le Hurays were now scoring consistently and a 21-point back nine put them on the 34-mark at the finish, out of the prizes but with the youngster having accumulated good experience.

The day's top prize went to the La Grande Mare pairing of Tony Scrimshaw and Greg Allison.

Playing off 12 and during the miserable morning session, they collected 42 points with a remarkable inward haul of 24 courtesy of a level-par 35 strokes.

Having bogeyed the 10th, they hit back with five net birdies and a birdie two at the last.