Blondel's late half-point completes great escape
Two late-evening rounds in the middle of last week saw L'Ancresse Golf Club take on the Royal Ladies in the annual Pembroke Cup, a piece of silverware on which L'Ancresse captain Tim Mileham was keen to get his hands.
Two late-evening rounds in the middle of last week saw L'Ancresse Golf Club take on the Royal Ladies in the annual Pembroke Cup, a piece of silverware on which L'Ancresse captain Tim Mileham was keen to get his hands. Come the end of a battling two days, he was delighted to receive it, albeit by the narrowest of margins.
In the opening evening's foursomes, the men of L'Ancresse took control with three wins out of four but the hardest-fought round came in the match between Marc Collas and Jason Savident taking on Jenny Kimber and silver-team debutante Jackie Parnwell.
Having played beautiful golf and rarely losing sight of a fairway, Kimber and Parnwell had a well-deserved four-up lead with only five holes to play.
Unfortunately for the ladies, at the 14th hole Kimber missed a short putt to seal victory and in turning to head home and playing into the keen wind, Kimber knew that she and Parnwell would be made to work for their likely win.
At dormy four down, Collas and Savident suddenly woke up and played their best golf all round.
With a par at the last, they had gained the L'Ancresse side what would later prove to be a very valuable half-point.
The following day's singles was always going to be tough for the L'Ancresse men as in giving the usual shot difference, the ladies' new-look side also had four courtesy shots apiece to utilise in an attempt to pull off a resounding recovery.
Team captain Julie Creed led from the front with a solid win against the big-hitting Danny Bisson, her point adding to the emphatic 6-and-5 win by Linda Robertshaw over Collas.
Having been five up through 11 holes against Savident, Liz Darling held on to win at the seventeenth and suddenly the overall scores were tied.
A concerned L'Ancresse captain looked down at the remaining matches to see from where the required three points for victory could come.
Tim Carter was in control against Carol Wood but his win would be cancelled out by Elaine Ward's 5 and 4 victory over James Domaille.
In the top match, Andy Eggo and Jan Chamberlain enjoyed a thrilling matchplay game but Eggo would take the edge, winning at the last hole.
Only the two Blondels, Danny and Jamie, remained on the course for L'Ancresse.
Danny Blondel and Di Hudson agreed to a sporting half at the last, meaning that if Joan Bichard could take advantage of her three-up-with-three-to-play lead over Jamie Blondel, the cup would be retained by the Royal Ladies.
However, last year's island championship finalist Blondel enjoyed the pressure, knowing that winning the final three holes for the share of a point would earn the L'Ancresse side a narrow victory.
To the joy of Mileham and heartache for the Royal Ladies, Blondel won the 16th and 17th holes and a par at the last was good enough for three wins on the bounce and the magic half-point required for a thrilling L'Ancresse win.
The ladies took consolation in winning the singles five matches to three.
