Giles nearly ruins her comeback

CLAIRE GILES and Alan Winstanley took the major prizes on offer at the Tony Jacklin Open at St Pierre Park. But even so, Giles, a Royal Guernsey Ladies' Section member, was not totally happy with her opening round of 60.

'With a 55 leading after the Saturday, I knew if I could go out and shoot 50 in the second round, I had a chance.'

And that is exactly what she did.

After signing for a four-under-par 36-hole total of 110, she said: 'I could not believe that I nearly lost it with a seven at the final hole, but I was thrilled to find out I'd done enough.'

The unfortunate runner-up was Di Gaudion (27 handicap), who, after leading on the first day, matched her opening two-under-par net 55 on day two.

But by virtue of countback, Gaudion was pushed into second place.

Winstanley, a modest 20-handicapper, got his tournament off to a solid start with two straight pars.

Wth a further four more threes coming on his opening circuit, he was very much up and running and eventually carded a first-round net 51, albeit four shots off the pace.

He started the second day's play in fourth place and, fortunately for him, the top three players overnight faltered during the second 18 holes.

That meant Winstanley's net 52 for a 103 total was good enough to claim St Pierre Park's prestigious title.

Martin Page (26 handicap) finished second on 105, two shots adrift.

Further back and completing the top five on a 107 total were Peter Priaulx (16), Richard Endean (21) and Tom Vaughan (12), the last-named topping the leaderboard on the second day with a net 48.

In the scratch standings and after being left on the sidelines for the St Pierre Park team of late, Geoff Davies let his golf do the talking.

With a two-round total of 125, Davies collected the tournament's best-scratch honours.

At L'Ancresse, Huw Richards landed the Property Shop-sponsored Colonel Randall Cup after a net 64.

Overall scoring was the lowest L'Ancresse Golf Club has seen this season.

Off his 12 handicap, and having covered the front nine in a five-over-par 40, Richards was on course to be a couple under par for his round.

But with so many players shooting in the high 60s, a couple under at the end of the round would be enough only to get into the top dozen.

Something special was required and with a birdie at the penultimate hole, Richards had dropped only one shot over the back nine for an 18-hole gross 76, net 64, the best of more than 30 scores of par or better on the day.

And with the course set up for championship week and in near-perfect scoring condition, Jason Savident found the greens to his liking, sinking several long putts during his level-par gross round of 70.

With a net 65, Savident finished runner-up to Richards but was denied the first scratch prize by Danny Bisson who was safely in the clubhouse with a gross 69.

Junior prize-winner Jack Mitchell had an up-and-down round in which he covered three of the holes in just six shots.

The upbeat part of it was a three wood and holed-out gap wedge at the 13th for an eagle two, which went nicely with the birdie twos he claimed at the short seventh and 18th holes.

Other prize-winners included a resurgent Jeremy Martel, who finished third, and three former club captains in Peter Mudge, Roger Chauvel and Mick King.

La Grande Mare Ladies' section battled it out for the AWS Trophy and it was Angela Brook with a four-under-par 61 who laid claim to the silverware.

After a solid hat-trick of fours to start her round, Brook followed it up with two pars at the short fifth and sixth holes.

Out in 43, Brook still had 16 shots of her 27 handicap intact and in using 13 of these over the back nine, her three-under-par total was two shots clear of the chasing pack.

Mandy Hardman (18 handicap) and Alison Tully (25) fought it out for the runner-up spot, with both women carding a net 63.

On countback, Tully laid claim to second spot, while Hardman's consolation came via the nearest-the-pin prize.