Sixteen-year-olds land Noel Trophy

SEAN MILLS and Stuart Hamon, combined age 32, defied their inexperience to sweep all before them and win this year's Noel Shield foursomes matchplay. They had already come through four rounds before beating the L'Ancresse duo of Paul Tostevin and Kerry Moon in an all too one-sided final.

In the semi-finals the youngsters beat the crack pairing of Andy Eggo and Mick Hamon, the latter being Stuart's father.

In that match, the juniors found themselves four-up in quick time.

But they needed that lead as Eggo and Hamon responded by covering the last 11 holes in four-under par gross.

The boys hung on just, to claim a well-fought and deserved one-up victory.

In the final, Mills and Hamon had to give one shot to Tostevin and Moon.

'Kerry did not play his best,' said young Hamon afterwards.

'He found the bushes on the sixth, seventh and eighth. We think the pressure got to him,' he added.

Moon's struggle to find top form over the opening nine holes meant the juniors were three up at the turn.

Come the 11th green, Tostevin rolled in a putt the best part of 20ft giving him and Moon hope of getting back into the match.

But Hamon duly rolled in one of similar length for the half to leave their opponents up against the ropes.

By the 13h, Moon and Tostevin were all but out at five down and Mills and Hamon were only one-over par gross at this stage, belying their individual six-handicap status.

Moon and Tostevin delayed the celebrations for another couple of holes when an excellent up and down by the juniors at the fifteenth sealed their emphatic victory and the Noel Shield was theirs to share over the next twelve months.

'Millsy was playing really steady and we were both driving the ball pretty well,' said Hamon.

n?THERE was no matching an outstanding net score of 61 carded by Chris Sherwell in the Royal Guernsey's Centenary Trophy.

The 16-handicapper started par, par, birdie to set the foundations for a gross 77 had he held on to play the final two holes in par, as he had done for 10 of the previous holes, the winner would have broken the magical net-60 barrier.

Also scoring in the low sixties were Bill Rushman (12 handicap) and Andy Hearse (17) who finished second and third respectively with 63s.

Youngster Emile Thompson headed a strong junior challenge and took the boys' prize with a round of 69 gross.

As with the winner, Thompson's hard work on the range under the teaching of PGA qualified professional Chris Douglas is paying dividends and Thompson could turn out to be a Douglas prodigy if he continues to fire rounds such as this one.

Other juniors to score low gross rounds on the day were Jack Mitchell with a level-par 70 and Stuart Hamon with a 73, net 68 to secure his category one status.

After a dip in form mid-season, Laurence Graham seems to be regaining some of the touch that has seen him challenge for an island place and with four birdies shot the day's lowest gross round of 68.

Graham on recent form has repaired any damage caused to his handicap earlier this season and is getting ever closer to two handicap status.

*THE Gosselin Cup honours board was one of the few on view in the L'Ancresse Golf Clubhouse without the name of Andy Eggo.

But the club champion put that right by beating Andy Langlois 6 and 5 in this year's singles matchplay final.