Eggo overcomes bad start to card second round 65

BOBBY EGGO produced one of the more startling rounds of his career in winning the Bank of Butterfield Trophy for a sixth straight year at L'Ancresse. His five-under 65 was within a centimetre or so of a 64 and came after he walked off the second three over.

Eighty-four players contested the 36-hole event, the scratch section of which Eggo has almost come to regard as his own property.

In its days as the Piccadilly Trophy, the island number one was a multiple winner, but victory was far from his mind after his poor start this time.

'I single-putted the first for a five after getting in trouble off the tee and then lost a ball on the second and single-putted it for a six.'

Although he was to birdie the third, a bogey five at the fourth brought him back to three over, at which point he went on a remarkable run kick-started by a birdie at five and pitching in for an eagle three at the sixth.

Eggo said he managed to stay calm after the poor start.

'I was quite relaxed but after going three-three at five and six a decent score was back on.'

And so it was.

He parred the next five holes before hitting a two-iron to 10ft at the 12th and holed the putt for birdie.

Another birdie followed at the 13th and at the long 14th a good pitch to 6ft set up another.

At 15, the two-iron was out of the bag again and it left the ball no more than eight feet from the flag.

The putt dropped and when he pitched to four feet and holed out at the 16th the trophy-holder had birdied five holes on the bounce.

Two pars followed to finish but at the last his birdie effort from 20ft touched the hole and stopped just past for a tap-in.

The 65 was one of four sub-70 rounds on the day, the next best belonging to Nigel Vaudin.

His 66 in the morning had given him a three-shot lead on Steve Mahy (69) in the scratch standings and was six better off than Eggo, who had opened with a two-over 72.

Vaudin, a two-time former island champion, was delighted with his pre-lunch effort but disappointed with the 79 that followed which left him fifth overall.

'I just lost it in the afternoon,' said Vaudin.

'My short game's still a bit rusty and I made a couple of double-bogeys from nowhere.

'In the morning round I holed a couple of good putts but just didn't in the afternoon.'

Vaudin said his rustiness is due to not playing at all over the winter and to shoot a 66 has given him a big lift a week short of the island championships.

'I was over the moon with the 66. I played really solid golf and hit a lot of greens in regulation,' added a player whose best efforts in 2005 was a 68 and a couple of 69s.

Vaudin has two main targets for the season.

'I'd obviously like to do well in the island championships and it would be nice to get down to scratch and stay there for a while.'

The Brymay Cup off handicap went to island senior Pat McKeary, who shot a 137 and won on countback from Keith Austin.

Both men shot 70 in the morning and followed it up with 67s, but McKeary's inward nine of the second round proved superior.