King's win a triumph over the conditions

MICK MARLEY has won so many of the island's golfing 'majors' that he has forgotten how he arrived at them. The same cannot be said about Gary King, who, along with Marley, was the star of the show in the big 36-holer for the Bank of Butterfield and Brymay trophies at L'Ancresse.

King defied the worst conditions for the event in years to shoot rounds of 69 and 70 and be the only player under par at the end of day.

'It wasn't easy,' said the L'Ancresse man who began the day playing off eight and finished it as a six handicap.

'It's the biggest competition I've won,' said King, delighted that it was one trophy that does not have his father's name on it.

King junior played some superb golf early in the morning on the treacherous front nine, which he covered in 37.

'It was a tough start into the breeze,' he said a point emphasised by the end of competition stats that showed the first, second, third and eighth holes to be among the toughest.

Birdies arrived his way at the sixth and 13th, while the only minor blips were double bogeys at the 14th and 12th.

Only one other, George Le Ray, broke 70 in the morning but while he faltered after lunch with a 75, King held it together impressively with a 70 for a three-stroke winning margin from Shane Le Messurier.

The round of the day came from Alan Le Noury who, with the wind dropping in the late afternoon, climbed up to third on the leader board with a 65, one-over gross 71.

Andy Dawson was another enjoying a successful day until the wheels came off with the winning post in sight.

Having registered an opening 71, he was in contention to lift the old silver Brymay trophy until he took a nine at the par four 17th where he went out of bounds and lost a ball.

A 76 resulted and he finished outside the main prizes.

Marley admitted he had left the course half-expecting Bobby Eggo to surpass him for the scratch prize.

After leading Eggo by three at the end of the morning round, he feared the worst when, with the wind finally dropping for the later starters, he learned that his main rival was one under par through 10 holes.

As it happened, Eggo could do no better than return a 72 and the margin was two at the end.

The Butterfield Salver winner said he could hardly remember worse conditions.

'It was bad. For the first round the wind was almost as strong as I've played in.'

In the afternoon, he stood level par after eight holes, but gave himself a few flutters with bogeys at nine, 10 and 11 before another at the 14th.

Three pars followed and to finish he rolled in a long putt for two.

Remarkably, his efforts were rewarded with a handicap increase.

Having started the day at 0.0, the lowest he has ever been, he ended it at 0.1.

'That's the weird thing about the system.'

Marley has been in superb form through the spring and laughed as he put his improvement down to not practising.

'I'd like to get to a plus one, but to be honest I never thought I'd get to scratch.'