Mantelpiece remains full

SUE WELLFAIR was relentless in her precision as she secured a second consecutive Deutsche Bank Island Women's Championship title. The defending champion was given a tough battle by Di Hudson in Friday's 36-hole final at a picturesque L'Ancresse, but her consistency deservedly ensured that the impressive trophy will spend another 12 months on Wellfair's mantelpiece.

'I enjoyed it this week, more than last year. It was a bit nerve-racking last year,' said the delighted winner.

'Di is a canny player and never gives up, so you can never write her off. Half the battle is to keep your head and concentrate.'

At lunch, Wellfair held a slender one-hole advantage after a morning round which had taken just two-and-three-quarter hours to complete.

'When you are not looking for balls, it goes a lot quicker,' Wellfair said, emphasising the excellent positional play of both golfers on the showpiece occasion.

Hudson soon levelled as a five was good enough to win the second hole in the afternoon but her opponent hit back immediately with a terrific tee shot on the par three third to set up a par and retake the lead, which she would not relinquish again.

The next four holes were halved before they came to the eighth - the 26th of the final - which proved to be decisive.

After two pinpoint drives, both players struck glorious iron shots to leave themselves with birdie putts.

As happens so often in matchplay, Wellfair was first to go and she holed her 15-footer to put the pressure on Hudson.

Her 12ft effort just slid by on the low side of the cup and the gap was now two holes.

'The eighth has been my favourite hole all week - it was the third time I had birdied it. It was just at the right time today. It made a difference to the match - a very useful three,' Wellfair said.

One hole later it was three as Hudson missed a short putt for a five and her chances of adding a second island title to her CV were beginning to fade.

She showed tremendous fighting spirit, however, to win the 11th with a five after Wellfair had played her one poor shot of the afternoon, topping her second after a decent drive.

However, luck was not with Hudson on the uphill par three 12th.

Although her tee shot was not the best, she was hugely unfortunate to have her ball bounce into a low gorse bush.

'Because of where I had to stand, I could not see the ball when I played it,' said Hudson of what faced her for her second shot.

'If I had dropped it out, I would have still been playing three to the green so I thought I might as well try to play it as let it lie because it might have miraculously come out and gone onto the green. At that stage, I thought it was worth a go.'

The ball, though, just popped out a few yards and Wellfair, who had played conservatively to the left from the tee, won the hole with a four.

The same score on the next was enough to give her a four up lead with five to play.

A delightful deft chip from the champion helped earn a half on the long 14th to go dormy and Hudson could not win 15 to keep the game alive.

However, the beaten finalist was pleased with her week's work and in her brief speech at the presentation she was quick to thank the surgeon who had enabled her to be there.

'I was absolutely delighted to get to the final. It was great to be fit enough just to play because this time last year I was on crutches and I was unsure whether I would play again, let alone get this far,' Hudson said.

'We had a ding-dong battle really, but Sue's putting was very secure today and she was mostly up throughout.'

In the bronze division final, Wilma Nicolle brought an excellent week to a close with a 6 and 5 victory over Beki Le Cheminant.

The latter, who is still only 13, impressed everyone throughout the competition but Nicolle was on fire in the morning round to take a six up lead into lunch.

'I was very pleased with how it went. I played exceptionally well all week,' said the bronze champion.

'Beki played well also and she will be around for a long time to come.'