Mahy has to bow to Henley

STEVE MAHY'S outstanding run in the Hampshire County Championships came to an end at the final hurdle yesterday. Ryan Henley proved just too good for the island star at L'Ancresse as the man from the Stoneham club won his second county title in three years.

But for Mahy to have even made the final was a great fillip for the sport locally, especially after he had started his campaign with an opening qualifying round of 77.

'If you had told me I would be in the final at Friday lunchtime, I would have said you were mad,' he said.

Henley was the main threat throughout the weekend once he had posted an opening 65 on Friday morning and he carried that imperious form throughout the matchplay stages.

He overcame L'Ancresse's other semi-finalist, Danny Blondel, 4 and 3 yesterday morning having played the 15 holes in four under par before taking on Mahy, who had a quick turnaround having been taken the full 18 by Toby Burden.

Henley was straight into his stride once more, winning the first two holes of the final before Mahy hit back by taking the fourth with a four.

The gap was back to two after the next where the Sarnian found the right rough with his drive but a delightful chip to the sixth halved the deficit once more.

It took an excellent birdie three for Henley to win the eighth and therefore be two up at the turn and bogeys for Mahy at 10 and 11 meant the writing was on the wall for the home boy.

On the first of the back nine holes, the island player was just through the green in two and faced a tricky third chipping onto the down slope.

Desperate not to overhit it, he left the ball on the fringe and although he made a great attempt with his putt, it remained above ground.

At the next green, he had judged his first putt really well for pace from fully 60ft, but his next hit the hole and refused to drop.

The match came to its conclusion on the long 14th where Henley hit a beauty of a second just through the back of the green with a fairway wood.

Mahy had been unfortunate that his drive had somehow finished on a down slope which left him with an awkward stance for his second. He could make only a six and Henley's par won him the title 5 and 4.

'I played well in the first round of qualifying and then was solid throughout the matches,' said the champion, who added that it was a definite advantage having had experience of two previous finals.

'I appreciate that Steve had a fair bit of support out there, but I stuck to my own game and experience does count for a lot.'

Mahy described Henley as the best amateur he has seen playing in Guernsey for a long time.

'He is a fantastic player and I would have had to have been right on my game to give him a good game,' he said.

'I did not get off to the best start and from then I was always playing catch up.

'Two down at the turn was not too bad, but missing a short putt like that on 11 takes the wind out of you.

'On balance, I would have had to have been excellent to beat Ryan and I guess I just ran out of steam, but I surprised a lot of people this weekend, even myself, and I will take the positives from it.'

n Jack Mitchell's CI matchplay showdown with Richard Ramskill has been pushed back a month to 15 July due to the Jersey champion's qualification for the British Amateur Championships.

Meanwhile, Jeff Brehaut, the American professional whose ancestors date back to Guernsey 200 years ago, has qualified for this week's US Open Championships.