King reigns among the top veterans

MICK KING won his second seniors golf championship with a 3 and 2 success over Patrick McKeary in yesterday's final at L'Ancresse. In difficult conditions, the L'Ancresse man took charge on the front nine where the main difference was that his putts dropped while McKeary's kept shaving the hole.

The Royal Guernsey captain battled back bravely from four down to be only two adrift as the pair stood on the 15th teebox with a near gale in their faces.

King hit a decent drive down the right, albeit just off the fairway, while McKeary found trouble down the left and was struggling for his bogey when his opponent rolled in a fine 8ft putt for a winning par to go dormy.

King played the 16th even better.

Given a free drop near one of the right-side fairway bunkers, King, seemingly not convinced by his new lie, took a long time over the ball. But the end product was a gem.

The iron into the teeth of the wind settled just 5ft from the hole and when McKeary's long birdie putt sailed well past, he offered his hand to congratulate King.

The two had reached the final in contrasting style.

In Saturday's semi-finals, King eased past Peter Crosland 7 and 5, while McKeary won on the 18th against Laurence Graham, who had headed the 36 holes strokeplay qualification.

* Emile Thompson beat Nigel Vaudin 4 and 3 to win the Royal Guernsey's Swinburne Cup matchplay on Saturday.

In receipt of two shots from the former island champion, Thompson found himself three up after six despite being three over. Conditions were particularly inhospitable and, with the youngster holding crucial putts on seven and eight, he went on to win the prestigious trophy with something to spare.