Champion Blondel will take a lot of stopping
THE champion is not about to give up his crown easily, that much is obvious.
Danny Blondel overcame a particularly tough first obstacle yesterday as he began the defence of his Island Championship title with an impressive 3 & 1 win over CJ Elmy in a match worthy of a much later round, while his quarter of the draw opened up elsewhere as the other seed in the bracket, Jeremy Nicolle, was on the wrong end of an upset.
Ben Rolph accounted for the Guernsey player with a long birdie putt on the final green after Nicolle had fought his way back to all square having been four down early on.
There was no such scare for Blondel, although Elmy certainly played his part in an entertaining match.
Renowned for his wonderful ball striking, on this occasion it was Blondel’s short game that caught the eye, especially around the turn.
His chips on the both the ninth and 10th were sublime, albeit in totally different ways as the first from 20 yards was floated high and landed softly right next to the cup while the next was delicately played, bunker-shot fashion, out of a buried lie in fluffy rough just a few feet from the hole having short-sided himself.
Those shots helped the champion open up a three-hole lead over Elmy, but the youngster had reduced the gap to two by the 14th and then made a magnificent eagle down the par five thanks to a booming drive followed by fairway wood to 16ft and a perfect putt.
Blondel is too experienced to be fazed by such events, though, and he struck back immediately with a superb birdie on the 15th.
Elmy attempted to drive the 16th and ended up in thick stuff to the left of the green before scrambling for a half.
He was not so fortunate up the 17th, though, as, going for broke, his drive hooked left once more and he lost the ball to end his hopes.
Blondel will now play George Melhuish tomorrow.
The other outstanding match of the evening saw Danny Bisson eventually edge out Dave Jeffery with a birdie on the first extra hole after the two were involved in a real tussle over the regulation 18, which included the La Grande Mare man holing a 30-plus foot birdie putt on the 17th to draw level.
Bisson will face Sam Le Huray in the next round while other winners on the night were Wayne Harwood, Nigel Vaudin and Mark Allez.
RESULTS
First round, top half
D. Blondel beat CJ Elmy 3 & 1; G. Melhuish beat R. Bateman 3 & 1; W. Harwood beat W. Anees 3 & 2; B. Rolph beat J. Nicolle 1 up; N. Vaudin beat R. Le Marquand 4 & 3; M. Allez beat D. Bent 3 & 2; S. Le Huray beat S. Bonner 6 & 5; D. Bisson beat D. Jeffery on the 19th.
Today’s first round matches (starting from 4.15pm)
D. Griggs v. M. Bertrand; M. Marley v. P. Le Page; A. Evans v. M. Creber; W. Moore v. T. Le Huray; J. Blondel v. L. Sheppard; E. Thompson v. N. Tanguy; D. Robinson v. S. Mills; D. Nicolle v. R. Eggo.
