Bate so close to a major upset
ONE seed fell at the first hurdle and three others were pushed all the way on a brilliant first night of the Ravenscroft Guernsey Open Matchplay.
In whichever direction you looked there seemed a chance of a major upset on the cards and eventually one came to fruition as Steve Mahy defeated one of the visiting professionals tipped to challenge for the title – Darren Leng.
The sun was setting on La Grande Mare by the time that match came to its conclusion on the 19th green, but there was still drama unfolding as darkness descended because last year’s island junior champion, Isaac Bate, was taking two-time Ryder Cup star Paul Way down the last.
The second seed had only just edged ahead of his teenage opponent once again on the 17th hole of their ding-dong match and an excellent long iron second shot from Bate on the par-five 18th gave him a good chance of forcing extra holes, too.
With Way having to play the hole conservatively with his tee shot having leaked to the right slightly, he had to be satisfied with a par and that left Bate with a putt of around 10ft to level the match.
He gave it a good run, but it just slid by the right-hand lip and Way lived to fight another day.
‘He played fantastically well and really should have beaten me, to be honest,’ Way said.
‘I got up early on – 2 up after four – but hit a poor shot at the fifth to give him the hole then he birdied the next and par the next to go up and from there it went up and down all the time.
‘I made a big putt on 11 that was key, but I was still toughing it out at the end.
‘It’s good to get through, but it was just about – he did really well,’ added the man who will now face Jamie Blondel.
More in Wednesday's Guernsey Press.
RESULTS
Ravenscroft Open Matchplay first round
Bobby Eggo beat Garry McFarlane 6 & 5; Chris Guy beat Arthur Evans 2 up; Dave Jeffery beat Danny Bisson 5 & 4; Steve Mahy beat Darren Leng at the 19th; Steve Richardson beat Jeremy Nicolle 1 up; John Dent beat Damian Bent 3/2; Jamie Blondel beat Daniel Griggs 2 up; Paul Way beat Isaac Bate 1 up.
Today’s quarter-finals (from 5.20pm)
Eggo v. Guy; Jeffery v. Mahy; Richardson v. Dent; Blondel v. Way.
Ravenscroft Plate quarter-finals
Alex Ford beat John Roche 4 & 3; Mark Allez beat Richard Hamilton 2 & 1; Russell Torode beat Ben Cormack 4 & 3; Jim Banks beat Adie Coquelin 1 up.
Today’s semi-finals (from 5.44pm)
Ford v. Allez; Torode v. Banks.
