Dream win for Falla while it’s title No. 4 for Blondel
THE first thing teenager James Falla would have done after opening his eyes yesterday is check that the UV Trophy was indeed in his possession.
‘I will wake up tomorrow wondering if it was a dream,’ said the smiling junior after Sunday’s presentation for the annual 72-hole inter-club competition in which he came out on top of the handicap standings with an excellent 279 nett aggregate.
Playing off 18, Falla opened with back-to-back 66s to take the outright lead at the half-way stage and then consolidated his position with rounds of 76 and 71 over the weekend.
He revealed afterwards that he had felt in good form heading into the event and that showed in his play.
‘On the second day I was actually five under my handicap going onto the back nine,’ Falla said.
‘I then had two [gross] triples on 11 and 12, so was back to one under, but I concentrated well to get it back to four under by the end of the round.
‘Today [Sunday] whenever I had a putt to keep at even I sunk it – all week crucial putts just kept going in.’
As a result of his performance, Falla has dropped from 18 to 14, meaning he has surpassed his goal of getting down to 15 this season.
Only two players finished under par in the handicap standings, but the other did not figure in the prizes for the UV as he had already picked up the Investec Trophy.
It was the fourth time Jamie Blondel had won the scratch ‘major’ and this time he did so by six shots from his cousin Danny, with the rest of the field a further eight shots back.
The victor had opened with a level-par 70, following it with a one-under 69 and another 70 before concluding with a 74 for a 283 gross aggregate.
‘You just try to have good, consecutive rounds and be in there with a chance at the end. You are always going to drop shots over 72 holes – we are amateurs after all – but my thought at the start of the week was do not three putt and no double bogeys,’ said Blondel, who only carded one double all week, which came at the seventh on the final day when he pitched on the green but bounded through the back.
More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.
