WATCH: Seven up for Mapley as she is crowned champion again
Six years after her last title triumph, Kay Mapley brought up a magnificent seventh on Sunday.
Experience counted for a lot against first-time finalist Mary Bate at L’Ancresse in a very close 36-hole Women’s Island Championship showpiece match that went the distance came down to fine margins, with Mapley eventually prevailing 2 up.
As the scoreline suggests, though, there was little in it between the two form players of the week as the champion testified.
‘This was one of the toughest,’ said Mapley of her latest title.
‘This was really hard work today. Mary is a super opponent and plays some beautiful golf, but the conditions today were so different to anything we’ve had earlier in the week where the winds been in the east and the course has been dry and hard and running. Today you were really having to stop and think and reassess your game and your shots to try and get any results and get onto the greens.
‘So it was very satisfying to be able to finish it off.’
Mapley had reached the final by overcoming three other previous winners in the form of Di Hudson, Mandy Webber and Sue Wellfair while Bate’s run had been no less impressive as she had defeated last year’s Division Two winner Bonny Hamilton, defending champion Veronica Bougourd and top-seed Chloe Gaudion.
However, while Bate’s putting had been a strong aspect of those earlier victories, the flat stick went tepid on her at the weekend and against a player of Mapley’s consistency, an opponent needs to get putts to drop.
Unsurprisingly, though, there was little between the finalists throughout, with Mapley holding a slender 1 up advantage after the morning round.
It remained close on the front nine after lunch, too, with Bate getting back to all-square at one point but Mapley had edged ahead once more by the time they reached the turn.
That lead was doubled when she won the 10th and it was to prove a decisive lead with the final getting towards the business end, although there was still plenty of drama to come.
Bate had the chance to get a hole back on the 11th where she reached the front of green in two thanks to a couple of well struck shots into the wind, but she was unable to turn it into a four and Mapley retained her lead.
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The difficult nature of the conditions, with a fresh south-westerly wind and dark clouds approaching, then contributed to a blip from the leader up the 12th where she pushed her tee shot way out to the right.
Bate replied with a fine strike up to the grass bunker on the right and she did not need to hit another shot as Mapley took a couple of hacks at her ball in thick rough before conceding the hole.
Mapley showed all her experience in putting that aberration quickly out of her mind and playing the 13th hole expertly to make a four that was very nearly a three while Bate was just a couple of yards out with her approach but left herself with a really tricky chip that led to a five.
The subsequent back-to-back par fives were both halved in pars as Mapley closed in on the title, but Bate was not quite done yet.
With both players in a similar position just short and right of the 16th green in two, Bate played a delightful chip that saw her reduce the gap back to one with two holes to play.
Another chance presented itself on the 17th.
With rain now in the air, both players under-clubbed up the hill into the wind with their second shots with Bate finding the front right bunker and Mapley just to the left of it.
The latter’s chip was slightly heavy-handed, leaving her a lengthy par putt that was to graze the hole but not drop.
Bate, on the other hand, splashed out of the sand to 6ft for an excellent chance to level the match going to the last, but her putt missed on the low side and her drop-of-the-head reaction told the story.
Mapley was not going to give another opportunity on the last.
After Bate finished well short of the green with her tee shot, Mapley found the front of the putting surface and once her opponent had chipped to the back of the green, she cosied up her birdie putt to hole side to clinch the championship.
‘You could never let up,’ said Mapley of the match.
‘You could never relax and think “this is OK, I’ve got this hole” because she knocked in some super long putts and some great chips that she was putting close up to the hole that I was having to concede, so there was no let up at all right up to the 36th.’
As for her own game, she added.
‘My course management is a bit better now – you learn with experience for shots to have a go at and shots to avoid, so in that respect my game is as solid as it has probably been for a few years and I’m hoping to get my handicap back down to single figures during the season.’
Alice Hurford won the Lindsay Trophy for Division Three players as she beat Rose Scott 2 & 1 in a well-contested 18-hole final on Sunday morning.
