Rutledge snatches Tradesmen's Cup win while Eggo lifts Le Riche Cup

Whether Guernsey Raiders director of rugby Jordan Reynolds would view it that way is highly debatable, but Siam Cup-winning player Dale Rutledge also has ambitions to represent the island in his summer sport, so his success in the Tradesmen’s Cup last Thursday was timely in golfing circles, even if it meant an evening off from his oval-ball pre-season.

After lifting the prestigious silverware, though, Rutledge admitted more rugby training might have helped him out on the L’Ancresse links.

‘I’m pretty happy to have won this one, particularly as it’s 36 holes, so it’s a long day. I forgot what it’s like to play 36 holes in a day,’ he said with a wide grin before adding that ‘Jordy doesn’t know I’ve won this yet’.

The Royal Guernsey first-team member, who was playing off three, put himself in the mix for the Tradesmen’s with a 68 nett in his morning round, which included birdies at the second, fifth and sixth.

That score put him joint second with Daniel Griggs, two behind first-round leader Ian Morris, whose 66 was the joint best score of the day off handicap.

After lunch, though, Rutledge jumped to the top of the leaderboard thanks to a 70 nett which he finished three-three-three.

That saw him finish two-under par for his 36 holes, one ahead of both Scott Philpott, who added the day’s other 66 to his opening 73, and Sean Mills. Tom Le Huray and Neil Tanguy completed the top five on 141.

‘Iron play was good, putting was good – for a change – and managed to keep the ball in the fairways, which helps a lot around here,’ said Rutledge, assessing his day’s work.

‘Conditions in the morning were good, little bit of breeze, but the afternoon was tougher. The wind picked up quite a bit, but the heat was quite bad in the afternoon. It was a struggle.’

He added, though, that the firm-and-fast nature of the course at the moment helped him.

‘It suits my game – low ball flight, get the ball on the ground straight away and let it run on the dry ground.’

Victory came two days before Rutledge travelled with the Royal Guernsey team to Grouville for the Scratch League matches with Royal Jersey and La Moye, where he was looking to carry on that form to put himself in inter-insular contention.

‘I’m finally starting to come into a bit of form. It might be too late, we’ll find out after the weekend with the Scratch League in Jersey, but always good to make the team.

‘I was a bit disappointed a couple of years ago when I didn’t make the team, but form did not let me.’

While New Zealander Rutledge was tasting his first major success in Guernsey, the scratch Le Riche Cup ended up in familiar surroundings as Bobby Eggo won the silverware for a remarkable 19th time.

His opening 71 gross, which included birdies at the fourth and sixth, put him four shots back from first-round leader Daniel Griggs and two shots behind Danny Blondel and the younger Eggo brother Andy.

His one-under-par 69 in the afternoon saw Eggo leapfrog all those above him, though, to beat Blondel by a single stroke, 140 to 141. The highlights of his second round were birdies at the sixth, 13th and 14th.

‘I didn’t hole out as well as I would have hoped to, but I played well. I didn’t expect to win, though,’ Eggo said.

‘I was four behind at lunchtime and the wind had picked up, so you think you’ve always got a chance, but no I didn’t really expect to win.

‘You just go out there, do as well as you can and obviously once I got under par this afternoon I thought “who knows?”.’

Jeremy Nicolle returned the best scratch round of the afternoon with his 68 featuring an eagle three at the sixth as well as four birdies to finish third, one shot further back.