Experience tells Guernsey that anything is possible

It means the Guernsey men’s team captain was not able to dwell on the defeat suffered by his Island seniors last weekend having held a four-point lead going into the singles – well, not for too long anyway, and at least he has his Sunday morning speech ready whatever the score is going into the final session.

‘I have to say I was quite deflated on Monday and Tuesday. It was a bit of a tough one to swallow,’ said Jeffery.

‘I’ve always known anything is possible in golf and having experienced that first hand last weekend, it is something definitely worth remembering.’

This will be Jeffery’s third inter-insular as Guernsey captain, having won on his first attempt at L’Ancresse in 2019 before just missing out last year at Grouville in the match delayed a year by the pandemic.

Jersey regained the Challenge Trophy 12-8 on that occasion, but Jeffery said there is ‘no reason’ to believe his side cannot claim it back.

‘The message will be the same as it was in 2019, which was “let’s try to win each session”,’ he said.

‘We’ve had good practice sessions and I’ve seen the boys down there practising hard, so we’re all set for the weekend.’

There are three changes to the 10 who played last year, but there are no new faces as Andy Eggo, Daniel Griggs and CJ Elmy have all experienced the annual contest before and return to the side as Island Championship finalist, Piccadilly Trophy winner and Royal Guernsey club champion respectively this year.

The make-up of the team suggests there will be some new partnerships forged this year, so what has the captain taken into consideration when choosing pairings?

‘All of their games are very similar – you might have a couple who are perhaps longer hitters, but generally their games are all compatible. So I don’t have to think too much about how their games might complement each other as they are all very good golfers.

‘I probably lean more towards whether they get on well because you have got to spend eight, nine, maybe even 10 hours playing together on Saturday and we do have quite a few natural pairings.

‘But I have always said that I would want anyone to put their hand up and say they would play with anyone else, which is what we have. Everyone is happy to play with each other.

‘At the end of the day, it is all about putting a point on the board for Guernsey. It is just about getting their heads down and getting the job done.’

The Guernsey team have also had a timely boost and will now be going into the match with a county champion among their number following Ollie Chedhomme’s success at the Hampshire Junior Championships last week.

‘His handicap has crept up a little bit this year, but that comes with going away and playing in off-island events, so it is nice for him to get a win under his belt – it can only be a positive thing,’ Jeffery said.

‘Ollie was vital to us last year. He and Jez [Nicolle] were our outstanding performances over that weekend in Jersey.’

As far as Jersey are concerned, their captain Ian Daly has picked a side with four changes to last year’s victorious team, but Jeffery knows the quality they still have in their ranks.

‘There are a couple of big names not there, but Jersey have got some very good players and at the inter-club weekend last month I had the pleasure of playing with the likes of Steven Anderson, Josh Ozard, Simon Allchin and Jeremy Phillips and they all played very good golf,’ said the Guernsey captain, who added that the weather forecast of increasing wind and the possibility of showers over the weekend will not faze the visitors even if it might play into home hands.

‘It’s not as if you have got a team coming here who are not used to island conditions and I can’t believe their team are not used to playing in the wind because of their courses, one is on a cliff and the other is right on the coast.

‘But home advantage always helps, so I would not mind if there is a breeze and a little bit of rain because for an away team it adds an extra burden if they have to get stuff dry whereas home players can bring more stuff with them.’

What could make the difference, though, could be the Sarnian support.

‘We saw in 2019 when Danny Blondel holed the winning putt on the 17th that we had dozens of people there cheering and it would be great for people to come down and support the Guernsey team,’ Jeffery said.

TEAMS

Guernsey – Danny Blondel, Jamie Blondel, Ollie Chedhomme, Andy Eggo, CJ Elmy, Arthur Evans, Daniel Griggs, Tom Le Huray, Jeremy Nicolle, Tom Pattimore. Captain: Dave Jeffery.

Jersey – Simon Allchin, Steven Anderson, Andrew Clarke, Sam Crenan, James Draisey, Alex Guelpa, Stanley Keites, Josh Ozard, Matthew Parkman, Jeremy Phillips. Captain: Ian Daly.

Schedule (subject to change)

Saturday: 8.30am – Foursomes; 1.15pm – Fourballs.

Sunday: 8.30am – Singles.