Champion Tom gets his CI final at last

The 32-year-old edged out 16-year-old rising star Jayden Tucknott yesterday in an exciting, nip-and-tuck final at L’Ancresse that went the full 36-hole distance with Le Huray winning the last two holes to clinch a 1 up victory.

‘Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,’ said the two-time champion on how it felt to have got his hands on the Bachmann Trophy for a second time.

‘It’s been a long week, a very long week and made hard work of it, but to get over the line feels amazing.’

Le Huray added that having drawn Danny Blondel in the first round helped to remove any expectation going into this year’s championship.

‘I know we’re both in the Island team and we’ve both played to the highest level, but everyone knows he is the best golfer in the island at the moment, so all the pressure is kind of on him,’ he said.

‘Because I’m the underdog, I can go out and just play a bit of golf.

‘Neither of us actually did that day, I was just a little bit better. He was uncharacteristically bad for him, but it happens.’

Le Huray felt the key to his success during the week was staying patient.

‘I’ve holed putts at the right time or chipped close at the right time,’ he added.

‘Definitely, there’s been a huge slice of luck in it – Jeremy [Nicolle] making a mistake in the semi-final and obviously coming up against Danny in the first round, he didn’t play his best, so you’ve just got to ride your luck.

‘And to be in a final, it’s a 50-50 chance so you go out and just do your best.’

Le Huray will now play in his first Channel Islands final at Grouville in July, with the pandemic having prevent the match in 2020 when he won the Island title previously.

‘It’s a shame it’s over in Jersey, but again it’s a 50-50 chance, go over there and see if we can beat one of the Jersey boys.’