If you need a birdie two at the last at L’Ancresse to win a match, Bobby Eggo remains at the top of everyone’s list to come up trumps and Guernsey’s best-ever golfer showed he can still rise to the occasion magnificently as he regained the Channel Islands senior men’s title in dramatic fashion on Sunday.
The stage was set perfectly.
His 18-hole final with Jersey champion Jeremy Phillips had been nip-and-tuck throughout, but as the last match of the four finals out on the course, it was not until they reached the 18th that they had full attention of the spectators.
But it was almost as if Eggo intended it that way, having just given up a narrow lead by conceding the 17th after a rare bad tee shot.
Phillips had the honour and in the circumstances he struck a fine approach pin high, around 20ft to the left of the hole.
For his response, Eggo pulled out an eight iron and it looked good all the way as it honed in on the flag with his customary draw, landing in the heart of the green and rolling past the cup, even having a look in, before coming to rest 15ft away.
After Phillips had seen his birdie attempt just drift to the right as it lost pace, guaranteeing his par three, Eggo went through his regular routine of lining up his putt from behind and also assessing the undulations from side-on, then a practice stroke before stepping over his ball and pulling the trigger.
The result was virtually inevitable and as the ball disappeared from view, Eggo gave a little fist pump as the crowd burst into applause.
‘It went straight in the middle and I could see that from a foot or two out. I decided to walk it in,’ he said with a wry grin.
Eggo also admitted that he had stepped onto the 18th tee in a good frame of mind.
‘I was confident I had the right club. I felt I put a nice swing on it.’
He added that it was ‘lovely’ to have the trophy back in his possession.
‘I haven’t played in the final for a couple of years, so it was good,’ Eggo said.
‘I was reasonably pleased with the way I played. A couple of bad holes, but apart from that, it was all right.
‘I was never going to walk away with it, put it that way. He’s a very good player, and hits it a long way, which is obviously a great advantage.’
In the preceding junior final, Guernsey’s Josh Neville had come within a whisker of matching Eggo’s heroics on the last, but his birdie attempt from similar range, which would have taken his 36-hole showdown with Aiden Wilson down extra holes, agonisingly lipped out.
The climax typified the match which was decided on very fine margins.
Wilson had a 2 up lead after Saturday’s first round, but Neville quickly reduced the deficit the next morning and there was never much separating the two players, who both produced some outstanding golf.
‘I feel like I played well,’ said Neville.
‘It was a good battle all the way through with Aiden. He played well.
‘It was unfortunate that the putt in the last didn’t go in, but it is what it is I guess. It looked good, I thought it was in, but it happens.’
He added that his first CI final was ‘a great experience’ in what has been a memorable summer so far, with the Junior Inter-Insular just around the corner.
‘I'm very happy with how things have gone, it’s been a good season. Hopefully I’ll get a couple points in the “Inters”, we’ll see how it goes.
‘There’s still some big matches to come.’
