Schools golf cup tees off despite challenges

Saturday 28 November 2020

St Sampson's emerged victorious in the annual Guernsey Golf Academy's Inter-school Secondary Cup, after the pandemic delayed the competition by four months.

In spite of the difficulties of autumnal weather and school diary clashes, the Academy was determined to make sure that schools didn't miss out on the 2020 competition.

"The timing of this year's competition certainly wasn't what we had originally planned," said PGA Golf Pro Andy Meyers, who offers a five-week coaching course to all the island's secondary schools ahead of the contest.

"Like many, we were limited to lockdown and social distancing restrictions that were still in place over the summer term."

In spite of the difficulties, Mr Meyers was keen to capitalise on the sport's momentum in recent years. "The schools programme is a great way for the younger generation to give golf a try," he said.

"We've been seeing an upward trend of young people taking up the sport, so we are really keen to keep this increased interest going in 2020."

Overall, five different schools competed across a total of eight different teams: the Elizabeth College 'Woods' and 'Tigers,' the Grammar School, Le Murier, Les Voies School, and St Sampson's High's A, B and C teams.

Pictured: from left to right: Rory McKenna, Andy Meyers, St Sampson’s B team - Ellie Blondel, Toby Sowerby and Samuel Kail, and Butterfield representative Ed Jones)

The competition took on a 'Texas Scramble' format, where each player in a team tees off as normal. Then, all players move their balls to where the 'best shot' from these landed and hit again from that spot, working their way towards the hole.

The overall winners were the St Sampson's B team with a score of 29 over nine holes. The winning team - Ellie Blondel, Samuel Kail and Toby Sowerby - were all new to the sport.

"We are very happy the Interschool Cup was able to go ahead this year," said Richard Saunders, Managing Director of Butterfield Bank, who sponsored the tournament.

"Well done to the Academy for persevering with its organisation despite uncertainty and challenges. The junior coaching and competitions that the Academy offer are central to the increased youth engagement being seen within island golf.

"We are very proud to support them in their work to make golf a more inclusive sport."

The 2021 Cup is scheduled to take place in June, and schools will be sent information after the Christmas holidays.