It was the Surrey golfer’s first Regional event win of the season and it gained him his second success in Jersey having taken the title in 1987, when the tournament was played at the Royal Jersey in Grouville.’Winning has certainly come out of the blue; I really did not expect it,’ said Stott.’I’ve played well over the three days and yesterday my putting was reasonably good.’The extra holes went well for me and I won it with a 25-foot chip shot down a bank.
Paul had a putt from the back of the green for a birdie to take the match to another hole and he only narrowly missed it.’It’s been a fantastic week, the hospitality and facilities at Les Mielles are excellent and all the pros love coming here.
I looking forward to next year already and hopefully I will be returning to defend the title.’Both golfers finished on 198 after matching rounds of 65 yesterday, 66 on Wednesday and 67 on Tuesday, the par for the course is 70.Just five strokes separated 18 players going into the final 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament yesterday.
Craig Cowper was an early leader after he started with five straight birdies but consecutive bogeys and a double bogey at the 16th ended his chances.Gavin Lingard, the 2001 South Region PGA Order of Merit winner, then returned a six-under-par 64 to set the target at 200.
He was out in 32 (-2) and home in 30 (-4).Overnight leader Kevin Saunders protected his single shot advantage through 15 holes but a disastrous double-bogey five at the 16th, where he took four to get down from the edge of the green, left him on 200.The result of the championship finally came down to the match in which Stott and Simpson played together.
Stott establishing his authority by opening a three-shot lead at the halfway stage and he held the advantage until the closing holes when Simpson birdied both of the final par 3s while Stott disastrously took a bogey at the final hole therefore the play-off resulted.
