Alker produced a brilliant round of 65 in the La Moye Trophy to smash Trevor Gray’s 1996 amateur course record of 68.During the first round of the 36-hole competition Alker carded two eagles and four birdies, as well as a bogey.Amazingly, ten minutes before Alker sunk his final putt on the 18th, his La Moye club-mate Richard Ramskill had also broken the record, with a five-under-par 67.
Ramskill, who went on to win the trophy on countback from Alker, was among the front-runners for the monthly award.’I’m very proud and the feedback since has been very humbling,’ said Alker.
‘To break the course record at my home club means an awful lot to me.
It’s one of the days in my sporting career that went right.’On the day itself the conditions were good and there were three of us out there going for it.
I guess I held the putts that counted.’I can’t remember the last time I won a Golfer of the Month award but it dates back to the 1990s.’The standard has improved and is incredibly high.
There are five golfers at scratch or better which is incredible.
If you want to win things and break records you’ve got to go seriously low.
Ultimately that will be good for Jersey golf.’I’ve been a little bit in and out since shooting the 65 but I’ve been under par three times in competition since and over the course of the year I’ve come down ten points in 23 rounds.
I’ve got the Club Championship at La Moye this weekend – if I were to win that I’d be the third person to win it four times.’Several others were in the reckoning for the award.La Moye’s Geoff Ramskill for winning the Jersey Seniors Championship; Paul Le Chevalier (Royal Jersey) for winning the 72-hole NatWest Strokeplay with a one-under-par total of 279; Royal Jersey junior Olivia Higgins who has reduced her handicap to 11 and qualified for the Weetabix Regional Event; Alex Guelpa (Royal Jersey junior) for winning the Island Junior Championship; Richard Rothwell from St Clement’s GC for winning the Club’s scratch Championship for the third consecutive year – a feat which hasn’t been done since 1971 – and the Jersey Western Golf Team for qualifying for the Hampshire 7-a-side finals day.
