ONCE again this year, the Victoria Computer Services (VCS) Open Tournament was played on the day of the Seychelles Golf Federation's Christmas party and, also in keeping with last year's events, victory was taken by Alix Esparon.

The tournament was played out  Saturday January 11, at the Seychelles Golf Course, Anse Aux Pins, and featured plenty of familiar faces from Seychelles' golfing scene, keen to enjoy the tournament before the festivities began.

The tournament was played on a "medal-ford" format divided into two nine-hole competitions. In the first, every shot was counted and in the second, players attempted to record the highest number of points. The winner was the player with the best average after all 18 holes had been played.

The weather on the day of the Open was hot and sunny, but the recent rainy spell had left a large amount of standing water on the course and a soft playing surface.

The adverse conditions were clearly to the advantage of Russ Thomson who led the field with a total of only 31 after the first nine holes. The chasing pack was headed by Alix Esparon and Eddie Micock.

After sustaining a shoulder injury at the start of the second nine, Thomson was forced to retire and Eddie Micock was the first to take advantage of his departure, going out in one of the early groups and posting a respectable score of 15.

Jayant Mayadas, who had had a good first nine and was playing well, lost concentration in the second stage of the competition and was unable to record a score high enough to keep him in touch with the leaders.

Taking to the course with the last group of the day, the pressure was now on Esparon to come back with a round good enough to over-haul the lead of Micock. Drawing on his experience as last year's winner of this tournament as well as his current good form, Esparon held his nerves and was back in the club house with a score of 20 points and the best average of the day to take the title once more.

The final standing had Esparon in first position, Micock in second and Andrew Hoareau in third place.

The lowest number of shots over the first nine was posted by Russ Thomson and the best score over the second was claimed by Mervin Esparon. Winner of the Nearest the Pin competition was G. Betts.

On hand to present the prizes to the winners was Mr Freddy Karkaria, managing director of VCS, who said that VCS hoped to make the tournament an annual event to coincide with the golfer's Christmas party.

Closing the competition, club captain Dudu Chudasama, speaking on behalf of the members, thanked VCS for its support of the club.

Speaking to Sports Nation, winner Alix Esparon explained that "it feels great to win the competition twice in a row, after being runner-up the first time".

Describing his performance in the wet conditions, he said:

"My ability is now at a peak and the confidence is there. Building confidence is the most important thing".