Victorian Richard Green has recorded a career-first, successfully defending his Jersey Legends title on the Legends Tour in Europe.
The 2022 Jersey Legends crown was the first of two Legends Tour wins by Green last year, the 52-year-old currently in his rookie season on the PGA Tour Champions in the US.
He returned to Jersey to attempt to do something he had never done before in his storied career: a successful title defence.
Starting the third and final round with a two-stroke buffer from England’s Peter Baker, the three-time winner on the DP World Tour looked destined for success when he birdied the second hole but dropped shots at four and seven saw him out in one-over par and brought other players back into the mix.
Baker was tied for the lead at the turn and they stayed locked together after a pair of birdies at 11. Momentum soon swung back in Green’s favour, however, as Baker made a double-bogey on 13 and Green birdied the 14th.
Scotsman Greig Hutcheon emerged as the main challenger by picking up shots on 14 and 18 to post eight-under, meaning Green had to par the last to defend the title he won in a playoff against Paul Lawrie last year.
He was just short of the green in two but lagged an excellent approach putt to two feet and finished it off for the win in front of brilliant crowds.
“It’s such a fantastic feeling to come back and win again at a place I fell in love with when I first came here last year,” Green said.
“It feels great [to defend a title for the first time]. Golf is such a mental test – you’ve got to be able to believe in yourself and have confidence in every area of your game. To come out here and defend just adds another element of pressure. For me to come out on top this week is very rewarding.
“It was a really good crowd of people out there today. I hope they all enjoyed it. I’m sure there were a lot of tense moments for them to get excited about.”
The win was all the more notable given Green’s roller-coaster start to the week. His golf clubs didn’t arrive from America until the night before the first round and he started the week with a double-bogey at his first hole.
He recovered for a two-under 70, added a quality six-under 66 in the second round before closing out a one-stroke win with a one-under 71 at La Moye Golf Club.
