Daniel salutes ‘biggest triumph’

SUDBURY’S Daniel Jeffries and Nick Avery hailed winning the Daily Mail Foursomes as their biggest achievement after they survived a late scare in the final. The Middlesex duo were six up after nine on the championship Hunting course at Slaley Hall in the world’s largest amateur golf tournament. But Justin Powell and Alan Griffiths, from Alsager, fought back. The pair cut Sudbury’s lead to two up at the 16th, but finally succumbed at the next hole, losing 3&1. ‘It is such a big competition. Winning it is my biggest achievement,’ said Jeffries. ‘The club is going to be so proud and that was the pressure. We were giving four shots around the turn and three at the end. They were always going to come back at us. But the weather was kind and it was a good day for us.’ Team-mate Avery added: ‘It will take a week for my heartbeat to get back to normal. We wanted to win it for the club. It’s the best thing we’ve done.’ In the women’s final, Redditch’s Janice Kerr and Vivienne Cranton beat Kirriemuir’s Irene Park and Audrey Aiken with a par at the first extra hole. It is 31 years since Kerr made it to the finals and she dedicated the win to her late mum, Margaret, with whom she competed in 1988. Kerr, 57, said: ‘Mum was with me. She would have been thrilled. It was meant to be. I thought we had blown it on those last few holes!’