Golfer Ebonie Cox, winner of Bermuda’s only individual gold medal at the Island Games, has described her victory as one of her greatest moments in the sport.

Cox, 37, also spearheaded Bermuda’s women to silver medal in the team event and is only returning to Bermuda tomorrow after deciding to continue with her celebrations in England, where she also got time to physically recover.

“This achievement is definitely up there,’’ Cox said.

“I don’t know if I can say it’s the biggest but it’s definitely one of my proudest moments in sport. It feels amazing. To go home with gold is indescribable.

“I just feel like all of the extra hours I put in before this event paid off, and to know that I have the only solo gold and one of two from the whole travel team is just unbelievable. I don’t think it has truly sunk in yet since I’m still off island.

“The plan was always to go and try to come back with something. I don’t know if gold was on my radar but I’ll take it. I always genuinely felt that a team medal was realistic as had a good mix of experience.”

Before her achievement in Guernsey, Cox had never finished better than second individually in the Island Games, in which she first competed in 2005.

“I won individual and team silver at my first games in 2005 in Shetland,” Cox said. In 2009 I was on the team that took gold with Tariqah Walikraam, Katyna Rabain and Katrina Burnie.”

Cox shot 73 to lead after the first round and never relinquished her position, shooting 79, 82 and 80 in the remaining rounds, with the weather playing a huge part in her scores.

“The first two rounds reflect the better weather we had,’’ Cox said.

“The two higher ones shows how tough the conditions became as the week went on. The scores do those conditions no justice. The two higher rounds I definitely played better than they show. The third round I tripled 16 and three-putted 17 for a bogey, but, I think I actually did very well considering.

“The last day was also in what we wouldn’t consider tropical storm winds. The style of golf along with the weather was definitely challenging and the fact that I got a gold medal shows that. Links-style golf is something I have played maybe once in my golfing career so when you get the whole picture, the scores sound a bit better than they look.

“I only felt I’d won when I walked down to the 72nd hole. I was on the grind from start to finish and didn’t allow myself to get ahead. I stayed in the moment and focused on my golf until I made the last putt. It was at that point I knew I had a chance depending on what happened in the groups in front of me.

“I think what won it for me was sticking to the game plan. We had a few talks as a team with both the men and women and what came out of those is respecting the course.

“We are used to hitting drivers and using wedges to approach greens. There it was the total opposite. We couldn’t hit driver and you absolutely couldn’t just throw balls at the pin. Every single green had to be played 20 to 30 yards short and hope you judged the run and bounces correctly.

“Sometimes it was even shorter to ensure you didn’t go over the trouble that loomed behind every single green, all while trying to avoid the tricky pot bunkers that protected greens. We are used to chipping and pitching and there I found myself using a three-wood as my putter from 30 yards off the green, it was that fast and tight you couldn’t even risk trying to hit the shots I would normally play. So because of all those factors I think we all did a wonderful job of adapting as fast as we could.”

Cox was delighted that her team-mates, Kimberly Botelho, Tracy Burgess and Ann Symonds, also had something to smile about.

“Team silver feels good,’’ Cox said. “To be able to share something with the other ladies who travelled is just amazing. Those three ladies all contributed to my individual success as well by making sure I was doing what I needed to do both on and off the course. From making sure I had breakfast to packing me snacks for the day. Huge thank you to my team-mates/roommates for the week.”