HCLGA - CMW report

County Match Week - Report

We’re off to the National Finals!

A great week and a fantastic result!

Congratulations to our team of Hannah Burke (Mid Herts), Charlie Field (Harpenden), Jackie Foster (Bishops Stortford), Alison Franklin (Harpenden), Lucy Glyn (Porters Park), Tina Jeary (Bishops Stortford), Harriet Key (South Herts), Steph McEvoy (Old Fold Manor), Lucinda Mileham (Aldwickbury Park) and Lucy Williams (Mid Herts) who achieved a 100% record against our five new county opponents and will be representing the new East Region at the national finals at Long Ashton, Nr Bristol from 15th to 19th September.

We started the week with a very convincing 3-0 foursomes win against Norfolk and proceeded to get 5½ points from the afternoon singles. On Tuesday we woke to pouring rain which stayed with us all day. The greenstaff at Newmarket did a wonderful job keeping the greens playable and we faced Bedfordshire as the first match on the course. We again produced a strong foursomes result winning 2½ - ½ and had to rush back out after a brief respite at lunchtime. Undeterred the girls produced another strong performance and ended the day with a 6-3 win. Wednesday thankfully dawned with relatively clear skies and we faced Suffolk, producing a 3 - 0 foursomes win in the morning and ending at 7 - 2 in our favour. Now came Essex who also had a 100% record but were 1½ points better than us so we knew we had to beat them to have a chance of winning.

After the morning foursomes we were tied at 1½ to 1½ and knew we had to get at least 3½ points from the afternoon singles. First result in was Harriet Key’s 5/4 win against Daisy Dyer, then came Hannah Burke who was last out but won 7/6 against Lucy Clarke. Lucy Williams was struggling against the on form Essex champion, Jenny Pease, and lost 4/2 and with the other three games very much in the balance at this stage it could have gone either way. Tina Jeary gradually pulled ahead of her opponent, Georgie Kilby and secured the halved match with a 3/2 win. With Charlie Field down in her match, it all hung on Alison Franklin’s match against Laura Cutler who had just come back from college in the US having won her regional universities tournament and obviously very much on form. They were all square going down 16 when Alison’s putt lipped out for a half, but she knocked it close on the par 3 17th and squared the match again. Off down 18 and she hit a stunning second shot to 5 feet and holed the putt for a birdie and the match 5½ to 3½!

We knew we had to hold our nerve against the hosts Cambs and Hunts on Friday to win the first East Region County Match Week. At this point Cambs and Hunts only had 1½ points from their 4 matches but they had four members of the host club in their squad and were determined to end the week strongly. In the event we won 2 out of 3 matches in the foursomes and then took 4 out of the 6 singles and that was that.

There were many stunning performances, most notably Harriet Key who played 9 out of the 10 matches and won them all. She was awarded the Mary Oliver brooch for the most points and also received her county colours. The whole team produced golf of the highest quality and with a great mix of youth and experience our future looks bright.

It was a long and tiring week and my heartfelt thanks go to all the team and my fellow selectors Ann Green and Jackie Foster for their unstinting support.

So on to National Finals from 15th to 19th September at Long Ashton GC, Bristol. Please put the date in your diary and come and support your team.