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Wow! What a great championships we have just had!
Sandy Lodge were fantastic hosts for the 2010 Hertfordshire County
Championships in their Club’s Centenary Year. The course was in
excellent condition and the large undulating greens were made even
more tricky by some very interesting pin positions.
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The 36 hole qualifying on Friday
was in difficult cold and windy conditions. Steph McEvoy
from Old Fold Manor won the Scratch Aggregate cup with for the
best gross scores with rounds of 75 and 77 - total 152. The best
morning round score was Harriet Key from South Herts with
a 74. The best afternoon scores came from Charlie Field
from Bishop’s Stortford and Lucy Glyn from Porters Park who
both had 76. Alice Hewson from Berkhamsted won the Anne
Pyke Trophy for the best nett aggregate over the 36 holes with a
nett 142.
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The top 16 players qualified for the match play stages and with
Tina Jeary not playing this allowed 14 year old Nicola
Callander from Mill Green to fill the 16th
spot and face Steph on Saturday morning. And Nicola was not going
to be daunted by playing against her former Junior County Captain.
On the 17th
hole she holed a long putt to stay in the match and on the 18th
hit her tee shot to 6 feet and sunk the birdie putt to take the
match down the 19th.
She hit a great bunker shot and holed another putt for her par
whilst Steph was unlucky not to hole her birdie putt which just
lipped out and so they went up the 20th
where Steph missed her par putt and Nicola sunk hers to win the
match.
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Morag Morrison from
Bishop’s Stortford and Farah Ahyauddin from Mill Green had
a close match with Morag sinking putts from all over the green.
But Farah did not give up and sunk a good putt on the 16th
to take the match up the long par 5 17th
where Morag closed the match out.
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Harriet Key from South
Herts and Lucinda Mileham from Aldwickbury Park had an up
and down match which also finished on the 17th
with Harriet the winner. Julie Dyke from Welwyn Garden City
and Lucy Glyn had another good battle. Lucy lipped out for
a birdie on the 16th
and on the 17th
both had hit good approach shots which had finished on the top
tier of the two tier green, leaving tricky downhill putts. Julie
holed her second putt from 10 feet and Lucy just missed hers from
eight feet so Julie won.
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Alison Franklin showed
the kind of quality of play which has enabled her to win three
previous championships by winning 6/5 against Emily Chan
from South Herts on the 13th.
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Five juniors had qualified for
the matchplay stages which certainly bodes well for the future of
Hertfordshire ladies’ golf. Apart from Nicola and Emily the others
were Lauren Hunt the Junior Captain who lost to Charlie
Field and 12 year olds Alice Hewson and Ella Ofstedahl
from Mill Green. Ella came up against Lucy Williams from Mid Herts
and unsurprisingly was beaten as Lucy is currently playing off
plus 2. Alice lost to the experienced Clare Partridge from
Moor Park.
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And so to Saturday afternoon
when once again there were some interesting matches. Nicola
continued her good run of form from the morning and sunk putts
from everywhere to beat Morag. Harriet and Alison played each
other in the match play for the third time in the last four years
and once again had a great game. On the very short par 3 8th
hole with a particularly tricky green Harriet hit a great shot to
a couple of feet for birdie. On the long downhill par 5 14th
Alison put her approach shot to six feet but Harriet was not going
to be outdone and chipped to gimme distance for birdie. On the par
3 16th
Alison hit a great bunker shot again to gimme distance which meant
Harriet had to hole her 20 feet putt to keep the match going which
she just missed.
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Lucy William’s short game shone through in her
match against Clare and Lucy was through to the semi final stages
once again. |
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There was another good match
between Charlie and Julie but when Julie hit her tee shot short
into the bunker on the 16th
this allowed Charlie to put her putt close enough to win and go
through to the semi finals on the Sunday morning for the first
time.
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So Sunday morning brought two interesting
semi-finals – the experience of the current champion Alison
against the youth of Nicola and a match between regular foursomes
partners Lucy and Charlie.
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Nicola was not going to be
daunted by the occasion and indeed having already won the De Paula
cup twice (scratch matchplay for handicaps 10-18) at least had the
experience of winning on her side. She hit some fabulous shots in
her match and took Alison to the 17th
hole before Alison’s fantastic short game won through again.
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The result of a 5/3 win to Lucy
did not really do Charlie justice in their match as for example on
the par 3 10th
hole, Charlie hit a great shot to the middle of the green but just
missed her putt whilst Lucy chipped in from near to the greenside
bunker to win the hole.
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And so to a
particularly cold May afternoon and the final between Alison
Franklin and Lucy Williams. Both players appeared to
start a little nervously with neither really grabbing the match
although Alison went ahead early on. There were some
uncharacteristically wayward shots from Lucy until it became
obvious that her back was giving her some pain. She managed to hit
a great shot into the 8th
hole and it looked like this might really get the match going but
thereafter the putts were not dropping for either player.
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Standing on
the par 3 18th
tee all square, Lucy hit a fantastic shot to three feet. Alison
replied with a shot which landed on the green but she then putted
past where Lucy’s tee shot landed. A tense moment but Alison
calmly held her putt giving Lucy the opportunity to win the
championship, having never been up in the match. However it was
not to be. There was an audible gasp from the crowd as Lucy’s putt
was just slightly too firm and horseshoed out of the hole.
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So the final
went down the nineteenth for the first time in quite a while. Both
players hit wonderfully straight drives but when Lucy’s third shot
ended up in a particularly awkward spot in a greenside bunker
which meant she had to play out backwards, and Alison was at the
back of the green in two the result was inevitable. So Alison
became Hertfordshire County Champion for a well deserved fourth
time. Many congratulations to her.
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The Pam Lane Salver which is a
scratch stableford competition played for by the first and second
round losers in the match play was also won by Alice Hewson
from Berkhamsted with 34 points. |
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After the presentation ceremony Jackie Foster
announced the Hertfordshire team for County Match Week 2010 being
held at West Herts Golf Club between 14th
and 18th
June: |
| Alison Franklin |
Harpenden |
| Hannah Burke |
Mid Herts |
| Nicola Callander |
Mill Green |
| Charlie Douglass |
Brocket Hall |
| Charlie Field |
Bishop’s Stortford |
| Lucy Glyn |
Porters Park |
| Harriet Key |
South Herts |
| Lucinda Mileham |
Aldwickbury Park |
| Steph McEvoy |
Old Fold Manor |
| Lucy Williams |
Mid Herts |
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All support during the week would be most welcome
so please put on your light pink and come and see some great golf.
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Jackie Foster |
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First Team Captain |
