Championship 2010

THURSDAY 6TH MAY - QUALIFYING
74 ladies from 12 differnt clubs gathered at John O'Gaunt for the 2010 Ladies County Championship. The club were superb hosts, with wonderful food, the course in excellent condition and a great organisation team led by Immediate Past Captain Joan Cocksedge and General Manager, Simon Davies.

Qualification at John O'Gaunt is always difficult, especially after recent rain had toughened up the rough. But some made it look easier than others. Laura Collin equalled the course record in the morning with a stunning 3 under par score of 71 (although the previous course record was posted on a shorter course). Hot on her heels were Katie Burman on 76 and defending champion, Sally Shayler, with a 79. Only home player Penny Fletcher could post a nett score lower than Laura's with an excellent 70, to take the Dalton Salver.
The wind got up in the afternoon, which was reflected in the scoring, with Laura the only player managing to break 80. Her aggregate 148 took her through as number 1 qualifier, with Sally in 2nd spot. Click here for all the winners.

FRIDAY 7th MAY - LAST 16
The top 16 gross scores returned on Friday for the matchplay stages of the competition. 7 of the 16 qualifiers came from John O'Gaunt and very encouragingly, 5 of the qualifiers are under 23. Laura Collin, Elaine Bruce, Bridie Quinn, Sophie Hillier, Katie Burman, Fiona Cooper, Yvette Bunker and Sally Shayler all won through to the quarter finals. Well done, and commiserations to Dawn Glennie, who pushed the number 2 qualifier Sally Shalyer all the way to the 21st hole. What a match!

Laura continued her sparkling form, comfortably winning her quarter final. Sophie and Bridie traded pars all the way round in the tightest of the quarter finals, with Sophie just edging it on the 17th. In the battle of the ex-juniors, Katie beat Fiona, and Sally bounced back from her scare in the morning to smash her way into the semis.

SATURDAY 8TH MAY - SEMIS AND FINAL
In the first semi final on Saturday, Laura played Sophie. Both girls played awesome golf, with first blood going to Laura on the 9th with a lovely up and down for birdie. Sophie bounced straight back to win the 10th, but another birdie on the tricky par 5 13th put Laura back to 1 up. Laura greened her 2nd shot but the eagle putt lipped out. Sophie continued to battle, her beautiful swing keeping her in contention until the 17th, another par 5 where Laura again put her second shot on the green to set up a winning birdie.

Meanwhile, in the match behind, pars just weren't good enough. Katie took an early 2 hole lead, but Sally slowly clawed it back, and eventually drew level on 13. Then an hexcellent 4 on the long 15th put her 1 up. The pin on 16 was in a wicked position, but Sally was pumped and put her ball just 5 feet away from it. Katie, teeing off second produced the shot of the day, sailing straight over the pin and spinning the ball back to about 4 feet above the hole. Sally duly holed for birdie, but Katie's tricky downhiller with break just slid by the edge of the cup. At 2 up, Sally sensibly laid up on 17, while Katie was forced to attack the green. More bad luck befell the 18 year old as she nailed a 3 iron, but just caught the tip of the last tree and the ball dropped into the dip surrounding the green. Only a birdie would save her, and Katie saw her putt slip agonisingly past the edge of the hole. Sally was 3 under for her 17 holes and Katie 1 under. A superb match.

THE FINAL
So the stage was set for a repeat of last year's final. The rain was heavy and the wind bitter, but the supporters were out in their droves to see exhibition golf: long straight drives, stunningly controlled iron shots, and precision chipping and putting. Laura had the better of the early exchanges, and was 1 up after 4. Sally won the 5th with a birdie, and Laura birdied 6 to restore her lead. They halved 7, then Laura hit an uncharacteristically wayward tee shot on 8. Sally made a safe par, and a superb up and down from Laura kept her lead in tact, and they then halved 9. A sporting contest throughout, played in excellent spirit, both girls parred the next few holes. The weather was brutal by the time they reached 13, but this didn't stop 2 excellent drives, and Laura wasd beginning to make a habit of hitting par 5s in 2. Sally chipped dead and the hole was halved in birdie 4s. With both girls in trouble off the 14th tee, laying up was required. Laura made yet another spectacular up and down to clinch the hole and victory was in sight. Sally wasn't going to relinquish her crown easily, and despite finding the trees on 15th, she went for the green with an amazing punched fairwaiy wood. It hit the very top of the greenside bunker and rolled back in. Heavy wet sand, and a ball right under the lip would have most of us wandering over to shake hands, but not our Sal. In an explosion of sand, rain and ball, she somehow managed to get it out of the bunker onto the green. Laura was stiff to the pin for 3, and Sally's putt just refused to drop. In a gesture epitomising the sporting way in which the two girls have played the 2009 and 2010 finals, Sally didn't ask Laura to hole out for the championship. Great golf played in great spirit by great golfers.

Congratulations to our 2010 County Champion, Laura Collin and runner up, Sally Shayler.


Laura receives her trophy from County President, Audrey Shuter	Runner Up, Sally Shayler from Bedfordshire	Semi finalists, Katie Burman and Sophie Hillier, both from John O'Gaunt

		Many thanks to Anne Harris for the photographs.
Lyn Allen with the County Cup	Heather Nolan from Beds & County, County Cup Runner Up

Click here for all the winners.

Click here for the County Team.

Click here for the full Matchplay Draw.