News Archives 2008
05.10.08: Megan and Kathy team up to win Sue Paterson Salver: The last Junior summer event for the Bedfordshire Ladies County Golf Association was more like the first winter event as gale force winds and temperatures of around 2 degrees greeted the players at Aylesbury Vale Golf Club on Sunday 5th October who were to contend the Sue Paterson Salver. The format was a lady-junior stableford foursomes with 30 entries. Scores on the outward 9 were quite reasonable but the back nine holes were a battle against the elements as the wind increased and the rain didn't let up. Only one team managed to get into the 30s which was Megan Birdsey from Caddington playing with Kathy Harris from Beadlow who scored a magnificent 35 points and took home the salver. The other prize winners were Sophie and Carol Hillier from John O'Gaunt with 29 points, Victoria Walley and Lillie Lim from Aspley Guise with 28 points, Elena Tizzard and Debbie Pollard-Barns with 28 points and Fiona Cooper and Heather Nolan from Bedford & County with 26 points. The superb "High Tea" with scones and cream, wonderful chocolate cake and strawberries soon made up for the cold weather - apparently the last time the event was held everyone was using sun cream and drinking loads of water - please can we have that back for next year! Lizi Sweetnam from Leighton Buzzard player her last Junior county event and Audrey Shuter, County President, thanked her for all her support as well as wishing her luck in her senior golfing career.
06.10.08: Smith & Browning Shoot to Victory at 4BBB: Margaret Browning and Valerie Smith from Leighton Buzzard conquered their own course to win the Audrey Bradley trophies on 6th October with 38 points. Runners up were Jocelyn Binks and Elaine Eayrs (Beds & County) - 36 pts; 3rd - Di Spinks and Cynthia Pike PP - 35 pts on count back from 4th - Barbara Talboys and Valerie Lake - Bed - 35pts. Best front nine - Sam Turnbull and Sue Cribb - Bed- 20 pts and best back nine - Michelle Fontaine-Geary and Sylvia Winch - SB - 19 pts on count back from 4 other couples
03.10.08: Barbara and Lynn Take KO Foursomes Final: Barbara Talboys and Lynn Allen from The Bedfordshire met Lynn Pearce & Trish Purnell from Wyboston in the Knockout Foursomes Final. After 5 gruelling rounds, the final was be held at John O'Gaunt (Carthagena Course) on Friday 3rd October. An excellent final was decided on the very last hole. Congratulations to both pairs, especially Barbara and Lynn.
02.10.08: Lizi Qualifies for Costa Del Sol finals: Lizi Sweetnam from Leighton Buzzard and brother Chris have followed their summer Hoylake successes together in the Scratch Foursomes with qualification through the preliminary KO rounds and then winning the Regional Final at Abbotsley Golf and Country Club in the Costa del Sol Masters Championship. This means travelling out to Spain for a week in early December for the final stages of the competition. They scored 43 points in a Better Ball Stableford format winning on countback with a 24 pts back 9, including a 5 point eagle from Lizi. Congratulations and good luck!
19.09.08: Pauline Wins Seniors 2000 Trophy: Pauline Pittman from Beds & County and Mary Haseman from Pavenham Park qualified for the Seniors 2000 competition at their clubs' May Medal. They have both battled their way to the final, which was played on Sept 19th at Aspley Guise GC in beautiful weather. It was a very closely fought final with Pauline from Bedford & County (pictured left) just triumphing over Mary from Pavenham Park by sinking the final putt on the 18th green. to win 1 up. Congratulations to both players.
22.09.08: Chris Lawry Streaks to Past Captains Victory: Chris Lawry from Pavenham Park scored a massive 42 points at the Past Captain's Annual Meeting at Beds & County on 22nd September. The Carol Rose Trophy was won by County Vice President, Margaret Watchorn, playing on her home turf, while division 1 and 2 winners were Di Morris from Aspley Guise and Paula Foot from Beds & County respectively.
20.09.08: Margaret and Eric win County Mixed Thriller: The County Mixed Championship was not played in 2007, but this prestigious competition was back with a vengeance this year, as the County's top mixed pairings gathered at The Bedford for 36 holes of scratch foursomes medal. The weather was glorious, but scoring was tough and after 36 holes, Laura and Alistair Collin from John O'Gaunt and Margaret Seabrook and Eric Murphy from The Bedfordshire were tied on 159. A sudden death play off saw the John O'Gaunt pair recover from an out of bounds with two awesome shots for a tap in 5. Meanwhile Eric and Margaret had found the greenside bunker in two. Eric's excellent bunker shot left Margaret with a 10 foot putt for victory, and the 2004-2005 County Captain held her nerve to win her first County Championship. Congratulations! Third place went to John and Cecilia Holden from John O'Gaunt, while the home pairing of Dean Stockwell and Sheila Harrison won the morning gross. Afternoon gross winners were Julie Harris and Dave Clark from Beds & County. The nett aggregate winners were Steve Woodham and Donna Steele from The Millbrook with an excellent 142, followed by Nick Hawker and Cally King from Chalgrave, from M Shaw and Louise Simons from The Bedford. Morning nett winners were Vicki Collin and Ryan Florence from John O'Gaunt and afternoon nett winners were John and Pat Anderson from Beds & County.
20.09.08: Holly Retains Liphook Scratch Title: Holly Aitchison ended her season in real style on Saturday 20th September when she successfully defended the Liphook Scratch title she won last year. In 2007, Holly smashed the course record. This year's course had been significantly lengthened, with the competition played from the white tees, so what did Holly do? She shot the joint lowest round of the day of course! The field was strong, and in a very tight finish, Holly's 70, 71 (CSS was 75!) just held off Curtis Cup player Liz Bennett by 1 shot (70,72). Rising star, Katie Burman was a very creditable 17th, Lizi Sweetnam was joint 21st and Megan Birdesy joint 33rd. Well done all!
14.09.08: More Silverware for Katie: Katie Burman from John O'Gaunt won the Midland Girls Champion of Champions and proved yet again on Sunday 14th September that she has the game for the big occasion. She added another trophy to this season's impressive haul at Shifnal where she beat the Girls County Champions from all over the region. Katie's trophies this year include: Bedfordshire County Junior Champion, Midland Girls Champion (both for the 2nd year running), John O'Gaunt Girls Open Champion, South Beds Girls Open Champion, and now Midland Girls Champion of Champions.
09.09.08: Melanie bags a Fortune at Autumn Meeting: The Autumn Silver and Bronze Division meetings were held on the same day this year at Dunstable Downs on 9th September. A wet and windy day made scoring tough, but not for home player, Melanie Fortune, who blitzed the field with a very impressive net 65. Ann Taylor from Aspley Guise warmed up for the afternoon Bronze Meeting by arriving at 7am to help with the organisation, and working hard all morning. It obviously paid off as she won the competition by 4 clear shots with 35 points in torrential rain. Congratulations!
30.08.08: Holly in Top 20 Finish in Europe: Europe is where Holly Aitchison ultimately aims to be, and we can see why, with yet another impressive performance in a European Amateur event. The European Women's Individual Amateur Championship was held from 27th to 30th August in Schloss Schonborn Golf Club near Vienna. A 72 hole strokeplay competition, including most of Europe's top amateur golfers, Holly comfortably made the cut with opening rounds of 77 and 74. The leader after 2 rounds was the well-known Spaniard, Carlotta Ciganda, who at just 18 has a +5 handicap, has played in the Vagliano trophy, and won many European titles including the English Ladies Open. She also won the European Women's Individual Championship in 2004 as a 14 year old. Carlotta went on to win the trophy. Meanwhile, Holly put 2 more quality rounds together of 75 and 73, proving herself to be comfortably among equals in this exalted company. She finished 17th which was the 4th best position achieved by a Briton. Congratulations!
29.08.08: Laura Joint 3rd at Royal Birkdale: John O'Gaunt's Laura Collin is in great form at the moment and she was determined to consolidate her +0.5 handicap, and her top 20 EWGA Order Of Merit ranking when she entered the Royal Birkdale Scratch Open. Earlier in the year Royal Birkdale had hosted The Open, and Laura set about producing an Open standard performance. She started the tournament well with a rock solid opening round of level par. This put her well in contention, and she came out in the afternoon firing on all cylinders, and attacked the course. Her 3 under par score was enough to claim joint 3rd position, but most importantly a coveted plus 1 handicap. Congratulations!
26.08.08: Lizi reaches semi final of Hoylake Open Scratch Mixed Foursomes: Lizi Sweetnam and brother Chris were among the 64 pairs from all over the country to converge on the Royal Liverpool Golf Club over the August bank holiday for the 45th running of the prestigious Hoylake Open Scratch Mixed Foursomes. They made the most of their 6th seeding in the early rounds before eventually going down to the number 2 seeds (handicaps +2 and +3!!) Unfortunately, Chris and Lizi won't be at our County Mixed, as it clashes with the Liphook Scratch. At least the rest of us will have a chance.
24.08.08: Nikki and Sandra Reach Daily Mail Foursomes Final (AGAIN!): For the second year running, Millbrook's Nikki Jackson and Sandra Gardner have reached the finals of the Daily Mail Foursomes. The final takes place at the Marriot Delmahoy, Scotland from the 19th to the 21st of October. Back in November of last year, the competition started with almost 1500 pairs entered from across the country. Nikki and Sandra have had to win through 7 rounds to reach the last 16. Congratulations and good luck!
21.08.08: More Great Performances from our Juniors at the Inter County Shield: Bedfordshire's Junior team travelled up to Hintlesham Hall on 21st August for the Inter County Shield. There were some great performances, with the highlight being Molly Thorne winning the Under 15 Silver Division nett prize shooting a nett 67 and yet another shot off her tumbling handicap. Left-handed Molly, who's handicap is now 14 still has two years left at U15 level - what a fantastic prospect for the future. Meanwhile, Sophie Hillier has been cutting her handicap steadily over the school holidays, knocking 4 shots off to reach 14. She proved there is more to come with a steady round of net 70. Sophie's goal is to cut her handicap to below dad, Steve. Watch out Steve - there's only 0.2 in it!!
20.08.08: Katie's Winning Run Continues: Can anyone stop Katie Burman? Following on from her successes at the County Junior Championships and Midland Girls Championships, Katie took part in the John O'Gaunt Girls Open, a prestigious competition hosted at her own home club, which attracts many of the top juniors from the region. The competition started in 1972 as the Boy's Open and in recent years a Girl's Open was also added. Winner in 1973 was a 16 year old from Welwyn Garden City called Nick Faldo. I wonder, in 35 years time are we going to see juniors all over the country competing in the "Burman Series", a competition started by the then Solheim Cup Captain after a glittering major-strewn career? Certainly looks that way at the moment!
18.08.08: Bedfordshire Girls feature at East Anglia Scratch: The East Anglian Scratch Championship was held at John O'Gaunt on 18th August. Laura Collin took 3rd place, Katie Burman had a hole in one at the par 3 4th hole on her way to 4th place, and Cecilia Holden took the 2nd net prize.
07.08.08: Katie also retains Midland Girls Championship: Two of the trophies Katie Burman won in 2007 are very precious to her, and she wasn't going to let them go without a fight. In July she retained her County Championship title, and on Thursday 7th August she set about retaining the Midland Girls Championship too. She won it in style last year, smashing the course record at Park Hill in Leicestershire, and helping the Bedfordshire county team to win the Bridget Jackson Salver for the first time in 20 years. This year saw the strongest ever field at the event, but Katie managed to hang onto her title. The Bedfordshire team of Katie, Lizi Sweetnam and Molly Thorne also retained the Bridget Jackson Salver and won the Beryl Turner Plate nett team score. CONGRATULATIONS! Lizi was an excellent 5th in the individual event.
01.08.08: Great Showing for Juniors at the English Girls: Bedfordshire boasted more girls than ever before at the English Girls Championships at all age ranges. John O'Gaunt's Katie Burman played superbly and qualified for the top flight, but lost her 1st round knockout after a rallying comeback. Lizi Sweetnam from Leighton Buzzard needed 2 birdies on her final 9 holes to qualify in the 2nd flight, where she missed out on a quarter final place by the narrowest of margins.
28.07.08: County Captain is County Seniors Champion: In a break from organising and running round after her team, County Captain, Lesley May, won the County Seniors Championship at Aspley Guise on Monday 28th July. With just 6 shots separating the top 20 handicaps, competition was always going to be tight. In fact it came down to a countback situation, with Lesley just pipping County Junior Organiser and former County President, Cicely Goldsmith. Cicely won the Bond Trophy for the best gross score for the over 65's. Winner of the bronze division gross prize was Marie Smith from John O'Gaunt.
26.07.08: Holly & Laura finish in Top 15 in English Amateur Strokeplay: The English Amateur Close Strokeplay is a 72 hole strokeplay competition open to all English Amateurs. Top 36 and ties after 2 days will play the final 72 holes on Thursday. Holly overcame injury to set the pace on day 1 with a very impressive 3 under par 69, and a share of the lead. Both girls made the cut comfortably and scored well in the final 36 holes.
21.07.08: 2nd Team Post Impressive Win Against Suffolk: County Vice Captain Elaine Bruce must have been taking lessons in inspired foursomes partnerships from Captain Lesley when the 2nd Team took on Suffolk at Beadlow. A 3-1 lead after the morning foursomes was just what the team needed, with debutants Vicki Collin and Dawn Glennie each winning with their respective partners. The afternoon singles was halved 4 apiece, and so Bedfordshire got off to the perfect start in their defence of the Norfolk Bowl, winning 7-5. Keep it going!
20.07.08: Katie Burman Retains County Junior Championship: The afternoon of Sunday July 20th was all about reigning champions beating the weather and retaining their titles in style. Padraig Harrington mastered the blustery conditions at Royal Birkdale and wiped the opposition out on the back 9 to retain The Open Championship. Katie Burman from John O'Gaunt did exactly the same at Beds & County, posting a score no-one could match to retain her Bedfordshire Junior County Championship.
17.07.08: Clare Wilkie wins Junior Fun Day: This year's competition was won by Clare Wilkie age 11 from Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands; runner up was Annabel Pitts age 10 from Beadlow Manor.
14.07.08: Holly and Laura in British Open Pre-Qualifying: The Ricoh British Open is unique among professional tournaments in that anybody in the world can enter providing they have a handicap of scratch or better. That means that our Holly Aitchison from The Bedfordshire and Laura Collin from John O'Gaunt were both eligible to enter the Pre Qualifying on 14th July. They lined up with amateur and professional hopefuls from all over the globe, and although both girls just missed out on places in Final Qualifying, they played extremely well, and Bedfordshire is very proud of our superstars. We all dream of being there one day.
23.06.08: Pauline Pittman and Pat Anderson win 36 hole Stableford: With two stunning rounds of golf, Pauline Pittman and Pat Anderson left the rest of the field standing at their home course on 23rd June, winning the 36 Hole Stableford, and bagging the Lanaway Pictures.
10.06.08: County Week 2008: In the extended format, the Bedfordshire County Team did themselves proud at a very wet Newmarket, finishing joint 3rd. 3.8 inches of rain fell over the 5 days, and great credit must go to the Newmarket green staff in keeping the course open and playable.
3.06.08: 3 out of the top 6 places go to Bedfordshire in the South East Schools: Bedfordshire girls figured in the top six places of the NAS/UWT South East England Schools Championship held at Letchworth Golf Club, Hertfordshire during half term. Katie Burman finished 3rd, Lizi Sweetnam 5th and Megan Birdsey 6th - Champion was Heidi Beck from Suffolk with scores of 73/71. The County team were runners up to Essex in the Team competition. Katie and Lizi were selected for the S.E. Schools team to go to The Kendleshire GC, Bristol at the end of June for the NAS/UWT National Championship and Megan as a reseve in a final 'Pool' for additional individual places.
18.05.08: Laura joint winner of the Critchley Salver: We may be the smallest county, but we have the biggest talent: Laura Collin from John O'Gaunt was co-winner of the Critchley Salver, held at Sunningdale on 27th May. She had a dream start with 3 birdies in the first 5 holes in the morning to finish 3 under. She consolidated that in the afternoon with a fine level par performance, taking joint 1st place with Kerry Smith from Waterlooville. Our own Holly Aitchison from The Bedfordshire continued her excellent season finishing in 3rd place, just one shot behind.
10.05.08: Holly wins County Championship in Epic Battle: Families all over Bedfordshire have been cancelling their subscriptions to Sky Sports after realising that they only need go to County Championships to see professional standard golf being played. The pressure was certainly on The Bedfordshire's Holly Aitchison as she set about retaining the County Championship at her home course, but she came through to win a thrilling final against club mate Sally Shayler.
10.05.08: Paula Collin Takes County Cup: Its tough to focus on your own semi-final when following behind you is your daughter, swapping birdie for birdie in the Championship semi-final, but Paula dug deep to win both her semi-final and final to take the County Cup on 10th May. Congratulations!
04.05.08: Holly in Top 10 finish at the Welsh Open: Bedfordshire's Holly Aitchison continued her excellent form at the Welsh Ladies Open Strokeplay event at Pyle & Kenfig on 3rd/4th May. Conditions were awful and scoring was tough, but Holly put together 3 great rounds to finish joint 9th, and with her England team mates took the Nations Cup. The Nations Cup event had teams of 3 from each country with the best 6 rounds out of 9 aggregated. The England girls contributed 2 rounds each, with Holly setting the pace on day 1. Well done!!
27.04.08: Fiona Cooper is Bedfordshire Schools High Handicap Champion: The County Schools Handicap Team Championship was held at the Bedfordshire on Monday 14th April in very cold wintry conditions. Fiona Cooper won the County High Handicap Girls Champion prize with 36 points with Georgia Testa in second place with 33 points and Molly Thorne third with 31 points.
26.04.08: Holly and Laura put in great performances at Helen Holm: The Helen Holm Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship was played over Portland and Royal Troon, 25-27 April, and attracted a top class field from across Europe including our own superstars, Holly Aitchison and Laura Collin. Both had excellent scores in the first 2 rounds, easily making the cut. Holly shot 152 and Laura 149. Holly's 3 under par 72 in the final round pushed her up the leader board to 21st place, and cut her handicap to +2. [Editor's note: imagine shooting level par and being outside your buffer zone!!!]
No rest for the girls. They both head to Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club for the Welsh Open Strokeplay Championship on May 3 and 4 before popping home for County Championships and then on to the Scottish Open. Holly will represent England at the Nations Cup at the Welsh. Congratulations and good luck to both.
19.04.08: Juniors beat the weather and Norfolk:
Bedfordshire took on Norfolk at Pavenham Park Golf Club on Saturday 19th April once again in very wet and cold conditions. The 1st Team won by 4 matches to 2 and the 2nd Team lost 2 matches to 1 but Bedfordshire were delighted with first time performances, and 1st caps for their county, by Vanessa Jay from Leighton Buzzard and Victoria Wally from Aspley Guise.
13.04.08: Megan Birdsey takes Junior Past Captains' Salver: County Junior Captain, Megan Birdsey, playing on her home course, took the Junior Past Captains' Salver with 34 stableford points.
01.04.2008: Lucinda Holden wins Janet Miller Trophy: Lucinda Holden from Beds & County won the 2nd Division Spring meeting with an excellent 98, and then followed it up with a resounding victory in the afternoon foursomes with partner Ann Coates.
01.03.2008: Holly "Best of British": Bedfordshire Golf Club's Holly Aitchison led the British contingent at the Spanish amateur championship held in February after the medal rounds. Holly qualified in joint 10th place for the match play event but was narrowly defeated in her first match. Well done Holly!
26.02.2008: Holly Selected for England: Bedfordshire Golf Club is proud to announce that Holly Aitchison has been selected for one of England's two teams for Spain this week, who will bid for honours in the Nations Cup event at this week's Spanish amateur championship. Holly has been selected to play in the event at La Reserva from Wednesday February 27th to Sunday March 2nd. The Spanish championship will provide England's Curtis Cup hopefuls with their final chance to impress the selectors. The GB & I team to take on the USA at St Andrews at the end of May will be announced by the Ladies Golf Union on March 6th.
GOOD LUCK HOLLY!