Junior News 2008
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.
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!
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.
Cambs & Hunts Win Regional Junior Matches: 7th September saw the final round of junior county matches for Bedfordshire girl golfers. Their match was a Gog Magog golf club versus Cambs and Hunts and at the same time, Suffolk took on Norfolk. The girls warmed up on the range and putting green in a light drizzle before stepping out onto the course under a bit of warm sunshine. The first team found themselves playing a class field from Cambs and Hunts and despite some very good golf, Bedfordshire girls conceded every match. Megan Birdsey commented "I was 2 down and level par after the first three holes" which summed up their experience. The second team fared much better and the girls were several holes up in their first two matches when thunder and lightning stopped play. Bethany Healey (age 10) and Claire Hillier (age 15) both played their first ever county matches and were also doing well when play was stopped. After a tea of Ham egg and chips, Molly Thorne and Nicola Dennison were awarded County Colours by the president of the BLCGA, Audrey Shuter. The girls said a fond farewell to Lizi Sweetnam who has played as a junior for 7 years and has been a strong member and great supporter of girls golf in Bedfordshire, but will be too old for junior golf in 2009. Cambs and Hunts will go on to represent our region in the divisional finals at Droitwich in October.
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!!
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!!) Click here for full report. 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.
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!
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.
Great Showing for Juniors at the English Girls: Bedfordshire boasted more girls than ever before at the English Girls Championships at all age ranges. In the U15 event, Molly Thorne and Georgia Testa from The Bedfordshire and Sophie Hillier and Katherine Carragher from John O'Gaunt all competed. Although none of the girls made the cut, it was excellent experience for them, particularly considering most will still be playing in the U15's next year. The competition was balloted out on handicap, and in 2006, the cut off was 22.5. This year at both U13 and U15 level, 18.5 was the highest handicap, showing the rapid rate of improvement of girls golf all over the country. At U18 level, Katie Burman, Lizi Sweetnam and Megan Birdsey continued their whistlestop tour of the country at the Durham City Golf Club for the English Girls Championships. Conditions were tough, and although the par was 72, standard scratch went up to 75 in both qualifying rounds. Only 3 players played under par over any 9 holes on Day 1 and 7 on Day 2 and the scoring was high on both days. Many found the greens tricky, not necessarily for speed (as in fast), but there were very few flat putts and much undulation and slope in the greens. They were also hard and not receptive. Katie is getting used to defying the conditions to post a great score, and two 79's meant she qualified comfortably for the top flight knockout. Lizi Sweetnam had played well but didn't have the score to prove it, until she made 2 birdies on her final back 9 to force her way into the 2nd flight knockout. Katie met scratch golfer Rebecca McGinley in the last 32, who took a big early lead. Katie fought back hard, but eventually just ran out of holes, but still a very creditable performance, with Katie once again mixing it up with the very best amateurs in England. In flight 2, Lizi Sweetnam had a battle royal against 4 handicapper, Charlotte Hope, coming through to win with birdies on 9 and 10 and an eagle at the 13th. In the last 16, Lizi played Alice Young from Kenilworth, and like Katie earlier, rallied from 3 down, but just missed out on 18th. Both girls showed tremendous courage to fight back, and it is great to see our stars of the future up there among the top players in the country. Katie and Lizi both feature prominently in the EWGA Girls Order of Merit, which is a huge achievement given that exam commitments kept Katie out of County Championships and Lizi out of County Week. Well done to all the girls.
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.
Clare Wilkie wins Junior Fun Day: On a rare day of sunshine and no wind, 11 budding girl golfers assembled at the Bedfordshire Golf Club for the annual County girl's fun competition. This included a quiz, putting competition and playing the par 3 academy course. After a warm up on the driving range, the girls set out in groups, each with a lady helper, to complete the 3 events. These girls, who don't yet have handicaps, showed off their beautiful swings to the watching ladies of the County junior girls committee, who are looking for rising stars and future Bedfordshire champions! The competition was won by Clare Wilkie age 11 from Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands. The runner up was Annabel Pitts age 10 from Beadlow Manor. The age group winners were Liffie Diskin (10 and under), Olivia Cornick (11 and 12year olds) and Louisa Turner (13 and 14 year olds). The putting was won by Simrita Sangha and the quiz by Clare Wilkie. Spot prizes went to Liffie Diskin and Nicola Westgate both aged just 9. Esmie Jappy, Lucy Jasper, Emma Currell and Chloe Firkins joined the winners in taking home a special BLCGA goody bag. The day was a great success and our warm thanks go to the event organiser Vicky Astley and to Bedfordshire GC and their volunteer lady helpers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New Junior Captain Announced:
Megan Birdsey is Junior Girls Captain for the year 2008.
Juniors off to a good start against Suffolk:
The girls all played well and the first team halved 3 matches all; the second team won; 2 matches to 1. "This was a good victory against Suffolk who I believe have beaten our girls in the past." said match organiser Gill Westgate.