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!

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. Click here for full report.

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. Click here for full details.

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. For full details click here  

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 20^th 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. Click here for full report

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. Click here for report and pictures.

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. Click here for all the winners

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. Click here for full report and pictures from the week.

03.06.08: 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. Click here for details and full report.
 
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!! Click here for full details

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. Click here for full report.

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.  Click here for full report.

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. Click here for report and full results.  

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. Click here for full results.