County Week 2016

24 June, 2016

The opening morning of CMW 2016 was disappointing for all the counties with the morning foursomes matches having to be abandoned due to torrential rain but the green staff worked hard to get the course playable for the afternoon singles matches. Our County Champion, Millie Anderson, led the way against Worcestershire & Herefordshire and closed out a well-deserved halved match. Sam won a close match, 1 up but unfortunately the other matches went W & H’s way and took the match 4.5 to 1.5.

We faced Northamptonshire on Tuesday and the team was determined to put the previous day’s loss behind them. We were all square after the morning foursomes matches following a good win in a tight match by Millie & Cara and a half for Sam & Amy. Cara led the way in the afternoon and together with Sam and Kate put 3 points on the board from the singles. Amy lost to the experienced Irish Senior’s International player, Mary MacLaren, but put up a tough fight losing just 2 & 1. Going out last, Millie’s halved match earnt us our first win of the week beating Northamptonshire 5 : 4.

Day 3 saw us playing Berkshire against whom we have had a successful record in recent County Match Weeks. The morning foursomes didn’t go our way though and Berkshire took all 3 matches fairly comfortably. Jane, who was only able to play the one day at CMW this year, gave us exactly the afternoon start we needed with a 2 & 1 win over another Irish Senior’s International player, Laura Webb. A narrow loss for Sam, 1 down and then for Kate and Amy too left us unable to win the match but Maggie Findlay, playing in her first CMW, brought in another point for the team and her first points towards her county colours.

I was looking forward to Thursday when we would have 3 juniors playing. With GCSE’ finished, Victoria and Sally had now joined us. Today would be a tough challenge for the Oxfordshire team – with Jane & Sam back at work we were without two of our strongest players and facing the talented young Bucks team – undefeated so far this week and winners of the previous two Midlands South CMW’s. The experienced pairing of Cara & Kate won their foursomes match so we went into lunch 1:2 down. With some large handicap differences between our players and the Buckinghamshire girls, we took some heavy losses in the afternoon singles despite playing some excellent golf. Millie’s half and Cara’s win gave us another 1.5 points from the singles but the match was won by Bucks 6.5 to 2.5.

Friday saw us playing Warwickshire – a repeat of last year’s final day. The morning foursomes were extremely tight with all 3 pairs going to the 18th hole. Out first, Cara & Kate halved followed by another half from Millie playing with junior, Sally Ayres. That was a great result with Sally having played little golf this year and she only finished her GCSE’s a couple of days prior. Our final pairing were juniors, Amy Boote & Victoria Hart, playing foursomes together for the first time! The girls were well down in their match early on but fought back hard, playing some gutsy golf and, despite losing 2 down, I was delighted that they took their match to the 18th hole. So 2:1 down at lunchtime. Out first again in the singles, Millie made short work of her match winning 6&5 and Cara also played some of her best golf of the week winning 5 & 3 in the final match. In her first CMW singles match, Victoria was soon 2-up , a lead she maintained thought the early part of the back 9 too. However, her opponent was 1-handicap Gemma Bradbury and her experience enabled her to get back into the match which she eventually won 2 up. What a great day for Victoria though, going up 18 in both her matches …. something I remember Millie did in her first CMW against similarly experienced players.

Who would win the 2016 Midlands South County Week all rested on the final match of the day between Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, both undefeated in their matches so far. Berkshire took a 2:1 lead in the morning foursomes, but the strong Buckinghamshire team took 4 of the afternoon singles matches to edge a 5:4 win over the host county. Commiserations to Berkshire but congratulations to Buckinghamshire on their third successive win and we wish them well for County Finals in September.

Stats from the week:

• Millie, Cara & Kate all played 9 matches
• Millie was unbeaten in her 4 singles matches
• Maggie (2 points for a singles win) and Sally (0.5 point for a foursomes half) started their county colours points tally
• Amy (0.5 point for a foursomes half) added to her county colours points tally 

Along with 4 of the other counties, the team stayed at nearby national sports centre – Bisham Abbey. At less than 3 miles from Temple Golf Club it was certainly a very convenient location. Temple was in excellent condition and players from all counties enjoyed the way the course was set up for the week. We also enjoyed excellent hospitality and a very warm welcome from all of the staff and members at Temple.

My two county weeks have been equally enjoyable. Last year we had a strong team and enjoyed our best finish for many years. This year we were missing a number of our lower handicap players but, as always, our team spirit was excellent and I was especially proud of our junior players on the final day. My thanks to all of the players and to Karen & Barbara for their support in the lead-up and throughout the week. On behalf of all of the squad, our thanks also to all those who caddied or came along to support the team during the week.