Nottinghamshire County Ladies Golf Association
County Week 2024 Report
Derbyshire and Burton on Trent Golf Club were this year’s host to the Midlands North Region finals between Lincolnshire, Leicestershire & Rutland, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Nottinghamshire. Like many courses Burton Golf Club had struggled to cope with the wet conditions and the course was playing very long.
Day 1
Nottinghamshire knew they would be up against it as they played last year’s winners Lincolnshire. In a very tight match Notts were victorious 3-2 with Lauren Spray and 14-year-old debutant Millie Marsh winning 3&1, the playful duo of Laura Morris and Jorja Newbold winning 4&2 and 16 year old Lizzie Wilson winning her singles match 5&4.
Next up in the afternoon were hosts Derbyshire. Nottinghamshire were dominant winning 4 and halving 1.
Our foursomes pairings of Lauren Spray & Millie Marsh and Laura Morris & Jorja Newbold won 5&4 and 2 up respectively. There were convincing wins for Lizzie Wilson 7&6 and Emily Rowbottom 8&6. The most exciting finish was reserved for debutant Sophie Godley who fought back courageously from 5 down with 6 to play to win half a point with a fantastic birdie on the last hole.
Day 2
Next up the undefeated Leicestershire & Rutland. With Sophie and Emily unavailable with work commitments, stalwarts of the squad Caron Harrison and Vicki Johnson opened the match against arguably Leicestershire’s strongest pairing. Defeat left Notts needing 3 of the remaining 4 games to go their way. They were up to the challenge with the formidable pairing of Lauren and Millie winning 6&4, Jorja winning 3&1 and Lizzie dominating her opponent 7&5.
Notts 3-2 victory left them as the only undefeated team in the competition. Next up a very strong Shropshire team who were smarting after their 3-2 defeat to Leicestershire and Rutland the day before.
Notts were buoyed up by the return of Sophie who had managed to get half a day’s holiday from her night shift. Nontheless Shropshire proved too strong. Lizzie dominated her game and won 5&3. The undefeated and increasingly impressive pairing of Lauren and Millie were up against it and were 1 down with 2 to play. After winning hole17 the pressure was on both pairs. After the tee shots, Lauren played her approach shot some 50 yards behind her opponent to an unsighted green that sloped from front to back. She hit a magnificent iron that clung onto the back of the green. Left with a flick of a wedge their opponent hit a lovely approach 15 feet short of the pin. Under the most intense pressure Millie narrowly missed her 25 ft birdie putt but crucially left the ball within gimme range. Shropshire narrowly missed their 15 ft birdie putt and gravity left them with a 6 ft return putt which they duly missed giving Lauren and Millie a highly significant win. The final score 3-2 to Shropshire.
Final Day
Going into the final match things could not have been tighter. Shropshire led Notts by half a point whilst Notts led their next opponent by half a point. Shropshire were outstanding favourites as they played Derbyshire who had failed to win a single match throughout the tournament. Notts on the other hand played Staffordshire who had won all but one of their matches. The scenario was simple, Notts needed to win at least 4 games against a talented Staffordshire side and hope that Derbyshire could win 2 matches against Shropshire.
Staffs put their strongest pairing out first against Laura and Caron. When they lost Notts needed to win their remaining 4 matches. Jorja and Sophie were awesome in their singles matches each beating their opponents 4&3. Lauren and Millie were again playing a very tight match securing victory on the 17th hole 2&1.
The pressure was on Lizzie to win the final point that might secure victory if Derbyshire could do the improbable. Lizzie who was a little under the weather was also having her toughest match of the tournament and was leading by a slender 1 up playing 15th when all the players and supporters arrived.
The ever-dependable Lizzie took the 15th to go 2 up. When her opponent made bogey on 16, Lizzie made an up and down par for a 3&2 win. Notts had won their 4 points………….. but what about Derbyshire v Shropshire who were playing directly behind. There was utter mayhem as news filtered through that Derbyshire had won 2 matches and if that were the case (which had not been confirmed) then Notts were Champions.
Derbyshire eventually beat Shropshire 3-2, meaning Notts won overall as the only team with 8 points for their 4 wins.
There is no doubt the Notts success was not just about the super talented squad of players but more importantly the camaraderie and team spirit of everyone involved.
The National Finals are to be played at Stover Golf Club, Devon 19th -22nd September 2024. Hope to see you there.
Julie Revill - County Captain
Full results can be found on the County Matches page - HERE
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