Harewood Downs Golf Club, Buckinghamshire
It certainly didn’t seem a year since we were battling with the other Midlands South Counties at County Match Week, but here we were at Harewood Downs. Despite having a couple of notable absences due injury and holiday commitments, we had a great squad…. Tracy Crew, Jane Sly, Sheree Dove-Wilde, Linda Hunt, Gayle Kennedy, Sarah Heath, Chloe Walkington, Tess Samuels and this year’s rookie, Katy Lansley.
The buggy was again looking resplendent thanks to 2nd team Captain, Lucy Dunn-Sims.
As luck would have it, or not…. We had drawn Buckinghamshire in the first match. We knew it was going to be tough, and we were not wrong. They haven’t won it for the past 10 years by accident. We were simply outgunned. Katy was drawn against Ella Butteriss of Beaconsfield {+4 handicap} and had a baptism of fire in her first County Match Week. The rest of the team did not fare much better, except the awesome foursome pairing of Gayle and Tess who got a half. There was some small satisfaction in the fact that they didn’t whitewash us.
In the afternoon we faced Oxfordshire. I assured Katy that they didn’t have an “Ella” and she would be fine. As it happened, the whole team was fine and we had a great 5-0 victory!! What was quite surprising was how well Chloe played considering the state of her clubs,,, which she admitted to never having cleaned! I suggested that she cleaned them that evening, or may not be getting any supper!
Tuesday morning saw another tough match against Worcestershire and Herefordshire. They were runners up last year and have a great squad. We managed one win from Chloe, probably because her clubs were now clean.
Tuesday afternoon’s match was Warwickshire. Tess had been playing well and I decided to play her in the singles. She did not disappoint with a 7&5 victory. Sarah was paired with Gayle and also won, as did Katy, and Chloe got a half. Berks won 3.5 – 1.5.
So we went into our final match against Northamptonshire having won 2 matches and lost 2 matches. Tess was back in foursomes with Gayle, we had seasoned veterans Sheree and Jane in the second foursomes with Katy, Sarah and Chloe playing singles.
3rd place was going to be the prize for the winners. All the matches were tight, but we won 3-2. It is worth noting that the 2 matches we lost were only lost on the last hole.
Berkshire were 3rd!! That is our best finish in some years and I am incredibly proud of my team. So… last year 5th, this year 3rd…. next year….??
We will be at Tadmarton Heath on June 8th – June 10th next year and I really cannot wait.
I would like to say a massive thank you to our caddies, Steve, Lucy, Richard, Tarnya, Ian, Elaine, Debbie, Jacqui and Yvonne. We also had great support, which was lovely to see and I’m sure gave the team a boost.
Jules Tarr
Berkshire County Captain