DEVONGOLF
The South West Schools' Championship was held at The Players Club, Bristol, on Tuesday, 1st June. Boys and girls played on the same day for individual and team honours. The top 6 boys and the top 3 girls qualify for the English Schools' National Championship at Belton Park Golf Club, Lincolnshire on 28th June. The team prizes are decided by each county nominating 4 scores from the 6 boys plus all 3 of the girls' scores to count. As a team, Devon did not finish high up on the board but there were some excellent individual results.
Ollie Amos (Bovey Tracey), Ethan Jeffery (RND), David Baldwin (Tiverton), Isaac Bond (Torquay) and Will Hunt (Saunton) made up the Boys' Team, with one player unable to play. Ollie Amos (0) finished a very credible 9th with a gross/nett 76. He is now first reserve for Belton Park as the 2 ahead have already declared they won't be playing.
The DevonGolf Girls' Team players were Lauren McGinnis (Churston), Gudrun Nolan (East Devon) and Sophie Page (Exeter). They put in very strong performances with all 3 finishing in the top 10 out of the 6 counties. Despite the blisteringly hot conditions they managed to keep their cool!
Lauren McGinnis (3) performed brilliantly to finish level par with a gross 73, cutting her handicap back to 2 and only losing out on first place by 1 shot to Somerset’s Davina Xanh (+3) who finished 1 under with a gross 75, nett 72. Gudrun Nolan (4) finished in 5th place, playing just 2 over her handicap and scoring an impressive nett 75. Sophie Page (8), after a tricky first 9, finished strongly with a level par back 9 to finish in 10th position with a nett 78.
Collectively, the girls finished a very strong second in the Girls' Team prize, narrowly missing out on victory after tying 2 scores with the Girls' Team winners Somerset.
Lauren has now qualified (as one of the top 3 girls) to play in the English Schools' National Championship at Belton Park Golf Club, Lincolnshire on 28th June. This will give her the opportunity to gain an International Schools’ Cap in matches against Wales (on Monday 30th August at Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club and against Scotland on Monday, 13th September at Penrith Golf Club, Cumbria. Gudrun Nolan is first reserve and DevonGolf can be very proud of them all.