WOMEN'S INTER-CLUB COUNTY FINALS DAY 2023

 Rosie Burnham, Women's Inter-Club County Tournament Organiser reports: 

The sun shone on the Women’s Inter-Club County Finals Day this year, always a relief for an event held as the weather turns autumnal. This year we used two venues. Tiverton Golf Club was host for the Still Cup, President’s Trophy and the Doris Willes Little Foursomes finals. Tiverton had been earmarked for the Finals Day but Tiverton 1 ladies qualified for the final of The Sheelah Creasy Bowl, leading to a rethink and co-operation from another club. That club was Downes Crediton who kindly hosted Tiverton 1 v Saunton. My thanks to Downes Crediton for hosting the Creasy Final and special thanks to Lady Captain Rebecca Aven for welcoming the teams and helping with ball spotting. Thanks also to Jane MacDonald-Smith for taking the time to referee the games. After the match, both Creasy teams travelled back up to Tiverton to join the other teams for the meal and trophy presentations. Our DevonGolf President Pam St Leger acted as Starter at Tiverton with Vicky Holloway running the Sheelah Creasy Bowl at Downes Crediton, ably assisted by Lorna Elliott. 

28 teams took part in the Sheelah Creasy Bowl this year. I think it would be fair to say it has been a very challenging season for this competition with its new format of 4BBB which caused a few issues in terms of pace of play and indeed ‘how to play’!  After the quarter finals at Teign Valley Golf Club at the start of August the teams who made it through to the semi-finals were Tiverton 1, Bovey Tracey, East Devon and Saunton. After a long, hot and very dusty day at Portmore Golf Club in September, Bovey Tracey and East Devon took home the semi-finalist trophies with Tiverton 1 and Saunton winning through to the final, huge congratulations to both teams.

There were very wet ground conditions at Downes Crediton which made the course particularly tough for any shorter hitters. The Tiverton 1 team hit the ground running and were up in all three games at the halfway point. Game 1 was won 5&4 by Janet Webber and Marg Sampson from Tiverton – a particularly impressive result for Janet who has been playing golf for less than two years. Game 2 was won 1-up on the 18th by Julia Cole and Alison Frankpitt of Tiverton to secure the match. Game 3 was called in, the ladies being all square after 17 holes.

The Sheelah Creasy runner-up 2023 winning the Olwen Williams Salver is Saunton and their Vice Captain Julie Gavin received the trophy on their behalf.

The winner of the Sheelah Creasy Bowl for 2023 is Tiverton 1 and Team Captain Julia Cole received the trophy for her team. President Pam St Leger presented the beautiful silverware to the competing teams.

At Tiverton the first final of the day was for the Still Cup, the scratch matchplay competition. The semi-finals were at Tavistock at the end of August with East Devon playing Okehampton and Saunton playing Torquay. That was a very exciting day but with a rather unexpected result – both Torquay and East Devon, who have dominated the competition in the past few years, were beaten and took home the semi-finalist trophies, rather smaller than the hardware they have been used to winning. 

Okehampton and Saunton were through to the final, a great achievement for both teams but it did present rather a problem for Okehampton. They have quite a small women's section and some ladies had played in both the Still Cup and the President’s Trophy throughout the season. As they had also made it through to the President’s Trophy final they didn’t have enough women to field full teams for both. It meant the Okehampton Still Cup team was only 6 strong, therefore game 7 was a walkover to the Saunton team if, and only if, the match tied at 3 games apiece. Just to note, it was not only Okehampton who were in two finals. Saunton were in both the Still Cup and Sheelah Creasy Bowl finals –  congratulations to both clubs on such a successful season.

The ladies set off with great enthusiasm and we saw some great shots off the tee. The first game out was the battle of the ‘Abbies’ – between Abby Turner of Okehampton and Abbie Welsher of Saunton. Saunton Abbie was back to golf less than four weeks after the birth of her daughter Millie, congratulations!  Abby Turner took the win 6&5 for Okehampton, followed by two more wins for Okehampton courtesy of Stacey Bale (6&5) and Frances Harbron (5&3). With three games won, Okehampton needed just one more to take the overall match win - and things then got even more exciting as the remaining matches were all square.

Game 4 between Okehampton’s Marcia Collett and Saunton’s Sally Charnock was all square after 18 and proceeded down the 19th. As we waited on a result the next game was also all square after 18. Sue Stanbury from Okehampton and Helena Standen from Saunton were poised to tee off on the 19th when the result from game 4 came through. Marcia had won on the 19th to take the match win for Okehampton.  

The runner-up for the Still Cup and winning the E. Young Bowl is Saunton Golf Club and their Lady Captain Nicky Sandom received the trophy.  

2023 Still Cup winner is Okehampton Golf Club in only their second year of entering the competition - a remarkable achievement. President Pam St Leger presented the trophy to Team Captain Frances Harbron.

The President’s Trophy had 25 team entries this year. The quarter finals were played at Yelverton followed four weeks later by the semi-finals at Torquay where Royal North Devon played Okehampton and Bigbury played Ilfracombe. After some very exciting games the semi-finalist trophies were presented to Royal North Devon and Bigbury.

The President’s Trophy final was between Okehampton and Ilfracombe. Okehampton were only able to field a team of 5 so would need to win 4 of the 5 games to win the match, a very big ask. Through the first 9 holes Ilfracombe had the lead in all 5 games and they held on to this lead for the results they needed – games 1 & 2 were both a 2&1 win for Ilfracombe courtesy of Kate Eastman and Jean Wills. With two games secured and only three games left on the course it meant Okehampton could not achieve the wins needed and Ilfracombe took the match. As this information was filtering through there was one more win for Ilfracombe, a 4&2 win for Mandy Melaragni.

The runner up for the President’s Trophy is Okehampton Golf Club and their Acting Team Captain Maggie Caws received the Juliet Gardner Memorial Trophy.

The winner of the President’s Trophy for 2023 is Ilfracombe Golf Club and Lady Captain Evelyn Jones received the trophy - ‘Maud’ for her team.

Playing between the Still Cup and the President’s Trophy was the final of the Doris Willes-Little Foursomes. 34 teams entered this knockout competition and were gradually whittled down through the season playing matches on neutral courses. At the semi-final stage Thurlestone played Portmore and Wrangaton played Holsworthy, with Portmore and Holsworthy winning the semi-finalist trophies. Thurlestone and Wrangaton were in the final with Liz Sharman and Janet Richardson representing Thurlestone and Sue Ansley and Kim Flook representing Wrangaton. Special mention must be made of Liz Stewart of Thurlestone and Ruth Bickle of Wrangaton, who both played in the competition right through to this last stage when they could not play and the reserves had to step in.

Wrangaton were 1-up at the turn and they built on that lead during a very tight but enjoyable match to take the overall match win 3&1. Liz Sharman and Janet Richardson from Thurlestone are the runners-up and the winners are Sue Ansley and Kim Flook from Wrangaton winning the Doris Willes-Little trophy. It was a poignant moment for Sue and Kim as, only the day before, they had received the news that Wrangaton Golf Club, after 128 years, would cease from 5pm the next day. A proud moment for them both at a very sad time.

Congratulations to all the ladies for some excellent golf throughout the divisional and knock out stages to reach the finals. Well done to all the other people involved – Lady Captains, Team Captains, caddies and supporters.

Thanks to Tiverton Lady Captain Julie Haskell for her warm welcome and thanks to Tiverton Golf Club for hosting us, especially the greens staff who presented the course so well. Thanks to the Pro Shop staff, Hospitality Manager John for his help with planning, to Amy, Sophy and the team behind the bar and kitchen who looked after us so well. Special thanks to Pam for starting all the matches and presenting the trophies and thanks to our referees David Smith and Lorna Brown. A big thank you also to Wendy Stanbury who took charge of all things publicity – tweeting results and taking photos, it was much appreciated.

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