AND THIS IS HOW THE DEVON GIRLS WON THE INTER-COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP

DevonGolf Girls' U18s Team Manager Hannah Stephens reports:

Broadstone Golf Club was the setting for this year's South West Girls' Inter-Counties Championship - and what a course it was to test the very best of the teams from across all 6 counties of the South West: Dorset, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and, of course, Devon. The Devon girls were very well prepared having already played a friendly against Dorset earlier in the year at Broadstone and then playing an additional practice round with Jon Axford the Sunday before the tournament, which proved to be extremely useful in terms of the current playing conditions of the course and hole strategy.

The team from left to right: Isla Schofield, Tommasina Miali, Georgia Denega, Emily Goddard,
Freya Goddard (reserve), Chloe MacPherson, Sothea Kasparis, Martha Massingham (reserve), Edith Cottee-Strong,
Belle Tarr, Team Captain Susie Carr & Team Manager Hannah Stephens

On Sunday, 3rd August, the teams met at Broadstone after lunch for a final practice round for Devon, although it seemed this was the first sight of the course for some of the girls from other counties. The girls gathered for team photos before heading out for a final look at the course before the competition commencing early the following day. Meanwhile the Team Managers/CJO’s, Tournament Office and referees all met for their briefing and received their team folders complete with all the week's paperwork and team lists. Once the girls finished their practice it was time to load all the clubs and trollies into various officials and parents cars and head over to the accommodation, where the team and officials enjoyed a pizza and pasta dinner before a relatively early night ahead of the first match. The team were accompanied by Hannah Stephens (Girls' U18s Team Manager), Vicky Holloway (Women's Team Manager), Rosie Burnham (Welfare Officer) and Wendy Stanbury (Competitions Manager). Operations Manager Paul Cloke and Girls' Team PGA Professional Jon Axford also gave up 4 days to support and encourage the team. 

The scoring for this competition is 1 point for a match win - irrespective of how many games are won from the 5 played against each county. A 5-0 win or a 3-2 win, both translate to 1 point. A draw is a ½ point. The number of games won overall only come into play if there is a tie.

Day 1, Monday - Everyone in the house rose to a 5.30am alarm to be at the course for 7am (not any teenage girls' favourite time of the day...). It was overcast and damp, not too much rain but enough to require waterproofs and umbrellas, which was a shame compared to the forecast we were expecting. The girls headed to the range for a team warm-up and some motivational words from Jon before heading to the first tee.

Monday Morning - Match 1 v Gloucestershire 

It was only fitting that Team Captain Susie Carr (Teignmouth) led the team in the first match of the tournament. Susie faced one of the strongest opponents in the field, Mariella Buchanan playing off +2. Susie very calmly hit the first tee shot straight down the middle of the fairway into prime position to reach the par 5 green in 2 to win the first hole to go 1-up.

Belle Tarr (Churston) was next to tee it up for Devon playing Millie Gait, a scratch golfer and fellow South West England Regional squad member alongside her team mate Mariella. Belle was receiving just 2 shots so it was going to be a great game and that showed with the game being all-square after 4 holes.

Third to play for Devon was Georgia Denega (Churston) facing Taylor Hodgson. It was set to be another tight game and was also all-square after 4 holes, with Georgia receiving 1 of her 2 shots on hole 3.

Next up were the Foursomes and a debut for Sothea Kasparis (Torquay) playing alongside Tommasina Miali (Saunton). The girls faced a much lower combined handicap duo of Neve Jeffery playing off 1 and Jasmine Ren playing off 9, our girls receiving 12 shots. They got off to a good start but were somewhat out-played by the experienced and very much on form opposition to go 3 down after 5 holes.

The final pairing was the experienced duo of Edith Cottee-Strong (Churston) & Chloe MacPherson (Saunton) receiving 11 shots from another low combination of Rosie Boyle playing off 3 and Frances Sullivan playing off 8. Our girls got off to the strongest possible start winning the first 3 holes.

Susie’s game was proving quite the battle and was all-square after 6, until Susie narrowly missed an albatross opportunity on the very tricky 7th hole as her 2nd shot narrowly missed the hole. Susie tapped in to make eagle and take the game to 1-up and then 2-up after 9.

Belle, after being all-square after 7, went 1-up after 9 and then won the 10th to go to 2-up. Georgia was up against it with her opponent who was on top form and took a 4-up lead at the half way point. Susie, Belle and Edith & Chloe held onto their leads through 12 and Georgia brought her game back to just 2-down after 11 but the first Foursomes game was now 4-down after 10 holes.

The first win went to Devon with Susie closing out her game on the par 3, 15th hole to win 4-3. Belle also won the 15th to go 1-up with 3 to play, but Georgia’s opponent had fought back again to regain a 4-up lead. The games were very close at this point and it was getting a little tense. However, it wasn’t long before news of the next Devon win came in via the WhatsApp group that Belle had won 2-up. We just needed 1 result to go our way from the remaining 2 Foursome games to secure the overall match win. Chloe & Edith won the 14th to go dormy 4 and things were looking good, especially as Sothea and Tommasina had also just won the 14th to get back to 2-down. However, Georgia and her opponent halved the 14th with 2 excellent pars for them to go dormy 4 and then halved the 15th to make that a 4-3 Devon loss. The pressure then moved to Edith & Chloe who only needed to halve the 15th to secure the overall win, which they did. Sothea & Tommasina lost the 16th to lose 3-2 but the team celebrated together for a great win overall against a very strong team. No time to cheer as It was a quick lunch break before going straight back out for the afternoon's match against Wiltshire.

In the other morning matches Cornwall had beaten Wiltshire 3-2 and Dorset had beaten Somerset 3-2.

Monday Afternoon - Match 2 v Wiltshire

Buoyed up from the morning's match win the team were ready to face Wiltshire. Susie led the team again, playing Wiltshire's lowest handicap player Millie Potter and giving 4 shots. Georgia was out next and faced Lauren Cowley, giving 1 shot and both very much up for a win having lost their morning games. Edith moved from her morning Foursomes partnership to a singles game giving her opponent Polly Maggs 4 shots.

In the Foursomes Tommasina paired with Isla Schofield (Woodbury Park) to play higher handicappers Mai Talbot & Imogen Miles who received 3 shots. The final pairing was Devon rookie Emily Goddard (Royal North Devon) paired with Chloe playing against Kayla McLane & Felicity Brown - both pairs matched exactly on handicap so there were no shots for either side.

The team made a good start with Susie, Georgia, Tommasina & Isla all 1-up after the 3rd where Edith got a birdie to bring her game back to 1-down. Georgia won the 6th to go 2-up, as did Chloe & Emily to get their game back to 2-down, however Susie then lost 7 & 8 to go to 2-down. The games were swinging from one way to the other quite quickly, making watching and recording the scores a bit stressful for all the supporters! Edith won 2 holes to get her game back to 1-up whilst Georgia & Susie both stopped the rot by halving their next 2 holes taking Susie to 2-down through 11.

Tommasina & Isla were holding firm and were all-square after 9 whilst Chloe & Emily were up against it with some great golf from their opponents and were 4-down after 8 and soon went 5-down after 9. Georgia then pushed on to win the 10th, 11th and 12th to take her to 5-up after 12. Susie won the 13th to get her game back to 1-down but, unfortunately, as that news came in so did another loss of hole for Tommasina & Isla. Chloe & Emily managed to stick to 4-down through 10 and Susie was now 1-down through 15.

Georgia was the first to bring in an individual win, outplaying her opponent to take the game convincingly on the 14th hole 5-4. The first win was in the bag but it was just unclear where the next ones were coming from. Susie lost the 16th to go dormy 2, whilst Edith went all-square after 14 and Chloe & Emily fought back to get the game back to 3-down. Edith went on to win the 15th to go 1-up 3 to play and then proceeded to win the next hole to go dormy 2. 

Unfortunately, at this point we had our first loss confirmed with Susie losing 2-down but then another Devon win was confirmed with Edith winning 2-1 on the 17th. The two Foursomes games were finding it tough and Tommasina & Isla lost on the 17th and Chloe & Emily lost on the 16th to give the overall match to Wiltshire 3-2. The girls all tried their best but it wasn’t to be and was quite a disappointment compared to the morning's result. 

After a good meal at the end of a very long day we all headed back to our accommodation for a de-brief of the day and for some much-needed rest for the next day's matches. Jon, alongside myself, gave a review of both matches and fed back to the girls where we thought we could make some improvements and what was different in the afternoon after such positive play in the morning. We agreed the team for the crucial match against Dorset and decided some extra putting practice was needed for the girls to get a better idea of the pace of the greens instead of the planned extra 45 mins in bed....

In the other afternoon matches Dorset continued their dominance with a 4-1 win against Cornwall, Gloucestershire beat Somerset 4-1 with a massive 8-6 win for Mariella and a great 5-4 win for their first Foursomes pair of Millie Gait & Ezme Counsell to redeem their morning’s defeat. As expected Dorset took an early home course advantage on day 1 being unbeaten but with each county still very much in with a chance.

Day 2 - Tuesday - Putting & chipping practice was undertaken in great spirit and with a renewed sense of purpose to face the day's opponents of Dorset and Cornwall.

Morning Match 3 - Dorset

After an early wake-up call the girls were all on the practice green with Jon by 7.45am working on pace drills and distance control. We knew we needed our strongest team possible to have any chance of beating Dorset on their home course. The team pick was tricky but we weighted it with our lowest singles players and those with the most experience meaning Susie again led the team out again, receiving 1 shot and teeing up against Broadstone member Evie Brown, a slight surprise for us as we were expecting Honour Johnson, Dorset’s +2 player. Susie got off to a great start eagling the 1st to go 1-up and set the tone for the game.

Next out was Belle who faced Scarlett Phillips in a scratch game, both sent great tee shots down the first to set up what looked to be a very close contest. Georgia followed giving her opponent Hollie Levens 2 shots in the game. Georgia hit a lovely tee shot down the 1st fairway but lost the hole to a birdie from Hollie proving how hard wins on each hole and the overall games were going to be.

In the first of the Foursomes games for Devon Sothea & Tommasina faced another Broadstone member Amelia Slavin & Alexis Owen. Devon received 9 shots against this strong pairing and they halved the first 2 holes with a pars. 

Our second Foursomes pairing of Edith & Chloe, winners from Monday morning’s match, received 7 shots from Lily-Paige Littlewood & Daisy Best, a Broadstone duo. Chloe's great shot off the first tee sent the Devon pair 1-up after 1 with a tap in for par.

Back to the singles games and Susie was 1-down through 3 whilst Belle nearly holed out for 2 on the 3rd hole for eagle but made her birdie putt to bring the game back to all-square. In the Foursomes Sothea & Tommasina won the 3rd to go to 1-up after 3 then halved the 4th to maintain a 1-up lead. Belle was all-square through 6, Georgia 1-down through 6 and Susie was all-square through 7. Edith & Chloe extended their lead to 2-up after 4 and Tommasina & Sothea remained 1-up through 6.

Georgia made a great par on the tricky 7th to win the hole and get her game back to all-square but lost the 9th to a birdie to go straight back to 1-down. Tommasina & Sothea lost the 9th to an unforgiving bounce off a tree but then quickly recovered to win the 10th to go to 3-up. Susie was all-square through 13 but lost the 14th to go 1-down to a great birdie from Evie who was making the most of her course knowledge. Belle continued to play some fantastic matchplay golf in what was a very tight game and was all-square after 12 holes. Georgia won the 10th, despite giving a shot and went on to win the 11th to go 1-up for the first time in the game. At this point the Foursomes were really getting going with Tommasina & Sothea 4-up through 13 and Edith & Chloe 5-up through 12. Susie won the 16th to go back to 1-up, Georgia halved 14 to stay all-square and Belle was all-square through 16. The games really couldn’t get any closer.

The first win was in Devon's favour with an Edith & Chloe win 6-5, just about the same time that Susie won the 17th to go 1-up. Belle continued to halve holes but just lost out on the 18th despite playing some fantastic golf. The next Devon win came from the final Foursomes pairing of Sothea & Tommasina with a highly impressive 5 -3 victory. Susie secured the overall match by winning her game 2-up (much to everyone's relief) whilst Georgia and Belle both narrowly missed out losing their games on the 18th 1-down - two games that really could have gone either way.

It was an absolutely amazing win against the home county and I think Jon’s putting session and motivation really did the trick. Now, to just hold onto the momentum for the afternoon was the challenge.

In the other mornings matches Cornwall beat Somerset 3-2 and Gloucestershire and Wiltshire halved their match for an over ½ point each.

Tuesday Afternoon - Match 4 v Cornwall

A slightly alternative line up was planned for this match to try and balance out the shots being given to the Cornish team of relatively high handicappers. Belle, playing Alex Simmons in her second scratch game of the day, was first out, followed by Georgia playing Ella Grace Crocker and giving 6 shots and both Devon girls were keen for a win after being pipped to the post in their morning games. Edith was keen to continue her winning streak from earlier as the last of the Devon singles players and giving Evie Palmer 6 shots.

All 3 singles games went behind early on, somewhat inevitable with 2 of them having to give 2 of their shots early on holes 2 & 3. Belle won the 5th to get her game to 1-up and Georgia won the 5th to get hers to all-square, meanwhile Edith remained 2-down in her game through 5. In the Foursomes we paired Susie & Emily for a very strong high-low combination and they faced Mabel Gosling-Brown & Eliza Grubert having to only give 5 shots. Sothea & Tommasina were the last game out playing Jess Prior & Olivia Tucker, a higher combination pair, but our girls only had to give 4 shots so the strategy had worked - at least on paper.

The Foursomes games started well with Susie & Emily 1-up through 4 and Sothea & Tommasina all-square through through 3. However, the tide was about to turn as Sothea & Tommasina then lost 3 the next 3 holes to take the game to 3-down through 6. Singles player Belle was playing very well, winning the 9th to go 1-up with Georgia following suit, winning 7 and 8 to go 2-up at the turn with some fantastic golf. Belle halved the 10th and 11th but then birdied the 12th to go to 2-up. Susie & Emily were 2-up at the turn but quickly went back to 1-up after the 12th hole. Meanwhile Tommasina & Sothea were struggling against some tough competition and bit of bad luck resulted in them being 5-down through 8 and then 6-down at the turn. Belle, staying strong, birdied the par 5, 16th hole to go dormy 2, whilst Georgia won the 14th to go 3-up, 4 to play. Edith was up against it with her opponent Evie who played exceptionally well but Edith was 5 down after 13.

Susie & Emily won the 11th to go 2-up and almost simultaneously Belle won her game on the 17th and Edith lost hers on the 14th. That meant we were 1 game a piece with 3 still playing. Susie & Emily lost the 12th to go back to 1-up just as Georgia won her game on the 16th. It was then down to the two Foursomes games to secure one last win but, unfortunately, the last game was over by the 12th with the Devon pair losing 6-4 and all attention then turned to Susie & Emily. They won the 13th and halved the 14th. Rookie Emily’s steady play, not missing a single fairway or green, combined with Susie's length and experience was proving to be a formidable force and their opponents were struggling to compete despite getting the shots. 

Susie teed up on 15 and stuck her tee shot to 6ft just above the pin and they subsequently won the hole to go dormy 3. On the 16th green Susie played a positive putt to try and see the game out but the ball continued to roll some 6ft past the pin (well, positive putting was the order of the day at the morning's extra putting practice!) and Cornwall sunk their putt to win the hole and take the game back to 2-down with 2 to play and a large crowd watching anxiously. Susie hit a great shot from the 16th tee, followed up with an excellent iron into the green from Emily to load the pressure onto the opponents. The Cornish pair, with a shot, hit slightly too short and then raced past the hole towards the back of the green and putted up just short of the hole. A 2-putt would win the match for Devon, which Susie was playing for I’m sure, but the ball took one extra roll and fell in. It was great to see how calm Emily appeared under such pressure in only her second county match - a testament to her ability and the strong partnership. It was only after that she confessed she was in fact very nervous indeed but her golf stood up to the challenge amazingly.

Devon remained undefeated on Tuesday, an absolutely fantastic achievement against two very strong teams.

In the other afternoon matches Somerset halved with Wiltshire and Gloucestershire beat Dorset which meant Devon finished top of the table after day 2 and were in the driving seat going into the final match on the Wednesday.

Wednesday Morning - Match 5 - Somerset
It was another bright day for our final match at Broadstone and the sun shone on the girls as they completed their putting drills ahead of teeing off. Team wise, it was another difficult choice to give our team the best chance of securing the win and ultimately finishing in pole position

It was back to Team Captain Susie to tee off first and she was playing Somerset’s lowest player Abigail Moore who is off +1. Susie was receiving 2 shots, 1 on the relatively simple downhill par 4 and the second on the 10th hole. Belle was playing Fion Lockely, this time giving her opponent 2 shots, and the last singles game was Georgia who faced Amber Thorpe giving her 1 shot on the 10th.

In the Foursomes Isla & Tommasina were up against the much lower pairing of Libbie Dezis & Maisie Dezis, with Devon receiving 10 shots from the sisters. The experienced Devon duo of Edith and Chloe were the final pairing against the similarly matched pair of Phoebe Whitlock and Hannah Katz and were receiving just 2 shots. This was to be Edith and Chloe's last U18s Girls' Team match for Devon, both having turned 18 this year.

Susie and Abigail both birdied the 1st to halve the hole, they halved the 2nd with a par and halved the 3rd with Susie hitting the green nicely in regulation but sadly 3 putting. Belle similarly halved the first but lost the uphill 2nd to a birdie from Somerset but then won the 3rd to go back to all-square. Georgia won the 1st with an excellent drive and follow-up shot, halving the 2nd and winning the 3rd to go 2-up.

In the Foursomes Isla & Tommasina halved the 1st despite a wayward tee shot and fought back instantly to win the 2nd and 3rd, both shot holes, to go 2-up through 3. Edith & Chloe halved the 1st and 2nd, won the 3rd and halved the 4th to be 1-up through 4. Edith hit a fantastic tee shot on the uphill par 3, 6th hole, landing it past the pin allowing the ball to run back towards the hole for Chloe to pop it in the hole to go 2-up. 

Back up in the singles Susie and Belle were now all-square through holes 5 and 6 with Georgia 1-up through 5. Susie lost the 7th, halved the 8th and lost the 9th to make her 2-down at the turn. Belle halved 7 and won the 8th and 9th to go 2-up at the turn. Georgia had lost the 4th but halved the 5th and won the 6th to go 2-up. Georgia then lost the tricky 7th hole to a great birdie from her playing partner but stopped the rot by halving the 8th and winning the 9th to get her match back to all-square at the turn.

So, at the halfway stage things were looking good, 2 out of the 3 singles were up, Susie was only 2-down and both Foursomes were up, Isla & Tommasina were 1-up and Edith & Chloe were 3-up, but there was still a lot of golf to play to be sure of success. Edith & Chloe went on to win the 10th to go 4-up, they lost the 11th and halved the 12th to be 3-up. Isla & Tommasina lost the 13th to go back to all-square at the same time that Edith & Chloe won the 13th to go 4-up with 5 to play.

In the meantime, the singles players had stepped into another gear with Susie winning 10 and 11 to get her match back to all-square. Belle was 3-up after 11 and Georgia was all-square after 12. Georgia then won 13 and halved the 14th to be 1-up. Susie was 1-up after 15 and went on to win the 16th for dormy 2, whilst Belle got to dormy 4. Georgia went back to all-square after 15 just as Belle won her game on the 16th. One win was in the bag and we just needed another 2. Susie halved the 17th to win her game 2-1 and all eyes then turned to the 3 games left out on the course. Georgia won the 16th and go 1-up with 2 holes to play and Edith & Chloe were dormy 3 playing the 16th. Everything was getting a bit tense as news came through that Georgia had lost the 17th and was heading down the 18th all-square. 

Further back in the field the Foursomes were still going very strong and after a fantastic tee shot Edith & Chloe went on to halve the hole and, unknowingly to them, bring home the all-important third game win to secure the match to win the South West Girls' Inter-Counties Championship 2025 title for Devon. There were still 2 games out on the course to reach a conclusion, Isla & Tommasina were 1-up on the 17th but a wayward tee shot found the bushes on the right. The girls took a drop and were able to lay up nicely in front of the water but the opposition hit a good second shot into the green and, despite getting a shot, Devon lost the hole to go to all-square going down the 18th. Georgia tapped in a par putt to halve the 18th for a drawn game to finish her tournament as everyone gathered around the 18th to see the final game come to its conclusion. Both teams had good tee shots, Devon at a slight disadvantage being slightly to the left, but Tommasina took her time and hit a great shot to the far left of the green. Somerset put a great second shot on the green but stopped some 12 feet from the hole. The pressure was then on for Isla to get the ball in or at least near the hole, which is what she did, giving it a chance by sending it a testy 4 feet past the hole. It was Somerset’s opportunity to take the game but their putt just didn't drop. Devon conceded the putt and Tommasina faced the putt to halve the match. She did a fantastic job in composing herself, took her time over her routine and calmly knocked it in.

The final match result was 4-1 to Devon and the team, after the players had shaken hands with their opponents, stormed the green to celebrate together in true Devon style with a group huddle and a rendition of Olay, Olay, Olay, Olay!

Match points are the deciding factor - 4 points for Devon to finish 1 point ahead of Dorset to win the South West Girls' Inter-Counties Championship 2025

A big list of thanks......

I can’t tell you how good it feels to say Devon are the South West Girls' Inter-Counties Champions again - after 18 years. It’s not quite sunk in and there are so many people I would like to thank who have contributed to this success happen.

Having Chloe & Edith as a pair for their last match representing Devon and securing the third game to win the match and Championship was just fantastic - especially seeing as the last time Devon won it was the year in which they were both born - it was obviously written in the stars.

We have been so close to winning every year since I took on the role in 2021, often narrowly missing out by ½ a point or being pipped to the post on the last day. This year the power was in our hands and the way the girls came out on Wednesday just shows the experience, quality and strength we have in the team. The ability to stay calm and finally get it over the line was simply incredible.

This year had some additional challenges with club & trolley storage at Broadstone Golf Club falling through at the last minute. I want to say a massive thank you to all the parents, supporters and officials who took the time to help transport the girls, bags, trolleys and batteries to and from the course each day - I have no idea how we would have managed without you guys. 

I say this every year but I honestly couldn’t be prouder of the squad we have created. They not only played some absolutely outstanding golf but did so with the very best team spirit.

The job of selection gets harder every year, which is testament to the coaches Jon Axford (Teignmouth) & Jess Smart (Saunton) who put so much work in throughout the year to improve all our players in the squad. Their work with the girls over the last few years has shone through in their performances this week. They constantly strive for improvement in the players at all times. Jon in particular has worked with some of the girls for over 4 years now and he is just the best coach they could wish for. To have him there for the majority of the competition this year and for him to see them lift the shield at the end of the week was just fantastic. 

I cannot stress enough how every girl is equally as an important part of the team, even if it's from the fairways giving their support and encouragement to the players or, this year, making sure their hair was braided to perfection! 

To all the parents, families and supporters a heartfelt thank you for your dedication and commitment to the girls and the team - all the offers of help, walking with the groups and updating the WhatsApp group with scoring made this combination of supporters/officials/players very unique. To see how invested you are in each and every player, not just your own daughter, is amazing. It really encourages our girls and gives them that extra feeling of support when they need it the most. 

Our team of officials, have been fantastic again this year, and I simply couldn’t do it without them. Paul, you have been a huge support to me in this role and to the girls. Devon as a county is very privileged to have such a supportive, enthusiastic and modern-minded person heading up our county. I know Susie is very thankful for you watching every one of her games with your trusty, lucky bottle in hand.

To all at DevonGolf for investing so generously in the girls' development - in particular President Roger Worthington, Performance Director Tim Aggett & Competitions Director Pam St Leger. Devon’s support of girls' golf in the county is second to none so please know how appreciated that is. 

Huge thanks to Vicky, Rosie & Wendy - you are a constant support to me, quietly doing various jobs in the background to allow me to focus on the task at hand and always there to back me up or calm me down. Your dedication to the girls as fellow volunteers is just incredible and I know the girls all mean as much to you as they do to me. 

Essentially, with all of this said, we have a team of 50 and this is what sets Devon apart.

The very best part of this all is that I feel this team will only get stronger. We have a great winter program in the pipeline and lots of plans for further improvements in the girls' games, which makes us all very excited to be defending the title next year at the Bristol & Clifton Golf Club.

If this story has inspired you, or there’s a young girl in your life who would like to get involved, please contact me and I will be able to give you more information on the Elite and Development Girls' squads - girlsmanager@devongolf.org.uk.

     Hannah Stephens
     DevonGolf Girls' U18s Team Manager 

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