Lorraine Morgan, SWGC Lady Champion in 2019 regains title in 2020. Boom!

Lady Championship 20^th and 21^st June 2020

After lots of discussion the Ladies Committee decided to hold the Championships on the dates scheduled in the diary. Much preparation took place ensuring that the Section and the Club abided by all the rules and regulations imposed on us due to COVID 19.

The 36-hole Championship competition to be played over 2 days had 21 entrants and an additional 24 ladies signed up for the Senior Championship which was 18 holes on the Sunday. A great turnout even though we had ladies missing because of family commitments and others who couldn’t play this year due to injury and self-isolating issues. I look forward to them re-joining us for next year’s Championships.

The weather was perfect for us but scoring was difficult despite having COVID 19 relief from bunkers. Water hazards seemed to have been very popular with many ladies!

After day 1 the results were very close. For both Nett and Gross there were only a few shots in it and any of the top 9 ladies had a chance. However, as we are all aware no two rounds of golf are the same.

On Sunday, the weather remained fine and warm but a little breezier than the previous day. Conditions were definitely trickier and as a result everyone in the top 9 places played more shots on the Sunday, except for one player – Lorraine Morgan… She managed to record a 6-shot improvement over Saturday which was enough to secure her 1st place and retain the title of Lady Champion. Well done Lorraine.

Lady Senior Champion was won on count back by Lorna Berryman with a gross 97.

Normally our ladies celebrate the Championship Weekend with a formal dinner and prize giving ceremony on Sunday evening. Of course, this year that was impossible. So, we held a 1^st ever “Zoom” prize giving at 7.00pm where over 40 ladies joined in to hear the results and celebrate the winners. Luckily our Lady Champion still had the trophy at home from last year!

This event could not have taken place without the help of many people. A huge thank you to all of them.

Andy, our head greenkeeper and his team for getting the course in great condition for the competition. We appreciated the pins being moved each day.

Roger and the pro shop for helping get our ladies section up and running again.

Charles Bone our official photographer for Sunday. Great photos taken on the 1^st tee with markers indicating where the ladies had to stand to respect social distancing. Then he hid in foliage on the 18^th to get more photos. I understood before he did this, he went home to change into better camouflage clothing!

Brian our starter and our Club Captain, Steve Parrett who saw our ladies off the 1^st tee on both days.

Neal Apps our Club Competition secretary for doing all the scoring on his laptop and Steve Gibbs for collecting cards at the 18^th – wearing lovely “marigolds”

Denise, my Vice for giving me support over these past few difficult months and hosting our zoom presentation.

Finally, to our Competition Secretary – Lorna Berryman for all her hard work to make the 2020 Championship Weekend happen. Also, for her efforts over the last couple of weeks getting lady competitions started again.

Results 2020

Ladies Champion Lorraine Morgan 172

Nett Winner Janine McCauley 151