County Champion 2022 – Alice Barlow
Alice Barlow from Bury St Edmunds Golf Club has secured her sixth successive Suffolk Matchplay title to become County Champion.
Sadly, due to injury, Lils James of Bungay and Waveney Valley Golf Club had to concede the final of the Matchplay to Alice. This is not the end to the competition anyone would have wished for but the health of any player must come first. We send our thoughts and best wishes for a speedy return to full fitness to Lils.
The winner of the Handicap Match Play was Jasmine Points. In a hard-fought final Jasmine won against Christiane Kubitzek on the 17th – no mean feat when she had to give 11 shots to her opponent.
It would be remiss, not to take the opportunity to make special mention of Alice’s achievements. In their lifetime, most players may have a “purple patch” of success over a comparatively short duration. However, it seems that success has been a consistent byword in Alice’s vocabulary with an impressive number of titles to her name. Her name has been engraved on most of the most prestigious cups and shields played for on the Suffolk golfing circuit. She can now add a national title to her collection!
Alice lifted her first senior national title with a four-shot success in the Welsh Women’s Open Stroke Play Championship at the end of April in what was to be a dream weekend for her. A fantastic round on the Friday saw the 2016 England Girls’ County Champion of Champions winner complete a Matchplay round in a four-under-par 70 for a three-shot lead. A 74 round on the Saturday saw her go into the final day two ahead. She completed the weekend with a final round of 73.
Whilst skill and natural ability have their parts to play, none of this is achieved without hard work and dedication and Alice’s work ethic is to be commended. In the words of Gary Player “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
Image Alice & Lils
(Report & Image from Suffolk Ladies County Golf Association)
Welsh Women’s Open Strokeplay Champion
Men’s Suffolk Amateur Foursomes – Runners Up
The prestigious Suffolk Amateur Foursomes Championship was held at Haverhill on April 17 with 76 golfers (38 pairs) taking part this year and all of our local clubs represented.
The Bury St Edmunds Golf Club pairing of Ben Coleman and Dan Smailes did superbly to finish as runners-up (gross) with a two-round total of 146 (winning the Watts Salvers), only one point shy of winners Reuben Harvey (Southwold GC) and Sid Neenan (Aldeburgh GC). Coleman and Smailes also recorded the best afternoon score of 72.
(Image & Report from Suffolk News Chris Boughton Golf Column)
County Draw Sheets
Mens
Team Captain, Josh Nichols: Hambro Cup 2022
Round 1 – Sunday 22nd May – Bury play Brett Vale at Brett Vale
Team Captain, Nick Bonney: Parks Trophy 2022
Round 1 – Results: Thurs 19th May – Bury play Felixstowe Ferry at home – Bury won 2 up
Report from Team Captain – Well, what a brilliant performance was put in by all parties in this epic battle today. I have to admit there were long periods of time where I could see our backs were really hard against the wall. If we could look at the situation with all pairs standing on the 16th tee, then the team were 2 down with effectively 12 holes to play. However, with sheer determination and doggedness those 2 holes down were flipped to 2 holes up at the end. That was a very gritty performance boys, everyone dug deep playing against another formidable opponent. Having not been a team captain before I think I prefer playing than pacing across the fairways.
Round 2 – Away week commencing Monday 13th June v Bungay & Waveney or Fynn Valley.
Team Captain, Steve Beahan: Beaumont Trophy 2022
Round 1 Results: Thursday 12th May – Bury played Haverhill at home – Bury won 5 up
Round 2 – Thursday 9th June – Bury play Stowmarket – at Stowmarket first tee 11am.
Team Captain, Tom Brough – Tolly Report April 2022
Unfortunately the Tolly team were knocked out in the first round of the competition, following a narrow away defeat to Aldeburgh. Despite the defeat the team can be proud of their performance and were only narrowly defeated over the course of two rounds. Aldeburgh was in stunning condition and is one of the best layouts in Suffolk, if not the East of England. However, despite the sunshine, the very strong and gusty North Easterly wind meant it felt very cold and playing conditions were incredibly difficult.
The gorse was looking beautiful in full flower and most players from both sides seemed to enjoy spending much time inspecting it from close quarters!!
The teams were incredibly evenly matched and only 1 hole separated them at the half way point, with Aldeburgh enjoying the slim lead. The Bury boys made a fantastic start to the second 18, and were up in all matches at one stage of the front nine. However, as is so often the case local knowledge of course and particularly conditions eventually proved the difference on the day with Aldeburgh victorious with a lead of 5 up.
I would like to thank the team who threw everything into the match and also everyone in the whole squad who supported me through the practice matches and trial games. There was a fantastic spirit in the squad, we enjoyed each others company and always played the game with the right attitude. Above all we had a lot of fun.
I would also especially like to thank Guy Lesser and the other Bury members who supported us on the day. Your support, good humour and encouragement was massively appreciated by me and the team. Thanks also to the caddies who all did sterling work supporting their man, it makes an incredible difference and in those conditions, above and beyond the call of duty.
The team on the day:
Martin Byford, Ian Malyon, Dave Mackie, Steve Spencer, Darren Willis, Dan Cole, Charles Long, Josh Harpur, Robbie Burt
This is a fantastic competition and I would recommend Members new and old, within the handicap index range (9.5 to 18.4) to have a go for next years competition. It’s a highly competitive team game and gets the adrenaline flowing like nothing else in golf!
Ladies
Team Captain, Joan Watson: Haskell-Draw-2022
Team Captain, Josie Aves & Clare Sykes: Cranworth Draw 2022
Team Captain, Liz Bezance: Draw Sheet Stearn 2022
Team Captain, Hannah Clark: Weston-Draws-2022
Juniors
Junior Organiser, Joan Hogarth: Junior Team Championship 2022