Pictures from top to bottom as follows;
- Letchworth – Mens Herts Team Cup winners
- East Herts (Jackie Reeve & Ava Gadsby) – Womens Powell Cup winners
- Allan Douglas of Brookmans Park – Mens Members Cup winner
- Andy & Michelle Gardner of Brookmans Park – Mixed Greensomes KO winners
- Janet Lansdowne & Hilary Allwright of Moor Park – Womens Fourball KO winners
Our County Finals Day was played last Sunday (6th October) at the picturesque East Herts Golf Club, with 5 of our 6 knockout events played across the season being played to a conclusion.
The day saw the finals of the Womens Powell Cup, a scratch foursomes event for clubs, the Mens Members Cup, a handicap singles for club representatives, the Mixed Greensomes, a handicap pairs event for club represenatives, the Womens Fourball, a handicap pairs event open to all high/low pairings, and finally the always keenly contested Mens Herts Team Cup, a fourball team event for clubs.
The weather in the leadup to the event gave a rare respite to the incessant rainfall we have experienced in the South of England lately, which was much needed and allowed the course to dry out somewhat. The greens team at East Herts presented a course playing extremely well all things considered.
The Powell Cup final match was contested between the hosts East Herts and Brookmans Park, with East Herts last winning the event in 2o08 and Brookmans Park never having made the final match previously. The home advantage element aided the East Herts pairing of Jackie Reeve & Ava Gadsby, and they ultimately ran out as winners by the margin of 5&3 against opponents Wendy Plummer and Sian Shrimpton-Davies.
In the Men’s Members Cup KO final, Brookmans Park were once again represented this time by Allan Douglas, and his opponent in the final was Andrew Smith of Stevenage. Allan had defeated reigning champion Louis Leveson of South Herts in the 1st round and continued his fine form throughout. Allan played well and used his shots recieved effectively in the final, and despite some steady golf by Andrew, Allan would prevail on the 14th green by the margin of 5&4.
The Mixed Greensomes KO final was contested between married couple Andy & Michelle Gardner of Brookmans Park, against pairing from Knebworth of Tim Smart and Dierdre Wisdom. The Gardners took a lead early and held on to take the title by the margin of 3&1.
The Womens Fourball KO event is now in its 2nd year and we hope is now established as an ongoing event. The final was contested between Hilary Allwright and Janet Lansdowne of Moor Park against Simmi Ciccone & Lak Perera of Hadley Wood. The match was exceptionally close all the way and went to the last green, where the Moor Park pairing of Hilary & Janet pipped their opponents by the narrowest of margins, 1 up.
The Mens Herts Team Cup final was played between South Herts, who have won the event before and lost in the final in recent years, against Letchworth, who had never made the final previously. Both teams were represented well and some golf was played. In the end Letchworth won the cup with 3 matches won against 1 for South Herts.
All the finals were played in good spirit and camaraderie, and the day ended with a respectful speech by Letchworth team captain Bryan Wappat.
The only KO final oustanding is the Womens De Paula Cup, a singles handicap KO event, where one of the finalists, Simmi Ciccone, was already involved in the finals day event, and the other semi final is currently in abeyance after 2 aborted attempts that saw the course closed on both occasions. That final will be played later this month, again at East Herts.
Our thanks to all the competitors who took part, not only in the finals day event but througout the season and very much to our hosts East Herts for allowing us to play and for their efforts in staging.
