County Championships & Spring Meeting 2015

The Notts. County Ladies' Golf Association County Championship and Spring Meeting took place at Coxmoor Golf Club from the 15th-17th May 2015 with fine but windy weather.

Alex Peters was not able to defend her title of the last 3 years as she has moved into the ranks of professional golf. The honour of hitting the first shot to open the Championship on Friday morning went to the player with the lowest handicap, Lauren Spray of the Notts Ladies Golf Club.

Lauren continued to lead the field with the best gross score of 77 in the morning and an even better score of gross 71 in the afternoon which contained 4 birdies and an eagle. Her playing partner Emily Lyle of Worksop Golf Club was runner up with scores of 79 and 73 and also won the Stacia Scrimshire cup for 21 years and under.

15 players took part in the County Championship playing 36 holes medal with the top 8 players on aggregate gross going through to the scratch match play stages played over Saturday and Sunday. 34 additional players took part in the 18 holes Spring Meeting medal played alongside the morning round of the Championship qualifying stage. Coxmoor was in excellent condition and this was reflected in the great scoring by the competitors against par 74.

The match play stages started with the quarter finals on Saturday afternoon with some great golf being played. The ladies were making short work of the Par 5's, but the course still provided a stern test for the players with the wind and some difficult pin placements. Lauren Spray, Emma Howie, Rachel Boulton and Emily Lyle all succeeded going through to the Sunday morning semi-finals.

The outcome of these matches meant Lauren continued with excellent golf to defeat Emma with 4 holes to play and Rachel had a tight match to defeat Emily on the 18th. The Sunday afternoon final between Lauren and Rachel proved exciting to watch. Lauren opened with a birdie to go 1 up and Rachel levelled with a par at the 3rd and then had steady golf including birdies on the 6th and 9th to be 3 holes up after 9. However Lauren fought back with excellent golf to square the match after the 12th and then birdied the 13th to regain the lead.Then it was Rachel's turn to square the match again with a par on the 14th and retake the lead with birdies on the 15th and 16th to go 2 up with 2 holes to play. Lauren kept the tension going with a par 3 at the 17th where Rachel 3 putted for a 4. However Rachel made a steady par on the 18th to secure the championship title for her first time.

A big thank you must go to the members of Coxmoor Golf Club for their support of County ladies golf by hosting the event and congratulations to the head green keeper Ben Cumberland and his staff for the excellent condition of the course.

The following players have been selected to represent the County at the Midlands North Region County Week matches at Enville Golf Club, Staffordshire from 29th June to 3rd July (alphabetical order): Rachel Boulton, Emily Cheshire, Esme Hamilton, Emma Howie, Emily Lyle, Emma Newlove, Sophie Newlove, Jodie Peacock, and Lauren Spray. Non travelling reserves Caron Harrison, Laura Morris

County Week Selection

Runner-up Lauren Spray, County Captain Kathryn Horberry and 2015 Champion, Rachel Boulton	County First Team (for matches at County week, 29 June - 3 July)
	Rachel Boulton Emily Cheshire Esme Hamilton Emma Howie Emily Lyle Emma Newlove Sophie Newlove Jodie Peacock Lauren Spray   Reserves: Caron Harrison Laura Morris

Cup Winners 

Matchplay Stages