Hampshire Ladies Golf
Hampshire wins South Region Junior County Match Week 2024
What a week to remember! Junior County Match Week 2024 will live long in all the memories of the nine junior girls from across Hampshire who represented us at this year's inter-county scratch competition. It will also live long in the memories of the support team of coaches, parents and supporters to who made the journey to Crews Hill in Middlesex.
Following some initial formalities on the Sunday and our official practice round, we got the girls settled at our accommodation for the week and made our team selection of the Monday morning match against Surrey. The schedule for this year's competition meant that Hampshire's four matches would all be played in the first two days. That combined with the high temperatures forecast made it even more important to be well rested and hydrated ready for day one.
Our first match got underway at 8:30 on Monday morning. Both Stevie and Georgia got points on the board getting Hampshire off to a very positive start. The next few matches were much tighter and after the first six matches both Hampshire and Surrey had won three matches each. In match 7, Abby Dymott from Hampshire was 2 down with 2 to play but after winning the 17th and making a spectacular eagle on 18, Abby was able to secure a half from her match to half the match overall. There was a quick turnaround for Hampshire before heading out again to face Kent and for this match the line up remained unchanged.
The heat of the afternoon sun only increased the intensity of the afternoon match. With thanks to Liz on buggy duty and team mates Chrisha and Lily, we did our best to keep the girls hydrated and cool with wet towels. Again, the afternoon matches were very tight but Hampshire fought really hard to turnaround some of the closer matches and were able to secure a 5.5 - 1.5 victory over the girls in navy and white. It was a late finish but half the job was now done and it was off to the hotel for dinner and an early night, ready to do the whole thing again on Tuesday.
In Tuesday morning's match we were facing Sussex and decided to rest a couple of the players who had played 36 holes the previous day. As we'd seen on Monday there was some fantastic golf on display. After Monday's stunning eagle on 18 from Abby, some of us got to witness another one on the 2nd hole, where Hatty holed out from 140 yards for her two. A 5-2 victory over the Sussex gave us another point on the board and game points looked like there were going to be critical come the end of Wednesday.
Another scorching afternoon was forecast, so our support team activated "Operation McFlurry". A huge thank you to Malcolm and Andrew, husbands of County President Jane and County Captain Sarah, who faced the strange looks at the local McDonalds when they asked for 18 of the soft serve ice cream treats (well of course the support team needed to cool off as well)! It was a well received surprise and got the girls somewhat refreshed before their final match of the competition against hosts Middlesex.
A few more changes were made for our last match, allowing us to rest a few of the girls who had played three matches straight and put the girls who had rested in the morning back out on the course. Once again, wet towels and lots of water was needed to keep our girls as cool as possible out there. In the front match, and her last as a junior, Junior Captain Stevie faced a rematch from last year against the formidable Saskia. It was tight all the way with Saskia getting a few holes up, we knew this one would go the full distance. On the 17th tee Stevie was 1 up and managed to make a half on the last to win a critical point. She led the way with all six of her team mates securing their wins to give Hampshire a 7-0 victory.
It was Tuesday evening and there was nothing more that our girls could do. A Surrey win against Kent would mean that we would be tied on match points and the win would come down to game points won. Hampshire had done will in this regard so if Kent could win 2 games in their match with Surrey the title would go to Hampshire.
It was an anxious wait on Wednesday morning while Hampshire played their Stableford but by 1pm we knew that Kent had won three matches meaning that Hampshire would win on game points. Our first win of this title since 2015. To say the girls were over the moon is probably an understatement but boy was this win deserved. Each an every one of these girls gave everything out there on the course and really made all of us in Hampshire so proud.
A huge congratulations to all the girls who represented Hampshire at this year's event, they were:
- Stevie Crozier Hunt (Junior Captain from Corhampton GC)
- Georgia Richardson (Stoneham GC)
- Iman Hamid-Wilkinson (Royal Jersey GC)
- Hatty Richardson (Corhampton GC)
- Tia Brammer (Bramshaw GC)
- Chloe Gaudion (Royal Guernsey GC)
- Chrisha Thapa (North Hants GC)
- Abigail Dymott (Stoneham GC)
- Lily Stroud (Royal Winchester GC)
We can't wait to head to Worthing Golf Club in Sussex to defend our title next year! JCMW will be hosted from Monday 18th - Thursday 21st August 2025 with a practice round on Monday and matches commencing from Tuesday.
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