Our Challenge team took another step to a coveted All-Ireland pennant today with a spirited win over Ulster’s Belvoir Park Golf Club.
Manager Iris made some changes from yesterday’s team with Anne Browner and Trisha Moore coming in for Lady Vice, Celine Joyce and Wendy Lee.
First out today was Trisha Moore who faced a good operator from Belvoir Park. Trisha won the first before loosing the second and third to go one down. A win on the tough, par four fifth brought the match back all square but after two consecutive losses again on the seventh and eighth it looked like momentum might be shifting in Belvoir Park’s direction. This elicited an immediate response from Trisha who won the ninth, to turn just one down before another win on the tenth leveled the match once again. On the par three, eleventh hole Trisha found the water with her tee shot but made birdie with her second ball after a super shot in from the drop zone to get an unlikely half. It was clear that this match was going to remain close to the end.
While all this was happening Greystones were in the process of getting their first ( and fastest ) point on the board. Last out today was Grace Dodd who played some excellent golf against an opponent who was giving her seven shots. Without using a single one of these shots Grace proceeded to win the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth holes to close her match by an incredible margin of 9&8.
Second out today was Anne Browner who lost the first two holes but steadied the ship from there to win three, four and six to go one up. A further win on the ninth had her turn at two up. After halves on the tenth and eleventh holes Anne won yet another hole on twelve to go three up.
Our third player out was Orla Rush who was once again in great form and, while the match was nip and tuck for the first seven holes, wins on the eighth and ninth had her match at two up at halfway. Orla didn’t feel that she played quite as well today as yesterday but still finished her match out with some style, winning eleven, twelve and thirteen and securing an excellent half on the fourteenth to win 5&4 and have us two nil up.
Out on the course after Orla was Regina Connaughton who played so well in yesterday’s match (winning 7&6). It was clear however from the off today that today’s match could be a different proposition. Regina was two down after three before winning the fourth. The two hole margin was restored immediately however on the next hole but Regina threw in three great holes straight away and was one up after eight. A half on the long ninth ensured a small advantage for Regina moving into the back nine. The tenth was also halved before Regina’s opponent seemed to find a second gear and through a combination of some solid golf, and a little luck, won the next four holes to go three up with four holes left to play. Try as she might, Regina was unable to whittle the deficit down and halves on the fifteenth and sixteenth were enough for Belvoir Park to win a much needed point by a margin of 3&2.
Trisha’s match remained tied following further halves on twelve and thirteen before the Belvoir Park player broke the deadlock, winning the fourteenth to go one up, and at a critical point in the match. Fifteen and sixteen were also halved, with Trisha holding some clutch putts. So just one down with two holes remaining and a place in the final very much on the line, Trisha dug deep to win the seventeenth and headed to the par five, eighteenth all square.
Meanwhile, Anne’s opponent had found some rhythm from the thirteenth and had clawed two holes back with wins on thirteen and fourteen to bring the match back to one up for Greystones. Anne halted this momentum on the fifteenth, holing a thirty footer to win the hole and get back to two up. The sixteenth is a par three over water and unfortunately Anne found this water off her tee shot and lost this hole. The seventeenth was also unkind to us and Anne’s match was back to all square heading to the eighteenth tee.
So at this stage it really was all to play for despite the big wins by Grace and Orla. Greystones had two matches in the bag to Belvoir Parks one, Trisha was playing the eighteenth all square, having won the previous two holes while Anne was heading to the eighteenth tee, also all square but having lost the previous two. Nothing in it……
On the eighteenth both Trisha and her opposite number had hit good drives but both found themselves in a fairway bunker. Trisha hit a good recovery shot, advancing her ball eighty yards on while her opponent only managed to just get her ball out of the bunker and then only managed to move her ball another twenty yards with her third shot. The Belvoir Park player’s next shot was to the middle of the fairway, leaving herself a fifty ward chip to the pin which was in a very tricky position on the front of the green. Trisha pulled her third shot a bit and her ball was unfortunate to stop in a small copse of trees on the left hand side of the fairway around ninety yards from the pin. Caddie Ken could be seen pointing to a slim gap which would allow Trisha go for the back left of the green – the crowd held their collective breath. Trisha executed this difficult shot perfectly, finding the back left of the green but was still left with an incredibly tough putt, downhill with a big break to a pin so close to the front edge. Her opponent chipped to the back of the green and was unable to get up and down so after Trisha hit a great putt to six feet or so it was as good as game over, although she did have to hole out a knee trembler after leaving her second putt a little shorter than she might have liked. A wonderful finish to a great match.
Anne Browner and caddie Ann Clarke were watching the drama unfold from the fairway behind and didn’t need to be called in !!!
The ladies will face Headford Golf Club ( Kells ) in the All-Ireland final tomorrow at the early start time of 08.10 in an effort to avoid a weather front which is forecast to move in.
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