With the recent spell of warm sunny weather it is hard to believe that the end of season is fast approaching and with the darker evenings you are now only maybe managing 9 holes after work.
The final of the Sheena Wood Rosebowl was recently played at Banchory Golf Club between Michelle Finnie (Aberdeen Ladies) and Mary Robinson (Murcar Links) which Michelle won in a keenly contested match. Congratulations to both Ladies in reaching the final of this popular competition.
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| Mary Robinson and Michelle Finnie |
The Commonwealth Spoons was held at Alford Golf Club on Tuesday 22nd August. 36 Couples took part and despite a bit of rain the course was in excellent condition and everyone enjoyed their day. Penny Smith (Rosehearty) and Elaine Pirie (Duff House Royal) (17.5) won with a score of 67.5. The other qualifiers are Michelle Black (Murcar Links) and Emma Gising (Murcar Links) (12) 70, Sheila Wilson (Duff House Royal) and Beverley Pirie (Duff House Royal) (21) 70 and Mary Robinson (Murcar Links) and Helen McIntosh (Murcar Links)(18) 71. Good luck to all 4 couples when they represent Aberdeenshire in the Scottish Finals which this year is being played at Alyth on Monday 11th September.
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The North of Scotland Girl’s Championships was recently held at Portlethen Golf Club. We witnessed some excellent golf with Jodie Taylor (Downfield) winning the Championship with an excellent score of 73 playing to 8 under her handicap. The Handicap winner was Megan Ashley (Strathmore) (3) 75 and the runner up was Kirsty Brodie (Strathmore) (1) 76. The girls all conducted themselves in such a great manner and they are a great credit to their families, Clubs and Counties and I look forward to watching their progress over the coming years.
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| Sheila McNaught, Megan Ashley, Kirsty Brodie and Jodie Taylor |
The Lyon Foursomes was played at Royal Aberdeen, Balgownie Course on the 7th and 8th August. 12 teams took part and the course proved an excellent venue and a real test of all the player’s match play skills. Unfortunately we had some heavy downpours on Monday afternoon but we still managed to complete all the matches so were then all set to play the semi finals and final the following day.
In the first semi final Aberdeen Ladies 1 (Fiona Seedhouse, Michelle Finnie, Kim Watt and Lesley Marnoch ) played Kemnay 1 (Rachel Polson, Sammy Leslie, Donna Pocock and Vikki Thom) and lost by 9 holes and in the other match Aboyne (Carmen Griffiths, Kimberley Beveridge, Georgette Hollingsworth and Maryla Sime) played Hazlehead (Morven Adam, Karen Thow, Kath Emeleus and Karen Pottinger ) and won by 8 holes.
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In the afternoon Carmen and Kimberley beat Sammy and Rachel by two holes but Donna and Vikki managed to beat Georgette and Marlya by seven holes so Kemnay 1 won the 2017 Lyons Foursomes for the first time and Aboyne were awarded the Godsman Quaich as runners up. Vikki and Rachel were also awarded Lyon brooches as first time winners.
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| Sheila McNaught, Georgette Hollingsworth, Rachel Polson, Vikki Thom, Donna Pocock, Sammy Leslie, Maryla Sime, Margaret MacNaughtan, Kimberley Beveridge, Carmen Griffiths |
It was very fitting that in their 125th Anniversary year, Aberdeen Ladies hosted this event as Charlotte Lyon who donated the trophy in 1936 was a member of the Club for over 80 years and was their secretary for 51 years. A huge thank you to Fiona Seedhouse, their Lady Captain, and all the members who worked so hard both before and throughout the two days in making this event such a success. You made us all feel so welcome and the home bakes were a real treat!!
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| Charlotte Lyon’s photo beside the trophies |
Unfortunately Shannon McWilliam (Aboyne) , Jasmine McIntosh (Hazlehead), Sheena Wood (Aberdeen Ladies) were unable to play in the Lyon’s Foursomes as they were all away on International duty. Shannon was representing Scotland in the Home Internationals and Jasmine was representing the U18 Girl’s Scottish team in the Girls’ event with both competitions being played at Little Aston. Both teams finished third and both girls contributed to their wins over Wales on the final day.
Sheena was selected to represent Scottish Vets in the Veteran Ladies Golf Association Jamboree at Frilford Heath Golf Club and although Scotland finished in fourth place it is great for Aberdeenshire to have 3 of our players representing Scotland and I am sure their achievements will be a huge incentive for other county members to work towards.
Aberdeenshire was also represented in the Management team of the Scottish Vets with Ellie Whyte (Aberdeen Ladies) as Vice- Captain.
Congratulations to Lynne Terry (9) (Cruden Bay) who reached the semi finals of the Handicap knock out stages at the Strathtryum Tournament at St Andrews before being beaten by the winner, Elizabeth Doyle from Ireland who was playing off 25.
Carmen Griffiths headed over to the States to represent Scotland as one of 6 young Scottish golfers to be selected for a trip of a lifetime to this year’s Solheim Cup at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, Iowa to be part of the hand- over ceremony for the 2019 Solheim Cup coming to Scotland .
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Catriona Matthew with the Scottish girls. Carmen is standing 3rd from the right (Photo courtesy of Scottish Golf) |
Good Luck to Sheena Wood (Aberdeen Ladies) who is playing for the Scottish Senior Women’s team in the European Team Championships this week at Skalica, Slovakia and in October Sheena will again represent Scotland in the Senior Home Internationals at Newport in Wales.
The next date to put in the diary is Saturday 11th November – The County AGM – which is again being held at Aberdeen Curl at 11am and I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
Sheila McNaught (Captain)