I
can’t believe it is now eleven days since the prestigious 2021 County Championship ended
with Rachel Polson taking home the trophy. Here is the story of
how she and other trophy winners got there ...
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Vice-captain Olive, Runner-up Robyn, President Ros, Captain Lorna, Champion Rachel |
The
2021 County Championship took place at Meldrum House from Friday 30 April until
Sunday 02 May.
The Golf
For
the Qualifying Round on Friday, the weather brought a day of all seasons –
brief sunshine, lots of cloud, wind, bitter coldness, some rain, and a hail
shower. Scores reflected the tough weather conditions and the fact that Meldrum
House posed a challenging test of golf. In particular, many players found the
large, contoured, relatively fast greens very tricky. Perhaps local knowledge
of the greens helped five home players to make it the next rounds! Rachel
Mathieson (Hazlehead) posted an impressive score of 74 to take leading
qualifier position.
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| Congratulations, Rachel |
On
Saturday, the Scratch and Handicap match play stages commenced. It was
disappointing that current Covid protection levels and restrictions meant that we
had to disallow caddies and spectators. However, officials, in particular those
of us with the team squad in mind, observed much outstanding golf. Matches were
played in great competitive spirit and deserving winners emerged. Full results
can be seen under Fixtures on this web page.
Sunday
morning saw the final match of the Handicap Trophy with Elaine Pirie (Meldrum
House) beating Melanie Clark (Hazlehead) 5&3.
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| Congratulations, Elaine |
The
semi-finals of the Championship event also took place on Sunday morning. Both
matches were very close. Robyn Fowlie (Forfar) narrowly beat Rachel Mathieson
at the 19th, and Rachel Polson (Murcar Links) narrowly beat Carmen
Griffiths (Aboyne) 2&1.
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| Congratulations, Rachel and Carmen, the semi-finalist trophy winners |
The
stage was set for Sunday afternoon with both Robyn and Rachel competing in the Championship final for the
first time. It was a hard fought match, all square until the 5th
where Robyn went one up until Rachel brought it back to all square at the 6th.
Rachel birdied the 9th to be one up at the turn until Robyn brought
it back to all square with a birdie at the 11th. Rachel birdied the
12th, holed a long putt to birdie the 14th then started
to creep away from Robyn. It was a pity that so few of us witnessed the display
of excellent golf that ended with Rachel gaining victory at the 16th
hole.
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| Congratulations to finalists Robyn and Rachel in the sunshine beside the 16th green |
In
Alan Brown’s page in last Tuesday’s Evening Express, Rachel gave her account of
her Championship experience. These comments stood out for me:
“I don’t feel as though there is any pressure on me to perform well all of the time any more and my mindset has definitely changed for the better on the course. That being said, I knew this could be the first and only time I reached the final, never mind win it. I had to give myself a bit of a ‘talking to’ and managed to win 14th, 15th and 16th to win the match 4&2.”
“Obviously, I’m absolutely delighted with the win … and a little shocked.”
I don’t think we
are shocked, Rachel, and we are definitely delighted for you.
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| Congratulations, Champion Rachel |
Thanks …
Many
thanks must be put on record.
First
of all, thanks to Meldrum House. Thanks to:
- Owners and Directors, in particular Chairman Bob Edwards, for granting ALCGA courtesy of the course, a very significant contribution with 98 rounds of golf taking place over the three days
- Golf Manager David Mann for his significant support and help in making arrangements to ensure smooth running of our event and Professional Iain Donaldson for his day-to-day assistance
- Course Manager Kenny Harper and Head Greenkeeper Stewart Addison and their team for their efforts in presenting a beautiful course in excellent condition
- Lesley Morrison and the catering team for their hospitality
- Club Vice Captain Mark Kelly for being starter on a very cold Friday morning
- Club member Liz Barrack for her help on qualifying day
- Club Captain Scott Mackay – assisted by his daughter Maisy - for refereeing the Championship final.
Next,
thanks to various ALCGA officials and members. Thanks to:
- Honorary Secretary Karen (Stalker) who refereed the Handicap Final, who deals with entries, the draws, scoring and results, and who decided this year to embark on using Scottish Golf’s VMS (Venue Management System) which required all players’ details to be checked and input so that scores could be processed and published, including live leader boards – quite an achievement – congratulations and huge thanks, Karen
- President Ros (Roy) for her commitment to welcoming all players to the very cold first tee on Friday and to officiating when prizes were awarded
- Management Committee member Fiona (Campbell) for her help
- Selector Zibby (Brown) and Vice-captain Olive (Robb) for talent spotting with me
- all competitors who, of course, are at the heart of the Championship success story.
Final Comment …
We
are very fortunate in Aberdeenshire to have so many enthusiastic, supportive
and gifted golfers. Our County Champion is always worthy of the accolade, with Rachel
Polson taking that 2021 honour.
The
Championship always provides a great opportunity to see many of our potential
Jamboree team members in action. We were not disappointed by the standard of
golf in 2021.
Lorna
Lorna
M Johnson
Captain,
ALCGA