Midlands South County Match Week (CMW) was held at Northampton Golf Club from Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd June, with a practice day on Sunday 20th.

There are six counties involved – Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire & Herefordshire. Each county plays 5 matches, each match consisting of 5 games – 2 x foursomes and 3 x singles. Matches are played Mon AM, Mon PM, Tue AM, Tue PM and Wed AM.

The winner of CMW goes forward to National Finals, where the winners of each regional CMW play the same format for a national winner.

A team of 10 was selected to represent Bucks:

Megan Denis (Woburn)
Ciara Egan (Woburn)
Daisy Kennedy (Harewood Downs)
Rosie Bee Kim (The Buckinghamshire)
Thalia Kirby (Harleyford)
Alice Kozlowski (Ellesborough)
Lulu Leetham (Buckingham)
Grace Rigby-Walden (Gerrards Cross)
Lily Robinson (Woburn)
Roisin Scanlon (Woburn)

The team was a great mix of experienced players and some rookies. Megan, Thalia and Alice all played in CMW last time it was held at Northampton (2014) although Thalia and Megan did not remember too much about the course as they were 13 and 14 at the time. Ciara, Lulu and Roisin were our rookies.

On Sunday 20th , Lulu Leetham was forced to drop out as a close contact had tested positive for Covid, so she was forced to self-isolate for 10 days. Very disappointing for the team, but especially for Lulu as this was to be her first CMW. Fortunately we were able to bring in a replacement and many thanks to Ella Butteriss (Beaconsfield) for stepping in at short notice.

The girls went out on the practice day well wrapped up as it was rather cold and cloudy, with rain forecast later in the day.

On Monday morning we had our first match against W&H. Alice & Lily led the team out and managed a convincing 5&4 win. The second foursomes was Daisy and Grace, who halved their game. In the singles, Thalia, Rosie and Megan all won their games, so a very pleasing 4½ - ½ win for our first match against an experienced W&H team.

On Monday afternoon we played Warwickshire. Ciara, one of our rookies, played with Lily and they had a great 5&3 win. Our other new girl 13 year old Roisin Scanlon played with Rosie Kim, who at 14 is almost a veteran and gained her county colours in 2019. The two youngsters had a great time playing together and won their match 7&6. Thalia, Alice and Megan played singles, with Megan coming back from being well down early in the match to win 1 up, Alice again fought back from being down early on, and got back to 1 down playing the final hole, when her tee shot stayed up a tree, never to be seen again. Thalia managed a comfortable win, so the final result was a 4 – 0 win.

On Tuesday morning we played the hosts, and probably our nearest competition. Several of the team are members at Northampton, so had lots of local knowledge. Alice & Lily were first out again and lost a close game. Daisy & Grace won their foursomes, so it was all down to the singles, which were all fairly close games. Thalia won and Megan lost, so it was all down to the final game with Roisin playing Leah Ribano, one of the NGC members in a fairly tight game. Roisin was 1 up playing the 18th , where both girls hit their second shots to within 10 feet but neither managed to birdie, so the game ended with a 1 up win. The final match result was 3 – 2 to Bucks.

On Tuesday afternoon we played Oxfordshire. Thalia and Megan went out first in the foursomes and after a slow start they won 5&3. Ella arrived on Tuesday morning, and went out with Ciara in the afternoon as she had never seen the course before. The pairing was a great success with a 5&4 win. Rosie, Lily and Grace all played singles with the first two games being fairly comfortable wins. Grace had a much tighter game and won 15, 16 and 17 and then halved 18 for a 1 up win, giving a comprehensive 5 – 0 win in the match.

On Wednesday we know that we could not be caught for the title. Thalia and Rosie both had commitments on Wednesday, so left on Tuesday after golf. Daisy & Grace and Alice & Lily played foursomes and both won their games. Daisy & Grace came back from being 3 down after 5 holes to 2 up with 2 to play. On the 8th (their 17th hole), Grace drove just over the back of the green and Daisy’s chip hit the pin, almost going down, but ending up only a few inches away, so a great birdie to finish. Roisin, Ella and Ciara all played singles and won their games, so another 5 – 0 match result.

Overall we won all our matches, and out of 25 games played won 21, halved 1 and only lost 3, so a very emphatic win.

Thanks very much to Helen Mines – house mother, kit manager, super-caddie, taxi driver and overall just a great help to everyone.

Thanks also to Lynda Hilton, our County President, another great help and support.

Tony Bowers, our County Coach, who advised on pairings and was our on course advice giver. Tony is great with the girls and gets everyone together with a great team spirit.

I also want to thank Northampton Golf Club and all the members who came along to ball spot and support. A special mention to Sue who was our ambassador for the week and sorted out all sorts of problems from getting another member to make some bread for one of our team to rearranging all the dinner orders in the evening.

Thank you to all the Bucks supporters who came up to watch – it’s great to see all the red and I’m sure it helped the team seeing lots of support.

The whole event was very well run and we were made very welcome by everyone. This was my first experience of CMW as part of a team, but all my concerns were unfounded and it was a very enjoyable experience.

A great big thank you to all the team – the girls were fabulous. There was a real team spirit and a great sense of fun and enjoyment in the team. It is great to win, but much better to win when everyone enjoyed the whole experience.

We have now qualified for National Finals, which this year will be held at Denham from 17th to 19th September. It’s a great honour for the county to host National Finals, and it should be very exciting to be involved in National Finals at one of our own clubs.

Our opponents at National Finals will be: Hertfordshire (East Region), Surrey (South Region), Lincolnshire (Midlands North Region), Yorkshire (North Region) and Somerset (South West Region).