The Championship and Silver meeting was held at Royal Birkdale Golf Club on Tuesday 22nd - Thursday 24th April 2025.
The field for qualifying was full with 84 players teeing off in glorious sunshine. The new course at RBGC played very well, and learning the way to negotiate the new bunkers was a challenge for everyone. The weather gods were on our side and it stayed dry, mostly sunny with light to moderate winds for all three days. The frequent changes in wind direction made the course a challenge. The best qualifying score was Susan Caton of Pleasington, with 76 gross.
On the first morning of the match play the match between Min Li Dennison of Royal Birkdale and Fran Lilley of St Annes Old Links were enjoying the course so much that they played six extra holes, Fran finally won with a great putt. Fran actually played a total of 41 holes on Wednesday!
The morning of the semi finals saw Susan Caton, our top qualifier, play Sara Fitzgerald of Ormskirk, Susan winning 3 and 2. The other semi-final between home course member and two time Champion Sharon Eales was against our Champion from last year Adrienne Bennett of Formby Ladies. This was a closely fought affair, Adrienne led by two after the first nine but Sharon fought back with two birdies in a row to turn the match around, Sharon eventually won 2 and 1.
The final was between two very experienced golfers Susan and Sharon. The first few holes were closely contested with many pars. There were many halved holes, including birdies on the 5th. On the 8th hole Sharon finally went one ahead but Susan got straight back on level terms by winning the 9th, all square at the turn. The new par three 12th hole was halved and the match was still all square. Sharon then won the 13th with an amazing recovery from the left hand ditch and took the 14th with a solid par to be two up. Susan fought back and won the new par 3 15th but Sharon won the16th to be two up again. The match finished on the 17th green as the hole was halved.
Many thanks to Janette Smart and her assistant Kookie Morgan for all their hard work in making this Championship and Silver meeting such a success. My grateful thanks go to Royal Birkdale for allowing us to host our most prestigious event of the year, this is the first Championship to be played on the new course and 50 years since LCSLGA played the championship here. A big thank you to Sean and his greens team for producing a super course in what has been a trying time for them, it looked magnificent. Many thanks to the referees Andrew Charnock and Sally Hampson. Thanks also to Ken Lowe who was our starter on day one, and to the catering staff for providing some excellent food and looking after everyone.
I now look forward to the Richardson Trophy matches which commence up in Cumbria at Seascale GC in just two weeks time.
Good luck ladies.