ANNE HANSON WINS EAST VETS CHAMPIONSHIP

Anne Hanson pictured with the Bass Rock in the background after leaving the 16th green at The Glen  GC, North Berwick where she won her first East Vets Championship.
( Click here to link to photos from The Glen ; once you've opened the link it can played as a slideshow.)         A report from Sunday's play follows below  :

In a closely contested Final, Anne Hanson won her first Lady McInnes Shaw Cup to become East Vets Champion for 2013 with a 3 & 2 win over Karen Ballantyne at The Glen Golf Course, North Berwick. Congratulations to Anne, and best of luck at Blairgowrie when representing East Vets on 22^nd/23^rd September when the Scottish  Vets Championship will be decided.

Both semi-finals took place on the morning of the 4^th August in bright, breezy conditions with the yachts on the Forth and the Bass Rock providing a picturesque backdrop to some stunning golf.   Anne Hanson had a 3 & 2  win over Dulcie Barnes in the first semi-final in which both players  scored well against par – after the famously tricky first hole (which Dulcie won). Both Anne and Dulcie had their eye in on the greens but Anne’s putter proved to be marginally the hotter. Even the caddies were impressed by the quality of the golf being played!  In the other semifinal  there was a similar story with both competitors playing some outstanding golf shots and displaying a silky touch around the greens resulting in a 3 & 2 win for Karen Ballantyne over Sue Penman.  Both finalists were very complimentary about the quality of golf played by their opponents and all four players enthused about the condition of the course.

The Final teed off at 3pm with the sun still shining and a few spectators looking forward to seeing how the finalists would tackle some of The Glen’s more challenging holes, especially with the breeze freshening. In the early holes, it was nip and tuck with Karen taking a narrow 1 up lead which she held on to notwithstanding some fine approach shots from Anne which several times looked to give her the opportunity to draw level only for Karen to hole a good putt to halve, and keep her slender advantage. Anne finally drew level with an excellent birdie at the 7^th when she hit her approach to only a few feet. Anne then won the 8^th to go one up and looked in pole position on the short par 4 9^th holes when her tee shot went just through the back of the green whilst Karen was bunkered off the tee. The 9^th was, however, halved in birdie 3s when Karen pulled off a great sand save under the watchful eyes of three Japanese golfers who the vice-captain had persuaded to let the Final play through!

Anne was not to be denied going 2 up at the 10^th but at the 12^th Karen holed her approach shot for an eagle 3 and thus reduced the deficit to just one hole again. The golf really was outstanding with very few shots being dropped to par.  Unfortunately for Karen this changed at the par 3 13^th hole where both players found the green but, for once, Karen’s putting touch deserted her and an uncharacteristic three putt allowed Anne to regain a two hole advantage. Anne’s putting was on fire – to the extent that to spectators it seemed that even four to five footers were like gimme distance as it just seemed Anne could not miss from  five , six even seven feet in. Putting again made the difference in allowing Anne to be dormie three up at the tee of  the long par 3 16^th hole and when her chip from just off the side of the green ran on a bit, it seemed the match might be extended as Karen had a shorter putt left to save her par.  However, Anne’s  unerring putting saved her own par and hence closed out the match.  Both Anne and Karen played some great golf in a super Final  which was fascinating to watch.