East Vets Championship First Round

The webmaster deeply regrets making a comment in a previous blog about the likeliehood of Saturday 10th July being yet again a terrible day for an East Vet competition as indeed it was. After both the Spring and Summer Meetings being subject to precipitation from the clouds, it did not seem possible that the Championship would be similarly afflicted - but it was.

Eight brave souls went out at Haddington to face the elements - actually in spite of a pretty dire forecast it was quite nice for a hole or two but that didn't last. Umbrellas were enough initially but everyone eventually succumbed to the waterproofs and they never came off. However the course was well able to cope with it and the greens in particular were very nice.

Full marks to Mary Richardson who was rather unwell before she went out- she was being given a wide berth. She would not have been blamed for just handing over the tie but she is made of sterner stuff and persisted to the last. Well done Mary.

One other lady, who shall remain nameless, found she had in the first instance come without her battery. Not bothered she decided to swap over her cart bag for her carry one but unfortunately left her car keys in the pocket of the cart bag. Not many cars these days lock when the door is slammed but this one did. Her playing partner very kindly drove her back into Edinburgh to get the spare set and then all the way back to Haddington so take your hat off to her. And by the way this did not happen to the webmaster!

Ruth Brown and Noreen Fenton possibly had the closest and toughest match with a fair shout of birdies so it was a shame that there had to be a winner and a loser. Noreen started with a ten foot putt for a birdie at the first to go one up. The next two holes were halved in par and then Ruth won the fourth with a par then the next with a birdie. Noreen won the sixth with a par to be all square. Then Ruth took charge and became three up when Noreen went out of bounds at the tenth. The next two were halved in par - the twelfth where Ruth had a great up and down from a bunker. Noreen won the 13th with a par, the 14th with a two, halved the 15th with a par, won the 16th with a birdie, the seventeenth with a two and Ruth conceded the 18th to a par. A very close game indeed.

Results
Moira Thomson(Gullane) beat Mary Richardson(Craigmillar Park)
Noreen Fenton (Dunbar) beat Ruth Brown (Lothianburn)
Karen Ballantyne(Craigmillar Park) beat Rita Dee(Kingsknowe)
Anne Brownie(Lothianburn) beat Ellice Cackett(Broomieknowe)

Semi-finals tomorrow Sunday 11th at 10.07 and 10.15 with the final at 3pm. Spectators welcome.