Moira Exits at the 20th

After a very exciting and ding-dong semi-final, Moira Thomson of Gullane lost at the 20th hole to Fiona de Vries of St Rule.

Moira won the first hole with a par to go one up and this position remained unchanged till the long sixth when Fiona dramatically got it back with an eagle 3. They had both had pars at the infamous Lighthouse Hole (4th). Pars always felt like birdies. Following on her success at the sixth Fiona had another birdie at the 7th which is a deceptively short hole, particularly with a following wind, where, having reached the green it is often then difficult to stop the ball from rolling off the back. Holes were exchanged regularly with pars such that at the 15th the game was all square. Fiona still managed to win the 16th albeit with a bogey, despite having completely traversed the 17th fairway on her circuitous route to the green. At this point Moira went one down.

Both drove well at the 17th. Moira sent a lovely iron to the hidden green which would have been particularly pleasing especially as Fiona was very short with her approach. However it must have kicked off the slope as although it was pin-high, it was off the right hand side of the green. Fiona chipped nicely but beyond the hole. Then Moira had a rush of blood and proceeded to hit both the chip and the putt much too positively. Indeed she did well to sink a testing return putt for a half. At dormie one up, Fiona then put her tee-shot deep into the gorse on the left-hand side and eventually had to concede the hole. All square. Down the 19th which was halved in five - see above picture.

At the 20th however, after playing steadily all the way round, Moira uncharacteristically put her drive into the whins on the right hand side of the second fairway and her provisional into the left. Although her first ball was found, it was unplayable and required a penalty shot to see it on its way. Unfortunately the approach to the green went into the greenside bunker which she only just managed to come out of. However she proceeded to execute a lovely little pitch up to the hole. Fiona sensibly had played less adventurous and costly shots, landing her third to the back of the green where a good putt saw it near enough to take the tie. 2010 was not to be Moira's year to win the Seniors' Championship.

In the first round between Fiona Hunter (Baberton) and Noreen Fenton (Dunbar), Fiona was never ahead until the 15th hole. Two down after the eleventh hole, she found her putting boots and sank a 20 foot putt on the twelfth green where she had to give it the full ten seconds to drop. The tricky 13th was halved in four and then she sank three lovely putts in succession, none less than 10 feet, for birdies at the 14th, 15th and sixteenth and suddenly she was two up with two to play. At the seventeenth, Noreen was off the back, beside a whin bush and sank her chip for a birdie 3. Dormie one. Both played rescue woods on to the eighteenth green but a half in three meant Fiona had won by one hole.

In the afternoon Fiona played Heather Anderson the defending champion, was never up and sadly did not have the run of birdies she had had in the morning to turn around the scoreline. However, they both had birdies at the seventh hole, Heather, one at the 14th with Fiona retaliating with another at the tricky two-tier 15th. At this point there was only one hole in it, but Fiona hit disaster at the 18th which she had to win outright and conceded to lose by 2 holes.

The last game to involve an East Vet was in the quarterfinals between Pamela Williamson of Baberton and Lorna Bennett of Ladybank, a twice seniors' Champion. This proved to be a tough game going all the way to the 18th hole, but one in which Pamela was never up. Lorna gifted Pamela the tricky Lighthouse hole with a much too tentative putt for the quite fiercesome green, but she typically retaliated by birdieing the next with a two and taking the long sixth with an eagle 3 to go two up. Pamela got one back at the short ninth with a par 3 and just said "thanks very much" to Lorna at the tenth, where Lorna most unusually missed a shortish putt. All square. After losing the 11th to a par, Pamela had a bit of trouble at the 12th which she conceded to Lorna whose driving and fairway shots throughout were crisp and accurate. Back to two down. The next three were halved and then, dormie two down at the seventeenth, Pamela was again let off the hook when her Midlands opponent uncharacteristically missed the putt which went round the hole. Down the eighteenth, death to so many hopes, but a half was not good enough to push the game down the 19th.