Waterlooville '˜honoured' to host prestigious finals

The club will join a stellar list of English courses that have hosted the championship, which was first contested in 1953 at Prince’s Golf Course in Kent.

Stephen Millett, president of Waterlooville, said: ‘We are honoured to have been chosen to hold such a prestigious ladies’ event this year.

‘We have held pro-ams and hosted many local and national tournaments since our club was founded in 1907 but this will be on a different scale.

‘The members are very excited our course has been selected by England Golf and we will be pulling out all the stops to make it a truly memorable occasion.’

England Golf championship director James Crampton added: ‘Waterlooville is a beautiful parkland course.

‘We chose it because we recognised the course had the length we were seeking for this standard of competition, plus it is in extremely good condition with fast greens and tight fairways.

‘A true test of golf!’

The five-day matchplay championship will be contested by six teams, each representing one of the regions – East, Midlands North, Midlands South, North, South and South West.

During the tournament’s long history, the Hampshire ladies’ team have won the title four times – including most recently in 2014 at Belton Park GC in Lincolnshire.

Waterlooville’s own scratch golfer, Kerry Smith, was a senior member of the squad – securing six-and-a-half points out of a possible eight.

Smith has played in all four winning Hampshire teams.

Waterlooville’s ladies’ captain, Allison Bolam, added: ‘This is a great compliment to our club.

‘The prestige of the 
county finals is growing every year.

‘It will be thrilling to watch the best lady amateur golfers in the country competing for the title on our fairways – and to see how Waterlooville is meant to be played!’

The English Women’s County Finals will take place from Monday, September 12, to Friday, September 16.

Entrance is free, with spectators very welcome.

To keep up-to-date with news, results, profiles and much more, please visit waterloovillegolfclub.com or englandgolf.org/womenscountyfinals