Sussex 2nd Team, Stovold Trophy - Match 2 Report

Stovold Trophy - 2nd Match Report

The second Stovold Trophy match for the season against Middlesex was held at Sudbury GC on 15th July. The Sussex team comprised Sara Whittaker & Rachelle Black (Willingdon GC); Iona McKean (West Sussex GC), Leanne Caffyn & Sally Brown (Ifield GC) and Alison Vermes (Pyecombe GC).

Sudbury was in excellent condition having held its Club Championships the previous two days, with many two tier greens and some challenging lies just off the fairways, the course presented the players with some very testing playing conditions.

The morning foursomes matches got underway in calm weather and unfortunately Middlesex were able to establish early leads in all three matches. Sussex regained some momentum at the start of the back 9 and all the matches were closely fought. The final 3 holes proved decisive and Sussex ended up losing the morning session 3-0. 

Whilst the Teams enjoyed lunch, the weather took a turn for the worse and heavy rain greeted players on the first tee for the afternoon singles.

Leading off for Sussex was Rachelle Black, who was playing the vastly experienced low handicap Middlesex player Lulu Housman. After a difficult opening few holes, Rachelle played some extremely good golf and fought her way back from 5 down to all square by the 17th. Local knowledge of the tricky finishing uphill par 3 sadly led to Rachelle narrowly losing out on the final hole 1 down. Although she lost Rachelle can be rightly proud of her battling overall performance.

The first point of the day for Sussex came from Leanne Caffyn, quickly followed by another win from Sara Whittaker. Battling halves from Iona McKean & Sally Brown meant the final result was 6-3 to Middlesex.

Thank you to all the Sussex players, who had to endure a nightmare 3 hr 40 min journey to Middlesex on the Sunday evening, courtesy of the weekend full closure of the M25 junctions 10-11.

Next up is the Team’s first home match against Surrey at East Brighton on 16th August.

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