Raffi, Hannah, Brogan and Bethan all win top scratch events

Hampshire’s Raffi Dyer, Hertfordshire’s Hannah Burke, Lancashire’s Brogan Townend and Gloucestershire’s Bethan Popel are all celebrating wins in top scratch events.
Raffi, from Hayling Island, was the first to score when she won the Critchley Salver at Sunningdale, with a three-under par total for the 36-hole event. In the second round she was four-under on the New course.
Raffi, who will be 19 next week, won last year’s South region girls’ championship and has had high finishes this season in the Welsh open strokeplay, the Leveret and the Hampshire Rose. She was runner-up in the Hampshire championship.
Hannah Burke returned from victory in the Irish strokeplay championship to win the Astor Salver at The Berkshire.
The 22-year-old from Mid-Herts was nine-under par for the two rounds, won by three shots, has reduced her handicap to plus-four – and equalled the record for the competition.
Hannah joins Whitney Hillier (2009), Joanne Oliver (1995) and Jill Thornhill (1988) in scoring 136. This week Hannah is representing Hertfordshire in the East region County Match Week.
Brogan Townend, 16, playing on her home course, won the Pleasington Putter with a 36-hole score of three under par. She was three shots clear of her closest challenger.
Brogan won the U16 Faldo Series girls’ title last year and was in England’s winning team at this season’s Scottish U16 strokeplay championship. She was also runner-up in the girls’ event at the Fairhaven Trophies.
Bethan Popel, 14, shot two-under par gross in the second round of the West of England Championship at Bath and won the Harper Salver on countback from Shelby Smart , 15, and Tara Watters, who was the runner-up in the recent English amateur championship.
Bethan, from Long Ashton, has played in the Harper Salver since 2007 when she won the best net prize. Now, she plays off four and is a member of EWGA’s Select South West Squad. This year’s net prize went to Abigail Moyes, a youngster from Tiverton who was 10-under her handicap for the 36 holes.
The competition attracted players from as far as Jersey and the Isle of Man and included English champion Hayley Davis who won fifth prize.
Leading scores
Critchley Salver, Sunningdale,
Old course first, par 74, New course, par 74
145 Raffi Dyer (Hayling Island) 75 70
146 Daisy Dyer (Chigwell) 72 74; Katie Mundy (Dunwood Manor) 72 74
147 Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall) 76 71; Rachael Goodall (Heswall) 74 73
149 Hannah Grant (Enmore Park) 78 71; Abbey Gittings (Walmley) 74 75
150 Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield) 78 72; Tara Watters (Muswell Hill) 74 76; Elizabeth Haycock (Mosely) 83 67; Charlotte Thompson (Channels) 77 73

Astor Salver, The Berkshire
Blue course first, Par 72 CSS 74, Red course Par 73, CSS 74
136 Hannah Burke (Mid Herts) 67 69
139 Charley Hull (Woburn) 70 69
141 Justine Lee (Aus) 69 72; Jessica Speechey (Aus) 68 73
142 Georgina Dunn (Peterborough Milton) 69 73; Charlotte Wild (Mere) 68 74
144 Stacey Keating (Aus) 74 70
145 Amy Boulden (Wales) 72 73; Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield) 72 73
146 Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall) 74 72; Daisy Dyer (Chigwell) 72 74

Pleasington Putter, Pleasington
Par 74, CSS 74 75
145 Brogan Townend (Pleasington) 70 75
148 Amy Boulden (Wales) 72 76
150 Kirsty O'Connor (Nelson) 76 74; Natalie Lowe (Prestbury) 73 77; Catherine Roberts (Pleasington) 73 77; Nicola Rawlinson (Royal Birkdale) 70 80; Raffi Dyer (Hayling Island) 69 81
151 Donna Barnes (Manchester) 76 75
152 Hannah Grant (Enmore Park) 75 77; Emma Goddard (Vale Royal Millennium) 74 78); Gemma Bradbury (Cottrell Park 73 79)

Harper Salver, Bath
Par 74 CSS 74 74
149 Bethan Popel (Long Ashton) 77 72; Shelby Smart (Knowle) 74 75; Tara Watters (Muswell Hill) 73 76
150 Kyra Horlock (Broadstone) 76 74; Hayley Davis (Ferndown) 73 77
151 Kerry-Anne Haskell (Dudsbury) 76 75; Becky Gibbs (Burnham & Berrow) 70 81
152 Abigail Moyes (Tiverton) 74 78
153 Georgia Gilling (Rochford Hundred) 75 78; Rachael Goodall (Heswall) 74 79

Lyndsey Hewison
Press and PR Officer