England's winning team at Sheringham with the Sue Johnson Trophy (image by courtesy of the Ladies Golf Union).

ENGLAND SENIOR CHAMPIONS FOR SIXTH

TIME IN EIGHT YEARS OF TOURNAMENT

The Sue Johnson Trophy is back with England after an absence of three years.
At Sheringham Golf Club, Norfolk today, the English team won the Senior women's home internationals for a sixth time in eight years with a 100 per cent record after the three-day competition.
They followed up wins by 7-1 over Ireland and 6 1/2-2 1/2 over Scotland by beating a gritty Wales challenge 5 1/2-2 1/2.
The Welsh did well to share the morning foursomes honours but took the singles 4-2, including a terrific one-hole win by Jo Ashmore who was five down after eight holes and ended up by winning the 18th for victory.
The English trump card, as is usually the case, is their strength in depth. They could afford to "rest" three of their key players - Caroline Marron, Janet Melville and Felicity Christine - for one session each ... and they still finished up with five wins apiece out of five outings.
The only other player in the tournament with five wins was Wales' Jane Rees whose 100 per cent record through the first five sessions of play was smashed when Janet Melville came back from two down after six, to beat her on the last green.
The seniors' home internationals did not start until 2003 at Whittington Heath. England won the title in the first five years' competitions, Wales won it in 2008 and Scotland in 2009. Now the Sue Johnson Trophy is back in England's hands.

Next year's Senior internationals will be held in Ireland at Tramore Golf Club, seven miles south of Waterford, from September 27 to 29.
Ireland, 2-1 ahead from the foursomes, beat Scotland 5-3 to finish runners-up with 1 1/2pt (one win, one draw), relegating the defending champions to bottom of the table.
Scotland's two singles winners against the Irish were Fiona De Vries (St Rule), the Scots' most successful performer over the three days with 2 1/2pt, and Tain's Mary Smith who won five holes in a row from the ninth in beating Mairead MacNamara 5 and 4.

RESULTS:
Day 1 - Scotland 4, Wales 4; England 7, Ireland 1.
Day 2 - Ireland 4, Wales 4; England 6 1/2, Scotland 1 1/2
Day 3

IRELAND 5, SCOTLAND 3
Foursomes: M MacNamara and N Giblin bt F De Vries and L Bennett 4 and 3; H Jones and P Doran lost to M Smith and A Ryan 2 holes; S McElroy and P O'Gorman bt H Anderson and N Fenton 7 and 6 (2-1).
Singles: V McBride lost to De Vries 4 and 3, Jones bt Bennett 2 and 1, MacNamara lost to Smith 5 and 4, McElroy bt Ryan 2 and 1, Doran bt M Thomson 5 and 4 (3-2).


ENGLAND 5 1/2, WALES 2 1/2
Foursomes: C Quinn and S Dye lost to V Thomas and J Rees 2 and 1; J Melville and F Christine bt J Doleman and O Davies 6 and 5; R Adams and J Ashmore halved with A Lewis and D Richards (1 1/2-1 1/2).
Singles: C Marron bt Thomas 3 and 1, Melville bt Rees 1 hole, Adams lost to Lewis 6 and 4, Christine bt Richards 5 and 4, Ashmore bt Doleman 1 hole (4-1)

+For hole by hole descriptions of all the matches, log on to the Ladies Golf Union website, www.lgu.org
 HOW THEY FINISHED
1 England 3pt.
2 Ireland 1 1/2pt.
3 Wales 1 pt.
4 Scotland 1/2pt.


TEAMS' MOST SUCCESSFUL PLAYERS
ENGLAND
Caroline Marron 5pt out of 5.
Janet Melville 5pt out of 5.
Felicity Christine 5pt out of 5.
IRELAND
Sheena McElroy 4pt out of 6.
Pat Doran 3pt out of 6.
WALES
Jane Rees 5pt out of 6.
Ann Lewis 4 1/2pt out of 6.
Vicki Thomas 3pt out of 6.
SCOTLAND
Fiona De Vries 2 1/2pt out of 6.
Mary Smith 2pt out of 5.
Heather Anderson 2pt out of 5.
Lorna Bennett 2pt out of 5.