KirkwoodGolf: LORRAINE HOWD LEADS MIDLANDS NORTH QUALIFIERS

Monday, May 23, 2011

LORRAINE HOWD LEADS MIDLANDS NORTH QUALIFIERS

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Nottinghamshire golfer Lorraine Howd scored a superb net score of seven-under 66 at Greetham Valley Golf Club to lead the Midlands North qualifiers for the 2011 Volvo EWGA Grand Medal Final.
Lorraine, who was playing off 13, dropped just six shots for her best-ever round and was three shots ahead of her closest challenger.
The top 10 players at the regional final qualified for the Grand Medal Final at Droitwich Golf Club, Worcestershire, on June 25, where they will join qualifiers from EWGA’s other five regions to compete for the title of England’s champion medal player.
They are:
Lorraine Howd (Ruddington Grange), Kathryn Johnson (Waltham Windmill), Helen Stainforth (Leicestershire), Janice Cook (Gainsborough), Julie Cowling (Meole Brace), Kay Hircock (Burghley Park), Veronica Whitehill (Crow Nest Park), Clare Robertson (Thorpe Wood), Gretta Blackburn (Chevin), Gemma Jewkes (Oxley Park).
The regional final was contested by the leading medal players from EWGA’s Midlands North region, who had each returned the best four scores in the Volvo EWGA Medals at their club during 2010. They represented clubs in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

The standard was extremely high and two players who returned scores of net par failed to qualify for the Grand Final. The shot of the day was played by Gretta Blackburn who had a hole-in-one on the 130-yard 14th. It was her first ace in over 30 years of playing golf and she said: “I was playing very average but that shot kickstarted my round.”
She qualified for the Grand Final on the cut mark.
Meanwhile, Lorraine Howd was celebrating her career-best score. “After nine holes I knew I had dropped only two shots and I had to tell myself ‘don’t let the wheels come off.’ I managed to hold it together!
“It’s the first big competition I’ve ever won and the thought of going through to the Grand Final is very exciting. At the moment I don’t think it’s really sunk in, but I’m looking forward to it.”


Qualifying net scores
Par 73 SS 74 CSS 74
66 Lorraine Howd (Ruddington Grange) (13)
69 Kathryn Johnson (Waltham Windmill) (12)
70 Helen Stainforth (Leicestershire) (19), Janice Cook (Gainsborough) (14)
71 Julie Cowling (Meole Brace) (26), Kay Hircock (Burghley Park) (21)
72 Veronica Whitehill (Crow Nest Park) (21), Clare Robertson (Thorpe Wood) (23)
73 Gretta Blackburn (Chevin) (15), Gemma Jewkes (Oxley Park) (9)

Lyndsey Hewison
Press and PR Officer
EWGA



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