YORKSHIRE PAIR WIN ENGLAND'S PING PLATE FINAL

Yorkshire golfers Karen Hughes and Elaine Ducker scored the biggest success of their golfing careers when they won the Plate Final of the 2013 PING Fourball Betterball Tournament at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. “It’s our biggest win by a mile!” said Elaine, who paired up with Karen to score 43 points, finishing one clear of Kent’s Dawn Edwards and Jennifer Stark Duce. The pair, from Cottingham Parks, near Hull, came through an initial entry of around 17,500 women from 825 clubs who entered this year’s competition, which is run by England Golf. The top 60 pairs in the country qualified for tomorrow’s Grand Final while the next 72 pairs went through to today’s Plate Final. Karen, who plays off 19, and Elaine, a 22-handicapper, compiled their score in testing conditions of wind and rain. “We really enjoyed the day and we played with two young girls, aged 13 and 15, who gave us a really good game,” added Elaine. This is only the second time that Cottingham Parks has entered the PING competition – and it’s all down to Elaine, who was ladies’ captain last year. “I decided to start it and Karen, who is captain this year, kept it going,” said Elaine. “We’ve increased the number of competitors this year – they’ve seen that the prizes are very good and people like to win nice things.” All Plate finalists received a PING golf bag while the winners will received prizes to the retail value of £400, the second placed players to the value of £200, third placed players £100, fourth placed players £75, fifth placed players £50 and sixth placed players to the value of £30. Prizewinners 43 Karen Hughes and Elaine Ducker (Cottingham Parks) 43 42 Dawn Edwards and Jennifer Stark Duce (Rochester and Cobham Park) 40 Kim Daniel and Sheila Pitt (Shortlands) 40; Tracey Favell and Annette Nuttall (Lees Hall)   39 Karen Clayton and Tracy Capal (Manchester) Image: Elaine Ducker (left) and Karen Hughes (© Leaderboard Photography) For more information visit www.pingchampionship.com Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf pr@englandgolf.org 07825 752 193