The Thomas Cup, a two-day Ladies’ Stableford competition, took place last weekend at Farrington Park. This is one of the major competitions in the ladies’ calendar and, since its inception thirteen years ago, has been kindly sponsored by Paul and Liz Thomas.

No competitor can win more than one prize, so not only is there a handsome trophy to be won, but there are also prizes for best round of the day on both days (not including the overall winners), nearest the pin and the two spot birdie prizes.

Many of the regular participants and past champions from previous years were in the field. They were joined by other ladies, who usually only play mid-week, but the promise of not having to pay a weekend green fee had tempted them to enter.

The UK has been enjoying a spell of exceptionally sunny and dry weather over the past month, and temperatures reached their zenith over the weekend with highs of 28 degrees on both days. The competition proved to be a test of the survival of the fittest. Not only did the competitors have to contend with firm fairways and fast greens, but they also had to wear their highest factor sun cream, drink litres of water and use an umbrella for shade to avoid succumbing to heat exhaustion, plus they had to keep their concentration for a whole round of four hours.

Most of the field scored points in the mid-to-high thirties on day one, but there were two outstanding rounds from Carol King with thirty eight points and Jackie Willcox, who scored forty one points including a two-spot birdie at the par 3 5th hole. Hot on their heels were three ladies with equal scores of thirty seven points. Fiona Hassard birdied the par 5 on the 9th hole for a valuable four points which put her into third place on countback, ahead of Jane Ball, who birdied the par 3 5th to secure the nearest the pin prize. Jacqui Gregory birdied the 355-yard par 4 6th hole for an impressive four points. The reigning champion, Angela Hudd, had the next best score of thirty six points. Hayley Bullock won the nearest the pin prize on the tricky par 3 10th.

On day two, the field went out in reverse order with the leaders being the last to tee off. Scoring wasn’t quite as good as the first day, but thankfully the temperatures were cooler from early afternoon. The wind got up to nearly 30mph and played havoc with the players’ shots. The course was playing at least a shot longer on some holes due to the wind. Unsurprisingly, no two-spot birdies were recorded but the nearest the pin prizes were claimed by Jackie Willcox (8th) and Lally Gibson (15th).

Some of the day one leaders fell away on day two, although a birdie at the par 5 18th hole helped Jane Ball to stay in contention and there was a barnstorming round from Wendy Butt to push her up the leaderboard. Wendy had finished the first day with thirty three points but her second day round, including six pars, saw her finish on forty points. Fiona Hassard had a very good round including six pars and a birdie at the 18th hole to finish with forty two points.

At the end of a long day’s competition, the ladies gathered on the clubhouse patio to hear the results from Paul & Liz Thomas.

Countback decided that Jane Ball finished in third place, ahead of Jackie Willcox, after both finished with an aggregate score of seventy two points. Wendy Butt’s fine second round took her into second place with an aggregate score of seventy three points.

However, the worthy winner of the Thomas Cup was six aggregate points clear of the field. Fiona Hassard had built on her good score on day one of thirty seven points with an even better score on day two of forty two points, giving an aggregate score of seventy nine. She received the Thomas Cup from Paul Thomas to much applause from her fellow competitors.

Jane Ball