The Ahlberg Assiette Four Ball Betterball Stableford competition is always a popular event on the Farrington Park ladies’ summer calendar.

This year was no exception with twenty-two pairs taking to the fairways of the Duchy course, probably tempted by the warm sunny weather, which was cooler after last week’s record-breaking temperatures.

The Duchy course had received some rain in the previous days but not enough to soften the ground and the fairways were still playing like a links course and the greens’ speed was quick. The ladies had been honing their golf links style of play for weeks and this paid off for everyone as none of the teams scored fewer than 36 points. This was quite remarkable as the handicap allowance was 85%, so all the field had “lost” at least three shots each off their usual handicaps. Eleven teams scored 40 points or more, with 43 points being a popular score and in years with more conventional British weather, this score would have won the competition. Two teams scored 44 points and countback had to be used to separate them. Angela Hudd and Mandy Hobbs had birdies at the 5th & 12th holes and eight pars, but they were beaten into third place by Kay Clarke and Lesley Stone, who had a better back 9 score of 22 points, finishing with a flourish when Kay birdied the par 5 18th for a valuable 4 points to take second place. However even this fine score was not enough to trouble the eventual winners. Lin Papadopoullos and Jane Ball had one of those “magic” rounds where everything falls into place at the right time. They scored steadily from the start, then from the 8th to the 13th hole, they had a run of six consecutive pars, five of them scored by Lin before Jane birdied the 18th, which secured the victory. Their final score was an amazing 48 points, four points clear of the field.