Karen Marshall won the SSWGA Championship at Blairgowrie G.C. this week. On the way to the final she beat Glenda Dewar of Galloway, defending champion Martine Pow of Borders and Lesley Robertson of West.
It was also the 30th anniversary since her mum Joan Marshall also won for East Division, and her victory this week was witnessed by her dad Brian.
The East Division members heartily congratulate Karen on her win.

It was a blustery but dry day at Haddington as the semi-finals of the East Division championship teed off in the morning.
In the first semi-final between Wendy Nicholson and Karen Marshall it was a tight match with a 1up lead being switched back and forth. Karen was the eventual winner by 2&1 on hole 17.
In the second semi-final between Caroline Steedman and Hilary Laughland, Caroline had a fast start, holing her second shot from the 1st fairway for an eagle 2. Hilary bounced back with some long putts to take control of the match and was 4 up at the turn. Caroline fought back winning holes 11 and 12 but a half on 16 gave Hilary the win 3&2

Despite a slight mix up on the afternoon tee-times (for which I take full responsibility 😬) - the finals teed off slightly later than advertised in similar windy conditions.

The Championship final between Karen Marshall and Hilary Laughland was again very tight with both having a 1 up lead at times in the front 9. Karen was 1up through nine and held that lead until the 13th hole where Hilary had a great shot into the green and got back to all sqaure.
Karen responded with a good putt on 14 to get back to 1 up only for Hilary to make birdie on 15. Karen made her own birdie on the short 16th to go back to one up and a halved hole on 17 saw the final go up the last. With Hilary in the fairway after her second shot and Karen’s ball in the water the match still wasn’t done! Hilary had a lovely approach shot and made an easy par however a great recovery shot from Karen and a single putt was enough to half the hole and win the match 1up.

In the handicap match between Caroline Kinnaird and Denise Mitchell it was a different story with Caroline taking early control of the match to be 4 up after five holes. Denise was not to be deterred though and hung in to be 3 down after nine holes. Denise then continued the fightback on 14 and 15 and managed to get the match back to all square on the tricky par 3 sixteenth. Caroline was not for giving up and sank a tremendous putt on 17 to go 1 up; she did exceptionally well not to be put off by the cat and magpie fighting just off the green whilst she was putting! So our second final of the day was also going up the eighteenth! Caroline proceeded to play a very steady hole and managed a win to finish the match 2 up. (Handicap Match report kindly provided by Fiona Larnach)

As the rain started again we had a quick presentation of trophies - see more images in PHOTOS - and thanks were given to the supporters who came out to watch and to Haddington Golf Course for hosting us again. Until next year!!
Gail M
East Division Captain