THERE will be a lot new about The Journal Ladies Trophy this summer – a change in the rules, a different prize voucher system and a recently opened restaurant to dine in at Close House Hotel as part of the first prize.
The title usually tends to go to more mature players, but Anna Scott, the 23-year-old from Consett – a former British Under-16 champion who has recently qualified for a card on the Ladies European Tour – won the event as a 15-year-old.
The Journal Ladies Trophy is open to amateur female players of all ages who have an active handicap at any club in Northumberland and County Durham.
Each club holds a qualifier to determine the player who will represent them in the County Finals. Each county sends six players through to the Grand Final at Close House.
The victor there wins not only The Journal Ladies Trophy but also a golf stay-over for two at Close House Hotel including bed, breakfast and dinner plus two rounds of golf.
Former winner Scott, currently practising in Germany, said yesterday: “If I was still an amateur, the first prize these days would definitely motivate me to participate. Close House is a great facility.”
There will be the usual coverage of the event in The Journal during the 2012 season, before and after the County Finals and the Grand Final
But there is no longer a rule at the initial club qualifiers stipulating a player can only enter a club heat at their home club.
A player can now compete in a heat organised by any club of which she is a member, and that applies to all club heats in both counties.
Close House will now both sponsor and provide all the prize vouchers for the County Finals and the Grand Final, PGA North Region having decided to discontinue their assistance in providing vouchers for the tournament which used to be redeemable in all club professionals’ shops.
Qualifiers from the 2012 County Finals all win Close House prize vouchers and they may find it convenient to make use of them in the Close House pro’s shop when they play in the Grand Final on August 28. The No 19 clubhouse will be in use at the Grand Final for the first time, having been built since the tournament was last staged at Close House.
That was in 2010 when Susan Dinning won the title for Roseberry Grange with her husband, John, acting as her stand-in caddie.
Close House are generous supporters of the tournament and, for the first time, the winner and their golf partner will be eating in the Argent D’Or restaurant in what until recently was the hotel ballroom.
