Louise Noble (Greenisland) and Antoinette Starken (Castlebar) took home the All-Ireland Women’s Silver and Bronze Medals respectively in two nail-biting finishes at Headfort.
155 players descended on the County Meath venue with 78 doing battle for the Silver Medal on the championship course while 77 competed for Bronze on the old course.
Conditions were almost ideal as the Autumn sunshine made an appearance to help warm up proceedings but it would be the action on the course that would truly light up the day as both finals came down to two narrow decisions.
For much of the afternoon it seemed that the All-Ireland Silver Medal would be decided on a countback as Maureen Keane (Westport), Betty Scanlon (Tubbercurry) and Susanne Cummings (Stackstown) shared the lead early on with all three carding net level par 72s.
An early evening surge from Noble however would see the Greenisland golfer snatch victory, five net birdies across a brilliant back nine helping her to a net -2 round of 70 and a two-shot victory.
“I was sitting waiting on the last few people coming in and I just refreshed the score and saw it and started crying, it’s the biggest thing I have ever done. I wasn’t even expecting to make it to the area final, I just got a message one day and I was there, and I am here now, big massive shock,” said Noble.
“That’s the best I have ever played to be honest, after the first few holes I thought no hope to be honest, just picked it up, and a couple of pars brought me back. Nobody really knows where Greenisland is from so I’m happy to do the club proud.”
As one of the earlier starters Starken was quick to set the pace in the Bronze Medal final, carding two net eagles and three net birdies across her opening nine holes. Three more net birdies would follow on the back nine and despite a closing eight on the Par 4 18th the Castlebar golfer would sign for a -5 net 68, setting a high bar for the others to reach.
Jane Beatty (Loughrea), Jess Shiels (Rathcore) and Elaine Healy (Kilmashogue) showed strong performances in their attempt to catch the leader, each carding net rounds of 69 but in the end, Starken managed to hold off her competitors, a -5 net total enough for a one-shot victory on Headfort’s old course.
“It was great, I really, really enjoyed it. I played with two lovely ladies Rita and Joan, and I have to thank my sister for doing the bag for me, she’s actually a member here of Headfort so that little bit of inside knowledge probably helped me. She kept me very relaxed. I had a great front nine and a little bit wobbly on the back nine coming to the end but I’m delighted with my golf today, I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Starken.
“I have been loving my golf this year. I changed my grip, got a few lessons, kept it going and I could see it coming and today is just the tip of the iceberg to get to it and it was the right time everything seemed to go into place today and I am thrilled, delighted.”
View the final scores here