Lady Captain Elizabeth Mawhinney pictured with end of season prize winners.
On Friday 7th December the Ladies Branch of Co Armagh Golf Club held their annual dinner in the clubhouse. Lady Captain Elizabeth Mawhinney welcomed everyone to the meal and thanked the ladies' choir who started the proceedings with some Christmas carols. A delicious meal was provided by the 7 Hills Restaurant staff. This was followed by a raffle of prizes provided by the Ladies Committee.
Then it was down to the main business of the evening when the final cups of the season and the Winter League competitions were presented. Elizabeth thanked the Competitions Convener Paula McCrory and her team for overseeing the 130 competitions which the Ladies Branch conducted throughout 2018.
The Sinton Cup was won by Ellen Brady with Paula McCrory the runner up in a hard-fought sporting final. Helen Forster and Alexandra Mawhinney were the beaten semi-finalists.
Siobhan Donnelly lifted the Link Cup beating Fionnuala Quinn on the 20 th hole. In joint third place were Helen Forster and Helen McLaughlin.
Lynne Browne was the delighted winner of the Hirsh Cup which is one of the oldest cups presented in the club, with Flo McCall taking runner up honours. In joint third place were Eileen Fitzsimons and Eilish Grimes.
The Charlemont Salver was presented by Mrs Greta Forster to the winners Geraldine Rafferty and Bernie Rice who had defeated Teresa McVeigh and Francis Davidson in a very sporting final match. Geraldine thanked Greta for the beautiful prize and the continued sponsorship of the competition by the Forster family. Geraldine was particularly delighted with the prize as this completed a hat trick for herself and Bernie in this strongly contested competition. The sponsored charity for 2018 was the very worthy Air Ambulance Northern Ireland.
The Turkey competition was won by Ellen Brady with 59 points, with Fionnaula Quinn taking second place with 58 points. Karen Edgar was third with 52points followed by Mary McElvanna in fourth place with 52 points.
Paula McCrory was the overall winner of the Winter League with 98 points ahead of Audrey Kellett and Myrtle Rhodie who were joint second with 96 points. 4 th place went to Karen Edgar with 94 points whilst Sarah George took 5 th place with 93 points with Mary Black gaining 6 th place with 90 points.
The Winter League Category winners were Maura McCoy (D) 84 points, Mollie Conway (C) 90 points, Emma Garrigan (B) 88 points and Ellen Brady (A) 89 points.
The most improved golfer of 2018 was Emma Garrigan who saw her handicap reduce from 35.3 at the start of the year to 20.3 by the end of the season.
The Silver spoon was awarded to Emma Garrigan. The ILGU awarded special medals to mark the 125 th anniversary of ladies' golf in Ireland these were won by Emma Garrigan who secured the Bronze medal and Alexandra Mawhinney the silver medal. Paula McCrory recorded the most birdies beating Alexandra Mawhinney.
Finally, Tish Burke emerged as the 9-hole golfer of the year ahead of Gina Morris who was the runner up. A delighted Tish said she felt overwhelmed by her win, but it was her great pleasure to accept her prize. The 18hole golfer of the year was Emma Garrigan ahead of Paula McCrory who was runner up. Emma thanked Ellen who had encouraged her to take up golf and all those who had supported her throughout the year explaining she felt honoured to win the trophy.
Prizegiving was followed by beautiful singing from the very talented Claudia Glendining who entertained the ladies with her beautiful renditions of seasonal songs.
Lady Captain Elizabeth Mawhinney pictured with cup and medal winners.