Success for County Women at British Open

Following on from securing the title of Oxfordshire Ladies Open Champion the previous weekend, Caroline Hazlewood (Wheatley Park) travelled to the Arden Club in Solihull and triumphed in the Over 45 category at the prestigious British Open Masters. Seeded to reach the semi-finals, Caroline fulfilled this expectation with a come from behind 3-2 victory over Natalie Townsend in Friday’s last eight. This meant a Saturday clash with the Number One seed Cambridge’s Kate Bradshaw for a place in Sunday’s Final. Having edged the first set 13-11, Caroline fell 2-1 behind but in this 32 minute thriller, she rallied to take the 4th and 5th 11-6, 11-9 and set up an encounter with Kate Fuller of Staffordshire who had provided  her own dollop of giant-killing in the other semi by disposing of second seed Natalie Lawrence, 3-1.
 
On Final’s Day, whilst Amina Orfi was despatching Nour El Sherbini across the road at the Birmingham Rep, in an equally absorbing contest Caroline came from 2 sets down to take the spoils, 13-11 in the fifth. A true nailbiter but a thoroughly deserved first British Open for the Oxon lady who is also a current England international.
 
In what proved to be a highly productive age category for the County, Helen Knowles of Abingdon S/C secured the Plate competition with wins over Lynn Hetherington and Kathryn Winterstein.
Elsewhere, he may be officially recognised as a Berkshire representative but having played many years for Wallingford alongside Scott Handley and currently turning out regularly for Hithercroft, Steve Dodridge reached the Final of the Over 55’s. Despite having turned around a 2 -0 deficit to square the contest, his Scottish opponent Adrian Richmond held his nerve to take the crown in the decider.
In the Ladies Over 65’s, Henley’s six time British Open Masters Champion, Jill Campion, got through to yet another last day shoot out but on this occasion came up short against Tamsin Bennett of Surrey.
 
Finally, an honorable mention for University’s Ken Reid who at the age of 83 participated in the Over 80’s category where he bowed out in the Quarters to American Number Two seed, Norbert Kornyei. I suspect, knowing Ken, he will be back to give it another go in 2027.
 
So, a great tournament for Oxfordshire and in particular for Caroline Hazlewood. Having asked for her reaction to a monumental seven days, typically she acknowledged the role others had played in her success ‘I am incredibly grateful to my fantastic coach, Jason Varrie, for helping me to improve and prepare so well for these events; to Helen Knowles, Alex Perry and Nick Perry for their excellent advice and support throughout; and for the well-wishing and encouragement received from so many others.’