Senior title for Carol Wickham

Carol Wickham of Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club landed the Irish Senior Women’s Close Championship yesterday at Westport.

For Wickham it was a long road to the title as she had previously lost two finals, but she eventually got over the line at the expense of the leading qualifier Deirdre Smith from neighbouring club Co Louth.

With qualifying rounds of 79 and 78, Wickham faced Shirley Real, Fionnuala Halpin and Gertie McMullen on her way to the decider

"I am absolutely relieved to have finally won the Championship," said Wickham following her win.

"I’ve been trying a long time and to come out in the final against Deirdre and to win was just great," she added.

Wickham played an Irish Women’s Close final and the Women’s Home Internationals at Westport back in 1989.

"I was beaten in the Irish Women’s Close Final here back in 1989 by Mary McKenna on the 19th," she explained.

"I was two up with as many holes to play, so I was thinking it was a bit of a nemesis coming when Deirdre began making a bit of a comeback, but thankfully I got over that memory."

Smith could have been named the favourite before the final as she had won all of her previous matches 5&4.

However, Wickham kept a steady head, and despite a birdie on 15 to extend the match from Smith, she closed the game on the 16th green.

Hailing from neighboring clubs, both Smith and Wickham would have known renowned PGA Professional, Bobby Brown, who passed away in 2015 and who instilled a competitive spirit in them both.

‘She’s a great competitor Deirdre, all the competitors were great throughout all of my matches, all were very sporting," stated the new champion.

"Before we teed off in the final Deirdre said ‘wouldn’t Bobby Brown be proud of the two of us’ and I just thought that was a lovely thing to think about going out there," she concluded.

Headfort's Maria O'Reilly made it to the quarter-final where she was edged out by Gertie Mullen (The Island) while Orla Foley (Headfort) exited in the first round.