Junior County Match Week 2025 will be remembered as a week of grit, determination and fighting spirit from Hampshire’s junior girls. Hosted by Sussex at Worthing Golf Club, the competition was played in testing conditions, with strong winds and a host of difficult pin positions around the sloping greens making every hole a challenge.
Our squad of nine girls rose to the occasion, never giving an inch and showing the resilience and togetherness that have become hallmarks of Hampshire golf. Even when matches looked out of reach, our players refused to give up, time and again battling their way back into contention. As one coach put it, “you could never count a Hampshire girl out this week.”
The week began on Sunday with the official practice round, giving the girls a final chance to get a feel for Worthing’s fast, blustery layout and the tricky hole locations that would prove so decisive over the coming days.
The competition then ran from Monday through Wednesday, with Hampshire facing a demanding schedule against the other four teams representing the South Region. The wind and pin positions made matches difficult, but that only brought out the best in our girls. Matches frequently went to the final holes, where pressure putts had to be holed and nerves kept under control and not just for the players.
Despite tough and very close defeats to Kent and Surrey in our opening matches, Hampshire bounced back with a strong win over Middlesex and treated us to a nail biting final match against Sussex which really went down to the wire. In fact, the half for that match was only secured on the final green.
Hampshire Player of the Week - Charlotte Lyman
Right at the heart of that turnarounds was Charlotte Lyman, who was named Hampshire’s Competitor of the Week. Playing towards the back of the field, Charlotte was often called upon to finish strong under pressure – and she delivered. Several times her matches looked lost, only for her to rally over the closing holes, grabbing crucial points and keeping Hampshire in the fight.
Outside of the main competition, Monday morning provided the opportunity for us to compete in the annual Stableford competition, where eight of our squad represented Hampshire. Despite the challenging conditions, the girls carded some strong scores. We moved on with our match play focus, but there was a wonderful twist still to come.
At Wednesday’s prize presentation, to the delight (and surprise!) of our team, it was announced that Hampshire had won the Stableford trophy. Cue huge celebrations! The victory was especially sweet given that it was our first time lifting the trophy since 2015 – a full decade in the waiting, and a fitting reward for the grit the girls had shown all week.
By the close of play on Wednesday, Hampshire left Worthing with pride in their performance and silverware in hand. This determined and resilient group proved again that they can go toe‑to‑toe with the strongest opposition, no matter the conditions. As our head coach Kevin Flynn would say "Form is temporary, class is permanent". These girls prove that statement 100% true and as we look ahead to 2026, Hampshire can take great confidence from this performance.
I want to take the opportunity to congratulate all the girls who represented Hampshire this year and thank them for their contribution to golf in our county. For four girls this was their last match week as Juniors but certainly not the last time they will represent their county. Hampshire were represented by:
All aboard - Team Hampshire 2025
Rosie Rooney
Georgia Richardson
Abigail Dymott
Hatty Richardson
Niamh Magee
Maryam Kassim
Tia Brammer
Charlotte Lyman
Lily Stroud
I'd also like to give a special mention to our Junior Captain, Chloe Gaudion. Sadly Chloe couldn't be at Junior County Match Week as she has started an exciting next step on her golfing journey out in America. Although Chloe couldn't be there in person, we'd like to thank her for taking the time to put together thoughtful gifts and cards for the team to encourage them during the week.
Finally, this week wouldn't be possible without the support of an incredible team and the huge amount of work that goes in from the host county. With that in mind, I'd like to thank the Sussex team led by Karen Parks for their incredible organisation and thank Worthing Golf Club and its members, for the excellent course & fantastic food and for making us feel so very welcome. To Kev, Georgie, Liz, Eilean & Noan, you were all amazing this week. The Hampshire team is second to none, thank you all for your contributions and creating an environment where our future talent can develop and thrive.
So, that's it for another year. There's nothing left to say except congratulations to Surrey on your win, and we look forward to coming back next year at The Drift to do it all again.
