Our annual friendly fixture versus Armed Forces took place in mid April. It is an all day fixture starting early and finishing late, with morning foursomes followed by afternoon singles.

In preparation for the course length we will play at County Match Week we opted to play from the white tees. This replicated the distance of the CMW Tadmarton Heath GC course length almost exactly. We also used the match to try out potential foursomes pairings, and drafted in two new players for the afternoon singles sessions.

Our first foursomes pairing saw Lara Murphy (FHGC) and Phoebe Simons (THGC) play some great golf and win solidly. Our middle pairing of Caroline Johnson (THGC) and Mandy Nall (Huntercombe GC) struggled against a very strong Armed Forces pairing. Our final group of Kate Evans (FHGC) and Tracy Roberts (FHGC) battled to a win on 18. It saw us finish the morning session 2-1 winners.

In the afternoon, Sarah Clarke (Henley GC) and Freya White (Burford GC) replaced Mandy and Tracy. Lara, out first, secured a strong win. Close matches for Kate and Caroline went the wrong way on 17, but both did incredibly well to battle and ensure tight matches. Even closer still was Freya’s match against an experience and canny player which saw Armed Forces take another point on 18. With the last two matches also both going to 18, our players did not disappoint, held their nerve well, and Sarah won one-up, and Phoebe two-up. The afternoon session finished a 3-3 draw.

We have been working with Deana Rushworth (Witney Lakes GC) on the mental side of matchplay, and that coaching is starting to yield results. As the last matches came through, the entire Oxfordshire team watched and applauded everyone in. Thanks go to Frilford Heath for hosting the match for us on a busy day at the Club. They looked after us superbly.

As I said in the match report against Hampshire, this was a better performance by the Oxfordshire squad than last season, and this time we finished victors with a 5-4 win.

Tracy Roberts,
County Captain 2026