County Match Week 2026 - improving Oxfordshire show fighting spirit
11 June, 2026
This year’s event was hosted by Oxfordshire at Tadmarton Heath Golf Club. An immaculately turned-out course experienced the full gamut of weather with sunshine, heavy rain, hail, strong winds, thunderstorms, and one weather delay making an appearance during the three-and-a-half-day event. Whatever the conditions, the constant was the phenomenal women’s golf from all counties.
Aside from the runaway winners, Buckinghamshire, who won all their matches, it was a closely fought event this year with Berkshire, and Worcestershire & Herefordshire, winning three matches, and Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire winning two apiece. Only 4 games (out of the 35 played per team) separated the third, fourth and fifth placed finishers and speaks to the close and competitive nature of the event.
In terms of Oxfordshire’s performance, we won close to a third of our matches played. That is a significant improvement on recent years and shows the off-season training program put in place is beginning to influence the sharpness of the golf, the grit needed for matchplay, and the mental strength and focus. Building on the existing Oxfordshire spirit, this was a team that supported each other, and was able to really enjoy a challenging, demanding and rewarding competitive golfing event.
This year we had five rookies in the team of ten players. Between them they contributed 9.5 of our points won, in the main with partners in the foursome format. Whilst this is a team competition, we must recognise the performance of Phoebe Simons (THGC) who competed in her first ever CMW event and delivered 4.5 stunning points with her partners Kate Evans (FHGC) and Lara Murphy (FHGC). The golf these pairings played was inspiring to watch, and Lara also delivered us an added half point in singles play.
Lara and Phoebe celebrate their foursomes
win against W&H
Our other successful pairing was that of Caroline Johnson (THGC) and Sue Barker (THGC) who won three out of the four matches they played. This included an outstanding comeback match against Warwickshire where they stood 6 down after 10 holes and finished the match one up. The mindset work County Coach Deana Rushworth (Witney Lakes) has been helping with certainly paid off in this match.
Sue and Caroline 6 down with 8 to play
vs Warwickshire...
...to winning 1 up on the final green!
Our other winning player was Vicky Turner (OLGC), formerly of Cheshire, who brought home two wins in the singles matches. Vicky is a leftie with a refreshing approach to the game; she bounces around the fairway and after just enough time to assess what is needed, immediately addresses the ball and hits the shot, usually to deadly effect.
Full competition, match by match, and hole by hole results are available here. This was the first year that this event offered live scoring, and it proved enormously popular, valuable, and successful. We also now have an Instagram account where you can follow along with news, events and results for Oxfordshire Women's Golf.
It was one of several thoughtful changes the Tadmarton Heath organising committee made to the running of the event. They, and their members, must be commended for the way they wrapped their arms around this event, over many months, and for the effort, enthusiasm, professionalism, and style with which they delivered such a knockout MS CMW 2026.
The winning squad, Coach Deana and caddies in glorious
sunshine after beating W&H on Monday
CMW 2026 Oxfordshire Squad
Back (L to R): Pam Melbourne (VC), Kate Evans, Vicky Turner
Middle: Laura Watkins, Megan Bishop, Freya White, Sue Barker
Front: Lara Murphy, Phoebe Simons, Tracy Roberts (C),
Caroline Johnson, Sarah Clarke