Abbeydale Golf Club celebrate Sheffield Ladies champion after 35 year wait

Their member Jane Oliver won the 2022 Sheffield and District Ladies Golf Union Championship in a tense final held at Dore and Totley Golf Club and, by so doing, got her hands on the much-coveted Norah Swinscoe Trophy.

It was 1987 that an Abbeydale member last won this championship when their lady greenkeeper Jane Ryan came out on top that year. Jane Oliver followed her namesake into the record books with a display of good golf and gritty determination.

She started her run to the final by finishing second in the stroke play qualifying round at Rotherham GC with a score of gross 81, where she also won the best nett prize on the day. This qualified Jane for the match play stage where she came through the last 16 round with a 7 & 5 win at Renishaw Park GC, followed by an afternoon quarter-final victory on the same course by 3 & 1.

The semi-final and final are always held at Dore and Totley, the home of the late Yorkshire Team Captain Norah Swinscoe and it was in the semis that Jane came through against Jill Frusciante from Hillsborough GC by 3 & 1.

In the afternoon final, she proved too strong for her opponent, Lindsey Griffin from Wheatley GC in Doncaster and ran out winner and Sheffield Ladies Champion by 6 & 5. In her quest for this title, Jane was ably supported in both the semi-final and final by her caddie Jill Harrison, a former Abbeydale Golf Club Lady Captain.

After her championship final success, Jane was understandably delighted with her performance but remarked that it had been something of a marathon effort, having to play one round of stroke play and four rounds of match play before finally getting her hands on the winner’s salver.