The sunshine continued as Sidmouth Golf Club welcomed women from across the north and east of the county for the 2026 Western Morning News (North & East) Trophy.

Played as a Foursomes Stableford, clubs could enter as many pairs as they liked, but only three nominated pairings would be in the running for the team trophy. The best two scores from those three would count – with the usual added twist that nobody knows which scores will count until all the cards are safely in.

Thankfully, there were also individual prizes down to sixth place, so there was plenty to play for whatever happened with the team scores.

Sidmouth really pulled out all the stops, with Lady Captain Sharon O’Brien organising a large team of ball spotters to help keep things moving. The dry fairways were proving particularly tricky and their help was invaluable.

Scores in the high 20s looked to be the order of the day and, for a long time, Honiton’s Heidi Watson-Jones and Janet Higgins looked to have the winning score with an excellent 32 points.

Then came the Sidmouth pairing of Susan Williams and Gill Johnson, who produced a fantastic 38 points to take the individual honours. Their superb score also proved invaluable in the team competition, and when combined with club mates Sheila Faulkner and Marie Timms’ 27 points, a team total of 65 points and was enough to secure Sidmouth Golf Club the Western Morning News Trophy (North & East) 2026.

A huge thank you from Competition Manager Wendy Stanbury goes to Sidmouth Club Manager Simon Knowles, Starter Anne Blackler, Lady Captain Sharon O’Brien and her brilliant team of ball spotters – Yvonne Anning, Terry Pares, Richard Houghton-Brown, Julie Mitchell, Heather Cowan, Lynnette Lloyd, Paul Whitrow and Richard Powell – whose help and enthusiasm were very much appreciated.

For all individual scores click here
For all team scores click here