Babe Zaharias 2020 Muirfield Report

The East Lothian County Flag flew over Muirfield yesterday for the first time since the memorable day of our Spring Meeting in 2017. This time it was for the Babe Zaharias Competition and yet again the main topic of conversation was the weather. 155 players had come from all over the UK to experience the wonderful Muirfield course and to take in the fabulous East Lothian scenery, sadly there was little of that to be seen as heavy mist shrouded the course. The Babe Zaharias Trophy shone some light on the scene as it was looking magnificent since its trip to the jewellers to be re-silvered.

Amazingly this didn’t dampen the spirits and the masked players were surprisingly upbeat as they came in to call out their scores, it made it very difficult for us to recognise even old friends, it didn’t help that they were very wet and bedraggled. Many of them told us that it was like appearing on Dragon’s Den as they read out from the pieces of blue papier mache that were their scorecards. We heard tales of the brutal rough, the bunkers, not being able to see the ball land in the fog, playing 9 off a tee just so they could post a score and losing 11 balls (apologies to anyone who lost more) but all with good humour and a feeling that they had managed to survive the round.

The fog became thicker and thicker and there were serious concerns about the late starters. Jenni went out in the buggy to check the conditions and there was great concern over whether the competition could continue, it was really touch and go but amazingly and unexpectedly the fog lifted and this allowed the final groups to finish.

Congratulations to our prize winners in particular Karen Marshall who won the Babe Zaharias Trophy with a fabulous score of 77, given the conditions an amazing effort and Kay Lannin whose net 76 won her the Ultraplast Trophy.

A sign of the times

For a long time there was no certainty that this event would have been able to go ahead so a huge thank you to Muirfield for their efforts in helping us stage this competition and to make sure we complied with all the Covid rules. I am sure all the players appreciated the chance to play on this great course.

The ‘Babe’ has always been about raising money for charity and there will be an update soon on the sum that will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support. Thank you to all those who took part for their support.

Babe Zaharias was an amazing character and it is well worth looking at her story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Didrikson_Zaharias

Full Results can be found at the following links:

Gross results          Nett results               Twos report