HERTS ladies are off to Newmarket this week-end, but it won t be the racing they ll be watching. Instead, they ll be concentrating on their golf, determined to be the best bet when they return next month to compete in a six-county match

Golf by Alan Booth

HERTS ladies are off to Newmarket this week-end, but it won't be the racing they'll be watching. Instead, they'll be concentrating on their golf, determined to be the best bet when they return next month to compete in a six-county match to decide who goes through to the English county finals.

Over Saturday and Sunday, the Herts squad of 10 will be playing and practising over Newmarket's Links Course, most of them for the first time. The team will also be competing for the first time against new opponents, for with a revision of county structure, Herts move out of the South East division into a new East Region.

Now they will meet teams from Bedfordshire, joint Cambridge/Huntingdonshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

The Herts squad, selected after the county championship, includes Lucy Williams (Mid Herts, recent championship winner at Knebworth for the second time, three times champion Tina Jeary (Bishops Stortford) and twice champion Alison Franklin (Harpenden), and returning from America later this month Hannah Burke (Mid Herts), winner on the college golf circuit. They will be joined by Charlie Field (Harpenden), Jackie Foster (Bishops Stortford), Harriet Key (South Herts), Steph McEvoy (Old Fold Manor), Lucinda Mileham (Aldwickbury Park), and youngest at 16 Lucy Glyn (Porters Park). Reserves: Julie Dyke (Welwyn Garden City) and Sarah Saggers (East Herts).

"It is a team of youth and experience and one which we believe will stand every chance in a new and exciting challenge of becoming first champions of the East Region," said Herts team captain Jaki White.

Not available for selection were Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall), due to English squad commitments, and Ellie Brede (Porters Park), following recent appointment with the ladies professional tour.