A REMARKABLE comeback from the brink of seeming defeat took the Bury and District Golf Association's ladies championship final into a sudden death play-off.

After eighteen fascinating and exciting holes on a splendidly prepared Harwood course, best of friends and keenest of rivals Angela Hardman and Sue Warrington were still inseparable and the two stalwarts of the local scene were forced to walk to the 19th tee to continue their epic confrontation.

For the spectators who had been treated to golf of the highest quality, despite an early, troublesome wind, it was an added bonus but the fifth championship final between the former Bury GC colleagues was virtually settled when Mrs Warrington's tee shot at the 141-yard par 3 bounced into a greenside bunker. Angela Hardman's 6-iron found the heart of the green and just a few minutes later she clinched her fourth BDGA crown.

It was a victory which appeared beyond her when she found herself 4-down after only six holes, Mrs Warrington's red-hot putter doing the bulk of the damage as she won four holes in succession after the first two had been halved. A birdie 3 at the third when she canned a 12-footer set the scene for her breakaway surge as the game moved onto the first of the 'new' holes on an extended Harwood course which became an eighteen-holer last year.

A par 3 was good enough for the 46 years old Mrs Warrington to add to her lead, she increased it in regulation figures with a single putt from eight feet at the stroke one fifth hole and then produced a brilliant birdie 4 with yet another single putt - this time from 10 feet - to leave her opponent reeling on the ropes.

The twelfth title of Mrs Warrington's career - she first took the crown in 1977- was a distinct possibility but as a seasoned campaigner she never counts the chickens.

She also knows that her 36 year-old opponent is a doughty fighter.

And a superbly struck, towering approach shot to the seventh proclaimed the Breightmet member's refusal to accept the possibility of defeat and despite a tentative putt she stopped the rot with a half.

Another high and mighty wedge at the next hole helped produce a first win, in par, for Miss Hardman and there was a glimmer of hope for the development officer with the Irwell Valley Housing Association.

The ninth was halved after both had suffered with their second shots and par 3s were exchanged at the 10th before the Breightmet lady hit the birdie trail as Mrs Warrington missed hers by less than an inch. At only 2-down the glimmer was getting brighter for Miss Hardman who had clinched a hat-trick of titles in the late 1980s, including two wins over Mrs Warrington. And when she holed another single putt for a birdie at the 12th it was her more experienced opponent who was forced to try and hold on.

The 13th was halved before the 14th played a vital part in determining the destination of the trophy.

With her opponent needing four shots to reach the green at the par 5 and putting first from 40 feet, the Bury lady was hot favourite to pull ahead. But she three-putted for the first time on the night and the hole was halved in sixes, a rare double blip.

Par 5s were comfortably exchanged at the 15th where both narrowly missed birdies and then Miss Hardman really turned up the temperature, firing a 5-wood tee shot to the heart of the 16th and cashing in with a win in regulation figures after Mrs Warrington had pulled up short of the green and fractionally missed out on her par

All square, two to play and the sun still shining. Everything was set fair for a classic duel in the home straight, but Mrs Warrington's 8-iron hadn't been given the script and produced a shank on the tee, her opponent almost unwillingly having to accept the win after she had found the green.

There was venom in Mrs Warrington's drive at the 18th which split the fairway and she went on to record a par 4. Her opponent's second shot tangled with trees as she tried to find the green, Miss Hardman then chipped out to within eight feet but couldn't quite produce a title-winning putt and it was off to sudden death.

From her greenside bunker Mrs Warrington delighted the crowd with a shot to within four feet before her rival rolled a 25-foot putt to the lip of the hole for a cast-iron par 3.

"Would anyone like to do this, please?" asked Mrs Warrington as she offered her putter to the gallery.

There were no takers, the putt shaved the hole and stayed out and Miss Hardman, having fought back from the brink, collected a fourth title from seven finals.

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