Morning rain had done its best to complicate matters at Mid Kent Golf Club, but by the time Kent Golf Finals Day reached the business end, the weather had relented and two very different contests were taking shape.

Royal Blackheath’s Eileen Bryce and Gillian Oxbrow eventually secured the Coombe Cup with a 4&2 victory over Ashford’s Janet James and Karen Pickering. Sene Valley then claimed the Tappin Trophy against Sidcup, although that required a trip beyond the regulation 18 holes before Claire Gallagher supplied the decisive point.

One final was about building a lead, losing some of it and then knowing precisely when to press again. The other came down to the twentieth hole. Golf does enjoy making simple things unnecessarily complicated.

Royal Blackheath seize control of the Coombe Cup

Bryce and Oxbrow received nine shots in the Coombe Cup foursomes and made immediate use of their advantage, moving 3 up through the opening four holes.

Ashford were hardly inclined to disappear quietly.

James and Pickering won the sixth before Royal Blackheath restored the margin at the eighth. Ashford answered again at nine, sending the match to the turn with Bryce and Oxbrow only 2 up.

When James and Pickering took the tenth, the complexion of the final changed rather quickly. A contest that had appeared firmly in Royal Blackheath’s hands was suddenly down to one hole.

That proved as close as Ashford would get.

Bryce and Oxbrow find the decisive stretch

The response from the Royal Blackheath pair was emphatic without being particularly theatrical, which in foursomes is often a useful combination.

Bryce and Oxbrow won the twelfth to create breathing room, added the fourteenth and then took the sixteenth to finish the match 4&2.

It was a closing stretch that settled a final Ashford had worked hard to drag back into contention.

For Bryce and Oxbrow, the Coombe Cup was secured not by an uninterrupted procession but by their ability to re-establish control just as the match threatened to become awkward.

There are few more uncomfortable places in match play than a lead which has begun shrinking. Royal Blackheath stopped the process before it acquired any real enthusiasm.

Lowy gives Sene Valley the perfect start

The Tappin Trophy carried a different format and, ultimately, considerably more suspense.

Three players represented each club across separate handicap categories. Claire Gallagher met Sidcup’s Carli Smith in the 12.5–19.4 category, Amanda Summers faced Julie Wilson in the 19.5–27.4 match, and Alison Lowy took on Mel Francis-Brown in the 27.5–36.4 category.

Lowy made sure Sene Valley had the first point on the board.

She established a commanding 5 up lead by the turn and did not allow Francis-Brown an opening on the back nine, completing a 7&6 victory.

That left Sene Valley requiring one more point, but neither of the remaining matches was showing much inclination to provide it quickly.

Gallagher and Smith need extra holes

Gallagher’s match with Smith became the contest upon which the trophy would turn.

Smith held a narrow advantage at the halfway stage, but Gallagher recovered and the pair reached the end of 18 holes all square.

So off they went again.

The nineteenth was halved, extending a match already short of neither tension nor mileage. At the twentieth, Gallagher finally made the breakthrough, winning the hole to secure Sene Valley’s second point and with it the 2026 Tappin Trophy.

Two extra holes represented a rather more complicated route to the trophy than Lowy’s emphatic opening victory, but they all count the same on the team sheet.

Summers and Wilson finish level as Sene Valley celebrate

The remaining match between Summers and Wilson had been almost as stubborn.

They were all square at the turn and remained level after nineteen holes. By then Gallagher’s victory had settled the destination of the trophy, so their match was declared an honourable half as they headed up the twentieth.

It completed a Finals Day in which the two trophies were won in sharply contrasting fashion.

Royal Blackheath’s Bryce and Oxbrow had responded to a mid-round challenge by pulling decisively clear when the pressure increased. Sene Valley, meanwhile, combined Lowy’s runaway 7&6 victory with Gallagher’s nerve in extra holes to get the two points they needed.

For Ashford and Sidcup there was no shortage of resistance, and all four clubs had already negotiated the knockout stages simply to reach Mid Kent.

The trophies, though, belonged to Royal Blackheath and Sene Valley.

Kent Golf also thanked Andrew and his team at Mid Kent Golf Club for hosting the finals and referee Jon for officiating.

After the rain had passed and the extra holes were finally exhausted, Bryce and Oxbrow had the Coombe Cup and Sene Valley the Tappin Trophy. Finals Day had found its winners — it merely took one of them until the twentieth to make absolutely certain.