TIDWORTH county player Jayne Long has succeeded Wrag Barn teenager Carly Boulton as Wiltshire women's champion writes ERNIE NEWELL.

She won the title by defeating 2003 champion Portia Abbott in the 18-hole final over her own Kingsdown course by three and one.

Long is the first Tidworth player to win the championship since Myra Johnston back in 1990.

A six-handicapper from Pewsey, she has been playing at the Garrison club since 1989 and is a former women's captain.

In the final against Abbott, she was two up after 16 and delivered the killer blow with a birdie at the 17th.

Long began by defeating Jo Jo Candy (Manor House, Castle Combe) by two and one, then edged 11-year-old Tidworth prodigy Hannah Turland at the 19th and reached the final with a two and one victory over top seed Claire Hobbs (Cumberwell Park).

Abbott, the second seed, defeated Gill Loughrey (Wrag Barn) in the opening round by two and one, beat Sarah Waugh (Tidworth) in the quarter-finals by one hole and defeated Boulton in the semis.

First round: Claire Hobbs (Cumberwell Park) beat Sue Newman (Ogbourne Downs) 3/2; Sophie Newman (Ogbourne Downs) beat Emma Breen (Marlborough) 1 up; Hannah Turland (Tidworth) beat Sue Dix (Kingsdown) 3/2; Jayne Long (Tidworth) beat Jo Jo Candy (Manor House, Castle Combe) 2/1; Carly Boulton (Wrag Barn) beat Anne Ferguson (Ogbourne Downs) 5/4; Karen Gosling (Marlborough) beat Aurora Edwards (West Wilts) 1 up; Sarah Waugh w/o against Di Gritt (Tidworth); Portia Abbott (Kingsdown) beat Gill Loughrey (Wrag Barn) 2/1.

Quarter-finals: Hobbs beat Newman 3/1; Long beat Turland at the 19th; Boulton beat Gosling 4/2; Abbott beat Waugh 1 up.

Semi-finals: Long beat Hobbs 2/1; Abbot beat Boulton.

Final: Long beat Abbott 3/1.

Claire Hobbs had earlier led the 16 qualifiers for the match-play stage with a 36-hole score of 146 (75-71), nine strokes ahead of Portia Abbott (83-72) and Carly Boulton (78-77).

Hobbs had a field day, also winning the Deacon Cup for the best two-round score by an under 21 player, the Barber Dish for the best nett aggregate with 138 (71-67) and the Kennard Cup, which is awarded annually to the player with the best 54-hole aggregate in the qualifier and spring strokeplay with 231 (85, 75, 71).

Tidworth won the Team Shield for the club with the best three totals on qualifying day with 472 (Jayne Long 156, Hannah Turland 156, Di Gritt 160).

Kingsdown were runners-up, 14 shots behind on 486 (Abbott 155, Sue Dix 164, Emma May 167).

Toni Cumming, from Wrag Barn, won the Bronze Division Championship, defeating Sachiko Yoshioka (Broome Manor) in the final.

n Ben Newman, the 2005 Wiltshire amateur champion from Ogbourne Downs, was the county's most successful player in the British Boys' Open Championship at Royal Aberdeen.

The 17-year-old reached the fifth round, where he was beaten five and three by Sweden's Bjorn Akesson, the losing finalist.

Matt Swales, the Wiltshire boys' captain from Cumberwell Park, and county colts' champion Sam Matton (Broome Manor) were knocked out in the third round and Jack Hiscock, the Wiltshire boys' champion from Marlborough, went out in round two. Broome Manor's Joe Johnson was a first round loser.