Littlestone Golf Club to host matchplay championship

Littlestone Golf Club in Kent has been selected as a semi-final host for The Southern Matchplay Golf Championship

Littlestone Golf Club on the Kent coast has been selected as a semi-final host for The Southern Matchplay Golf Championship.

The Race to Dona Filipa, as it's also known, is a season-long knockout competition open to amateur golfers across the South of England and South Wales.

Split into the South East and South West, there are 128 places available in each region, with individual & pairs betterball competitions offering entrants a fantastic opportunity to win a place in the Grand Finals in Portugal, where the overall winners will be crowned champions.

The competition commences with a 36 hole home and away first round, before knockout rounds determine who makes the semi-finals at Littlestone Golf Club (28th October 2015) or Burnham and Berrow Golf Club (29th October 2015).

After that, the finalists move on to San Lorenzo Golf Course in the Algarve to compete over 54 holes between the 28th and 31st of January in 2016.

Format

Rounds between May and October deterime who is invited through to the semi-finals, with approximately four weeks to play each match.

The first round takes place on home and away over 36 holes, which means you are assured at least one game away from your home course. A draw for home advantage takes place in subsequent rounds.

Early rounds are regionalised to minimise travelling, however, the further you progress the further you may need to travel if drawn away. You must win a maximum of just five matches to reach the semi-finals.

Entrants

Entrants must be a member of a golf club within Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex or Wiltshire in England.

With Carmarthenshire, Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, and Pembrokeshire counting in Wales.

Play Littlestone Golf Club before the semi-finals

If your course is still suffering from the wet winter, you can make the most of the bounding links fairways at Littlestone for just £55pp until the end of March, which includes 18 holes of golf followed by a warming bowl of soup or a plate of freshly cooked chips.

If there four of you, you can play for just £42.50pp, which also includes soup or chips.

Post-March, after 2pm twilight rates (after 3pm from May-August) mean you can play for just £45, with juniors paying just £15.