Joanne Summers, who has been knocking on the door for some time, has won the Sussex Ladies' Championship.

She was the county girls' champion in 1997 and later captained the British Girls' team.

But there has always been a sharp division in her priorities after she gained a golf scholarship to Exeter University.

There she gained BA Honours in French and German and now works for the HSBC bank in Worthing.

Exams will prevent her from playing for Sussex in counties week at Highgate from May 10-14, which will be the second important event from which a champion is absent.

This week, Karen Sykes withdrew from the field at Crowborough Beacon because her father, Vernon Mitchell, was taken ill and Karen was in two minds about where she should be.

Happily, Vernon, a Worthing member who encouraged his daughter to take up the game as a girl, has left hospital and Karen turned up at Crowborough during the final stages in time to see Summers beat Karen Benton-May 2 & 1 and take the vacant crown.

Something of a surprise package, Benton-May bravely flew the Crowborough flag by knocking out Chloe Court on the last hole in a clash that could be termed the Waitrose semi-final.

Both work for the supermarket chain. Chloe has just started on the management rung at Chichester while Karen, 41, is in dry goods at Hailsham.

Three times champion Court eliminated Summers in the final four years ago at Cooden Beach but this time her chance of a fourth title disappeared when Benton-May slotted a 20-footer at the 18th.

Court needed a birdie at 17 andher eight iron split the pin to draw level. Then came the killer putt for a par which was rated second in Benton-May's list of accomplishments over the three days.

The first medal round was notable for a drastic climate change that left the course under a white carpet. When the hailstones melted, play had been delayed for two hours.

The famous sixth hole, known as The Speaker, was still shaking off the ice storm when Benton-May sent her seven wood straight into the hole from 156 yards, the first ace in championship history.

In the final, Benton-May was one up at the turn.

But the tide gradually turned as Karen missed a tiddler for a half at ten and Summers' par levelled the match.

The impetus was maintained when Summers took the 11th with a par, only for Karen to birdie 13.

Summers' power with her fairway woods paid off at the next when a great shot found the green and down went the birdie putt from seven yards. Her lead doubled at 15 with another birdie and halving the next two holes produced a worthy winner.

Her father, Tim caddied unobtrusively with words of wisdom at just the right moments.