KENT golfer Karen Stupples has spoken of her sadness and disappointment at the news of the fire which swept through Chart Hills Golf Club.

News of the fire, which broke out at the Biddenden golf club around 8pm on Wednesday, September 14, and destroyed two-thirds of the clubhouse, reached Stupples as she was preparing for the LPGA’s John Q Hammons Hotel Classic at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Oklahoma.

The Solheim Cup star, from Deal, said: "It’s really sad and disappointing to hear of any golf club catching fire, but especially Chart Hills which is very dear to me.

"My dad sent me a text message while I was in Tulsa preparing for the tournament. The important thing is that no-one was hurt. You can always rebuild a clubhouse but you can’t bring people back."

Chart Hills, one of four top golf clubs owned by Leaderboard Golf, must now rebuild the clubhouse in time for next year’s renewal of the Ladies’ English Open – the Ladies’ European Tour event which it has staged successfully for the last two years and which it has committed to until 2010.

Stupples added: "Chart Hills will carry on and rebuild, and I look forward to playing in next year’s Ladies’ English Open in front of a nice new clubhouse on a course that I love playing."

On the course, Stupples finished in a tie for 21st place in the John Q Hammons Hotel Classic to offset the disappointment of the European team failing to retain the Solheim Cup at Crooked Stick, Indiana.

She said: "We really thought it was going to be our year. We were all playing well and we really thought we would be the first European team to win the Solheim Cup on American soil.

"It was a fantastic experience and I really learned a lot about myself over those few days, even under extreme pressure. But I have never felt as sick as I did during the matches, it was so nervewracking. Every shot was crucial and you could never relax.

"What it means is that we have unfinished business, and I have absolutely no doubt that we will regain the Solheim Cup in Sweden in two years time."