|
English Girls' Close Amateur Championship
2005
Melissa Reid wins English Girls’
Championship
Derbyshire’s Melissa Reid scored a back-to-back
triumph in the English Girls’ Championship when
she beat Gloucestershire’s Joanne Hodge 2/1
in the final at Liphook.
The 17-year-old from Chevin is the first player to
successfully defend the title since Rebecca Hudson’s
second win in 1996.
“I badly wanted to win again, it was definitely
one of my goals this season,” said Melissa.
“To win once was pretty good, but to win twice
would give me a great finale to my junior days. I’m
18 in September and so this is my last year –
and I wanted to go out with a win!”
The final proved to be Melissa’s closest match
in the championship, which she dominated from day
one. She led the strokeplay qualifiers – as
she also did last year - and then eased through her
matches with increasingly impressive scorelines: 3/1,
5/3, 5/4 and 6/5.
But the final was tightly contested with both girls
putting on a good display of low scoring for the crowd
of spectators. At one point Melissa was three-under
par and only two up.
The match began with a fine show of birdies. Melissa
struck first, her three-iron on the opening hole finishing
2ft from the cup and setting up an easy two. Joanne
came straight back with a birdie on the second, Melissa
had another birdie on the fourth and the two players
halved the fifth in birdie fours.
By the time they reached the turn Melissa was two
up but then had three consecutive bogeys. Joanne,
the 18-year-old Gloucestershire champion, took advantage
and the match was back to all square after 12.
They halved the long 13th in birdies, after Melissa
played a superb three-wood out of the rough, and were
still all square after 14.
The deadlock was broken on the 15th where Melissa
scored a steady par four and Joanne three-putted for
a bogey.
“That was the turning point,” said Melissa,
who won the 16th with a par to go two up. Both players
parred the 17th – and the title stayed with
the defending champion.
“It was a really good match, you couldn’t
relax, you had to keep going for it,” said Melissa.
The second flight final was won by Emily Priest (Enville)
who beat Helen White (Worfield) 3/2. Emily, 15, was
watched by her grandparents who introduced her to
golf.
Melissa Reid to play Joanne Hodge
in Girls final
29/07/05
Derbyshire’s Melissa Reid and Gloucestershire’s
Joanne Hodge will meet head to head for the first
time in the final of the English Girls’ Championship
at Liphook.
Melissa, 17, (Chevin) is the defending champion while
Joanne, 18, (Knowle) is playing in her second final
and bidding for her first win in this event.
Joanne gave herself a last chance to become champion
before she leaves junior ranks when she beat Laura
Harvey (Richmond, Yorkshire) 3/2 in their semi-final.
Earlier, she won her quarter-final match against Jodi
Ewart (Catterick) by the same margin.
In the semi-final Laura was one-up for most of the
outward half, but Joanne squared matters on the ninth
and then won the 11th, 12 and 13th, where she had
an eagle three, to forge ahead. Halves on the next
three holes were enough to see her comfortably into
the final.
“It’s going to be a good match, Mel is
a good player,” said Joanne. “But anything
can happen in matchplay.”
Her appearance in the 2003 final gave her valuable
experience. “I learned not to rush,” said
Joanne, who is a member of ELGA’s Elite potential
girls’ squad, won her first junior cap two years
ago and reached the last 16 in the 2005 British amateur
championship.
Melissa, meanwhile, made short work of her matches,
beating Laura Cutler (Warley Park) 5/4 in the quarter
final and then defeating Ellie Givens (Blackwell Grange)
6/5 in their semi-final.
She finished off her afternoon match with a birdie
on the 13th and was applauded as she left the course.
“I’m really looking forward to the final,”
she said afterwards. “I like finals and, touch
wood, I have never lost in a final.
Melissa, a member of ELGA’s Elite Potential
U21 squad, is a girl international and helped England
win the gold medal in this month’s European
Girls’ Team Championship.
In the second flight Emily Priest, Enville GC won
5&4 and will play Helen White, Worfield who won
on the 19th.
Melissa reaches quarter-finals
of English Girls’ Championship
28/07/05
Derbyshire’s Melissa Reid continued her impressive
defence of her title by easing into the quarter-finals
of the English Girls’ Championship at Liphook.
The 17-year-old from Chevin beat Sarah Tyson (Redlibbets)
3/1 in the first matchplay round and then dismissed
Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) 5/3. Both Melissa and
Rachel are England girl internationals.
Now, Melissa plays Laura Cutler (Warley Park), a
member of ELGA’s Elite potential girls’
squad.
The defending champion and top qualifier did not
have it all her own way in her opening two matches.
In the first round Melissa was one down after 11,
before she squared matters and then took control.
In the afternoon, she again went one down after bogeying
the first two holes.
But then Melissa played faultless golf, with four
birdies and nine pars. She was two-up at the turn,
birdied the 10th and 13th to hold a four-up advantage
and then closed out the match on the 15th.
Other players safely through to the quarter-finals
are ELGA’s reigning U15 champion, Henrietta
Brockway (Yeovil). She plays Ellie Givens (Blackwell
Grange), who had a top ten finish in this month’s
English ladies’ strokeplay championship.
In the other half of the draw, Jodi Ewart (Catterick),
one of the stars of England’s gold medal triumph
in the European Girls’ Team Championship, continued
her good form with two comfortable wins. Now, she
plays Joanne Hodge (Knowle) a fellow member of the
Elite potential girls’ squad. Meanwhile, Laura
Harvey (Richmond, Yorkshire) meets Ami Storey (Ponteland).
In the second flight, Lisa Warrilow (Lilleshall Hall)
made the most of squeezing into the matchplay competition
on countback. She won her first round match against
Emilee Taylor (Gainsborough) on the 20th and went
on to beat local girl Tracey Willmont (Liphook) 3/2.
Melissa Reid leads qualifiers
in English Girls Championship
27/07/05
Derbyshire’s Melissa Reid shot a three-under
par 69 at Liphook today to lead the qualifiers into
the matchplay stages of the English Girls’ Championship
Her performance echoed last year, when she was also
top qualifier – and then went on to win the
title.
But the defending champion is not interested in looking
back. She’s keeping her mind firmly on 2005
business: “This is a brand new tournament for
me,” said the 17-year-old from Chevin.
“I’ve got to keep concentrating and keep
my focus in the matchplay tomorrow. It doesn’t
matter that it’s the first match and that I’m
playing the 32nd seed – I still have to concentrate
as much as if it is the final.”
It’s an attitude which is serving her well.
She was joint leader on level par after the first
round of strokeplay qualifying and then moved three
shots clear of the field with her 69.
“I was pleased with the way I hit it today,”
said Melissa. “It was a lot better than yesterday
and I gave myself a lot of chances.”
She converted seven of those chances into birdies
and was four-under par after the first five holes
of the round. A couple of three-putts and a visit
into a bunker cost her some shots but she finished
her round in style with birdies on the 15th,17th and
18th.
Her closest rivals in qualifying were Joanne Hodge
(Knowle), who moved up the leaderboard with a one-under
71, and Bedfordshire’s Holly Aitchison, who
was joint leader after the first round. She maintained
her form with another level par score.
Hannah Ralphs (Goodwood) was also consistent and
her second 73 took her comfortably into the championship
flight for the matchplay stages.
Local girl Tracey Willmont, who plays at Liphook,
had trolley problems on the 12th and finished the
day on 84, for a 162 aggregate. Tracey is the Hampshire
girls’ champion.
Melissa and Holly lead English
Girls’ Championship
26/07/05
Derbyshire’s Melissa Reid made a confident
start to her defence of the English Girls’ Championship
at Liphook, sharing the first round lead on level
par 72.
“It’s always difficult to defend a title,”
said the 17-year-old from Chevin. “It’s
more difficult to defend one than to win one, but
I am feeling quite confident.”
Joining her at the top of the leaderboard is Bedfordshire’s
Holly Aitchison, who produced a grandstand finish
when she birdied the last hole to a flurry of applause.
Melissa put on her show of spectacular scoring early
in her round. She had an eagle three on the 2nd, where
her three-iron approach to the green finished about
4ft from the cup, and she also birdied the long fourth.
She reached the turn at one-under, having bogeyed
the 1st and 8th. She dropped another shot on the 10th
but then parred her way home, helped by a series of
impressive scrambles. “I got up and down three
times in the last four holes,” she said.
Melissa has arrived at Liphook still high from her
part in England’s gold medal triumph in the
European Girls’ Team Championship and she’s
pleased with the results of some recent swing changes.
But she aims to improve on her score in the second
qualifying round. She commented on her opening 72:
“It was OK and I’ll take it – but
I could have done better. I wasn’t giving myself
that many birdie opportunities and if I hit it a lot
closer tomorrow I could be five or six shots better.”
Holly, meanwhile, is hugely enjoying her good form.
The 18-year-old says she’s been on a learning
curve since last year’s championship when she
was knocked out in the first round of the second flight
matches.
The Bedfordshire county player and member of ELGA’s
Select Midlands squad made few mistakes in the start
to her 2005 challenge. Two birdies and two bogeys
took her to the turn in level par and she also came
home in 36, helped by that birdie on the last.
The joint leaders are just one shot clear of Laura
Collin, who is also from Bedfordshire, and Middlesex’s
Louisa Tarn.
Other leading scores included 75s from Hannah Barwood
(Knowle) who is just back from the European Young
Masters, and Jodi Ewart (Catterick) who also played
in the European Girls’ Team Championship. A
third team-member, Emma Sheffield (Newark), shot 76,
one better than Henrietta Brockway, 15, (Yeovil) who
is the Welsh open strokeplay champion.
The local challenge was led by Hampshire girls’
champion Tracey Willmont, who is a member at Liphook
and returned a solid 78.
Kiran Matharu, one of the pre-tournament favourites
and another of the European gold medal winners, withdrew
from the event when she became a reserve for the Weetabix
British Women’s Open, which starts at Royal
Birkdale on Thursday. The 16-year-old from Cookridge
Hall in Yorkshire missed out on an automatic spot
by just one shot in Monday’s final qualifying
event at Hillside.
Talented field for English girls’
championship
21/07/05
The country’s finest young golfers will be
in action next week when the English Girls’
Championship tees off at Liphook, Hampshire, on Tuesday.
The title challenge will be led by England’s
four golden girls – Melissa Reid, Kiran Matharu,
Jodi Ewart and Emma Sheffield - who won the European
Girls’ Team Championship earlier this month.
But the full field of almost 130 golfers is packed
with talent and there’s a strong local challenge
from Hampshire golfers.
The defending champion is Derbyshire’s Melissa
Reid (Chevin), who defeated Yorkshire’s Kiran
Matharu (Cookridge Hall) in last year’s final.
Since then, Melissa, 17, has won the Daily Telegraph
girls’ championship and Kiran,16, has become
the Faldo Series girls’ champion.
Most recently, they teamed up with Jodi Ewart (Catterick)
and Emma Sheffield (Newark) to win top European honours
for England.
Other in-form players include Cheshire’s Natasha
Podmore, 17, (Delamere Forest) and Durham’s
Ellie Givens (Blackwell Grange) who are fresh from
fine performances in last week’s English ladies’
strokeplay championship. Natasha led for three rounds
and eventually finished in a tie for third place;
Ellie shot under par for the first time in major competition
en route to a share of seventh place.
The field also includes a host of other champions.
Among them are Henrietta Brockway, 15, (Yeovil) who
holds both the English girls’ U15 and the Welsh
ladies’ open strokeplay titles.
Two 13-year-olds are already proven winners: Kelly
Tidy (Manchester) is the English U13 champion; while
Katie Thompson (Corhamton) recently won the English
Schools girls’ championship.
Katie, who plays off two, leads the strong contingent
of Hampshire and Channel Island golfers. They include
the county’s girls’ champion, Tracey Willmont,
17, a four-handicapper who has the advantage of playing
on her home course. She is a past ladies’ champion
at her club and has already shot a three-under par
69 at Liphook this year.
Olivia Higgins, 17, (Royal Jersey) is the Channel
Islands’ champion and was runner-up in this
month’s South-Eastern girls’ championship
at Stoneham, where she broke the course record in
qualifying with a one-under par 70.
Laura-Jane Mabley, 15, (Dunwood Manor) has just won
the English schools’ U16 girls’ championship.
Her club colleague, Katie Mundy, 14, is also in the
field, together with Kelly Allen,16, who broke the
course record at Bramshott Hall when she won the ladies’
club championship; Raphaela Dyer, 14, the ladies’
champion at Hayling Island; and Joanne Toop, 17, a
county second team player from Romsey.
The girls will face a searching test of golf over
Liphook’s renowned heathland course. Club secretary
Barry Morgan said: “They will need to putt well,
because the greens will be pretty fast, and they will
need to drive well. If they miss the fairways they
will be in heather and will probably have to take
a very short iron to get back in play.”
He added: “It should be a very exciting week.
The English girls have been doing some great things
and we are all looking forward to seeing them and
seeing some very good golf.”
Liphook last hosted this championship in 1971. The
course has also been the setting for the English ladies’
close championship and the British girls’ championship.
The championship begins with two rounds of strokeplay
qualifying, with all competitors playing 18 holes
on both Tuesday and Wednesday. The leading 32 players
will qualify for the championship matchplay. The next
32 players will compete in flight two. The final will
be on Saturday, July 30.
Liphook
The Wheatsheaf Enclosure
Liphook
Hampshire
GU30 7EH
View
Map
25 - 30 July 2004 Handicap
limit: 18.4
View Previous
winners
|
ELGA Championships
