NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLAND GOLF
Lancashire’s Kelly Tidy won a sudden death play-off to be crowned English
women’s amateur champion at her home club, Royal Birkdale.
Lancashire’s Kelly Tidy won a sudden death play-off to be crowned English
women’s amateur champion at her home club, Royal Birkdale.
She defeated
Dorset’s Georgia Hall with a birdie on the first play-off hole after the two
golfers had tied at the end of regulation play on four-over par. “It’s very
special to win here, it means more than anything,” said Kelly, whose supporters
included a crowd of home club spectators.
She gave them some anxious
moments before she clinched the title but, as she said afterwards: “I never give
up. I always believe it’s not over until it’s over, until the last putt drops.”
That attitude carried her through as the final round unfolded with compelling
drama and the lead swung to and fro.
“It was almost like matchplay,” said
Kelly. “I’ve been in matchplay finals and I know it can get scrappy and that you
just have to hang in there to the end. That’s what happened.”
Kelly set
the stage when she took the championship lead after this morning’s third round
when she produced a near-flawless score of four-under par 71. It took her to
two-under for the event and leapfrogged her over her playing partner, Georgia
Hall (Remedy Oak), who had held the lead from the start and who had scored par
this morning.
It meant there were three shots separating the pair as they
teed off in what was to become a two-horse race. Their closest challengers were
another six shots behind them and none could break into the battle being played
out in the final pairing. Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) came nearest, finishing
three shots back, in third place.
Kelly maintained a healthy advantage
over the opening holes and was four ahead after the fourth. But she was steadily
pegged back and after a two-shot swing on the 10th, which Georgia birdied, the
players were on level terms.
Georgia kept up the momentum, taking
advantage of a temporary lapse in Kelly’s putting skills, and held a two shot
advantage after 14 holes. But the battle was far from over: Georgia’s three-putt
on 15 narrowed the gap to one and when Kelly birdied 16 they were again on level
terms.
Georgia struck back with a birdie on the 17th to hold a one-shot
lead as they played the last. Kelly, in turn, birdied the 18th - thanks to a
superb putt of over 30 yards which finished within inches of the hole - to set
up a play-off.
The deciding hole was the par five 15th where Kelly set up
yet another birdie with a fine pitch to the pin – and the title was hers.
Georgia, who parred the hole, said afterwards: “I’m disappointed, but Kelly
produced two birdies to win and I can’t argue with that.”
Kelly’s next
big date is the Curtis Cup match at Nairn in June: “I really hope we can win
there. I love team golf and I’m very patriotic about playing for my country, it
means a lot,” she said. The team also includes Holly Clyburn, who was third in
the championship, while Georgia is a reserve.
The best scores of the
final round were three-under 72, returned by England girl international Emily
Taylor (Royal Lytham & St Annes) and British champion Lauren Taylor
(Woburn). Hannah Barwood (Knowle), Charlotte Wild (Mere) and Melissa McMahon
(Lyme Regis) all shot one-under 74.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 300
(4x75)
304 Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale) 78 74 71 81, Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak)
77 74 75 78. Tidy won sudden death play-off at first extra hole.
307 Holly
Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) 80 76 76 75
309 Kerry Smith (Waterlooville) 81 75 76
77
310 Emily Taylor (Royal Lytham and St Annes) 80 76 82 72
313 Lauren
Taylor (Woburn) 84 79 78 72, Hannah Barwood (Knowle) 79 81 79 74
314
Gabriella Cowley (West Essex), 81 82 76 75, Charlotte Wild (Mere) 81 81 78 74,
Ellie Robinson (Wilton) 79 79 79 77
315 Alexandra Peters (Notts Ladies) 79 81
78 77
316 Jessica Bradley (Tiverton) 80 77 79 80