Sixteen year old Georgia Hall from Remedy Oak in Dorset left a field of professionals and amateurs standing at the 85th Roehampton Gold Cup played over the south west London course, becoming the youngest winner of this well established event.
On a still day brightened by sunshine, but with very little sign of the heavy storms of the preceding week (much to relief of the organisers), a strong entry took to the golf course from 8 am.
Georgia had two rounds of 72 for a 36 hole total of 144, to win by three shots from professionals Holly Aitchison (unattached) and Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) on 147.
She follows the win of another amateur last year, Rachel Drummond from Beaconsfield, who defended her title with a two-round total of 152.
Georgia, who celebrated her 16th birthday on April 12, had her father caddying for her.
She kept her driver in the bag, hit every fairway and played to the centre of the tricky greens, setting herself up for regulation two putting round the par 72, 5966 yard parkland course.
Currently studying for her GCSE’s, Georgia plans to go on to do a B. Tech in sport, resist the temptations of America and perhaps turn pro at 18.
She has been a Dorset county player for seven years and is second reserve for the forthcoming Curtis Cup against the USA at Nairn in June.
Her golfing CV is impressive! She was third in last year's European girls championship and beaten semi-finalist in the British Girls at Gullane and played in the inaugural junior Vagliano Trophy team in the same year when she also played for the winning England teams in both the women's and girls home internationals.
She was most recently the joint winner of the Hampshire Rose at North Hants G.C. with Nikki Foster. Georgia has been England Under 13 and Under 15 Champion.
This was her second visit to Roehampton, where she pronounced the course to be fantastic but the pin positions very tricky – opinions echoed by all the competitors in the Gold Cup.
Georgia said later:
"The greens were very tricky greens but I finished the last six holes with three birdies, a bogey and two pars. I would put winning the Roehampton Gold Cup on a par with the two English titles i have won.
"I felt I played very steady, didn't make any mistakes and made the birdies when I had the chance
"The conditions were tough because it was very windy. I just tried to hit fairways and greens and two-putt most of the time.
"The course improvements have included lots of new bunkers and the fairway bunkers were deep, I had to take them out of play by just hitting three-wood from nearly all the tees.
"Roehampton was in tip top condition, greens were very quick for this time of the year and in superb condition.
"My caddie was a great help and it was nice to have a second opinion when needed."
FINAL TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
Players are amateurs unless (pro) listed after their names
144 GEORGIA HALL (Remedy Oak) 72 72
147 HOLLY AITCHISON (unatt) (pro) 72 75, Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) (pro) 72 75.
148 HENNI ZUEL (The Wisley) (pro) 76 72, Sophie Walker (Forest Pines) (pro) 72 76.
149 EMILEE TAYLOR (Holme Hall) 76 73, Marie Allen (Motocaddy) (pro) 74 75, Ellie Given (Rockcliffe Hall) (pro) 74 75.
150 HANNAH RALPH (Cowdray Park) (pro) 78 72.
151 CHARLOTTE WILD (Mere) 76 75
152 RACHEL DRUMMOND (Beaconsfield) 80 72, SARAH JONES (LET) (pro) 78 74, ASHLEIGH GREENHAM (West Essex) 76 76.
155 FERN GRIMSHAW (Wessex Golf Centre) (pro) 76 79, KERRY SMITH (Waterlooville) 74 81.
156 KELLY HANWELL (Rugby) (pro) 80 76, TRACY LOVEYS (Bigbury) (pro) 80 76.
157 LAUREN HILLIER (Newport) 86 71, NICOLE WHITMORE (Woburn) 80 77, INCI MEHMET 75 82.
158 CHARLOTTE HINDMOOR (Cleveland) 83 + 75, MEGHAN MACLAREN (Wellingborough) 82 76, SARAH ATTWOOD (Gog Magog) 82 76, DAISY DYER (Chigwell) 79 79, SAMANTHA FULLER (Roehampton) 77 81.
JANE REES (Hendon) 76 82.
159 BRONWYN DAVIES (Trentham) 84 75, VANESSA BELL (Ipswich) 82 77,
KELLY HUTCHERSON (Porters Park) (pro) 82 77, ALICE SPANI-MOLELLA (Royal Mid-Surrey) 80 79, HANNAH GRANT (Enmore Park) 77 82.
160 KIRSTY S TAYLOR (Weybrook Manor) (pro) 79 81, SUSAN MOON (unatt) (pro) 75 85.
161 STACEY RODGER (West Hove) 78 83.
162 CAROLINE GRADY (Dunston Hall) (pro) 83 79, SOPHIE HILLIER (John O'Gaunt) 83 79, HARRIET KEY (South Herts) 82 80, ELIZAVETA NIKULINA 81 81, GEORGIA GILLING (Rochford Hundred) 78 84.
164 DANA GREENSLADE (unatt) (pro) 85 79, CHARLOTTE TAYLOR (Northampton County) 81 83.
165 DOLORES BROWN (Royal Cinque Ports) 82 83, JO HODGE (The Kendleshire) 82 83, CATHERINE PANTON-LEWIS (The Berkshire) (pro) 80 85.
168 LAUREN BLEASE (Burhill) 88 80, LAUREN HORSFORD (Wimbledon Park) 85 83.
169 GEMMA ALDRIDGE (Chelmsford Ladies) (pro) 88 81.
173 BLAIZE ESMOND (Aldeburgh) 86 87.
174 AMELIA TAYLOR (88 86.
177 ALISON DALGLEISH (Malden) 87 90.
186 JULIA BURROWS (Royal Mid-Surrey) 91 95.
