British girls championship final at Royal St David's

Italy's Emilie goes six under 

 

par to win Girls' title
Emilie Paltrinieri, a 14-year-old from Milan, is the new Girls' British U18 champion. She beat 16-year-old Isobel Wardle from Prestbury, near Manchester, by 4 and 3 with a burst of brilliant golf in this afternoon's 18-hole final, played in glorious sunshine, at Royal St David's Golf Club, Harlech in North Wales.
Although Italian girls have reached the final in recent years, Emilie is the first to win the prestigious title since Tullia Calzavarra in the year 2000.
"This is my biggest ever victory," said Emilie, who will be 15 on October 1.
 "I won the English Under-14 girls in 2014 and Italian junior titles as well as the US Kids World and European championships but this one tops them all. I feel very excited to have done it."
Paltrinieri is No. 299 in the Women's World Rankings and No 10 in her native Italy. 

 In comparison, Isobel Wardle - better known to her friends as "Bel," - is No. 508 in the world and No 20 in the English women's ratings.
But in the stroke-play qualifying at the start of the week in Harlech, it was Wardle who earned the eighth seeding with rounds of 71 and 73 for 144 - five better than Paltrinieri who shot 75 and 74 for 149 to be 39th of the 64 match-play qualifiers.
So what brought about the transformation that saw the Italian girl KO the No 2 seed, Madelene Stavnar (Norway) in the quarter-finals, then the British women's champion Julia Engstrom (Sweden) in the semi-finals before capturing the title with brilliant six-under-par figures?
"We are not used in Italy to playing in winds as strong as we have had here this week. So I gradually became accustomed to that and I knew how to play the links and this course a bit better every day," explained Emilie. "
"I also worked on the mistakes I made in the stroke-play."

For Isobel Wardle it was a bitter-sweet afternoon ... her best ever golfing achievement to be one of the two players from a field of 144 to reach the British final, but then to run into an opponent, with whom she was all square at the turn, before Paltrinieri covered the next six holes in six under par and won four of them:
A winning par at the 10th, birdie 2 at the 11th, eagle 3 at the 12th, half in birdies at the 13th, birdie 2 at the 14th, half in birdies to finish the contest at the 15th.
"There was not much I could do against figures like that," said Isobel, "but I enjoyed the experience."
Both girls are, of course, young enough to play in the British girls' championship for a few more years yet.
Both are keen to go to college in America and Emilie's ultimate dream is to turn professional and play on the LPGA Tour in the States.
If she is this good at the age of 14, one wonders what her full potential is.
Isobel, too, is a name to remember. Watch this space. That's her pictured below with the beaten finalist's trophy.

Paltrinieri (3 under par) beats Wardle 4 and 3

Match referee Pam Chugg, Isobel Wardle, LGU president and starter Diane Bailey, holding the Challenge Cup which she herself won in 1961, and Emilie Paltrinieri. Pictured before the start of the final by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

 By COLIN FARQUHARSON 
Isobel Wardle lost the first hole of the final, just about the first time she has trailed in any of her matches at the British girls' open amateur championship at Royal St David's Golf Club, Harlech in North Wales this week.
She pushed her second at little bit to the right of the green  at the testing 422yd first hole and took three more shots to get down.
Emilie Paltrinieri, outdriven, gave her second shot, with wood, a tremendous strike to find the heart of the green for a two-putt winning par 4.
But Wardle bounced back immediately to win the second with a birdie 3 and the third with a par 5 to go one up.
The English player bogeyed the short fourth and Paltrinieri's par 4 squared the match. The remaining holes to the turn were halved in par except for the sixth at which both players achieved birdie3s.
Both players were out in the ladies' par of 37.
 Wardle bogeyed the 10th to go one down for the first time since the opening hole.
Then her Italian opponent stepped up a gear to cover the next five holes in an incredible six under par.
Paltrinieri birdied the short 11th - 2 up.
She got an eagle 3 at the 12th - 3 up.
The 13th was halved in birdie 4s.
Paltrinieri got another birdie 2 at the short 14th - 4 up.
The 15th was halved in birdie  4s.
And so the Italian 14-year-old won the British U18 girls title in 4 and 3 with six under par figures.