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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Lancashire’s Kelly Tidy edges ahead

in English girls’ championship

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Lancashire’s Kelly Tidy shot one-over par 73 in tough winds to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the English girls’ championship at North Wilts.
Kelly, 17, an England girl international who will represent Europe in next month’s PING Junior Solheim Cup, finished her round with a birdie.
“It was a good start to the championship,” she said afterwards. “I dropped a couple of shots and made a stupid double bogey on the ninth but I had birdies to make up.
“It’s a nice golf course, but the greens are tricky and the wind was making it tough. The par fours were playing long – but there were places where you could pick up shots.”
One shot behind is Lincolnshire’s Holly Clyburn, 18, who is a full England international and just back from helping to win a silver medal at the European team championships. “I am absolutely chuffed to bits with my 74,” said Holly, who started with a birdie, but then dropped four shots over the next four holes as she battled the winds.
She bounced back with another birdie and then played solidly.
“It was an interesting round! But I just kept plugging away and playing my own game and it did the trick.”
She’s two shots ahead of girl international Alex Peters, 15, of Nottinghamshire. Lancashire’s Nikki Foster, 17, who will make her international debut next week at the Girls’ Home Internationals, is a stroke further back.
The field includes Hally Leadbetter, the daughter of coaching legend David Leadbetter, who is mid-table after the first round. After tomorrow’s second round the top 32 players will go forward to the championship matchplay. The next 32 players will contest the second flight matchplay.
Leading first round scores.
Par 72 CSS 77
73 Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale).
74 Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa).
76 Alex Peters (Notts Ladies).
77 Nikki Foster (Pleasington).
78 Raffi Dyer (Hayling).
79 Rebecca Heeles (Royal Norwich), Charlotte Thomas (Singapore Island).
80 Cheryl Chisholm (Stowmarket), Phoebe Cipa (Upminster), Jenna Birch (Royal Lytham & St Annes), Sophie Godley (Lindrick), Heidi Baek (Felixstowe Ferry).
Full details and hole-by-hole scoring: www.englishwomensgolf.org
Lyndsey Hewison
Press & PR Officer

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