England’s Florentyna reaches French final

England international Florentyna Parker staged a great fightback to win her way through to the final of the French Lady Juniors’ Championship at St Cloud.

The 17-year-old was one down with three to play in her semi-final match against German golfer Caroline Masson – but emerged the one-up winner. Now she meets Spain’s Marta Silva in the 36-hole final.

“I felt relieved,” said Florentyna, from Royal Birkdale, as she re-lived the closing holes of the semi-final.

She squared the match on the 16th, went one ahead with an eagle three on the 17th and made certain of her place in the final with an exquisite chip on the 18th, which lipped the hole and gave her a cast-iron par.

“I played really well on the last nine holes and it was always quite close with one person one up and then the other one up,” said Florentyna, a previous semi-finalist in the British girls’ championship.

Earlier in the day she beat another German, Thea Hoffmeister, 1 up in the quarter final. Although the scoreline was tight, Florentyna was never down in that match.