Great British effort on Orange Blossom Tour in Florida

Michele Thomson lifts Liz Bennett off her feet with a hug of congratulations (image from the Daytona Beach News-Journal online-com website) and Liz with the trophy after the presentation.

GREAT BRITISH EFFORT!

LIZ BENNETT WINS AND MICHELE THOMSON FINISHES

THIRD IN SOUTH ATLANTIC LADIES AMATEUR

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team candidates Liz Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) from Hampshire and Aberdeenshire's Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) must have put a big smile on the face of skipper Mary McKenna by finishing first and third today in the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur Championship at Oceanside Country Club, Ormond Beach in Florida.
Sway-based Liz (picture left by Cal Carson Golf Agency), who took over the lead from a third member of the Ladies Golf Union Elite Squad, teenager Rachel Jennings, in the third round, maintained a two-shot lead over the fourth day.
Late developer Bennett, 25, a +3.1 player, the English women's stroke-play amateur champion of 2006 and Hampshire county title-winner in 2005 and 2007, signed off with a par-matching 72 for a one-under-par 287. The 2007 Vagliano Trophy team player had earlier scored 73, 72 and 70 - very steady scoring to chalk up what must rank as the best win on her CV todate. The last British or Irish player to win "The Sally" was Welsh Curtis Cup player Vicki Thomas in 1994.
Florida University first-year student Jessica Yadloczky was runner-up for the second year in a row in this the second event on the annual Orange Blossom Tour in Florida. She scored 72 for 289.
Aberdeenshire champion Michele Thomson, 19, was quoted before she went to Florida that she did not think in her heart of hearts that she would make the GB&I team of eight for the Curtis Cup match against the United States over the Old Course, St Andrews at the end of May.
But this performance must have have put a star against her name in the selectors' notebooks.
Like Liz Bennett, a quarter-finalist in last year's British women's open amateur championship at Alwoodley, Leeds where the Scot gave champion Carolota Ciganda her toughest tie of the tournament, long-hitting Michele looks as though she is an even better player than she was last year. A little older, a little wiser in plotting her way around a golf course, maybe.
But for a triple bogey 8 at the long sixth in her final round of 72 for two-over 290, Thomson would have gone close to catching Liz Bennett down the home straight.
Bennett, whose short game was the feature of her last-round play, was out in one-under-par 35 with a birdie at the third and another at the 11th before dropping shots at the 12th and 16th in an inward 37.
Michele did not let her spirits sag when she had that eighth at the sixth. She showed she was made of the right stuff by birdieing the next hole, the long seventh, to turn in two-over 38. Then she birdied the short 14th and the long 17th to come home in two-under 34 for a great, fighting round under pressure
Rachel Jennings, the halfway leader after rounds of 71 and 70, dropped down the leaderboard with a third-round 78 but she did make up some ground with a closing 75 to share seventh place on 294 - one shot ahead of US Curtis Cup player Virginia Grimes.
The American team for the Curtis Cup match will be announced within the next few days. The GB&I team will not be chosen until March.

On the English Women's Golf Association website, Liz Bennett - born October 23, 1982 in Southampton - lists as her ambitions: "To become a successful professional golfer ... and to be a weekly contender on the LPGA Tour."

All of that can wait until after this year's Curtis Cup match of course!

*Scroll down past the scores to read two reports from American golf writers at the tournament.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
Players from US unless stated.
287 Liz Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 73 72 70 72.
289 Jessica Yadloczky 69 76 72 72.
290 Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 73 76 69 72.
291 Meghan Bolger 76 69 72 74.
292 Alexandra Bodemann 71 73 74 74.
293 Kristina Wong 72 74 72 75.
294 Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) 71 70 78 75, Lindy Duncan 71 76 72 75, Candice Schepperle 72 80 73 69.
295 Virginia Grimes 71 73 75 76.
296 Katie Trotter 78 70 73 75.
298 Kathy Hartwiger 73 72 80 73.
299 Tiffany Chudy 71 74 74 80.
300 Kristy McLaughlin (Canada) 74 76 72 78.
302 Tara Allen 76 74 74 78, Rachel Carpenter 72 74 74 82.
303 Carlie Yadloczky 78 77 78 70.
304 Naomi Edwards (Ganton) 76 73 74 81 (18th).
305 Kerry Smith (Waterlooville) 77 81 76 71, Sahra Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 73 78 74 80 (jt 19th).
306 Courtney Harter 79 76 80 71, Kelly Calkin 76 78 77 77.
312 Jenny Schneider 77 78 75 83.
313 Rachel Connor (Manchester) 73 76 85 79 (24th).
314 Rachel Cassidy (Stirling Univ) 82 76 83 73, Paige Bromen 81 84 78 71 (jt 25th).
315 Carol Stemple Thompson 80 76 77 82.
316 Mayule Tomimbang 78 83 79 76, Kristen Wetzel 80 77 79 80.
317 Tonya Choate 77 83 84 73.
319 Stephanie Farrar (Stirling Univ) 77 82 80 80, Laura Murray (Robert Gordon Univ) 84 79 77 79, Taffy Brower 81 82 72 79 (jt 31st).
320 Holly Calvert (Stirling Univ) 82 80 82 76, Maggie Weder 84 73 85 78, Meredith Taylor 84 78 79 79 (jt 34th).
321 Therese Quinn 83 79 81 78.
323 Carly Truitt 85 82 77 79.
325 Kerri Connolly 82 81 81 81.
326 Sarah Carty (The Island, Dublin) 83 78 77 88, Marie-Pierre Bernier (Canada) 85 82 80 79 (jt 40th).
Other total:
363 Stephanie Crolla (Heriot-Watt Univ) 97 94 87 85 (78th)

REPORT FROM GOLFWEEK.COM WEBSITE:

BENNETT WINS HARD-EARNED SALLY TITLE

By SEAN MARTIN, Assistant Editor

Liz Bennett “didn't know anything” about the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur before arriving on Florida’s Atlantic coast.

On Saturday, she scrambled her way to one of the most prestigious titles in women’s amateur golf.

The Englishwoman shot a final-round 72 at Oceanside Country Club to finish at one-under 287 and win “The Sally” by two shots over Florida freshman Jessica Yadloczky, who was runner-up for the second consecutive year.

The victory will help Bennett as she tries to earn a spot in another important competition later this year in another seaside town.

Bennett, the 2006 English stroke-play champion, is a member of the 16-woman practice squad for this year’s Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team. Six squad members made the trip to Florida as prepartion for the Cup, which will be held May 30-June 1 at The Old Course at St. Andrews.

Bennett, who started the final round with a two-shot lead, opened the day by holing a 6ft par putt. She hit just 12 greens in regulation Saturday, but got up-and-down four times in five opportunities.

“I’m pleased that I held it together going into the day with the lead,” Bennett said. “Even with bad ball-striking I still managed to get it around, which is a good feeling.”

She made three par putts of at least 5ft in the first five holes, as well as a 15-footer for birdie on No. 3. That stroke maintained Bennett’s two-shot lead over two-time US Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Bolger, who was playing with hopes of making the US Curtis Cup team (which will be announced this coming week).

Bolger made a second consecutive birdie on No. 4 to pull within a shot, but then found trouble. She had to take penalties for a lost ball and an unplayable lie on two of the next three holes after hitting shots into palm trees.

Despite making four birdies, she shot 74 to finish fourth at three-over 291.

Bennett didn’t make a bogey on the final day until the par-5 12th, where a botched lay-up found the water. Her only other miscue came on the par-3 16th, when she failed to save par from behind the green.

Yadloczky pumped her fist after hitting a 7-iron to 3ft on the same hole. She sank the birdie putt to pull within a shot with two holes to go, but Bennett made par on the final two holes to hold off Yadloczky, who made bogey on No. 18 after almost holing her chip shot to force a play-off.

Earlier in the round, Yadloczky burned the edge on two eagle attempts – a 25ft putt on the par-5 seventh and a bump-and-run on No. 12 – and watched several birdie putts lip out.

“I was giving myself close calls,” said Yadloczky, No. 32 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. “She (Bennett) had a great tournament and made a lot of crucial putts, but I gave her a run for her money.”

Bennett graduated with an economics degree from Iowa University in May 2005. She was never strongly considered for the 2006 Curtis Cup, winning the English stroke-play while GB&I’s best were at Bandon Dunes.

But Bennett has “put in the difficult hours” to give herself a shot at being on this year's team, including a drastic change to her putting stroke. Bennett is so hunched over at address that she grips well down on her Ping Redwood putter, which is only 31 1/2 inches long.
She raised her fist above her head several times after holing especially crucial putts, like an 8-footer for par on No. 13 and a 6ft putt that completed a sand save on No. 15.

Bolger would like to have a rematch with Bennett at St. Andrews in late May. Despite her two US Mid-Am titles, Bolger came to the Orange Blossom Circuit in need of a couple strong showings. She closed 71-69 to finish tie seventh at last week’s Harder Hall Invitational before finishing fourth on Saturday.

Bennett only helped her chances of Curtis Cup selection with "The Sally" victory.

“The Curtis Cup is at St Andrews, which is nothing like Oceanside,” she said. “But it’s a competition, and they wanted us to come play. If you win, it can’t do any harm.”

REPORT FROM THE DAYTONA BEACH NEW-JOURNAL ONLINE.COM

LIZ GIVES LADIES GOLF UNION MONEY'S WORTH

By SEAN KERNAN, Staff Writer
ORMOND BEACH -- Liz Bennett made sure the Ladies Golf Union got its money's worth Saturday when the 25-year-old held on for a two-shot victory in the women's South Atlantic Amateur.
The Ladies Golf Union -- the governing body for ladies' amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland -- helped finance the trans-Atlantic trip for six squad members. Half of those golfers finished in the top 10, and England's Bennett became the first player from Great Britain or Ireland to win the Sally since Vicki Thomas in 1994.
"It's a pretty big deal for the Ladies Golf Union," said Great Britain & Irelandteammate Michele Thompson, who lifted Bennett into the air in celebration on the 18th green at Oceanside Country Club.
Bennett, a 2005 graduate of the University of Iowa, ranked the victory right up there with her 2006 English Stroke Play championship.
Asked if the Ladies Golf Union representatives will be happy to hear the news, Bennett quipped: "I don't think we'll hear any complaints."
Bennett was the only golfer to finish the four-day, 72-hole tournament under par. Her final-round 72 kept her at one under par 287, two shots better than University of Florida freshman Jessica Yadloczky and three strokes better than Thomson, a 19-year-old from Scotland.
Former U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Bolger was fourth at 3-over 291 and Wake Forest University freshman Alexandra Bodemann was fifth at 4-over 292.
Bennett hopes her "Sally" triumph, in which she held the lead over the last two rounds, will help her secure one of the final eight roster spots for Curtis Cup play against the Americans on May 30-June 1 at St Andrews. At least one of her team-mates was ready to do her bidding.
"She's pretty near the top (of our team)," Thomson said. "Because she won here, I wouldn't say many people were better than her."
Bennett was steady throughout the week, shooting 73, 72, 70 and 72. The former Big Ten stand-out scrambled a bit on the back nine, however. After pulling a seven-iron into the water on No. 12, which led to a bogey, she made a 10ft putt to save par on No. 13 and got up-and-down for par from a bunker on No. 15.
But Bennett saw a three-shot lead cut to one stroke when she made bogey on the par-3 16th and Yadloczky knocked a seven-iron to two feet before making birdie.
"That putt was a lot of pressure," said Yadloczky, who had to wait several minutes before getting a chance to knock it in the cup. "I just asked my caddie to keep talking to me about anything but golf. I didn't want to look at that putt any more."
Bennett and Yadloczky each made par on No. 17 and it came down to the 18th. Bennett hit a five-iron to stare down a 12-foot birdie attempt, while Yadloczky's pin-high approach got caught in high rough on the bank of a trap. The 19-year-old from Casselberry, Florida made an excellent chip that rolled over the right edge of the cup.
Bennett's first putt came up a foot short and she eventually tapped it in for the win.
"It shows we can come over here and compete on American ground," said Bennett, who hopes to be able to do the same on the historic Old Course at St. Andrews in several months when the Americans pay a Curtis Cup visit.