English women's close championship entries

Ganton home advantage for

title-holder Naomi Edwards

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Yorkshire golfer Naomi Edwards will enjoy home advantage when she defends the English women’s close amateur championship at her club, Ganton, from May 13-17.
The 24-year-old will take on a field of 78 players from all over the country, including a host of fellow internationals, two members of this year’s Curtis Cup team and two former champions. More than a quarter of the field are aged under 18 and two of the players are 14-years-old. Yorkshire’s Amy Marper (Hillsborough) took up golf two years ago and has made meteoric progress to reduce her handicap to five.
Leicestershire’s Jamie-Leigh Voss (Kirby Muxloe) already holds a scratch handicap.
They’ll tee up alongside such players as Hampshire’s Liz Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) and Lancashire’s Florentyna Parker (Royal Birkdale) who have been selected for the 2008 Curtis Cup team.
Staffordshire’s Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) is a Curtis Cup reserve and recently won the French lady junior championship.
Past winners of the English closed title are Hampshire’s Kerry Smith (Waterlooville) and Yorkshire’s newly married Emma Brown, better known as Emma Duggleby of Malton & Norton. They are both former Curtis Cup players.
Yorkshire is one of England’s strongest golfing counties – they’ve won the inter-county championship for the past four years – and they’re fielding a total of 13 players in this event.
Leading the way is defending champion Naomi Edwards, who has been a member at Ganton for about five years and will find local knowledge invaluable. Naomi's picture above is by courtesy of Cal Carson Golf Agency, all rights reserved.
Ganton, which lies between York and Scarborough, is one of Britain’s best inland courses and has hosted the Ryder Cup, the Curtis Cup and the Walker Cup. It is noted for its prolific, deep bunkers and the great banks of gorse and broom.
For this championship the ladies’ lay-out has been lengthened very slightly to 6033 yards and will have a par of 72 and standard scratch score of 76.
Three of the par-5s - the seventh, 15th and 18th - will be played as par-4s in the championship.
Naomi commented: “Playing at home may put a little more pressure on me but I should be able to cope – and I should know the greens and the clubs to take better than anyone else.
“I am sure there will be a lot of support from the Ganton members who would like to see me retain the title – and so would I! I shall give it my best shot and see what happens.”
Naomi, who may turn professional at the end of this season, has won a host of individual titles, is an England international, played in the 2006 Curtis Cup and helped Great Britain win the Commonwealth Tournament last year. She played all four rounds of last year’s Women’s British Open.
The Yorkshire contingent in the championship includes two other members of Ganton. They are Sara Garbutt, a past winner of the English stroke-play championship and the 2007 Yorkshire champion; and Julie Brown, who plays off five and whose husband is the club professional.
The youngsters are well represented and include teenage county players Nikki Dunn, 17, (Harrogate) and Kimberley Crooks,17, (Saltburn by the Sea) alongside Ellie Robinson, 17, (Middlesborough), from the English Women’s Golf Association Select North squad.
Other Yorkshire players in the championship are: Laura Harvey (Richmond) Sarah Lundy (Cookridge Hall), Carrie Mackenzie (Beauchief), Siobhan Richards (Owston Hall) and Fiona Wood (Ilkley) who twice won the Dominican Republic ladies’ championship while working there as a primary school teacher.
The championship begins on Tuesday, May 13 and competitors will play an 18-hole stroke-play qualifying round on each of the first two days of the event. The lowest 32 scores qualify for the match-play knock-out stages of the tournament which start on Thursday, May 15. The final will be played on the morning of Saturday, May 17.
There will be online scoring throughout the championship on www.englishwomensgolf.org
Lyndsey Hewison
Press & PR Officer