Top seed Kelly Tidy in quarter finals at English girls’ championship

Press Release from EWGA

Top seed Kelly Tidy (right) won two tight matches to make her way into the quarter finals of the FirstPoint USA English girls’ championship at North Wilts.

The 17-year-old from Royal Birkdale was taken to the 18th by both her opponents during a day of mixed weather, with heavy rain forcing an hour’s suspension of play.

Kelly now faces fellow girl international Heidi Baek, who by contrast sailed through her opening games, finishing both on the 13th.

Another girl international, Hayley Davis, made even shorter work of her first round opponent, emerging the winner after 11 holes. She went on to have another good win in the afternoon when she defeated Lancashire’s Nikki Foster, a fellow member of the England team which will contest next week’s Girls’ Home Internationals.

The quarter-finalists also include full England international Holly Clyburn, who is the second seed and made steady progress through her opening rounds. Her next opponent is Norfolk’s Rebecca Heeles who said: “I’m excited about it. I’ve got nothing to lose and it will be good to see how Holly plays and to compare myself to her.”

Yorkshire’s Sophie Godley, who is just back from the European Young Masters, Hampshire’s Raffi Dyer and Dorset’s Melissa McMahon have also made their way into the final eight.

Matchplay results

Round 1
Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale) beat Sophie Daws (Littlestone) 1up
Rebecca Gee (Wellingborough) beat Zoe Fitz-Costa (Beaconsfield) at 19th
Brittany Burton (Sittingbourne & Milton Regis) beat Cheryl Chisholm (Stowmarket) 7&5 Heidi Baek (Felixstowe Ferry) beat Jo-Jo Hamer-Philip (Cretingham) 8&6
Raffi Dyer (Hayling) beat Lauren Davis (Meon Valley) 4/2
Jenna Birch (Royal Lytham & St Annes) beat Lucy Glyn (Porters Park) 2&1
Hayley Davis (Ferndown) beat Imogen Covell (Huddersfield) 9/7
Nikki Foster (Pleasington) beat Jessica Wilcox (Blankney) 4&2
Alex Peters (Notts Ladies) beat Danielle Burrell (Weybrook Park) 2/1
Melissa McMahon (Yeovil) beat Hannah Mannion (Teesside) 4/2
Sophie Godley (Lindrick) beat Charlotte Stanton (Oxley Park) 5/4
Blaize Esmond (Pinner Hill) beat Charlotte Thomas (Singapore Island) at 20th
Rebecca Heeles (Royal Norwich) beat Sarah Howe (Ipswich) at 22nd
Phoebe Cipa (Chelmsford) beat Nicola Rawlinson (Leyland) 3&2
Lizzie Stephens (Clevedon) beat Madeleine Kuhler (Walton Heath) 7/6
Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) beat Megan Illingworth (Stoke Rochford) 3&1

Tidy beat Gee 1up
Baek beat Burton 6/5
Dyer beat Birch 3/1
Davis beat Foster 3/2
McMahon beat Peters 1up
Godley beat Esmond 5/3
Heeles beat Cipa 6/4
Clyburn beat Stephens 3/2

Quarter final draw
Kelly Tidy v Heidi Baek
Raffi Dyer v Hayley Davis
Melissa McMahon v Sophie Godley
Rebecca Heeles v Holly Clyburn

Online scoring: www.englishwomensgolf.org