Cheshire’s Charlotte Wild wins

English stroke-play championship

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Cheshire’s Charlotte Wild birdied the last hole to snatch victory in the English women’s open strokeplay championship at Enmore Park, Somerset.
She holed a curling 12-footer on the 18th for a one-under par round of 71and a final total of three-over. It broke a deadlock with her playing partner, Charlotte Ellis of Gloucestershire, and set Hertfordshire’s Hannah Burke the target of making eagle on the last to force a play-off.
Hannah tried hard, hitting the par five green in two – but when her putt missed the title belonged to Charlotte.
“This is so important to me,” said the 19-year-old from Mere. “I really wanted to win a big one this year. It doesn’t feel real at the moment but it’s very exciting.”
The last round was an intensely close contest between the players at the top of the leaderboard. After 54-holes Charlotte Ellis held a one-stroke lead on three-over par – and the chasing pack were breathing down her neck.
Four players were just one shot behind: Charlotte Wild, Monique Smit of South Africa, Hannah Barwood of Gloucestershire and Cori Lee of Lancashire.
Hannah Burke, who had been the halfway leader was a further stroke back.As the final round unfolded the players in contention battled relentlessly. Charlotte Wild birdied the first to take a share of the lead with her namesake – and it was neck-and-neck between the pair from then on.
They were briefly joined at the top of the leaderboard by Hannah Barwood, but her challenge ended with a wayward drive on the 11th. Charlotte Wild took the lead on her own after she parred the 11th, but Charlotte Ellis immediately caught her on the next.
Meanwhile, Hannah Burke and Cori Lee were constantly challenging and getting within a stroke of the lead. Hannah birdied two of the last three holes, but couldn’t quite close the gap. Charlotte Wild, who birdied the 18th in every round of the tournament, also won the U21 and U23 strokeplay titles.
Her county colleague Bronte Law won the U18 title. Bronte, 14, was the youngest competitor in the field. The U23 County Team Trophy was won by Gloucestershire for the second successive year, thanks to Charlotte Ellis and Hannah Barwood whose aggregate score in the first two rounds was 295.
The low score of the week was recorded in the final round when Hannah Grant, a member at Enmore Park, returned a three-under par 69.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
CSS 76 75 75 75
291 Charlotte Wild (Mere) 76 72 72 71.
292 Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) 73 74 72 73, Hannah Burke (Mid-Herts) 74 70 77 71.
293 Cori Lee (West Lancashire) 74 71 75 73.
294 Charlotte Dalton (Ladbrook Park) 73 76 74 71.
296 Hannah Barwood (Knowle) 74 74 72 76.
297 Monique Smit (RSA) 73 76 71 77.
298 Ellie Givens (Blackwell Grange) 78 73 71 76.
299 Ellis Keenan (Sunningdale) 77 78 73 71, Bronte Law (Bramhall) 76 74 73 76.
300 Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall) 77 77 74 72, Kym Larratt (Kibworth) 74 76 77 73.
301 Rachel Connor (Manchester) 77 76 71 77, Hannah Grant (Enmore Park) 76 76 80 69
Full details: www.englishwomensgolf.org
Lyndsey Hewison
Press & PR Officer