Joint leaders at Dundonald Links: Camilla Hedberg (left) from Spain and (ab0ve) Laetitia Beck from Israel (images by Cal Carson Golf Agency; click on them to enlarge).

GIRLS ON TOP AT THE DUKE OF YORK YOUNG

CHAMPIONS' TROPHY TOURNAMENT

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY LEWINE MAIR
Press Officer at The Duke of York Young Champions Trophy Tournament
LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 144 (2x72) Boys' course: 6910yd. Girls' course: 6075yd.

145 Camilla Hedberg (Spain) 71 74, Laetitia Beck (Israel) 71 74.

146 Tom Lewis (England) 74 72.

147 Dermot McElroy (Ireland) 71 76, Richard Jung (Canada) 74 73.

Selected score:

154 David Law (Scotland). 76 76.

No girl has ever won the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy but all that could change at Dundonald Links tomorrow as Camilla Hedberg from Spain and Laetitia Beck from Israel go into the third and final round with a one-shot lead over England's Tom Lewis. For the record, the girls, who are one over par a piece after rounds of 71 and 74, are playing the course at 6075 yards to the boys' 6910 yards.The boys will be giving chase tomorrow, with Aberdeen's David Law, who is nine shots back, suggesting that anyone within ten shots of the lead could win. "The girls have done brilliantly to be no more than one over par for the day," said the Scot. "To be honest, I don't think the course is any easier for them than it is for us. Even allowing for the difference in the tees, they are mostly playing their shots to the green from behind us." Law, Lewis and the rest of the boys could well draw strength from the fact that Hedberg and Beck both admitted to feeling tired at the end of the 36-hole day which became necessary when Tuesday's play had to be cancelled because of the stormy conditions."I was beginning to feel a bit weary," said Hedberg, the offspring of a Swedish father and a Spanish mother. "When it came to the 13th, I hit into the water short of the green and ended up with a double-bogey." As for Beck, who is a resident pupil at a golf academy in Florida, she said her legs were hurting "after too many trips to the rough". Both competitors, however, had plenty of moments to savour. Hedberg holed a 20-footer at the second to get her afternoon round off on the right foot. Beck, for her part, recovered from a double-bogey, bogey start after lunch with a run of three successive birdies. Lewis opened with a 74 and followed up with a 72 which, in his eyes, was not as good as it sounded. Having sped to the turn in 33, the English and British Boys' champion had a run of three successive bogeys from the 13th. "I simply wasn't sharp enough," he said. "I had lots of chances but never managed to take advantage. It was very frustrating." Though, up until this week, Lewis had little or no experience of playing with girls, he will be heading out for his final round in the company of Hedberg and Beck. "It's going to be interesting to see how they approach things," he said. Ireland's Dermot McElroy, who is lying two shots off the pace after rounds of 71 and 76, hit his first ball of the afternoon into a bush. He played three off the tee and knocked a seven-iron to ten feet before missing the putt. Out in what he termed "a very dodgy 41", he came home in 35. "I made myself do the old thing of thinking 'one shot at a time'," he said. Richard Jung, who was born in Korea but now lives in Canada and is the reigning Canadian Boys' champion, is on the same 147 mark as McElroy, as is Mathias Ive from Denmark.