Kelly Tidy putting during her semi-final victory  during the British women's open amateur championship final at Ganton on Saturday. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency (click on it to enlarge).

Steve Robinson, the coach who has set

Kelly Tidy on her way to new horizons

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Kelly Tidy reached the final of the British girls’ championship in 2007 and 2008 and represented Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup and the Junior Ryder Cup … with her “old” swing.

With her “new” swing, the 18-year-old Royal Birkdale player won the British women’s open amateur championship last week – and the man who has given the Lancashire lass her new technique, coach Steven Robinson, pictured on right, is confident that her Ganton success is only the start of an even more successful chapter in Kelly’s career.

In her winner’s speech at the conclusion of the championship, Kelly paid tribute to the tremendous improvement over the past year or so in her game, since Steve, the English Women’s Golf Association performance coach, started working on her swing.

Robinson said later:
“I have worked with Kelly for roughly 18 months. She had very good basics but a poor body action so the work we have done is to make Kelly understand how she should stabilise her body action and understand how she should maintain the changes without falling back into her old bad habits.
“We have worked a lot at improving her putting technique, bunker play and short game in general over the winter months. Her pitching action was particularly poor and this has improved a tremendous amount – reward for the winter nights we spent pitching in the dark!”
“Kelly is a huge talent. I would like to tale all the credit for her victory in the Ladies British championship but I can’t because so many other people in the EWGA set-up have helped develop Kelly into the player she is today.
“Pat Smillie, Linda Bayman, the performance director, and Ann Irvin (the 1973 British champion) have all played a part in Kelly’s development and, last but certainly not least, her home pro Garth Benson.”
The big bonus for Kelly in beating Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), the 19-year-old Scottish women’s champion and Stirling University student, was that the winner of the championship was granted exemption from the pre-qualifying process and given a straight entry into the star-studded field of professionals for the Ricoh Women’s British Open, over her HOME course at Birkdale.
“I was going to play in the pre-qualifying at The Berkshire and I would have been desperate to get through to such a major championship back at my home club. Now, I am spared all that and I’m really excited about it,” said Kelly for whom it was third time lucky at Ganton as far as “British” finals go.
She lost in the finals of the 2007 and 2008 British girls open amateur championships and could not play in the 2009 staging of the event because she had to leave for the United States to play for Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup match after an unfortunate clash of dates.
Kelly has also played for Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup match.
Kelly was 26th of the 64 qualifiers who came through the 36-hole stroke-play test to contest the match-play stages. Kelsey MacDonald was the No 13 qualifier.
Kelly’s match-play victories were:
First round: Beat past Scotland international Emily Ogilvy by one hole.
Second round: Beat Sue Kim (Canada), the No 7 seed, by 4 and 3.
Third round: Beat Scotland’s Curtis Cup player, Sally Watson, the No 10 seed, by one hole.
Quarter-finals Beat the No 2 seed, Sara Juneau (Canada) by 3 and 2.
Semi-finals: Bt Canada’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham by 5 and 3.
Final: Beat Scottish champion Kelsey MacDonald, the No 13 seed, by 2 and 1.
Kelsey had earlier ousted Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, the 2007 British champion and 2009 beaten finalist.
Kelly Tidy, whose family home is in Bolton – but she’s a Liverpool FC supporter, has left college and has no desire to play the United States women’s college circuit.
She is a full-time amateur golfer for the foreseeable future … perhaps until after the 2012 Curtis Cup match at Nairn, which is also Kelsey MacDonald’s target, not surprising, given that she lives in Nairn!
Both players will almost certainly be in next year’s Great Britain and Ireland team of nine for the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe at Royal Porthcawl, South Wales on June 24-25.
Earlier that busy month in 2011, there will be five places up for grabs in the Great Britain & Ireland team to take on Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa in a five-cornered contest for the Astor Trophy at Fairhaven Golf Club, Lancashire from June 15 to 19.
This team match-play event replaces the once-every-four years Commonwealth Tournament and will be played the week after Kelly Tidy defends the British title at Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland from June 7 to 11.