Lisa Maguire on the 13th tee in her winning quarter-final performance at Royal Belfast GC this afternoon (image by Cal Carson Golf Agency).

LISA MAGUIRE THROUGH TO BRITISH


GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINALS

Ireland’s Lisa Maguire avenged the morning defeat of her 15-year-old twin sister and Curtis Cup team-mate Leona by beating her German conqueror to reach the semi-finals of the British girls’ open amateur golf championship at Royal Belfast Golf Club today
Antonia Scherer had beaten Leona, the No 3 seed, by two holes to scupper the prospect of an all-Maguire quarter-final.
But Lisa, from the Slieve Russell club and Co Cavan, upheld the family honour with a one-hole win over Scherer.
“I couldn’t say that playing the player who beat my sister motivated me but it’s nice to have one Maguire in the semi-finals of a British championship,” said Lisa who had beaten the No 6 seed, Spain’s Camilla Hedberg, by 2 and 1 to reach the last eight.
Lisa herself was 54th of the 64 qualifiers for the match-play stages while Leona was the No 3 seed, which underlines the belief that stroke-play – which was the format on Monday and Tuesday – and match-play are two completely different forms of golf.
Lisa Maguire’s crisp striking of her irons was the feature of her play and she felt that she “hit the ball very well and holed a few putts.”
“There are a lot of good players, good strikers of the ball in this championship and it’s really all about who holes the most putts on the day. I just hope that I can hole a few when I have to on Friday.”
The Maguire’s coach, Andrew Ferguson, is Royal Belfast club’s professional, and he watched the last few holes of Lisa’s quarter-final but would not be drawn into making a comment.
“I’ll give you a quote when it’s all done on Friday,” he said, sounding almost as shy as the twins are.
Antonia Scherer won the first hole against Lisa and it took a birdie 4 by the Irish Curtis Cup player to square the match at the fifth. But the Germany went ahead ahead with a 3 at the short seventh.
Maguire squared the match at the 10th but went one down against the 11th . Then came possibly the turning point. In a swirling wind, Lisa hit a great five-iron second a the downhill 13th, the ball covering the flag all the way and coming to rest 8ft past the hole.
Scherer had missed the green right but pitched close to save a par 4. Up stepped Lisa and, with a minimum of fuss, which is characteristic of the play of both twins, she rolled the birdie putt home. That squared the match and she went one up for the first time at the 14th after both players were bunkered but Lisa’s recovery from the sand was a brilliant effort, stone dead for a winning 4.
Scherer was bunkered off the tee at the par-4 15th where Lisa hit a massive drive downwind of more than 280yd. That set up a winning par 4 to go two up.
Maguire should have finished off her opponent at the short 17th but missed a short putt to go back to one down. The handshakes were delayed only one hole with the long 18th halved in par 5s.
Her opponent in the semi-final will be the 18-year-old Parisienne, Alexandra Bonetti, the No 2 seed who led the field at the end of the first qualifying round with a 68. She had to battle to survive her quarter-final against Spain’s Ainhoa OLarra who was two up for a long way on the inward journey, having won the seventh and ninth after an early exchange of holes.
Bonetti was still two down with three to play – but staged a grandstand finish to win them all. She took the 16th with a birdie 4, the short 17th with a par 3 and the 18th with a par 5.
The first semi-final off the tee at 8.30am will feature Laura Sedda, a 17-year-old from Vicenza, near Venice in Italy, and Spain’s 16-year-old Andrea Vilarassau.
Sedda is the Italian Under-18 girls champion and winner of the Scottish Under-16 open title three years ago.
Sedda knocked out the defending champion, France’s Perrine Delacour in Thursday’s second round and the No 1 seed, Julie Yang (South Korea) by 4 and 3 in today’s third round. Yang gave a most uncharacteristic performance, losing the first three holes and never really looking capable of clawing them back.

THIRD ROUND
Laura Sedda (Ita) bt Julie Yang (SKo) 4 and 3.
Emilie Alonso (Fra) bt Celine Boutier (Fra) 3 and 2.
Ha Rang Lee (Spa) bt Luna Sobron (Spa) 4 and 3.
Andrea Vilarasau (Spa) bt Victoria Scherer (Ger) 6 and 4.
Antonia Scherer (Ger) bt Leona Maguire (Ire) 2 holes.
Lisa Maguire (Ire) bt Camilla Hedberg (Spa) 2 and 1.
Ainhoa Olarra (Spa) bt Charlotte De Corte (Bel) 4 and 2.
Alexandra Bonetti (Fra) bt Molle Manon (Fra) 7 and 6.

QUARTER-FINALS
Sedda bt Alonso at 19th.
Vilarasau bt Lee 3 and 2.
Lisa Maguire bt Antonia Scherer 1 hole.
Bonetti bt Olarra 1 hole

FRIDAY SEMI-FINALS
8.30am Sedda v Vilarasau.
8.40am Lisa Maguire v Bonetti.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON FINAL
18 holes
1pm - Sedda or Vilarasau v Lisa Maguire or Bonetti