GEORGIA IS NEW BRITISH GIRLS CHAMP

JUST CHAMPION! That's Georgia at the end of a long wet and windy week at Tenby                                 Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency Georgia Hall from Dorset is the new British Under-18 girls' open amateur golf champion.   She beat Spain's Clara Baena by 6 and 5 in a one-sided final at Tenby links, South Wales. Georgia, 16, is No 10 in the Women's World Amateur Rankings (having been No 6 for several weeks).  Clara, 17, from Madrid is ranked No 109 - so the margin of victory was perhaps to be expected when comparing their rankings, Clara never won a hole in the final that last 2hr 36min.. But it was not a day to pass judgement on either player. A week of awful weather continued right to the finish. The semi-finals and finals were played in almost unrelenting rain with the wind also ever present. Hall, a member at Remedy Oak Golf Club, is only the third British player this Century to win the title, following in the footsteps of Claire Queen (Drumpellier) in 2001 and England's Henrietta Brockway in 2007  And, going further back, Georgia is only the third Brit to win the Under-18s' crown since Mhairi McKay from Turnberry scored back-to-back wins in 1992 and 1993. In the final, Hall won four holes in a row from the sixth, including holing a bunker shot, to break the resistance of her Spanish opponent in the final. "I have never played in such bad weather for almost a whole week," said Georgia later. "I think I had one tie played in sunshine, the rest it was either windy or rainy or a combination of both. "I think it was my putting that was the strongest part of my game. It pulled me through in the tight ties I had against Inci Mehmet (it went to the 20th) and top seed Perrine Delacour (2 and 1). "I will defend the title next year at Fairhaven but if I keep on improving I want to turn professional when I am 18. I don't fancy going to an American university for four years. said Georgia who has a level head on her young shoulders. She will not be carried away with success and will be a key member of the GB and I team when the 2014 Curtis Cup match in the States comes around.  Clara Baena will be enrolling at Auburn University in America shortly and her compatriot Ha Rang Lee, who lost to Clara in the quarter-finals is bound for the University of Florida. Among the US coaches/talent spotters at Tenby this week was Kathryn Imrie, originally from Monifieth and now on the Stanford University, California women's team coaching staff. She reckoned the trip was well worthwhile but was not naming names. We shall have to wait and see the new faces playing alongside another former Curtis Cup player, Sally Watson, in the Stanford line-up next US college season. TODAY'S RESULTS SEMI-FINALS Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak, Dorset) bt Quirine Eijkenboom (Germany) 1 hole. Clara Baena (Spain) bt Olivia Young (Germany) 1 hole. FINAL Hall bt Baena 6 and 5.