BRITISH WOMEN'S OPEN AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Georgia Hall (left) and Luna Sobron at the conclusion of a memorable British women's amateur

championship final - despite the gale! Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency
BY COLIN FARQUHARSON 
Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Georgia Hall, 17-year-old Dorset girl from the Remedy Oak club, has become the first ever British girls champion to win the British women's open amateur championship within the same 12 months.
And she did it in a remarkable finish.
Never ahead in conditions that were almost unplayable, Hall was two down after 11 holes but won the 13th with a bogey 6 and squared it at the 16th where she holed a 6ft putt for par.
Then in an incredible finish, Hall achieved her first ever hole in one - just when she needed it most.
Downwind at the 154yd 17th, she holed out with her nine-iron tee shot to take the lead for the first time.
The last hole was halved, making Georgia a double British champion.
"I am so happy, I can hardly speak. To win the title and to do it with my first ever hole in one is like a dream come true," she said.
"I was behind for most of the wind in what was the strongest wind I have ever played in - and it's been strong all week - but this was the toughest yet - but I never thought of giving in.
"I knew I just had to be patient and hope that things would turn my way. Which they did!" 
Whether she will still be an amateur and able to defend the British women's title at Royal St George's, Kent next June is a moot point.
Georgia wants to turn pro - even at 17 - and she intends playing in the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in Morocco at the end of the year.
Her victory at Machynys does gain her exemption from pre-qualifying for the Ricoh Women's British Open at St Andrews this summer plus the Evian Masters and also this year's US Women's Open. 
Incidentally, Georgia was the fourth "home" winner of the "British title" in a row, following on the successes of Kelly Tidy (2010), Lauren Taylor (2011) and Stephanie Meadow (2012). To appreciate that run you have to recall the Continental dominated days when on occasion all British and Irish players were eliminated before the quarter-finals.

The rain returned for the start of the final but it was the wind that became the dominant factor - 30mph, gusting up to gale-force 35mph.

Luna Sobron (Spain) holed a 12ft putt for a birdie 3 at the first hole played in wind and rain. 
Into the wind from the tee at the short second, Luna missed the green right and did not get up and down in two to match the solid par 3 by Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak).
All square after two.
Holes 3-4-5-6 were all halved in par figures. 
With the wind now officially blowing at 30mph with gale-force gusts of 35mph, the players were struggling to achieve the standard of play they had produced in winning their semi-finals.
Hall took three from the edge, culminating in a missed putt of 2ft, to lost the short seventh to a par - one down.
Then Georgia sent her second into a water hazard to lose the eighth - two down.
It was Sobron's turn to be blown off course at the ninth. Her approach to the ninth ended up in the water and she conceded the hole to be only one up at the turn.
After a half in 5 at the 10th, Sobron went back into a two-holed lead by winning the short 11th with a par 3. Hall missed the green and could not get up and down for a half.
The 12th was halved in par 4s, both players missing putts from around the 12ft range.

Hall got the break she desperately needed to turn the tide. She won the long 13th with a bogey 6 to her opponent's Touble bogey 7.
Hall, seeking to keep her drive low and under the wind, played it off the deck but only hooked into the rough about 120yd along the hole.
Sobron let her off the hook when, after hitting the drive with her fairway, she sent her second shot into the rough. Both players took four shots to reach the green. 
Hall got down in two putts for a 6 to win the hole when Sobron took three putts for a 7.
Hall, the British girls champion of 2013 and seeking a unique British title double, was now one down with five holes to play in the most testing of winds.
The par-4 14th was halved in 4s with Hall bravely holed a 20yd putt after being semi-plugged in a bunker from her second shot.
 Sobron was through the back of the green in two but pitched to within 3ft of the flagstick and holed the putt to stay one up with four to play.
The 15th was halved in par 4s ... two good drives, two good seconds on to the green and two putts apiece. 
Hall a 6ft putt for a par 4 - to her opponent's bogey 5 to square the match at the 16th.
Then came Georgia's first ever hole in one with a nine iron downwind at the 154yd 17th.
"It wasn't lucky. It was a very good shot," said the teenager when I congratulated her with the tongue-in-cheek words "better to be lucky than good!"
And Sobron was never going to get the birdie she would have needed down the 18th to square the match after bunkering her second shot on the right while Hall was just short in two and pitched up for a par 5 which Sobron matched but could not better.