SOPHIE PUTS STRING IN ENGLISH GIRLS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Dorset’s Sophie Keech started her day with a wasp sting and ended it at the top of the leaderboard on four-under par in the English girls’ open championship at Oake Manor in Somerset. With two rounds left to play, she holds a three shot lead over Surrey’s Annabel Dimmock, while Lincolnshire’s Emily Slater and Dulcie Sverdloff of Essex are a further stroke back on level par.   “I just need two more steady rounds,” said Sophie (Image © Leaderboard Photography), who is already the English schools’ and the South West girls’ champion. “I shall just take it as it comes.” The 17-year-old from Parkstone was stung when she was loading her bag onto her trolley before the start of play but, after treatment with an ice pack, she went out to play excellent golf. Sophie started and finished with a birdie on her way to a second round score of three-under 68, which moved her up from fourth place to take the halfway lead. “I had a really good front nine, when it hurt quite a bit – it must have taken my mind off things!” she remarked. “I always say it’s not good to start with a birdie, but I looked at the weather and thought there would be showers so I decided to get as many as I could early on.” She had an immaculate front nine with three birdies and six pars, before a couple of bogeys just after the turn. However, she finished well with more birdies on 16 and 18. “It could have been better if some of my putts had dropped in the middle of the round. I had so many lip-outs and putts going past it was driving me crazy! Annabel Dimmock (Wentworth) ground out her score of two-over 73, declaring: “I was struggling the whole way round. I just couldn’t get to grips with the greens and I found the pin positions a lot harder today. “But I held it together and later on I got a few birdies which helped my card. It was a good bad score, I didn’t play great but I didn’t shoot myself out of the tournament. Hopefully I’ve now got two rounds to put in some good scores.”  Annabel is one-under for the championship. Emily Slater (Woodhall Spa) and Dulcie Sverdloff (Garon Park) share third place at the halfway stage. Both scored one-under 70 today and are level par for the tournament.    Yorkshire’s Ellie Goodall (Selby) also beat par with a second round 70 and is currently fifth on two-over. First round leader Nicola Haynes (Gosforth Park Ladies’) slipped back with a second round 79 and shares ninth place on four-over par. After today’s round the field was cut to the leading 36 players and ties who go forward to contest the final 36 holes tomorrow. A total of 41 players who scored 13-over par or better qualified. For full scores and images visit www.englandgolf.org/championships Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf pr@englandgolf.org 07825 752 193 EDITORS’ NOTES England Golf is the governing body for amateur golf in England. England Golf was formed on 1st January 2012 following the merger of the English Golf Union Ltd. and the English Women’s Golf Association and is one of the largest sports governing bodies in England looking after the interests of over 1,900 golf clubs and 770,000 men and women club members. Responsible for the training of the country’s top amateur golfers, England Golf also organises all the major English amateur championships. England Golf works to actively encourage new golfers and increase the continued interest and participation in golf through its golf development initiative ‘Get into Golf’. England Golf is a member of The England Golf Partnership (EGP) together with the PGA and supported by the Golf Foundation and Sport England. Their Whole Sport Plan for golf identifies how England will achieve its vision of becoming ‘The Leading Golf Nation in the World by 2020’ from grass roots right through to elite level.

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