SAMMIE GILES v SARAH-JANE BOYD IN ENGLISH MID-AM FINAL

• England Golf
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All-Cornwall final for mid-amateur The final of the English women’s mid-amateur championship tomorrow at Bath Golf Club will be an all-Cornwall head-to-head between Sammie Giles (left) and Sarah-Jane Boyd (right, images © Leaderboard Photography). It’s an intriguing prospect. Sarah-Jane  is seeking her second English title, Sammie is chasing her first – and both are regularly shooting below par in their matches. Sammie is the No. 1 seed, Sarah-Jane is the No. 2; they are fellow members of the Cornwall county team and have been foursomes partners. But tomorrow it’ll be all business. “We’re friends off the course, but we’ll just be playing the game on the course,” said Sarah-Jane, who beat Devon’s Jessica Bradley 5 and 3 in the semi-final. Sammie was in exactly that position this afternoon in her semi-final, in which she had a 4/3 win over Chelsea Masters of Sussex. The pair are such good friends that Chelsea will be staying with Sammie when they play in the English amateur championship at St Enodoc later this month. “Chelsea is one of the girls I’m closest to, but I think we were both just trying to be professional about it on the course,” said Sammie. Last year, she also reached the semi-finals in this event – and she was determined to go one better this time. Achieving it was, she said: “Pretty cool.” She was up throughout the match, starting and finishing it with birdies, on the 1st and the 15th. Notably, she putted well when it really mattered, holding her nerve over a short, but testing putt on the 13th; holing a good six-footer to halve the short 14th in par and then closing out her match with another six-footer on the 15th. Sarah-Jane was never behind in her semi-final and made a telling move with back-to-back birdies on the 4th and 5th which took her to three up. She lost the seventh, where she pulled her tee shot, but that was a rare mistake. Her short game was in great shape and when she missed a green, for example, on the par three 11th, she simply chipped up and holed the putt – and won the hole. A birdie 2 on the 14th gave her a four-hole lead and when her birdie putt on the 15th was conceded, she had clinched her place in the final. Her verdict: “I putted pretty well and a few birdies dropped in, I made a mistake on the seventh but apart from that it was all good.” Sarah-Jane is the reigning English amateur champion – and will defend her title later this month – and is also a past winner of the British stroke play championship. Earlier in the day, in the quarter-finals, Sarah Jane Boyd (Truro) bt Bethany Round (Enville) 3 and 2, Jessica Bradley (Tiverton) bt Georgina Mundy (Corhampton) 3 and 2, Sammie Giles (St Mellion) bt Alex Saunders (Bristol and Clifton) 2 and 1, and Chelsea Masters (Highwoods) bt Gemma Clews (Delamere Forest) by two holes. Click here for more details, full scores and images -ENDS- For more information please contact: Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf pr@englandgolf.org 07825 752 193