England Golf News Release

Georgia grabs the lead with superb 65    Cornwall’s Georgia Price shot to the top of the leaderboard in the English women’s open stroke play championship today with a superb second round score of eight-under 65 at Bristol and  Clifton Golf Club. She’s seven-under at the halfway stage, with England girl international Emily Price hard on her heels, scoring 67 to get to five-under for the championship. “I’m raring to go for tomorrow,” she said.  Meanwhile, first round leader Emily Toy – also from Cornwall – is four-under after 36 holes while Cheshire’s Bel Wardle, beaten finalist in the British girls’ championship at Harlech over the weekend, is two-under, and Lincolnshire’s India Clyburn is one-over.   Georgia Price, from Bude and North Cornwall (pictured top), was bogey free as she put together a round which included six birdies and an eagle.  “It’s my own record by about three or four shots!” she declared after signing for her best-ever score.  “I’m feeling a bit shaky, but I feel amazing,” she said, before adding: “There’s still two rounds to go and anything can happen. I’ll just try and channel the same energy into tomorrow.”  This is the first year that Price has played a full season of national tournaments. She moved with her family to the USA when she was nine and returned in the summer of 2015 after finishing university. “It’s been going well and I’ve absolutely loved it,” she said. “It’s been really good experience.” Emily Price (Cleobury Mortimer), pictured below, played in the afternoon and, having seen her namesake’s score on the leaderboard, went out to shoot low. She was a little frustrated to play the front nine in level par, but she stormed home with five birdies – four of them in a row from the 10th; an eagle on the 15th where she drove the green; and just one bogey.  “I was hitting the fairways and then stiffing it,” she said. “Everything came together, I was striking the ball well, putting good and I was mentally focussed.  “I didn’t really switch off or lose concentration, just 100% gave it everything and I was really pleased with the result.”  Emily Toy, from Carlyon Bay, held the first round lead after scoring three-under 70 and today she added one-under 72 – despite a shaky start which she blamed on two ‘awful’ drives for a bogey on three and a double on four. But she didn’t drop another shot and began to pull her way back with a birdie two on the sixth. She had another birdie on the 15th and then got below par for the round with an eagle on the par five 18th, which she reached with a pair of three-woods. “It was definitely more of a struggle today, I don’t know why,” said Toy. But looking ahead to tomorrow she added: “I’m happy to be behind, I’m in quite a nice position.”  She’ll be playing with Bel Wardle (Prestbury) who is on a roll after her performance in the British girls’ championship. “It’s definitely given me the belief that I can compete at the top level,” she said.  She, too, was inspired by Georgia Price’s score and went out to: “Keep it simple, hit my fairways and greens and take advantage of the short par fives.” She did exactly that with birdies on four of the five long holes as she compiled three-under 70.  “I’m not far off the lead and anything can happen on the golf course so I’ve just got to keep to my game plan tomorrow,” she added.  The local Gloucestershire challenge is led by Ebonie Lewis (Knowle) who shares sixth place on two-over par. The host club’s Alex Saunders and Bethan Popel of nearby Long Ashton both squeezed inside the halfway cut which fell at eight-over par 154. A total of 41 players qualified to play the final two rounds tomorrow.  Images copyright Leaderboard Photography 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. It is one of the country’s largest sports governing bodies and looks after the interests of more than 1,900 golf clubs and 675,000 men, women, boy and girl club members. England Golf is at the heart of grassroots golf, inspiring people to have a lifelong involvement in the game.  Our development initiative ‘Get into golf’ introduces new golfers, juniors and adults, to start playing the game as well as increasing the interest and participation in golf.  Working with our partners we offer business support to clubs to encourage more golfers to enjoy the benefits of club membership and to help promote the game as being accessible, fun and family friendly. For competitive golfers, England Golf provides championships for all ages and abilities, both in individual and team events, hosted at some of the most prestigious courses across the country, some with qualifying events at any club.  England Golf identifies and develops the country’s most talented golfers through their amateur careers, many of whom go on to become the world’s leading professional golfers, such as Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Charley Hull and Melissa Reid.