Emily Toy leads English women's open stroke-play in summer sunshine   Cornwall’s Emily Toy holds a one-shot lead after the first round of the English women’s open stroke-play championship at Bristol and Clifton Golf Club in Gloucestershire. The 18-year-old from Carlyon Bay made the most of a perfect summer’s day to shoot three-under par 70, with a particularly good performance on the par fives. Chasing her is Surrey’s Annabell Fuller on two under  (image above © Leaderboard Photography) and Lancashire’s Louisa Brunt on one-under, while a group of four players returned level par scores of 73. They include local players Ebonie Lewis (Knowle) and Bethan Popel (Long Ashton), alongside Hampshire’s Georgina Mundy (Corhampton) and Cheshire’s Gemma Clews (Delamere Forest), who recently helped England win the women’s Home Internationals. Another eight players are tied on one-over on the tightly packed leaderboard, including Fuller’s older sister, Sammie, and Bel Wardle (Prestbury) who was beaten finalist in the British girls’ championship at Harlech in Wales at the weekend. The championship has attracted a very good quality field which includes internationals, the new British girls’ champion, Emilie Paltrinieri of Italy, as well as players from countries including Scotland, Wales and France. They’re challenged by a course which is playing in linksy style in the hot sunshine, asking the players to drop their approach shots well short and let them run onto the fast greens. Toy, who won the 2015 English girls’ open championship, birdied four of the five long holes on the course, including the 8th and 9th, where she finished her round. “I didn’t find the green on any of them, but I was close enough to get up and down,” she said. “I played steady golf today,” she added. “You just need to keep yourself in it for the first two rounds and put yourself in a decent position to go on Thursday.” Annabell Fuller (Roehampton) has been a regular challenger in tournaments all summer and arrives here after being tied for second place in last week’s Scottish U14 girls’ championship. The 14-year-old girl international declared herself ‘quite’ pleased with her 71, remarking: “I think I left a few shots out there.” She cited a couple of missed putts and added: “I found the pace control hard to get on the greens, they’re really fast – and really smooth and nice.”   She had five birdies in her round, playing in close to the pin on a number of occasions and also capitalising on the par fives. The linksy style of golf suited fellow girl international Louisa Brunt. She’s from Royal Birkdale and her coastal experience stood her in good stead as she fashioned a score of one-under 72. “You can’t get too cheeky,” said the 17-year-old. “I only used driver once or twice because you have to be sensible and know when to attack. The greens are slopey and they roll out quite quickly so you often have to take two putts. I just knew when to go for the pins and when not to” Brunt’s aim today was par golf, to keep herself firmly in the hunt, and she bettered that with the help of three birdies and just two dropped shots. Defending champion Sammie Giles (St Mellion) is back in the pack after her opening 78, which puts her in a group of 13 players who scored 78. Another Cornwall player made news at the championships: Victoria Pawley of Trevose (Image © Leaderboard Photography) had a hole in one on the 130-yard seventh hole.   It was a first ace for the 17-year-old, who is playing in the tournament for the first time and she said: “We saw it bounce and then we didn’t see it again, we knew if hadn’t gone over the back so we thought it must have gone in the hole. “I didn’t play great apart from that but it made the round a lot better!” SCROLL DOWN TO GET THE LINK TO  ALL  THE SCORES Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf pr@englandgolf.org 07825 752 193 FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD Par 73. SSS 75. CSS 75 70 Emily Toy (Carlyon Bay) 71 Annabel Fuller (Roehampton) 72 Louisa Brunt (Royal Birkdale) SCOTS' SCORES 76 Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey), Jennifer Saxton (Muckhart) (T23) 79 Chloe Goadby (St Regulus), Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw) (T54) 80 Gemma Batty (Moffat) (T61) 84 Lauren Whyte (St Regulus) (T94) Field of 111 players TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES CLICK HERE