Alwoodley course record falls to teenager from Ganton GC
A birdie-birdie-eagle start laid the foundations for an epic round of golf for Ganton’s Amy Staveley, who broke the Alwoodley course record in the second round of qualifying at the Yorkshire Ladies Championship.
The North of England U-16s champion was facing the prospect of not making it into the matchplay stages after an opening 79.
But she stormed into the top 16 with a stunning six-under-par 67, knocking a shot off the mark previously set by her county team-mate and 2021 Yorkshire champion Nicola Slater. It was also her lowest ever competition score.
The 16-year-old ended up as the second-best qualifer and eventually lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champion Emma Brown (Malton and Norton).
However that disappointment was certainly offset by her first ever course record at one of the toughest tests in the White Rose county.
“I am really pleased,” said Staveley, who was helped along the way by her mum and non-golfer Paula, who caddied both rounds.
“After the first round I went in with the attitude it doesn’t matter what I shoot and I played with a lot of freedom.”
Because of GCSE exams, the teenager wasn’t due to play but a late change of heart saw her enter at the last minute and her lack of a practice round contributed to her morning struggles.
However her post-lunch effort was 12 shots better as she blazed a trail on the front nine. Stood on the tenth tee she was six under for her round having just holed a 60-foot bomb at the par three ninth.
Her putter certainly was certainly red hot and it all started at the first, where she drained an 18-footer to get the ball rolling.
At the short par four second, she stuck a three wood just short of the green, chipped to 12 feet and followed it up superbly and it got even better at the next where a massive drive at the par five left her with just a pitching wedge in and she stuck it to six feet to set up the eagle.
A drive into sand at the par five fourth only briefly halted the momentum as she sunk another 18-footer at the fifth.
The difficult eighth tested her short game but she came away with a par before she left herself a long one up the green at the ninth but remarkably it dropped, which meant she turned in 31.
Staveley overclubbed her approach at ten to set up her first bogey of the afternoon and then two more followed in quick succession (12 and 13) as her putter cooled somewhat.
“I knew where I was after the bogeys (-3) but my mum was really good and helped me stay positive,” added the North Yorkshire golfer
She got back on the birdie train at 15 where a “really nice pitch” was followed up by a successful 12-footer and she got back to six under just a few minutes later.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DEFINITIVE 2022 BRITISH AMATEUR GOLF RESULTS LIST
Amy added: “I hit a nice drive and a good seven iron and had a downhill putt from about 15 feet. My mum said: ‘Just run it up to the hole’ to make sure of the birdie and that’s what I tried to do but it went in.”
After a ‘standard’ two-putt par at 17, she took a less conventional route at the closing hole. Having found the rough with her drive, she chipped out into a bunker and was then left with 50 yards in for her fourth. She managed to put her pitch to six feet and, despite some nerves, got it in the hole for a five. Confirmation she had set a new record came courtesy of one her Yorkshire team-mates.
“I made a bit of a mess of 18 and was so nervous over that putt. I knew it was for six under but I had no idea regarding the course record.
“As I came off, Hannah Holden asked me what I had shot and I told her and she was like: ‘Amy I think you have just broken the course record’.”