Surrey’s Ellen Yates has waited a long time for a major golf title but it was worth it as she defied the odds to win the English Women’s Amateur at Ferndown on Sunday.
FORMAT: 18-hole stroke play qualifier / 5 rounds of knockout matchplay
The teenager from West Hill finished second in the England U-14s four years ago and third in the R&A Girls U-16s at Enville in 2021 but had never claimed a big one until she saw off former England international Rebecca Earl (Bishops Stortford) at the second extra hole.
With dad Jonathan on the bag, Yates was two down with four to play but battled hard, rode her luck and then took it at the 20th, having forced extra time by winning the 18th.
“It’s amazing,” the World No 1997 told England Golf. “I knew that I could still give myself a chance to win despite being behind, as I was two-down in the morning semi-finals.
“I knew that I could fight back and my dad on the bag was saying the same thing. It was great having him there for my last tournament before I head to the USA.”
Yates also ended a run of Aussie winners after Abbie Teasdale won the blue riband competition last year and 12 months earlier Kirsten Rudgeley took the title at Moortown.
The final was match-up between Houston University students past and president. Later this month the champion will start her freshman year while Earl finished her five-year stint at the Texas institution this year.
And the older player looked to have one had on the trophy as the 2019 English Stroke Play champion went two up at the 11th thanks to a birdie. Earlier she had taken the lead on the fourth where Yates was punished for a mistake.
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However the Surrey player halved the deficit on the 15th and avoided going back to two down at the next in remarkable fashion. Her approach shot bounced in and out of bounds and then she got up and down for par after getting a free drop.
The 17th was also halved before Earl drove out of bounds at the last and then almost holed her fourth shot from 153 yards. It meant her opponent’s par took the match into extra holes and the 19th was halved in pars.
But at the 20th, Earl got herself into trouble and conceded the match after missing her bogey putt.
Earlier in the day Yates was also two down in her semi-final with Cumbria’s Caitlin Whitehead (Carus Green) at halfway.
Yates birdied 10 to cut the gap ad also took the next two to take the lead for the first time. Mistakes from both on 15 led to the West Hill star going two-up as her playing partner bogeyed.
The next was halved, and despite hitting a fairway bunker on 17, she held her nerve to halve the hole with bogey and reach the final 2&1.
At the start of the week bad weather curtailed the stroke play qualifier, which was headed by Durham’s Jessica Hall. Heavy rain meant only one of the two rounds, meant to be played at Broadstone and Ferndown, was completed.