FORMAT: 54-hole stroke play
Rosie Bee Kim carried on from where she left off at the England Girls to dominate the England U-14s at Morecambe and win her first national title by eight shots.
The Buckinghamshire player came agonisingly close to claiming the big one at Malton and Norton last week, missing out by just one shot as Burnham & Berrow’s Patience Rhodes carried off the main prize.
Yesterday there would be no alarms as she closed on five over to finish well clear of Cheshire’s Imogen Williamson (Delamere Forest) and fellow Bucks starlet Roisin Scanlon (Woburn).
The recently-turned 14-year-old coped superbly on the final day as bad weather threatened to overwhelm the field with winds gusting to 40mph and heavy showers making good scoring incredibly difficult.
“I was just trying to keep myself dry,” said Rosie, who won the R&A U-12s in 2018 and 2019. “I was just aiming to shoot a couple over. In the conditions I wasn’t expecting a grand finish.”
The plus three handicapper started the final round three ahead of her county team-mate Roisin – the duo had combined so well to help Bucks reach the county finals in September. The third member of the final group was Middlesex’s Saskia Owen, who would eventually finish fifth.
And any hope the rest of field had of reeling in the leader were dealt a huge blow early as Rosie birdied the second and then chipped in for a two at the fifth.
That left her seven ahead and with nine to go she was eight clear, eventually just falling short of her target, closing with a three over par 76 and an excellent two putt across the green at 18.
The day before she critically birdied the final two holes, sticking her approaches to five and six feet and giving herself a huge psychological boost.
Rosie opened with a 75, one behind West Hill’s Charlotte Woodham. A 30-foot eagle putt on the second set the tone for an eventful round that included seven bogeys and three birdies as well as that excellent three.