FORMAT: 18-hole stableford
There was surprise and delight for 13-year-old Elizabeth Wilson, who went out early in the England Golf Women’s Medal final at Woodhall Spa and posted a score the rest couldn’t match.
The Nottinghamshire U-16s/U-14s champion was paired in the first group yesterday, finishing with a level par 72 which gave her 39 points on the Bracken course.
Expecting one of the higher handicappers to come in with something just that little bit better, the Norwood Park player waited two hours to discover if she had done enough and it was definitely worth it as she ended up three points clear of Stoke by Nayland’s Katie Clark and Longridge’s Sally Tyrer.
Dad Craig caddied for his daughter, who is part of the Notts Girls scratch team.
He said: “Elizabeth went there to try and do her best gross score and wasn’t really thinking about winning it.
“As one of the first groups out there was a long wait but she was really chuffed to have won although, when she realised she might have to make a speech, I think that was the most nervous she got all day.”
The teenager certainly settled early nerves with a long par putt on her first (the 10th). Having drove into trees, she had to chip out and put her third to 20 feet before holing out.
She turned one over par (17 points) before birdieing her tenth and then came agonisingly close to her first-ever eagle at the stroke index one fourth. After a really good drive, she pinged her hybrid to ten feet but the birdie still meant four points.
A three-point par at the sixth (her 15th) maintained her back nine surge and then she also birdied her penultimate hole after getting a bit of luck with a kind bounce from her drive. From 55 yards she put it to three feet and sunk the putt to leave herself on 38 points.
A bogey at the last took her level par for her round, which meant her handicap index has been cut to to 1.7.