Daisy Kennedy’s capture of the Buckinghamshire Ladies County Championship at Denham Golf Club yesterday (Sunday) represented something extra special.
The junior girls international player (pictured left) has been fighting serious health issues since the end of 2018 when she suffered three strokes just weeks after being diagnosed with a debilitating stomach condition.
It meant she barely played in 2019 and last year but the Harewood Downs golfer is in a much better place now and showed her class as she claimed the county title for a second time with a one-hole victory over Ciara Egan (Woburn).
In fact the 19-year-old, who represented England at U-16s level in 2018, was never behind in any of her four matchplay ties and in her quarter-final and semi-final matches was four up through four holes.
Buckinghamshire Ladies make it eight in a row in Midlands South qualifier
The final was a lot a tighter with Ciara (also pictured) winning back-to-back holes around the turn to level up the match after Daisy had taken an early lead.
But the Woburn golfer could never get her nose in front and her county colleague claimed the 16th to go back ahead and the final two holes were halved.
The eventual champion finished eighth in the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier, which was won by Woburn’s Lily Robinson, who set a course record playing off the blue tees with a second-round 72.
However she fell foul of the fast-starting Daisy in their last eight clash while there was a great effort from 15-year-old six-handicapper Lulu Leetham (Buckingham), who reached the last four despite only managing to qualify in 15th, 28 shots behind the leader.