An inspired putting effort from Close House’s Maggie Whitehead saw her surge into the second round of The Spanish Amateur at Sotogrande today.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play / 6 rounds of matchplay
The 16-year-old struggled on the greens in qualifying for the knock-out stages – she finished 46th – but came alive with the putter against Ireland’s Kate Lanigan as she stormed to a 4&3 victory.
The England international won five holes on the bounce, starting from the fifth, and was four under for her 15 holes. That secured her a meeting with Swedish teenager Filippa Sundquist tomorrow.
The former England U-16s champion was delighted with her efforts although was slightly frustrated her tee shot on the par-three fifth rolled to within an inch of the cup.
“I have never had a hole in one and that is as close as I have come,” said the Newcastle-based player.
“But overall I was so pleased with the way I putted. Yesterday I think I had nine three-putts and today I had nine one-putts.
“The greens are the toughest I have ever played on. They are really bumpy and there are some massive slopes.
“And my attitude today was to go for it a bit more. I was playing the player and not the course and I just holed everything.”
Whitehead, who is one of two Brits left in the competition alongside Scotland’s Penelope Brown, holed a 30-footer on the ninth to go five up and then sank a 35-foot bomb on 11 to increase her advantage.
Lanigan managed to win the next as her opponent registered her only bogey of the day and also claimed 14 before conceding on the next.
In the men’s event in at Infinitum Lakes near Barcelona, No 1 seed James Ashfield maintained his excellent form as he saw off Scotland’s Mitchell Cowie on the 18th to reach round two. The Welshman was three under for his round and was never behind.
There is a mouth-watering England-Scotland match-up with Gregor Graham (Blairgowrie) and Arron Edwards-Hill (Chelmsford) both making it through. The Scot was never behind in the first round clash with fellow countryman John Paterson.
Graham’s younger brother Connor also won today, seeing off Spain’s David Davila Corraliza 4&2 while there were also victories for Josh Berry (Doncaster), James Claridge (Enville) and Andrew Davidson (Crail GS).