Charlotte Ellis has achieved her dream of playing in the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Turnberry later this week.
The 29-year-old former England international and past Helen Holm Scottish women’s amateur stroke play champion at Troon returned to an Ayrshire links, Irvine Golf Club, to lead the 12 players who advance from the 18-hole Final Qualifier to the major championship further down the Scottish east coast to Turnbrerry, starting on Thursday./ In miserable day-long rainy and quite cool conditions, Charlotte was first off the tee at 7.30am and her superb round of five-under-par 69 stayed at the top of the leaderaboard for the rest of the day. Former British women’s and girls’ amateur champion Georgia Hall (a19) from Eastbourne got closest with a four-under 70. At the end of the regulation play, there was a play-off involving the six competitors who returned par-matching 74s. The six went out again in the still wet conditions after 6.30pm with the last four qualifying places and the first two alternate places at stake. Madelene Sagstrom, the World No 3 female amateur from Sweden, Scot Vikki Laing, Rebecca Hudson from England and Minea Blomqvist of Finland secured their starting spots at Turnberry by parring the first play-off hole.
Celine Herbin (France) and Liz Young (England) and both had bogeys 5s and were left to contest the first and second alternate places. The nine players who had finished on 75 played-off for the third and fourth alternate spots.
The saddest part of the whole, rain-soaked day was the early automatic disqualification of the World No 2 female amateur and English women’s amateur champion Bronte Law for using a distance measuring device at the fourth hole.
Leona Maguire from Ireland, the world No 1 female amateur, failed to maintain her recent brilliant form, missing out today with a four-over-par 78
Final Qualifier at Irvine Golf Club QUALIFIERS FOR TURNBERRY Par 74
69 C Ellis (Eng) 70 G Hall (Eng) 71 A Simon (SAfr) 72 N Holleder (Ger), C Mertens (Ger) (am) 73 S Walker (Eng), M Balikoeva (Russia), C Booth (Sco) 74 L Strom (Swe) (am), V Laing (Sco), R Hudson (Eng), M Blomqvist (Fin)
FAILED TO QUALIFY 74 (eliminated in play-off) C Herbin (Fra) 1st alternate. L Young (Eng) 2nd alternate
75 M Sagstrom (Swe) (am) 3rd alternate, P Sanz (Spa) 4th alternate, A Peters (Eng), M Jorgensen (Den), C Leathem (Eng) (am), A Lewis (USA). A Vilatte (Fra), B Morgan (Wal), B Mozo (Spa)
76 M Beautell ( Spa), W Hillier (Australia), L Johansson (Swe) (am), E Goddard (Eng), S Keech (Eng) (am), A-K Lindner (Ger)
77 E Henrikson (Swe) (am), L Taylor (Eng), S L Bregman (SAf), L Murray (Sco), Jing Yan (China), N Tamminen (Fin), E Givens (Eng) 78 Leona Maguire (Ire) (am), V Derrey (Fra), B Brewerton (Wal), C Williams (Wal) (am), C Afonso (Fra), C Leurquin (Bel), C Bristow (NZ), C Wolf (Austria), K Macdonald (Sco), C Woods (USA) 79 D Luna (Ita), S Hassan (Eng), M Rigon (Ita) 80 T Boyes (Eng), J Bradley (Eng) (am), M MacLaren (Eng) (am), H MacRae (Sco), I Ramsay (Swe), S-J Smith (Australia), C Martens (Norway), M Wold (Norway) (am) 81 H Fitzgerald (Ire), A Dimmock (Eng), H Aitchison (Eng) 82 M Silva (Spa), M Sanz (Spa) 84 I Clyburn (Eng) (am), G Clews (Eng) (am), S Na (Australia), A Gray (Eng) 85 C C Bulford (USA) (am) , J Maihaniemi (Fin) 86 C Ricolfi (Ita) (am), M Nicol (Eng) 90 E Slater (Eng) (am)
