Linn Grant won her second major championship in Scotland at North Berwick
(R&A photo)
NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND (September 8, 2017) -
Linn Grant won the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship after the completion of the third and fourth rounds at North Berwick today.
The Swede birdied the two remaining holes of the final round to post a one-under-par 72 and claim victory by three strokes over
Hannah Screen and
Annabel Wilson with a four-under-par total of 288.
Remarkably, the win came 49 years after her grandfather, James Grant of Inverness, won the Scottish Boys Championship over the same East Lothian links.
It was also a season’s Scottish double for the 18-year-old from Helsingborg, who had her father John as her caddie. Back in April, she won the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Stroke Play Championship at Royal Troon.
Grant, who carded a second round 68 yesterday, the lowest round of the championship, was one ahead after a third round 71. She was one behind by the turn and still one adrift with six holes to play.
While others faltered in the testing, blustery conditions, the young Swede produced a stunning finish. She holed from 12 feet for a birdie at the 17th and then drove the green at the par four 18th.
Last month, Grant enjoyed a career highlight when she competed for Team Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup.
“This win is definitely right up there with the best things I have done in my career”, said Grant. “It is amazing to win over the same course where my grandfather won in 1958.
“I am still at High School in Helsingborg but next year I am going to college in America. Eventually, I definitely want to turn professional.”
Screen and Wilson tied for second place on a one-under-par total of 291 with Olivia Winning in fourth place on a one-over-par total of 293.
Wilson pushed hard to get into contention. She holed a monster putt for an eagle two at the 273-yard 18th for a two-under-par 71 in the third round and then started the final round with three straight birdies. Three bogeys in a row from the 13th hindered her run for the title however.
Screen, from Berkhamsted Golf Club, was in the hunt all the way but bogeys at the 16th and 17th saw her having to settle for the share of second place. She closed with a 74.
DAY TWO REPORT
Gemma Clews shot an excellent second round 69 to edge into the halfway lead at the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at North Berwick today.
On a day of intermittent showers, the Delamere Forest member finished on a four-under-par total of 142, one stroke ahead of first round leader,
Hannah Screen.
The English pair were followed by Swede
Linn Grant - she shot a best-of-the-championship 68 - and Ireland’s
Annabel Wilson (70) on one-under-par 145.
Four birdies on front nine
A member of the England Women’s Team that won the European Championship in Portugal this summer, 22-year-old Clews made her move on the front nine after going out in four-under-par 34.
She birdied the opening two holes, the 4th and the 9th and then strung together nine pars on the inward half.
“I putted nicely going out,” she said. “All the birdies were from about 20 feet. At the moment, I’m playing golf full-time and I do want to turn professional.”
A highlight this season for the Cheshire golfer was shooting a course record ten-under-par 65 over the St Andrews New Course on her way to finishing third in the St Rule Trophy.
“I definitely enjoy playing golf in Scotland,” she admitted. “Overall, it’s been a good steady season.”
Screen switches putter
Screen followed her opening 71 with a 72. She made a brave decision to switch putter after the opening round - and is hoping it will pay dividends over the final day’s 36 holes.
“I was pulling everything left with the old one,” explained the Berkhamsted 18-year-old. “I went into the Professional’s shop here last night and saw an Odyssey centre shaft model that I have been wanting for ages.
“I’ve been in another five shops and never found one so I had to get it. I practised with it last night and felt very comfortable. Today I holed out well but none of the 15 or 20 footers dropped. But they were close and it still felt good so I’m definitely going to use it again tomorrow. Hopefully a few will start to go in.”
Defending champion slips back
Sophie Lamb, the defending champion from Clitheroe, had a 75 for a two-over-par total of 148. She birdied the 2nd and the 11th but dropped four shots to slip just outside the top ten.
Hannah McCook was the leading home player, a second round 72 lifting the Scot into joint sixth on one-over-par.
The Grantown-On-Spey golfer combines her sport with a part-time job as a housekeeper at Glenmore Lodge, an outdoor centre on the edge of the Cairngorms.
“It is run by sportscotland and they are very good at giving me time off when I need it,” said the Stirling University graduate who is still deciding on whether she is going to make golf her career.
Team trophy
Clews and Lamb already have their hands on one trophy this week. Along with
Lianna Bailey they helped England win the 36-hole team event.
The cut fell on ten-over-par.
DAY ONE REPORT
Teenager
Hannah Screen was the only player to break par on the opening day of the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at a blustery and very testing North Berwick.
The 17-year-old Berkhamsted golfer shot a two-under-par 71 to lead by two shots from a group of four players that included the defending champion,
Sophie Lamb.
Screen is growing accustomed to shooting low scores. She had a seven under par 66 on her way to leading the qualifying at this season’s English Women’s Open Matchplay Championship at Royal Mid-Surrey.
Steady golf
“Today was just very steady,” she said after a round which included four birdies. “The key was that I never got into any serious trouble. I did drop a shot at the short fourth - in fact I saved a bogey with a good putt.”
Her birdies fell at the 3rd, 11th, 12th and the quartet was concluded with a great up and down at the shortish par four 18th.
Defending champion
Lamb, who triumphed at Knock in Northern Ireland last year, also finished the round in style by driving the green at the 273-yard 18th and making a two-putt birdie.
“It was a tough day, very blowy,” said the 19-year-old from Clitheroe. “It was lovely when you turned at the ninth and played the back nine with the wind at your back.”
Her other two birdies came at the short 4th, where she hit a great tee shot, and at the 16th courtesy of a long putt. She bogeyed the 6th, 7th and 17th.
Great season for Lamb
Lamb, who played for Great Britain and Ireland in this year’s Vagliano Trophy, is in the midst of a great season, and has already enjoyed success in Scotland.
It was a career highlight when
she won the amateur prize - the Smyth Salver - at last month’s Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns. “That was great,” she reflected. “A real honour.”
Tie for second
Ireland’s
Paula Grant and the English pair of
Cara Gainer and
Gemma Clews were tied with Lamb in joint second place on level par.
A qualified optician, Grant is managing to combine her golf with locum work based in Belfast. “I was battling to juggle my golf and my studies for a few years,” admitted the Lisburn 23-year-old.
“I qualified last July and worked full-time until Christmas. But now I am doing locum work, which is ideal.”
Gainer, from the Castle Royle Club in Reading, won the English Women’s Matchplay Championship and the 21-year-old also claimed the Frilford Heath Scratch Salver in what is proving to be an impressive 2017 for the University of Cardiff graduate.
Clews was a late starter and the Delamere Forest member equalled the par of 73 thanks to a chip and putt birdie at the 18th.
Home challenge
Shannon McWilliam led the Scottish challenge with a one-over-par 74. Having just left Aboyne Academy, the 18-year-old is taking a year out to play golf and her sights are set firmly on a place in the Great Britain and Ireland team for next year’s Curtis Cup at Quaker Ridge in the United States.
McWilliam’s solitary birdie came at the 8th where she holed a monster putt. But she was disappointed to miss a five foot putt for a three at the last that would have tied playing partner Lamb.
Germany’s Yvonne Schrumpf made her mark in the Championship with a hole-in-one at the 145-yard 6th. One hop and in it popped.