The 22-year-old, who claimed victory at Royal County Down last year, is aiming to become the first player since Sweden’s Louise Stahle to retain the championship, back in 2005.

Having progressed on the cut mark during qualifying, Toy found her form in the matchplay stages to continue her quest for a historic success at the spectacular North-West links.

In the championship’s 117th staging, Toy saw off the challenge of Roehampton’s Isabelle Simpson.

Her one-hole win in the morning, was followed by a comfortable 5&4 triumph over Ireland’s Jessica Ross.

Toy said: “I’m trying not to give up the title. Obviously, making the cut on the mark was a relief and coming through two rounds I’m pleased to be where I am.

“It was a really good match this morning and I was pleased to get the win,” added the Carlyon Bay member.

“This afternoon I played nicely again. I have been struggling a little bit with form coming into this event. So it has been nice to actually see some nice shots.

“At the start of the week, in my eyes, the trophy was out there for anyone to win.

“I’m just coming to an event trying to win like everyone else. If I can keep doing the right things and if that is good enough at the end of the week then great.

It’s my first time here and I’m really enjoying it,” said Toy, who missed out on the chance to play at Augusta in April because of the COVID-19 crisis, which saw the second ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur cancelled along with the Masters.

Is Price right for Emily’s double?

LUDLOW’S in-form Emily Price, who won the English Women’s Amateur Championship earlier this month, maintained her bid for more glory.

She beat Iceland’s Hulda Clara Gestsdottir 2&1 to reach the last-16 where she will face Lithunia’s Gilė Bitė Starkutė.

Denmark’s Amalie Leth-Nissen – who was the leading qualifier on countback – lost out to her older sister, Cecilie, at the final hole in an emotional contest in the opening tie of the day.

It was a notable triumph, given Cecilie is ranked 765th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking compared to Amalie who sits at 47th.

However, Scotland’s Hannah Darling, the Girls’ Under 16 Open Champion in 2018, then ended the hopes of Leth-Nissen in the afternoon with a one-hole victory.

Seventeen-year-old Darling said: “It feels good to reach the last-16. I was just solid out there today.

“In both matches I think I was two-down after three. So I’m just really proud of how I ground it out and stuck in there.

“It’s the type of golf course where anything can happen. I wouldn’t say it is a course you can go low on. You have to grind it out and scramble.

“I heard Cecilie had a close game in the morning with her sister. I’m friends with them both, and it was then nice to have a good match against her too.

“It’s my first time in the Women’s Amateur. But it’s matchplay and I’ve done well in those events in the past. So I just have to keep it going.

“I’m probably younger than most people out there. But as my dad says, age has nothing to do it with it, and it’s about performing,”said the Broomienknowe teenager.

Florida’s Fuller still in as German marches on

ROEHAMPTON’S newly crowned English Strokeplay champion Annabell Fuller is also in the last-16.

The University of Florida ace first beat Royal Cromer’s fellow England international Amelia Williamson 2&1, and St Mellion’s Megan Giles 5&4 in the second round.

Of the other leading qualifiers, Whitley Bay’s Rosie Belsham lost to Annabel Bailey, from Leicestershire’s Kirby Muxloe by one hole.

Bailey was then knocked out by Kent’s Shama Dutrieux at the 23rd hole.

Italian Alessia Nobilio, the World No. 5, quietly went about her work to reach the last 16. Meanwhile two German players – Paula Schulz-Hanssen and Aline Krauter – also progressed.

Schulz-Hanssen, who has already won the Swiss Amateur title this year, was delighted with her progress.

She said: “I’m happy to be in the last-16. I played pretty good today.

“I played 32 holes in the two matches and I had 12 birdies and only four bogeys. It is tough playing 36 holes in the one day.

“I was level par for the strokeplay qualifying, but today was even better,” said last year’s European Young Masters winner.

“The course is so beautiful to play, so amazing. There are so many holes where you can really attack the flag.

“If you hit good shots, you can get good results. It’s my first time playing in the event and I’m playing well,” said Schulz-Hanssen, a member of Europe’s 2019 Solheim Junior Cup team.

Humphreys waiting for putts to drop

ESSEX’S Lily May Humphreys, the highest-ranked English player in the field, now faces Schulz-Hanssen in Friday’s showdown.

The Stoke-by-Nayland player who was runner-up to Price at Woodhall Spa, said: “It feels really good. It’s my best so far in this championship.

“I haven’t done that great in it before. Hopefully I can carry on through tomorrow to the semi-finals,” added Humphreys, who won the Irish and Welsh Strokeplay titles last year.

“I feel like I played solid today, tee-to-green – just didn’t hole a massive amount of putts,” Lily May added.

“It was less breezy out there today. A little drizzle in the afternoon, but the conditions were better.”

Meanwhile Italian Carolina Melgrati also exited at the 19th to Wales’ Ffion Tynan.

Tynan continued her form as she defeated Berkshire’s Irish international Laura Webb, the oldest player in the field at 57, with a 2&1 victory against the East Berkshire veteran.

Webb was named captain of Ireland’s national team for 2020 and won the Irish Seniors championship in 2019.

That win completed the first-ever Irish Ladies slam by winning the Girls, Women’s and Over 50s titles during her career.

West Lancashire’s Hollie left to Muse after defeat

THERE was disappointment however for West Lancashire’s Hollie Muse and Scotland’s Hazel MacGarvie, who were knocked out at the last-64 stage.

The other England players still in the hat are Carus Green’s Caitlin Whithead after her wins over Scot Lorna McClymont, from Milngavie, by 4&3 – and last year’s English Amateur Champion Ellen Hume, from Mill Green, in Hertfordshire, by 4&2.

Fourteen-year-old Chiara Noja, who was born in Germany and raised in the UK, faces another teenager in Nobillo.

The latter is the current Italian and Portuguese Amateur Stokeplay Champion.

Dutrieux, from Wrotham Heath, will play another Italian in the shape of Emilie Paltrinieri, last year’s German Girls Champion, after her win at the fifth extra hole.

The matchplay continues, with the last-16 and quarter-final ties played, ahead of Saturday’s semi-finals and the 18-hole final.

There are significant rewards for the champion with exemptions into the AIG Women’s Open and traditionally, the US Women’s Open, The Evian Championship and Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.

•Follow live scoring at RandA.org as well as on The R&A’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

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Roehampton’s Curtis Cup and Solheim Junior Cup player Annabell Fuller believes her English Women’s Amateur Strokeplay Championship is one of the biggest wins of her career.
Pictures by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

SURREY’S Annabell Fuller feels privileged to have been crowned English Women’s Amateur Strokeplay champion.

Rounds of 71, 68, 73 and 70 left the 18-year-old six-under par for the week at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club.

Roehampton’s Fuller finished three shots clear of nearest challenger Emma Allen, from Hampshire’s Stoneham Golf Club.

Allen shot four-over in her final round to drop back to three-under.

Fuller performed to a high standard in wet and windy conditions on the Somerset coast.

Despite the challenging climate, she avoided big numbers on her card.

The University of Florida golfer holed some clutch putts.

The England international was deservedly left holding silverware after a testing final day which saw those that made the cut on Wednesday evening play 36 holes on Thursday.

“It’s amazing, I can’t express how amazing it feels,” said the Surrey ace, who played against the USA in the 2018 Curtis Cup and last year’s Junior Solheim Cup.

“You come up here and you never really know what will happen. Only one person wins out of 120 or so. It’s a great achievement.”

Annabell’s third round bounce back

AFTER a difficult start with three bogeys in the first three holes in her third round, Fuller showed grit and determination to bounce back with an eagle on the fourth and birdies at five and seven.

Annabell added: “The fourth is a par five. I thought if I can pick up a shot here and try to strike it a bit better and hole a few putts, then I could get back in to it.”

Fuller’s closest competitor, Stoneham Golf Club’s Allen, held a three-shot lead heading into the final round at lunch.

However, Fuller got off to a flying start in the final round, going four-under through the front-nine.

“My approach heading into the final round changed slightly,” revealed Annabell, whose older sister Samantha has also represented England.

“I tried to make sure that in the beginning I didn’t drop any shots. The front nine is a lot easier as it’s down wind.

“I tried to make a couple of birdies which thankfully I did and that got me rolling on to the back nine.”

A bogey on the 18th wasn’t enough to spoil the party for the England Women’s Overseas squad member.

“It’s definitely one of my best wins, I mean the English Women’s Open is such a huge title,” said a smiling Annabell.

“I feel so privileged to be able to have won it myself.”

Stoneham’s Emma Allen who led after the first and third rounds at Burnham & Berrow

Hull among famous past champions

FULLER joins an impressive list of past winners who have gone on to star on the Ladies European Tour.

They include Trish Johnson, Joanne Morley, Rebecca Hudson, Liz Bennnett, Jodie Ewart, Sophie Walker, Charley Hull and Wales’ Amy Boulden

After torrential downpours in the second round, Fuller was one of only four players in the field who finished under par for the week.

The others were Allen (-3), Essex’s England international Lily May Humphreys and Gloucestershire’s Caley McGinty, who were both one-under.

•To see the final scores click here.

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Ludlow GC’s Emily Price joined the likes of Trish Johnson, Rebecca Hudson and Julie Hall by winning the English Women’s Amateur Championship – beating Lily May Humphreys. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAHY

LUDLOW’S Emily Price celebrated the biggest win of her career after coming from behind to defeat Lily May Humphreys in the English Women’s Amateur Championship final.

Price claimed a 4&3 victory over the England international in a thrilling 36-hole final, at Woodhall Spa Golf Club, in Lincolnshire.

The Shropshire star also became just the seventh player to win both the English Women’s Amateur and Strokeplay title in their career.

That matches the likes of LET stars Trish Johnson and Rebecca Hudson, as well as Scottish-based pro Julie Otto.

She won three national championships as Julie Hall (nee Wade), to go with her two strokeplay victories between 1987 and 1995.

However, the 2020 final score did not tell the full story of a game that ebbed and flowed. And one that perhaps turned with one putt on the 18^th hole of the morning round.

After being two-down to 18-year-old Humphreys for most of the back nine, Price clawed a hole back at the 16^th.

But she found trouble off the tee at the par five, 18^th hole.

However, a smart bunker shot followed by a brilliant wedge and a 15-foot birdie putt saw her head into lunch all-square and with a spring in her step.

A par-birdie start after lunch edged Price into a lead that she never surrendered. Victory was sealed on the 33rd hole on the Hotchkin Course.

For Humphreys, there was deep disappointment a year after losing to Ellen Hume in the final.

However, the Essex golfer – who won the Sunningdale Foursomes before the COVID-19 lockdown came in March – can be proud of her efforts at the home of England Golf.

The glory, though, belonged to Price who cradled the trophy – first played for in 1914 – as she described the best win of her career.

Essex’s Lily May Humphrey’s lost in the final for a second year in a row. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

‘Birdie at the 18th hole was pivotal’

WHEN asked if her birdie on 18 in the morning was significant, the new champion admitted: “Yes – 100 per cent.

“To come in not one-down and to hole a decent length birdie gave me momentum and positive energy,” said Price.

“Lily came out and was playing unbelievable. I was two-down and scraped it back on 18 to get all-square.

“Then I started hot in the afternoon and kept the momentum going.

“The aim was fairways, greens and two putts for pars. I finished three-under which was ok.”

Price underlined her star potential as a 16-year-old by winning the English Women’s Strokeplay Championship in 2016.

Now the sky’s the limit for Price as she prepares to return to Ohio’s Kent State University, in America, for the final two years of her golf scholarship.

After being introduced as the 2020 English Women’s Amateur champion, she said with a smile: “It sounds amazing and feels even better.

“To come and take the win after a very long week is unbelievable. And to perform the way I have is the best feeling you can ever get as a player,” she said.

“It’s been a few years since I won – a distant memory. But it feels good to be holding this and having won an event of this calibre, now I’m 20 years old.

“It will really help boost me and get me going for the rest of the season.”

Great to be back playing golf says new champ

AT the start of the week 66 of the top women amateurs in the country teed it up for two rounds of strokeplay. The top 16 made it through to the knockout stages.

In a safe and secure environment – and with the men’s amateur championship running alongside the women’s for the first time in England Golf’s history – players were able to concentrate on their game.

Price spoke on behalf of the golfers when she said: “It’s been great to get back out there – all of us haven’t played in so long.

“The event has been set up great by England Golf and Woodhall Spa Golf Club and the players have appreciated it – as well as managing boys and girls at the same event.

“It’s been great to have the boys here too and see so many competing.”

•For the full results from Woodhall Spa, click here.

Dorset’s Hayley Davis who won the English Amateur Championship in 2010 at Broadstone

Davis was last player to complete English double

THE other players to complete the English Women’s Amateur and Strokeplay double are Dorset’s Hayley Davis, Yorkshire’s Emma Duggleby, and Lancashire’s Fiona Brown.

Davis, from Ferndown, claimed the English Women’s at nearby Broadstone in 2010 – four years before winning the Strokeplay crown at Tandridge, in Surrey. She is now an LET Access Tour player.

Hudson and Duggleby were Yorkshire and England team-mates and dominated the women’s amateur ranks in the late 1990s and early 21st century.

Hudson’s English Women’s win came at West Sussex in 2001, a year after her strokeplay success at Silloth-on-Solway.

Duggleby won the Strokeplay at Broadstone in 1998. The biggest win of her career came two years later at Hunstanton. It also denied Hudson any chance of the double in the same year.

Johnson, who played for Middlesex before turning pro, is the only player to have won both titles in the same year.

Suffolk’s Julie Wade, a member at Felixstowe Ferry, won the English Strokeplay in 1987 at Northumberland GC. She claimed her first national crown at Little Aston a year later.

Her second Strokeplay came in 1993 at Kings Norton, in Coventry, after her first marriage. Hall then won the English Amateur back to back in 1994 and ‘95, at The Berkshire and Ipswich GC respectively.

Only four women have won the English Championship back to back – the last was Bronte Law in 2014 and 2015.

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Lily May Humphreys took the lead with three holes to play in the Rose Ladies Series event – but Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

ESSEX’S Lily May Humphreys further underlined her career potential as she pushed for victory and fell just short of the winning total posted by Gemma Dryburgh in the third event of the Rose Ladies Series.

The 18-year-old England women’s international is no stranger to the top of leaderboards having won the 2019 Welsh and Irish Ladies Opens, the Annika Europe event.

And, just prior to lockdown in March, she reached the final of the Sunningdale Foursomes.

Coming down the stretch at the Buckinghamshire Golf Club, the teenager – one of only three amateurs in the field of 54 – harboured genuine dreams of winning her first professional event.

In the end, plus-six handicapper Humphreys had to settle for a one-under par round of 71 and a tie for fourth alongside Woburn’s LPGA winner Charley Hull.

Scotland’s Dryburgh carded six birdies in a round of 69 to edge one ahead of English duo Georgia Hall and Cara Gainer.

Gemma Dryburgh emerged victorious in the third Rose Ladies Series event. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

That was two clear of Humphreys in another fine all-round showing from England’s top women amateurs.

Ellie Gower also sealed a tie for eighth after a level-par round and Hertfordshire’s Hannah Screen recovered from two bad holes on the front nine to come home in 34 for a total of four-over par.

Humphreys in lead with three to go

HUMPHREYS proved to be a model of consistency on the front nine with eight straight pars.

The run ended on the ninth – not that the golfer from Stoke-by-Nayland GC was upset.

A birdie two on the 175-yard par three allowed her to reach the turn in 36.

A bogey five at the 10^th was swiftly remedied with a birdie at the next hole.

Another run of four pars then put England Golf’s 2019 Women and Girls’ Order of Merit winner firmly in contention for victory.

In fact, the Curtis Cup player was tied for the lead with three others after 15 holes.

She then took solo charge with another birdie two at the 161-yard 16^th hole as she moved to two-under.

A bogey five at the 17^th hole halted her charges.

Back-to-back birdies from Hall on the 13^th and 14^th holes allowed the 2018 Women’s British Open champion to take a familiar place at the top of the leaderboard – before being pipped in a dramatic finale.

Humphreys, though, can take great heart from her performance proving once again why she is ranked 18^th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Gower gave everything alongside Georgia

Ellie Gower – who plays for University of Colarado Boulder – played in the same group as runner-up Georgia Hall, the former Women’s British Open winner – and finished eighth. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

GOWER birdied the fifth, ninth and 14^th holes in a fine level-par 72 around a course that has been used for US Women’s Open qualifiers.

The 17-year-old can be proud of ending the day in a tie for eighth.

For the second week running in this series, two England amateurs have achieved top 10 finishes.

Last week sisters Samantha and Annabell Fuller finished tied for second and seventh respectively at Moor Park Golf Club.

Gower, studying at the University of Colorado Boulder, didn’t panic after dropping three shots in her first three holes.

In fact she displayed skill and heart to bounce back into contention while playing in a group also containing former British Open champion Hall, and Chloe Frankish, who joined Gower on level-par.

Screen, who moved to Oklahoma University as a junior in September, was left to rue two disappointing holes on her front nine as she made a competitive return to golf after lockdown.

The England Women’s Overseas Squad player counted the cost of slips at the first and seventh holes en route to a round of 76.

Birdies at the fifth, 11^th and 15th holes, as well as the experience of teeing it up alongside Hull and Essex’s Gabriella Cowley will stand the 20-year-old Oklahoma University student in good stead as she heads to next week’s Faldo Series event at Brockett Hall.

•The Rose Ladies Series continues next week with a visit to Royal St George’s Golf Club, at Sandwich, in Kent – the venue for the 2021 Open Championship.

Final scores from The Buckinghamshire click here

Hannah Screen bounced back after some errors on the front nine but came home in 34. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

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The 61st Berkhamsted Trophy, which attracted a record entry after it was opened up to female and male golfers, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Picture by ANDY HISEMAN / MAGIC HOUR MEDIA

BERKHAMSTED Golf Club has confirmed the postponement of the 61^st Berkhamsted Trophy because of the coronavirus outbreak.

But the Hertfordshire heatthland club – famous for having no bunkers – plans to stage the ground-breaking event for sexual equality later this year.

The 72-hole tournament was set to be the world’s first national-level elite amateur golf event open to both males and females, from April 2-4.

Following the club’s announcement in January that golfers from both sexes would be able to compete equally, this year’s event had already attracted an all-time record entry.

Among the 142 competitors who have entered the 2020 tournament are 18 leading women golfers – led by last week’s Sunningdale Foursomes winner Lily-May Humphries, from Essex, Cheshire’s England international Isobel Wardle, and Emily Toy, the reigning Women’s Amateur Champion. from Cornwall.

All three are members of the Curtis Cup squad for the biennial match, between Great Britain and Ireland and the USA, which is due to be played at Conwy GC, in North Wales, from June 12-14.

The Hertfordshire club is looking to re-schedule the 61^st Berkhamsted Trophy in the autumn 2020. Further announcements will follow. Entrants need to do nothing at this stage.

The Berkhamsted Trophy. Picture by ANDY HISEMAN

Berkhamsted manager Howard Craft said: “Naturally we would rather not be doing this, but it is clearly unwise to attempt to stage a golf tournament of this kind at the moment.

“The health of our competitors, members and staff is the overwhelming priority right now.

“Our decision in January to invite leading female amateur golfers to enter the tournament has been emphatically validated by the record-breaking entry levels, and also by the high quality of the golfers who want to compete – of both sexes.

“What’s been achieved so far is testament both to the appeal of the Berkhamsted Trophy, and also to the growing desire to stage truly gender-neutral tournaments across the golfing world.

“We are proud to be among those who are leading the way in this area, and we are still excited to see what happens when the best female golfers take on the best male golfers, later this year, all competing for the same trophy.”

Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup captain Elaine Ratcliffe said: “Berkhamsted has clearly taken the right decision to postpone for now, but more importantly, I think it’s brilliant the event received such enthusiastic backing from both male and female competitors.

“It’s another step in the right direction not just for golf, but for sport in general,” said Ratcliffe, the former Ladies European Tour player, who played in the 1996 Curtis Cup at Killarney, and also for GB&I at the 1998 World Amateur Team Championship for the Espirito Trophy.

“They are all athletes at the end of the day, and we are gradually removing those dividing lines between men’s and women’s sport.”

The 2019 Berkhamsted Trophy was won by Ryan Gosling, from Harpenden GC.

Past winners include Sandy Lyle, Luke Donald, Andy Sullivan, Tom Lewis, Graeme Storm, and Jack Singh-Brar, who have all gone on to play on the European Tour, plus amateur legend Gary Wolstenholme.

•Berkhamsted’s golf course remains open to its members after the Government’s Chief Scientific Officer Sir Patrick Vallance told the Commons Health Committee this week that playing golf was relatively safe during the restrictions on social isolation advised after the COVID-19 outbreak continued to spread across the UK this week.

Berkhamsted Golf Club general manager Howard Craft. Picture by ANDY HISEMAN

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Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced the 2020 Masters had been cancelled in response to the coronavirus pandemic, on Friday afternoon

NEXT month’s Masters at Augusta National has been postponed because of the growing threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 84th editon of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, was due to start on April 9 – with the players making the famous drive down Mangolia Lane the weekend before.

But one of golf’s most hallowed venues, which normally attracts daily crowds of 40,000 will stay silent as the pine straw remains untouched by players’ and spectators’ feet – for now.

And the blazing colour of Augusta’s azaleas and rhododendrons in the Georgia spring sunshine will not be filling golf fans’ TV screens around the world… and Tiger Woods will not get to place the fabled Green Jacket around the shoulders of the new champion… well not in the second week of April.

In a specially-prepared statement the organisers at ANGC stated that The Masters was being postponed “at this time” – without offering any definite prospect of the event being held later in the year.

The cancellation also applies to the second-ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the children’s Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals, which are held in the build-up to Masters week.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement on Friday: “The health and well-being of everyone associated with these events and the citizens of the Augusta community led us to this decision.”

“Considering the latest information and expert analysis, we have decided at this time to postpone the Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals,” Ridley added on Friday afternoon.

“Unfortunately, the ever-increasing risks associated with the widespread coronavirus have led us to a decision that undoubtedly will be disappointing to many – although I am confident is appropriate under these unique circumstances.

“As coronavirus continues to impact the lives of people everywhere, we seek your understanding of this decision and know you share our concern given these trying times.

“We will continue to work with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of the Governor, the Georgia Department of Public Health, the City of Augusta and all other local authorities.

“We are grateful to all of these entities for their exceptional efforts and guidance.”

It will be the first time the Masters has been postponed since World War Two, which resulted in the tournament not taking place in 1943, 1945 and 1946.

Tiger Woods’ famous victory 11 months ago was one of the greatest Masters of all time and the former World No. 1 missed this week’s Players’ Championship in a race to get fit for Augusta after the winner of five Green Jackets hurt his back.

Four English players were due to tee it up in the second Augusta National Women’s Amateur – Women’s Amateur Champion Emily Toy, from West Cornwall, Roehampton’s Annabell Fuller, Essex’s Lily May Humphrey, and Cheshire’s Isobel Wardle.

Berkhamsted’s Alice Hewson was the first English women to play in a competitive tournament at Augusta National, in April 2019.

The Clemson University student has since graduated and earned her card at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School. Humphreys and Fuller, who both played in the Curtis Cup against the USA in 2018, did not make the cut at last year’s ANWA after the first two rounds were played at Champions Retreat.

But they did get to experience Augusta National during the practice round for the final round after the tournament moved from Champions Retreat to the home of The Masters.

Berkhamsted’s Alice Hewson played in the final round at Augusta National last year

PGA Tour calls off five events

THE stunning news that the 2020 Masters had been cancelled came hot on the heels of the PGA Tour’s decision to cancel all tournaments.e

That included this week’s Players’ Championship, which was abandoned after Thursday’s close of play in the first round, overnight on UK time.

The majority of golf fans woke to learn that there would be no play at Sawgrasws on Friday, or over the weekend.

The announcement came after the risk to players, the public and volunteers at the tournament was judged to have risen even further less than 24 hours after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monaghan had announced plans to play without spectators over the final three rounds.

The next four events on the PGA Tour – including the WGC World Match Play at Austin, Texas – have all been postponed including the Valero Texas Open, which was due to take place the week before The Masters.

The European Tour has also called off three more tournaments later this summer – in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, including two Challenge Tour events.

The next golf scheduled on the continent of Europe is set to be the Andalucia Open, on April 30 – after the Magical Kenya Open and the Hero Indian Open – set for March – and April’s Volvo China Open and Maybank Championship were all called off earlier this month.

The LPGA has already called off its first Major of the year – the ANA Inspiration at California’s Rancho Mirage, from April 2-5, while the PGA Tour has also cancelled events in South America and China.

The Ladies European Tour has called off the inaugural Aramco Saudi Ladies Invitational because of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19)

LET calls off Saudi International

THE Ladies European Tour became the latest to cancel a top ranking event with its new Aramco Saudi Ladies International, becoming another casualty because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The first-ever Saudi Ladies International was due to take place at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, from March 19-22.

Again the LET said the postponement was made in light of recent health advice and travel restrictions due to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The LET’s priority was to ensure its players and associated partners and organsations were safe and the decision was made following advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO), a spokeswoman said on Friday.

LET chief executive Alexandra Armas said: “There is no doubt that the last few weeks have been extremely challenging for sports and postponing next week’s tournament has not been an easy decision.

“But we fully appreciate the recent restrictions which have been introduced in respect of travel into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“Even though this was not our desired outcome, I wish to thank the promoter and event owner Golf Saudi for looking into every possible option to make this event happen.

“We were so impressed with their passion and efforts, and we will work closely with them to find a date in the future to deliver this historic event for our members.”

All parties are committed to rescheduling the tournament at some point later in the year – but no date had been confirmed at this stage, the LET added in a statement.

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The 2018 Great Britain and Ireland team that were soundly beaten at New York’s Quaker Ridge in 2018, including Surrey’s Annabell Fuller and Essex’s Lily May Humphreys.
Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

TEN players have been named in The R&A”s initial Great Britain and Ireland squad for the 2020 Curtis Cup, which will be played at Wales’ Conwy Golf Club in June.

The GB&I will be attempting to regain the historic trophy after the United States recorded a commanding 17-3 victory at Quaker Ridge in New York last year.

The 41st Curtis Cup match will be played from Friday, June 12 til Sunday June 14 at the North Wales course on the Morfa Peninsula, overlooking the Conwy estuary.

Elaine Ratcliffe, who will captain GB&I in the Curtis Cup for the first time, said: “We have a strong pool of players to choose from throughout GB&I and I’m delighted with the 10 players we have selected for the initial squad.

“Each player’s performance and results will be monitored closely over the coming months and we will be looking for each of them to maintain a high standard as they try to secure their places in the team.

“There are many other talented players who can be added to this squad over the next few months,” said the former Ladies European Tour player, who won the English Ladies Amateur Championship in 1998, and hails from Sandbach, in Cheshire.

“We will be following performances closely before the Curtis Cup team is announced in May,” added Ratcliffe, who is one of the co-owners of Essendon Golf Club, in Hertfordshire.

Royal County Down’s Olivia Mehaffey, the highest-ranked member of the squad at No. 19 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is aiming to make her third Curtis Cup appearance.

Having made her debut in 2016, where she secured three-and-a-half points for the victorious GB&I team, Mehaffey was also a stand-out player in last year’s tough defeat at the 2018 Curtis Cup.

The Northern Ireland international helped achieve two-and-a-half of the team’s three-point total. Currently attending Arizona State University – the university where Phil Mickelson and Paul Casey played – Mehaffey has recorded three collegiate wins this year.

Also in contention for the 2020 team are three of Mehaffey’s team mates from 2018 – Shannon McWilliam, Annabell Fuller and Lily May Humphreys.

The latter has enjoyed an excellent 2019, winning the Annika Invitational Europe, Irish Women’s Open and Welsh Ladies’ Open Strokeplay championships.

Cornwall’s Emily Toy, the 2019 Women’s Amateur Champion and an R&A Foundation scholar, is the third of four English players named in the initial squad and is hoping to make her Curtis Cup debut in 2020.

The squad features a further five potential debutants including Hannah Darling, the Scottish Girls’ Open champion, Annabel Wilson, the Irish Women’s Close champion, Hazel MacGarvie, and Julie McCarthy.

Cheshire’s Isobel Wardle – recently crowned the English Women’s County Champion of Champions at Woodhall Spa – is the final England player in the provisional squad.

The Prestbury GC member helped England win the Women’s Home Internationals at Downfield, in Scotland, last month, alongside Humphreys and Toy.

The final eight players for the GB&I team will be announced on May 11, 2020, and will include the two golfers who are placed highest in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in the week prior.

A further six players will be selected by The R&A Women’s selection committee. Up to four non-travelling reserves will also be announced.

The links course overlooking the Caenarvonshire coast is one of the best in Wales and has hosted the 2009 European Amateur Team Chamiopnship, as well as the Ryder Cup Wales Senior Open on the European Seniors Tour in 2007.

It was also used for Final Qualifying for the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool but hosted a European Tour event as far back as 1970 when the Martini championship was held there.

The 1990 Men’s Home Internationals were staged at Conwy which also hosted the 1983 Ladies British Open Amateur Championship.

Played off its tips at 6,901 yards, it has three monster par fours over 450 yards off the men’s championship tees but even off the yellows, at 6,476 it’s long holes into the wind are seriously stern tests.

The GB&I squad (age and club/country in brackets):

Hannah Darling (16, Broomieknowe, Scotland)
Shannon McWilliam (20, Aboyne, Scotland)
Annabell Fuller (17, Roehampton, England)
Olivia Mehaffey (21, Royal County Down Ladies, Ireland)
Lily May Humphreys (17, Stoke by Nayland, England)
Emily Toy (21, Carlyon Bay, England)
Hazel MacGarvie (19, Royal Troon, Scotland)
Isobel Wardle (19, Prestbury, England)
Julie McCarthy (20, Forrest Little, Ireland)
Annabel Wilson (18, Lurgan, Ireland)

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Team USA won the PING Junior Solheim Cup for the fourth time in a row at Gleneagles, beating Europe 13-11 despite the hosts narrowly winning the singles. Picture by WME / IMG

EAM USA held off a spirited fightback by Europe to claim their fourth consecutive victory in the Ping Junior Solheim Cup with a 13-11 points triumph at Gleneagles.

The visitors took a 7½-4½ lead into Wednesday’s singles session after drawing the foursomes 3-3 and then convincingly winning the fourballs 4½-1½, and closed out the win when Brianna Navarrosa beat Somerset’s Mimi Rhodes (Burnham & Berrow GC) by one hole.

Earlier in the day, Scotland’s Hannah Darling (Broomieknowe GC) grabbed a half point when out first against Lucy Li, and wins for Surrey’s Annabell Fuller (Roehampton GC), Denmark’s Amalie Leth-Nissen and Slovakia’s Pia Babnik, who birdied four straight holes to win 2&1, narrowed the gap.

However, Rose Zhang stemmed the tide in match two, and triumphs for Amanda Sambach, Briana Chacon – who beat Essex’s Lily May Humphrey’s 6&4 – and then Navarrosa took the USA to the all-important 12 points needed to retain the trophy,

Christine Wang then made it 13 points when she beat Germany’s Paula Shulz-Hanssen in match 10.

American captain Mary Bea Porter-King said: “‘It was quite the victory, very close, it went up and down all day. They were ahead, then behind. I’m exhausted and I didn’t hit a shot.

“I’m very proud of my team, there wasn’t a whole lot I could do to help them – these young ladies are so talented, on both sides.

“I am so impressed to see the golf swings and how they play the game, which makes me feel good about the future of the game.”

Mickey Walker, who captained Europe in the first four Solheim Cups, and manged the continent’s girls team this week, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the European team.

“They’re very, very talented and we’ve had a wonderful time here. It’s been just amazing, one of the best experiences of my life,” added the former Essex club pro, who won six times on the Ladies European Tour and played in the 1972 Curtis Cup before turning pro.

“I think we were good enough to win, but we just missed out by virtue of a poor session in the afternoon yesterday.

“That’s what did for us. If you took the singles as a standalone competition, we won today,” Walker added.

“But we knew we needed to get eight-and-a-half points and we came up just short. It’s wrong to mention individuals because we really are a team.

“But Pia Babnik is the first-ever junior to play in this from Slovenia and beat Rachel Heck – an incredible scalp.

“Rachel’s one of the best American golfers and Pia is relatively inexperienced. The same for Lucie Malchirand beating Alexa Pano in the final match.

“So it augers very well for the future, and a lot of our team will still be young enough to play in two years’ time.”

•For the full scores click here.

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THREE of England’s most talented young players will represent their country at the World Junior Girls’ Championship, to be played in Canada at the end of September.

Annabell Fuller, Lily May Humphreys and Mimi Rhodes will make the trip across the Atlantic after representing Europe in the 2019 PING Junior Solheim Cup match at Gleneagles, Scotland, on September 10-11

They will compete in the 72-hole team stroke play event against teams from 18 other countries, including two from Canada itself at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario, from September 24-27

The championship returns to Angus Glen for the first time since it was inaugurated back in 2014 when the USA took the gold medal ahead of Sweden and a Canada team including future LPGA star Brooke Henderson.

Fuller, from Surrey’s Roehampton GC, is based in the USA where to date this season she has won the girls’ title at the Major Champions Invitational, and finished second at the Bishops Gate Golf Academy and the Scott Robertson Memorial,

The 17-year old Curtis Cup player was also third at the Harder Hall Invitational, fourth at the Annika Invitational USA and reached the last-16 of the US Women’s Amateur Championship.

The former HSBC Wee Wonders star was also fifth at the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship.

Annabell represented Great Britain and Ireland at this summer’s Vagliano Trophy, having played for Europe in last year’s Junior Ryder Cup.

She was also a member of England’s side at the European Ladies’ Team Championship in July.

Essex’s Lily May Humphreys has played in a Curtis Cup and will appear for Europe in this month’s PING Junior Solheim Cup at Gleneagles before heading for Canada. Picture by VICKI HEAD

Essex’s Lily May Humphreys, has been in sparkling form this season winning the Welsh and Irish Strokeplay titles and the Annika Invitational Europe.

The 17-year-old from Stoke by Nayland GC was runner-up at the English Women’s Amateur Championship and the English Women’s Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship.

She played on the 2018 GB&I Curtis Cup team and has since represented the Home Nations in both the Vagliano and Astor Trophy – and was a team-mate of Fuller’s at the European Ladies’ Team Championship.

Lily was also a member of the victorious England team at this year’s Home Internationals at Downfield GC, in Scotland.

Somerset’s Mimi Rhodes is also 17 years old like her team-mates, and reached the semi-finals of the Girls’ British Open Amateur Championship at Panmure.

The West Country teenager also made the quarter-finals of the Women’s Amateur Championship, at Royal County Down, in June.

The Burnham and Berrow GC member was also eighth in the German Girls’ Open and ninth in the Annika Invitational Europe.

She represented England in this year’s European Girls’ Team Championship, where she was fourth in the individual competition, and was part of the victorious English team at the Women’s Home Internationals last month.

Rhodes was also part of the winning English team at last year’s Girls’ Home Internationals in Ireland.

The countries taking part also include Chinese Taipei, Columbia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and Wales

The post Humphreys, Rhodes and Fuller selected for World Junior Girls in Canada appeared first on Golf North.

AUSTRIA’S Isabella Holpher will defend her title at the English Women’s Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Ipswich Golf Club, next week.

The 18-year-old completed a remarkable 11-shot wire-to-wire victory 12 months ago at Coventry GC and returns attempting to become the first back-to-back winner since Yorkshire’s future LPGA player Jodi Ewart-Shadoff, in 2007-08.

The top-ranked player in the field is Essex’s World No. 23 Lily May Humphreys, from Stoke-by-Nayland, who makes the short journey to the Suffolk club on the back of a remarkable season.

Last year’s English Amateur Champion has won the Welsh and Irish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championships so will be bidding for a rare hat-trick when the three-day championship gets under way, on Tuesday, August 20.

Humphreys, who made her Curtis Cup debut in 2018, also claimed the Annika Invitational Europe in Sweden.

The 17-year-old was also runner-up to Hertfordshire’s Ellen Hume at the English Women’s Amateur Championship when defending her crown at Saunton GC.

Hume, from Mill Green GC, has returned to college in America but Humphreys is joined by Cornwall’s Women’s Amateur Champion Emily Toy, Somerset’s Mimi Rhodes – a quarter-finalist and Norfolk’s Chiberta Grand Priz winner Amelia Williamson

The quartet were also in the English team that won last week’s Women’s Home Internationals, at Downfield GC, in Scotland.

The victorious English Girls’ team claimed the Girls’ Home Internationals at the same venue and are represented in Suffolk by Gosford Ladies’ Jessica Baker, Whitley Bay’s Rosie Belsham, Ellie Gower, from Gleneagles, Huddersfield’s Charlotte Heath, Stoke Park’s Thalia Kirby and Carus Green’s Caitlin Whitehead, from Cumbria.

The latter finished second behind Germany’s Marie Bechtold at the English Girls’ Open Amateur Championship at The Gog Magog, last month.

Another player to look out for is Finland’s Kerttu Hiltunen, who last year was a runaway winner of the English Girls’ Under 16 Open Amateur Championship.

Hiltunen returns to the UK along with other Continental entrants from France, Germany Italy, Spain and The Netherlands.

The Scots are also out in force with a group including Penelope Brown, Louise Duncan, Chloe Goadby, Jasmine McIntosh, Lorna McClymont, Shannon McWilliam, Megan Robb and Clara Young.

The host club is represented by Vanessa Bell, Sharon Luckman and Abbie Symonds.

Purdis Heath – as Ipswich is also known – is a traditional heathland layout, and hosted the 2011 men’s English Mid-Amateur Championship.

The English Women’s Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship is contested over 72 holes. The full field play 18 holes on each of the first two days with the leading 40 players and ties returning to play 36 holes on the third day.

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