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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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)

The post Four England players in initial Curtis Cup squad looking for place at Conwy appeared first on Golf North.

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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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Europe’s Hannah Darling in practice for the Ping Junior Solheim Cup against the USA, which starts at Gleneagles on Tuesday. Picture by JAMIE SQUIRE / WME

SCOTLAND’S Hannah Darling sees no reason why Team Europe cannot beat the USA for the first time in 12 years in this week’s PING Junior Solheim Cup.

The Americans have won four of the last five editions – 2011 resulted in a 12-12 tie – but the 16-year-old Edinburgh golfer believes home advantage and strong team morale will stand her side in good stead.

“It’s going to be tough but we’re on home soil and we’re all playing well so there’s no reason why we can’t win,” said Darling, who won the Scottish Girls’ Amateur Championship in 2017 and 2018.

“Our expectations are to win because I believe we can, but we’re also here to have fun and make memories for life.

“The last few days have been amazing. We’ve bonded loads as a team and had so much fun,” Darling added. “Learning about everyone and seeing how everyone plays has been great.

“We’re making memories. It’s very cool. Suzann Pettersen, Catriona Matthew and a few of the other players were out on the course and came over to say hi. That was pretty cool.

“Just being with the team and knowing you all deserve to be here – it’s almost like a reward for playing well this season. It’s brilliant.”

The PING Junior Solheim Cup is very similar to the senior version with 12 players on each side, and the 10^th edition gets under way on Tuesday morning with six foursomes over Gleneagles’ King’s Course.

There will then be six fourball matches in the afternoon, before the contest concludes with 12 singles matches on Wednesday.

Rachel Heck is on Team USA for a second time after helping America to victory in Des Moines two years ago.

Last year the former World Amateur No. 1 also holed the winning putt for the Americans in the Junior Ryder Cup in Paris.

“Any opportunity like this is so much fun,” said Heck. “Being able to represent the United States with my best friends is awesome.

“The Junior Ryder Cup was an incredible experience and I’m sure this week will be, too.

“It’s such a different atmosphere playing on a team. Looking to the side of the green and seeing your team-mates supporting you is amazing,” said Heck.

“It’s a unique experience for us so I’m excited to see what this week has in store.

“Were such a tight group. We travel together all the time and always competing against each other, so it’s really cool to actually come together this week and play as a team.”

It is Heck’s first time in Scotland and she was effusive in her praise for both the country and the venue.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” Rachel said. “It’s cold but it’s so gorgeous. When we’ve been playing the course I can’t help looking around at the views, it’s so stunning.

“The course is beautiful and in incredible shape. It’s so much fun to play. It’s very difficult – it’s perfect for matchplay because it’s so challenging. We’re all just grateful to be here.”

•To follow all the action at the 2019 Solheim Cup click here.

The post Can Europe win Ping Junior Solheim Cup for first time? Well, Heck yes! says Darling appeared first on Golf North.

SOMERSET’S Mimi Rhodes, Essex’s Lily May Humphreys and Surrey’s Annabell Fuller have all been included in the European team to face the United States of America in next month’s PING Junior Solheim Cup at Gleneagles.

Seventeen-year-old Rhodes, from Burnham & Berrow, earned an automatic place on the team having finished in the top-six on the European Junior Solheim Cup ranking.

Fuller, from Roehampton, and Humphreys, from Stoke by Nayland, who have both already played in the Curtis Cup against the USA even though they are only both 17 like Rhodes, were both selected as wild card picks by European captain Mickey Walker.

Scotland’s Hannah Darling, Denmark’s Amalie Leth-Nissen, France’s Lilas Pinthier and Germany’s Paula Schulz-Hanssen were the other picks.

“I’m excited to announce such a young, talented and international team for this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup, said Walker, who was Europe’s Solheim Cup captain when the match was first played in 1990.

“This will be a special week for everyone involved and create memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

“I am delighted the matches will be played at Gleneagles, one of the most iconic golfing venues in the UK and one of my personal favourite places to visit and play golf,

Walker, who was herself an Essex-based amateur, added: “I feel sure that all the girls participating in the PJSC will feel the same.”

“Finally, on behalf of the European team, I would like to say a big thank-you to John Solheim and his family for their vision and generosity in creating this wonderful match between the very best young players from the two continents.”

“The depth of talent on Mickey Walker’s team is very impressive and promises to create some exciting and memorable moments at Gleneagles,” said John Solheim, PING chairman and chief executive.

“It is wonderful to see six countries represented. It speaks to the wide appeal of the game and is a testament to the golf organisations within each country that have committed to developing such talented young ladies.,” Mr Solheim added.

This year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup is to be played over the King’s course at Gleneagles, on September 10 and 11, immediately ahead of the Solheim Cup which starts on the resort’s PGA Centenary course on September 13.

The post England trio selected by Mickey Walker for Europe’s Junior Solheim Cup team appeared first on Golf North.

HERTFORDSHIRE’S England international Alice Hewson booked herself a place in this week’s AIG Women’s British Open at Woburn, after producing a last day charge to win the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship at Dorset’s Parkstone Golf Club.

Hewson, from Berkhamsted, started the final day just inside the top 20 after opening rounds of 72, 70 and 73.

But the 21-year-old stormed though the field with a six-under par 66 that included six birdies and two eagles.

That was enough to see her tie at the top of the leaderboard with Finland’s Krista Junkkari on seven-under.

The pair were still level after a three-hole play-off before the two-time Curtis Cup player won with a par at the second hole of sudden-death.

The new champion becomes just the fourth English player after Emma Duggleby (2000), Joanne Morley (1992) and most recently Bronte Law (2016) to lift the trophy.

The Clemson University player can now look forward to spending the next week in the company of the world’s best players as they compete for this year’s fifth women’s major at Woburn.

“This is incredible,” said the Berkhamsted player moments after holing the winning putt. “Going into today I just went out there and tried to get as low as I could. I was brave out there and it paid off.

“I was quite far out of it this morning. I played really solid earlier in the week without really getting anywhere but today I made a lot of eagles and birdies.

“As I said before, I just tried to be brave. I gave my putts a little extra and it worked.

“Playing in the Women’s British Open is going to be absolutely incredible,” added Alice who was the first Englishwoman to play a competitve round at Augusta, in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, in April.

Hewson, who can’t wait to tee it up in the Women’s British Open against the best players from the LPGA and LET, said: “It’s going to be my first major and being so close to home will to make it even more special. I can’t wait to get started.

“I’d also like to pay tribute to Krista,” she added. “It was a really great play-off. She played absolutely great all week.

“She’s been there or thereabouts all week. She made four pars in the play-off at a time when she was probably just as nervous as me. She played really well.”

Further down the leaderboard Italy’s Caterina Don closed with a two-under par 70 to clinch third place, while Norway’s Franziska Sliper played the shot of the day when she holed out for an albatross on the sixth on her way to finishing fourth after posting a 68.

It was also a great week for Hewson’s England international team-mate Annabell Fuller, from Roehampton, while Western Australian Kirsten Rudgeley, finished tied-fifth.

She finished alongside Scotland’s Hannah Darling who fired a bogey-free 68 to lead after three rounds. Darling, who celebrated her 16th birthday last week, was bidding to become the first Scot to claim the European title,

Darling, the second youngest player in the 144-player field, said after her third round: “Obviously it’s a big tournament but it’s still the same golf course.

“There’s no pressure on me to be honest, I’m only 16, so I’m just going to enjoy it and see what happens in the end,” added the Broomieknowe member.

Her final round 77 left her in a six-way share of fifth alongside Sweden’s Linn Grant, Denmark’s Karen Fredgaard and Italy’s Virginia Bossi.

Rudgeley, the current Western Australian Amateur Champion, who made her debut in the Toyota Junior World Golf Cup in June, will play the English and British Girls, as well as the English Ladies Strokeplay while visiting the UK in her bid to improve her world ranking.

Kirsten has spent recent summers playing in England to broaden her experience.

For full scores from the European Ladies Amateur Championship can be found at the European Golf Association’s website here.

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Hannah Darling (Broomieknowe GC) leads after 2nd round of the Scottish Girls Open Championship 2019

Hannah Darling continued to lead the way at this year’s Scottish Girls’ Open. An even par round of 71 gave the Scots teenager a 3-shot lead going into tomorrow’s final round on the Eden Course at St Andrews.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s final round, Darling said: “Tomorrow is another fresh day and I will be looking to play it as I have over the last two days, not getting ahead of myself and keeping a level head. I’ve not been in a final often, so I am just looking forward to learning from it and hoping it goes my way.”

Darling, who is currently studying for her National 5 exams, has had to use her down time at this year’s event to keep on top of her revision adding:
“I am doing pretty well at the moment; I’m trying to do it little and often as that’s the only way I can do it at the moment, but I think that my parents will be happy to hear that I am trying to study.”

The low round of the day came from Isabelle Simpson who carded a one-under-par 70 to sit in second place ahead of tomorrow’s final round. Simpson and Darling will be joined by England’s Ellie Gower (even par) in the final group out at 11:30am.

> View Scottish Girls’ Open leaderboard

Meanwhile in Ayrshire, there is a three-way tie for first place with Ireland’s Eoin Sullivan, Germany’s Luc Breuer and Scotland’s Gregor Graham all finishing on five-under-par ahead of the closing two rounds tomorrow.

Breuer is looking forward to the final 36 holes at West Kilbride and speaking to Scottish Golf, the highest ranked player in this week’s field said:

I mean this was a solid round today, I didn’t play my best, but I was hitting it well off the tee and that got me a few chances. I am looking forward to keeping that going. We have two exciting rounds tomorrow and anything can happen.”

Breuer will be joined by Sullivan and Graham in tomorrow’s final group, teeing off at 09:10am. A full leaderboard and list of final round tee-off times can be found below.

> View Scottish Boys’ Open leaderboard

The post Scottish Boys’ & Girls’ Opens – Day 2 Report appeared first on Golf North.

#Project19 hopeful Hannah Darling with Team Europe Solheim Cup Captain, Catriona Matthew

European Captain Catriona Matthew meets teen star Hannah Darling just ahead of six months to go milestone

Scotland, Friday 8^th March, 2019 – Two generations of female Scottish golfing talent came together to celebrate International Women’s Day just six months before the iconic Solheim Cup returns to the Home of Golf.

European Captain Catriona Matthew, who will lead her team at Gleneagles from 9-15^th September, spent an afternoon with promising young Scottish talent Hannah Darling, who hopes to join her golfing role model in Perthshire by qualifying for the European PING Junior Solheim Cup team.

Darling is one of the six players who self-started their own #Project19 initiative when they first learned of Scotland’s successful bid to host The 2019 Solheim Cup and PING Junior Solheim Cup.

The youngsters were at Des Moines Golf & Country Club in 2017 to get a taste of the event, and afterwards they set up a Whatsapp group to motivate each other to qualify for this year’s junior edition.

Hannah Darling in action at North Berwick, a jewel in the crown on Scotland’s Golf Coast in East Lothian.

Now, with just six months until another world-class sporting event heads to Gleneagles – its stunning PGA Centenary Course hosted The 2014 Ryder Cup – it is Darling who is favourite to achieve that goal after solid performances in the first two of 10 qualifying events this year.

“It’s pretty much all I’ve been working towards for the past three or four years,” said 16-year-old Darling, who last year won the inaugural R&A Girls’ U16 Open Championship and successfully defended her Scottish Girls’ Amateur Championship title she won in 2017. “I can’t really put into words what it would mean. The memories I would make and the experience I would gain from it would be amazing. It would be a great way to start my career.”

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘balance’, and that is certainly something Darling is learning to master as she juggles her golfing ambitions with her studies.

“Balance is a great word and a great message, and it suits golf well,” she said. “This year is all about balance for me.

“In terms of the women’s game, it’s good to see much more publicity around it. Even since I was a bit younger, there’s a lot more on TV which is really good. It’s good to see it changing for the better as I’m growing up.”

Matthew said: “It’s difficult sometimes trying to balance work and being at home – it’s something every family has to adapt to.

“When I first turned pro you didn’t really see much women’s golf. Now there’s a lot more on television – and women’s sports in general. Girls see that and it encourages them to take up a sport, and if it can be golf then all the better.

“It’s good to see this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup being played at the same venue, as that hasn’t always been the case. Hopefully Hannah makes the team.”

Tickets to see Matthew lead Europe in this world-class sporting event are on sale now, with options for practice days, Opening Ceremony Day (12 Sept) and match days (13-15 Sept).

For more information visit www.solheimcup2019.com

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