Championships - Girls' British Open Amateur Championship 2008
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15.08.2008
Laura Gonzalez-Escallon wins the 2008 British Girls' Championship
FINAL REPORTLaura Gonzalez-Escallon from Brussels has become the fifth Continental player in the past six years to win the British girls open amateur championship. The No 1 qualifier, Laura beat the No 6 seed, Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale) by 2 and 1 in the final. Laura delighted in her vistory commented "I won two big amateur tournaments in Belgium last month, one was a women's event and the other was the Belgian girls championship. So I came to Scotland in good form - and I played well right from the start ... leading the qualfiers ... under par in all my ties.
(She was two under par in both matches on Thursday and five under and two under par today).
I only had one bogey all day today so that is very good for match-play.
I have another year at school in Belgium but I would like to go to an American university. Nobody has made me an offer yet"
The Belgian player was two under par for the 17 holes, having been five under par in winning her morning semi-final. It was the second year in a row that Kelly, 16 years old from Manchester, had lost in the final. Kelly showed the class that has earned her selection to the European Junior Ryder Cup team by birdieing the eighth and ninth to get on level terms.
The first three holes were halved in par before the 17-year-old Laura from Brussels stepped up a gear to birdie the long fourth and short fifth.
Sixth seed Kelly, beaten in last year's final and still only 16, managed to halve the fourth in 4s but she could not match her opponent's 2 at the fifth.
Tidy then birdied the par-4 eighth and the par-5 ninth to wipe out the Belgian's lead.
The eighth hole was the first lost by Laura all day. She had been five under par in beating Israel's Laetitia Beck without losing a single hole.
Laura had also not bogeyed a hole all day after nine holes of the final and 15 holes in the morning semi-final.
Kelly was not far behind that standard with only one bogey - at the 11th - in the semi-final by 5 and 3 win with three under par figures against Spain's Mandy Goyos, daughter of a Manchester woman.
The 10th hole was halved in 4s as both players sought to edge ahead going into the home straight.
Gonzalez-Escallon got her third birdie of the final - a 2 at the short 12th - to regain a one-hole lead but Tidy was back on terms at the next where the Belgian player's 5 at this par-4 hole was her first bogey of the day .... the end of a run of 26 consecutive holes without a bogey
It was Tidy's turn to bogey at hole, only her second of the afternoon, the short 14th and that put Gonzalez-Escallon back into a one-hole lead with four holes to play.
The 15th and 16th were halved.
Tidy drove into the left rough at the 17th and recovered to about eight yards from the pin. But she took three shots to get down from there for a bogey 5 to her opponent's cast-iron par 4.
And so the title was won by Laura Gonzalez-Escallon by 2 and 1.
Losing in the final for the second year, Kelly said "I'm disappointed but I gave it my best shot. Laura is a very, very good player. It's difficult to beat somebody in match-play if they don't make mistakes ... and she made only one bogey against me (and none in the semi-final).
And what a phenomenal putter she is. I've never played with or against any girl who could keep holing putts like that"
UPDATE 1500hrs
Manchester's Kelly Tidy showed the class that has earned her selection to the European Junior Ryder Cup team by birdieing the eighth and ninth to get on level terms with the top seed, Laura Gonzalez-Escallon, in the final of the British girls' open amateur championship at a very still Monifieth Links.
The first three holes were halved in par before the 17-year-old Laura from Brussels stepped up a gear to birdie the long fourth and short fifth.
Sixth seed Kelly, beaten in last year's final and still only 16, managed to halve the fourth in 4s but she could not match her opponent's 2 at the fifth.
Tidy then birdied the par-4 eighth and the par-5 ninth to wipe out the Belgian's lead.
The eighth hole was the first lost by Laura all day. She had been five under par in beating Israel's Laetitia Beck without losing a single hole.
Laura had also not bogeyed a hole all day after nine holes of the final and 15 holes in the morning semi-final.
Kelly was not far behind that standard with only one bogey - at the 11th - in the semi-final by 5 and 3 win with three under par figures against Spain's Mandy Goyos, daughter of a Manchester woman.
The 10th hole was halved in 4s as both players sought to edge ahead going into the home straight.
Manchester 16-year-old Kelly Tidy, a member at Royal Birkdale, has reached the final of the British girls' open amateur championship for the second year in a row. This morning at Monifieth Links, Kelly beat 17-year-old Spanish player, Mandy Goyos, whose mother Angela (Ball) comes from Lancashire, by 5 and 3. Kelly lost last year's final at Southerndown to another English girl Henrietta Brockway.
Kelly qualified as No 6 seed this week and in the final she will play the top qualifier, 17-year-old Laura Gonzalez-Escallon from Brussels, Belgium.
Laura was five under par in winning her semi-final by 4 and 3 against Letitia Beck from Israel.
"I hope I can go one better than last year," said Kelly after her victory.
Tidy, who will play for Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup match in Kentucky next month, said earlier that she felt she was a better player than she was at this time last year.
Kelly Tidy got off to a flying start against Mandy Goyos.
The Royal Birkdale player won the first four holes with a par-par-birdie-birdie start.
Another birdie by Kelly at the fifth put her five up. And yet another birdie at the eight gave the English girl international a commanding six-hole lead which she still held after 10 holes.
The 11th provided Goyos with her first success of the morning. She had to birdied the hole to achieve it and get back to five down. Another birdie by the Spanish player at the 13th cut her deficit to four holes.
But Tidy's par 4 at the 15th was good enough to win the hole and the match by 5 and 3 with three-under-par figures.
Both semi-finals were full of quality play.
After the first eight holes were halved - including the first, fourth and eighth in birdies in the first semi-final, Laura Gonzalez-Escallon broke the deadlock by winning the ninth with a birdie to go one up.
The Belgian girl, whose father comes from Colombia, quickly added to that by winnig the 10th and 11th with pars to be three up with four-under-par figures.
Laura's fifth birdie put her four up at the 12th and halves at the next two ended the tie with Gonzalez-Escallon the winner by 4 and 3.
Amazingly, 16-year-old Laetitia never won a hole, yet she reached the turn in three under par and was one or two under for the holes played.
Belgium's Laura Gonzalez-Escallon will meet Kelly Tidy from Manchester in this afternoon's 18-hole final of the British girls' open amateur championship at the Monifieth Links. Final Tees off at 1300hrs when Kelly hopes to go "one better than last year" and lift the title that eluded her last year.
After the first eight holes were halved in the first semi-final agaisnt Laetitia Beck (Israel), Laura won the ninth with a birdie to go one up. She quickly added that by winning the 10th and 11th with pars to be three up with four-under-par figures.
Kelly Tidy got off to a flying start against Spain's Mandy Goyos, whose mother Angela comes from Lancashire.
The Royal Birkdale player won the first four holes with a par-par-birdie-birdie start.
Another birdie by Kelly at the fifth put her five up. And yet another birdie at the eight gave the English girl international a commanding six-hole lead which she still held after 10 holes.
Kelly Tidy was beaten in last year's final.
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