Championships - Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship 2006
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Stacy Bregman
15.06.2006
Sophie next for giant-killing springbok Stacy
Thursday Match Play (Round 2) 7.30pmSOPHIE NEXT FOR GIANT-KILLING SPRINGBOK
Vagliano Trophy team player Sophie Walker from Lincolnshire will be the third player to step into the firing line against Springbok giant-killer Stacy Bregman when the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship reaches the round of the last 16 on Friday morning at Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle in Northern Ireland.
Stacy, 19, from Johannesburg, making her debut in the championship and the last of the 64 qualifiers for the match-play stages, having come through a eight-way play-off at the end of the qualifying rounds, toppled the No 1 seed, Azahara Munoz (Spain) by 2 and 1 with six-birdie barrage in the first round.
Then Miss Bregman, who took up golf only five years ago and has been playing competitively on for the last three, knocked out Malene Jorgensen (Denmark) by 3 and 2 with two-under-par figures.
"I did not play so well in the afternoon but still pretty good," said the confident Stacy who was never in arrears in either of her two ties. She is the only South African in the field and has paid her own way to Northern Ireland on a fleeting trip.
"I had one or two bad holes in the stroke-play. That's what knocked my scores up but you can get away with that in match-play."
Kenwick Park Golf Club member Sophie Walker won all four ties for GB&I in last summer's Vagliano Trophy victory at Chantilly and she is now a strong contender for a first Curtis Cup cap at Bandon Dunes, Oregon next month.
Sophie, 21, made the most of a flying start in both her wins. She was three up after only four holes in beating Stephanie Evans (Vale of Llangollen), the left-handed Welsh champion, by 4 and 3 and also in taking the measure of Dewi-Claire Schreefel (Netherlands) by 3 and 2 in the second round.
An eagle 3 at the third helped Sophie, who was the 17th qualifier, to take a stranglehold on her tie against the Dutch girl, who is a student at the University of Southern California and won the NCAA Division 1 women's title a few weeks ago.
Schreefel had dismissed the new English champion, 17-year-old Kiran Matharu (Cookridge Hall), by 2 and 1 in the first round.
Krystle Caithness (St Regulus), 17-year-old recent winner of the 54-hole St Rule Trophy at St Andrews, was roughly five or six under par in beating Maude-Aimee Leblanc (Canada) by 4 and 3 to set up a third-round meeting with the reigning British girls' open champion, 19-year-old Anna Nordqvist (Sweden).
Florentyna Parker (Gut Waldhof), Germany-based daughter of a club professional, was another youngster to produce a very good performance in reaching the last 16.
Florentyna, who won't be 17 until June 20, won at the 19th against Jade Schaeffer (France), the European individual women's amateur champion. Miss Park now plays Sandra Gal (Germany), an American college circuit player and fourth in the recent NCAA Division I women's championship.
Maura Morrin (The Curragh) beat Martina Gillen (Beaverstown) in an all-Irish clash. Maura won by 4 and 2 after being one up at the turn.
She now plays US college player Maria Hernandez (Spain) who had a 6 and 4 win over Breanne Loucks (Wrexham).
Spanish 18-year-old Belen Mozo will meet 19-year-old Py Bengtsson (Sweden) for a place in the quarter-finals in which the winner will play either Canadian Laura Matthews, women's head golf coach at Oklahoma State University, or Vagliano Trophy player Katharina Schallenberg from Germany.
Laura won by 5 and 4 against France's Lucie Gendronneau who had earlier won at the 20th against the former English champion Felicity Johnson (Harborne).
Irish champion Tricia Mangan (Ennis) jumped into a four-hole lead on the outward half against Louise Kenney (Pitreavie) and eventually won by 5 and 4. She will play Emma Bennett, a 21-year-old Australian who was also four up at the turn on Tara Delaney (Carlow), winner of the Irish open stroke-play title for the past two years. Emma won by 5 and 4.
Kate Coombes (Australia) three-putted the last to lose her second-round tie by one hole to Mariana Macias who became the third Spaniard in the last 32.
She will play Naomi Edwards (Ganton) who removed the No 2 qualifier, Claire Coughlan (Cork), last year's beaten finalist, by a 3 and 2 margin. All square at the turn, Welsh women's open stroke-play champion Naomi took the initiative early on the inward journey and was two up after 15 holes.
She clinched victory at the next.
Thursday Matchplay (Round 1) 11.30am
Leading qualifier Azahara Munoz from Spain was sensationally defeated in the first round of the match-play stages of the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship at Royal County Down Golf Club this morning.
The top seed was beaten 2 and 1 by the last of the 64 qualifiers, Stacy Bregman (South Africa) who came through an 8.30pm play-off last night when eight players on 158 went into sudden-death play to decide which six would go through.
Munoz scored 16 shots better than the South African in the 36-hole stroke-play test but that counted for nothing once they crossed swords in match-play.
"I had two or three bad holes in the stroke play which knocked my scores back but you can get away with that in match-play," said the 19-year-old Bregman from Johannesburg.
Stacy, who is not going to college and plans to turn professional possibly at the end of the year, is on South Africa's short leet of six for the Espirito Santo Trophy women's world amateur team championship - to be played at Stellenbosch Golf Club, Cape Town later this year.
"No, I wasn't in awe of Azahara at all, even though she's got a great record. She's only human and I knew that if I played well I could beat her. And I did," said Stacy.
Bregman did not take up golf until she was 14 and has been playing competitively for only three years.
She had six birdies and two bogeys for the 17 holes against her Spanish opponent.
Stacy won the third, sixth and ninth with birdies to be three up at the turn, Munoz failing to win a hole until the 10th.
The 12th was halved in birdies before the South African birdied another long hole, the 13th, to go three up again. The 15th in a quality match was halved in birdies and two more halves sealed a notable win for Stacy.
English champion Kiran Matharu (Cookridge Hall) was beaten 2 and 1 by Dewi-Claire Schreefel from the Netherlands. Dewi-Claire, a student at the University of Southern California, recently won the NCAA Division 1 women's championship.
Kiran fell three down on the outward nine holes and could not pull back the deficit on the inward holes.
Schreefel's victory put her through to a second-round tie against Sophie Walker (Kenwick Park). Sophie won by 4 and 3 against Stephanie Evans (Vale of Llangollen), the left-handed Welsh champion.
Germany-based teenager Florentyna Parker, daughter of the professional at Gut Waldhof Golf Club, won by 8 and 7 against Kira Meixner, one of the five Canadian qualifiers. Florentyna was seven up at the turn.
IRELAND WIN TEAM EVENT AT ROYAL COUNTY DOWN
Claire Coughlan (Cork), Martina Gillen (Beaverstown) and Tricia Mangan (Ennis) won the international team trophy event for Ireland, staged in conjunction with the two qualifying rounds at the Ladies British open amateur golf championship at Royal County Down.
The leading placings were:
290 IRELAND 144 146 (C Couglan, M Gillen, T Mangan).
292 GERMANY 146 146 (Katharina Schallenberg, Sandra Gal, Stephanie Doering).
294 SPAIN 147 147 (Carlota Ciganda, Azahara Munoz, Maria Hernandez); SWEDEN 145 149 (Anna Nordqvist, Caroline Westrup, Sofie Andersson).
298 FRANCE 148 150 (An ne-Lise Caudal, Melodie Bourdy, Jade Schaeffer).
301 ENGLAND 152 149 (Kiran Matharu, Melissa Reid, Naomi Edwards); NETHERLANDS (Dwi-Claire Schreefel, Marjet Van der Graaff, Christel Boeljon).
303 WALES 151 152 (Stephanie Evans, Sahra Hassan, Breanne Loucks).
306 AUSTRALIA 158 148 (Emma Bennett, Sunny Park, Kate Combes).
307 CANADA 153 154 (Laura Matthews, Marry Ann Lapointe, Lindsay Knowlton).
311 DENMARK 154 157 (Malene Jorgensen, Charlotte Lorentzen).
317 SCOTLAND 156 161 (Anne Laing, Heather MacRae, Martine Pow).
319 BELGIUM 164 155 (Tamara Luccioli, Lien Willems, Emilie Geury).
More information
Team Award Results
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