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Gloucestershire’s Sian James wins English mid-amateur championship
04 July 2010
Gloucestershire’s Sian James won the English open mid-amateur championship at her home club, Bristol & Clifton, when she defeated Germany’s Michele Holzwarth 2/1 in the final.
“I am over the moon,” said the 21-year-old, who won her first national title watched by a crowd of home club spectators and all her family: father Ian was her caddy, while mother Margaret, and brothers Steven and Mark were in the gallery.
“It was tough,” said Sian. “When Michele holed a long putt to halve the third I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and she fought really hard. But it was a very good match and the support was brilliant. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The match was excellent, with plenty of top quality golf and a great deal of determination from both players. Sian, in particular, showed great powers of recovery and twice halved holes despite having to take penalty drops from unplayable lies beside trees.
The second occasion was on the par three 17th and her cool-headed four clinched the title for her. Sian was two up when she pulled her tee shot and the ball finished under a fir tree to the left of the green. She took a drop and played a superb pitch to within feet of the hole, which she sank. Michele, meanwhile, found an awkward lie in a greenside bunker and although she played out well the ball ran past the hole and she two-putted for a half.
The first nine holes of the match was textbook stuff, with the exception of the fourth, where Sian had to concede after tangling with trees and knee deep rough. Otherwise the players matched each other par for par, birdie for birdie over the first eight holes. Sian also birdied the ninth to reach the turn all square.
She had a great escape on the 10th, where she also took a drop from beside a tree before pitching her next shot stone dead for a par and a half.
Both players peppered the flag on the 11th but it was Sian who sank the birdie putt and moved into the lead for the first time. She also won the 12th after Michele, in her turn, encountered trees and deep rough.
Sian made a very good recovery from a plugged lie in a bunker to halve the par three 13th and keep her two-up lead. She also won the 15th where local knowledge proved invaluable for tackling a scary downhill putt on a difficult green.
Michele fought back with a classy birdie on the uphill 16th but her challenge ended when the 17th was halved.
“I am not disappointed,” said the 22-year-old from Berlin, who won much admiration among the spectators. She has promised to return and to bring more German players with her.
Both players are students. Michele, 22, will soon start her final year at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, USA, while Sian has completed two years of a degree course in applied golf management at Birmingham University. She will be spending much of the next few weeks working alongside a PGA pro as part of her course, but with time out for pre-qualifying for the Ricoh Women’s British Open and to play in the English and British strokeplay championships.
Final:
Sian James (Bristol & Clifton) beat Michele Holzwarth (Germany) 2/1
It’s England v Germany in final of English mid-amateur
Gloucestershire’s Sian James will meet Germany’s Michele Holzwarth in the final of the English women’s open mid-amateur championship at Bristol & Clifton Golf Club.
Sian, 21, who is playing on her home course, won a tight semi-final match, beating her county colleague and foursomes partner, Charlotte Ellis, by one hole.
“It was a very good game, a real battle” said Sian, who is a leading university golfer and will be playing her first English championship final. “I knew that if I could get into the matchplay I would stand a chance on my home course – and it’s great to be playing in a final at my own club.”
There was never more than one hole in the match between the two Gloucestershire players and it was Charlotte who held the early advantage. But every time the 2006 champion took a one hole lead, Sian pulled her back to all square.
Crucially, Sian won the 14th with a birdie three to square the match and then took the lead for the first time with a par four on the 15th. Charlotte immediately struck back, holing a long putt on the 16th to again make the scoreline all square. But Sian won the short 17th with a par to go one-up and clinched her place in the final when the 18th was halved in par.
Earlier in the day, Sian went to the 19th to beat Buckinghamshire’s Rachel Drummond in the quarter-finals. Charlotte Ellis, meanwhile, made short work of her morning match with sparkling play and a 6/5 win over Lincolnshire’s Jess Wilcox.
Michele Holzwarth’s two-up victory in her semi-final against Hampshire’s Raffi Dyer meant a rapid change of plan. She had to rearrange her flight home and accepted an invitation to stay overnight with the family of the club member who shouldered her bag for the semi-final.
Michele, 22, is a plus-two handicapper from Berlin. She’s just completed her third year at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and is a winner on the US college circuit. She saw this event on the European Golf Association calendar and said: “It fitted my schedule perfectly and I love the format of strokeplay and matchplay. We don’t do that in Germany.”
Her semi-final match against Hampshire’s Raffi Dyer was excellent, with the players collecting five birdies and an eagle between them.
Raffi, who recently won the Critchley Salver at Sunningdale, won the third and fourth with birdies, and was up for most of the match. But Michele made her move towards the end of the round. She hit a spectacular drive over trees on to the green at the 288-yard 15th to get back to all square, halved the 16th, and then won both the 17th and 18th with pars.
This will also be Michele’s first appearance in a national final and she said: “I am just going to come here and play 18 holes and see what happens.”
Her day had the perfect ending when she came off the golf course to discover that Germany had beaten Argentina in the World Cup!
Earlier in the day she beat Tara Watters, the runner-up in the English amateur championship, while Raffi beat Somerset’s Hannah Grant 1 up.
Click here for matchplay results
Top seed Tara reaches English mid-amateur quarter finals
02 July 2010
Top seed Tara Watters of Middlesex has played her way safely into the quarter finals of the English women’s open mid-amateur championship at Bristol & Clifton.
Among those joining her in the last eight is Sian James, from the host club, who gave the local members much to cheer about with sub-par scores in both her matches today.
Tara defeated Kent’s Jerry Lawrence in the first round before going on to beat Warwickshire’s Charlotte Dalton 4/3. “I wasn’t very happy when I saw I was playing Charlotte, I’ve played her before and she’s really good, “ said Tara. “But I think it made me more focussed and I got off to a good start, winning three of the first four holes, and I kept my lead.
“After about five holes we both upped our game and played really well. It was a very good match and I think I was level or one-under when it finished.” Now she meets Michele Holzwarth of Germany.
Sian James was four under par in both of her games, first beating Emilee Taylor of Lincolnshire on the 13th and then knocking out Devon’s Rosie Davies on the 15th after trading birdies for much of the match.
“I played really solid and I had my putting boots on,” said Sian, who last week reached the last 16 in the British amateur championship.
“Rosie and I had a great game. I birdied the fourth, fifth and sixth, she birdied seven and we halved eight in birdies. I managed to be three up at the turn but Rosie birdied the 11th to get back to two.
“The 12th was a turning point. I hit a tree and had to take a drop, Rosie was almost on the green in two – it’s a par five – and putted up close. Then I chipped in and we ended up halving the hole in birdies! It was quite a save for me and I won the next two holes with par before halving the 15th with another par.”
Sian will meet Buckinghamshire’s Rachel Drummond in the quarter finals.
A second Gloucestershire player is also in the last eight. England international and past champion Charlotte Ellis beat Staffordshire’s Melissa Siviter in the first round and went on to knock out Lincolnshire’s Jessica Schiele. Earlier in the day, Jessica knocked out the defending champion, Katie Mundy of Hampshire, in a close match which ended on the last green. Charlotte, who won this title in 2006, now faces another Lincolnshire player, Jessica Wilcox of Blankney.
The other quarter final will be between Hampshire’s Raffi Dyer, who recently won the Critchley Salver at Sunningdale, and Somerset’s Hannah Grant.
Quarter finals
Tara Watters (Muswell Hill) v Michele Holzwarth (Germany)
Hannah Grant (Enmore Park) v Raffi Dyer (Hayling)
Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield) v Sian James (Bristol & Clifton)
Jessica Wilcox (Blankney) v Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton)
Click here for matchplay results
Tara Watters is top seed in English mid-amateur championship
01 July 2010
Middlesex golfer Tara Watters leads the qualifiers for the matchplay stages of the English women’s open mid-amateur championship at Bristol & Clifton Golf Club.
Tara, from Muswell Hill, enjoys the big stage. In May she was runner-up, for the second time, in the English amateur championship.
“I do like big championships, I like the challenge,” she said after returning a three-over par total for the 36-hole qualifying. “I always seem to come second so it’s great to be first for a change. But there’s nowhere safe in the matchplay draw! There will be lots of good girls lower down who just had a bad day.”
Tara qualified one shot ahead of her playing partner, the England international Charlotte Ellis of Gloucestershire.
“Playing with Charlotte was really good , there was nothing much between us and it was almost like matchplay. It certainly kept the momentum going,” said Tara.
Her game plan was to keep the ball straight and it worked. “As long as you keep it out of the bunkers and keep straight you’re fine. I made a mess of one of the easiest par fives but, apart from that, I was steady and played consistently.”
Defending champion Katie Mundy reached the knockout stages with a pair of 79s and the host club’s Sian James also made it through, despite a disappointing 84 in the first round. She came back with a fighting 76 which included an eagle and a birdie and qualified in 22nd place.
Tara’s afternoon 73 equalled the low round of the day. Lincolnshire’s Jess Schiele set the one-over par standard in her morning round and it was also matched by Charlotte Ellis in the afternoon. Another Lincolnshire player, Jess Wilcox, had a second round 74.
The tournament is contested by players aged 18 and over and the top 32 competitors qualified for the knockout stages
First round draw
Tara Watters (Muswell Hill) v Jerry Lawrence (Rochester & Cobham Park)
Emma Sheffield (Newark) v Charlotte Dalton (Ladbrook Park)
Sophie Beardsall (Greetham Valley) v Georgina Dunn (Peterborough Milton)
Clare Partridge (Moor Park) v Michele Holzwarth (GER)
Danielle Anderson (Rochford Hundred) v Tilly Magil (Woburn)
Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Royal Jersey) v Hannah Grant (Enmore Park)
Hermione FitzGerald (Royal Worlington) v Ellie Robinson (Middlesbrough)
Raffi Dyer (Hayling) v Daisy Dyer (Chigwell)
Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield) v Kimberley Bradbury (Cavendish)
Chelsea Masters (Highwoods, Bexhill) v Elizabeth Haycock (Moseley)
Emilee Taylor (Gainsborough) v Sian James (Bristol & Clifton)
Kirsty Rands (Burhill) v Rosie Davies (Saunton)
Jessica Wilcox (Blankney) v Lucinda Mileham (Aldwickbury Park)
Jane Binning (Frilford Heath) v Stacey Rodger (West Hove)
Jessica Schiele (Kenwick Park) v Katie Mundy (Dunwood Manor)
Melissa Siviter (Enville) v Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton)
Click here for qualifying scores. The course par is 72 and the CSS for both rounds was 76.
