Lydia’s the cover girl after golfing triumph
PENCOED golfer Lydia Hall has made it on to the front cover of the latest magazine produced by the PGA Professionals organisation, writes Tony Poole.
It was down to her stunning win earlier in the month in the PGA Professional Championship at Tenby.
It was an historic victory as it was not only the first occasion for a female player to lift the title but she was also the first lady player to win any PGA National event.
The pun on the front cover of the magazine summed things up: “Lydia’s Tenby triumph is Hall of fame.”
But it was back to business last week for the 28-year-old as she prepared at both Royal Porthcawl and Southerndown for the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open that tees off on Friday.
It’s regarded as one of the premier events on the Ladies European Tour and this year Dundonald Links in North Ayrshire is the host club.
All the top Europe- an players are on the starting list including leader Beth Allen and Cheyenne Woods – niece of golfing legend Tiger Woods.
The tournament on the West Coast of Scotland embraces 54 holes and the winner will emerge on Sunday afternoon.
VICTORY SHIELD FOURSOMES
AHEAD of Southerndown staging this year’s Welsh Amateur Championship, club focus on Sunday will be on the Victory Shield Foursomes.
The Southerndown duo of Llewellyn Matthews and Jake Hapgood will be involved in the semifinal stage of the competition.
The Ogmore-by-sea club has never won the tournament and they last reached the last four back in 1987 through current club director of golf John Peters and Lee Griffiths.
But they lost on the final hole at Royal Porthcawl to Pontypool.
This time around, combinations of Matthews, Hapgood, Gareth Standing and Ben Westgate have got Southerndown past Cottrell Park, The Vale Resort, Maesteg and Langland Bay.
And now with home advantage, there has surely never been a better time for Southerndown to bring the long wait for Victory Shield honours to an end.
The draw is being made this week with Tenby club Trefloyne, who beat North Wales, definitely in the hat.
Up until last weekend, the quarter-final ties involving Conwy and The Glamorganshire together with St Pierre and Llanwern had yet to be resolved.
ROYAL PORTHCAWL
A YELLOW Box Stableford competition at Royal Porthcawl last Saturday produced a hole in one.
Despite wet conditions out on the Lock’s Common golf course, Brian Jenkins came up trumps with an ace on the 158-yard 11th hole in a 33-point haul.
His ball steered clear of some intimidating bunkers to find the cup on the plateau green that looks longer off the tee than it really is.
A Rolex watch courtesy of “How Did I Do” website was the prize, and it compensated for finishing a point behind Richard Hayes.
Ironically, after getting the ace, Jenkins failed to score on the next two holes - and that impacted on the outcome.
Hayes birdied the 13th hole, and matched par eight times in his winning score of 34 points.
Phillip Matthews was third, signing for 32 points, and further down the scoreboard came N D Jones (31) and R G Ellis (30).