Charlotte has a par-fect day
NORTHUMBERLAND’S Charlotte Naughton has golfing success off to a tee after winning the 2022 English Girls’ Championship.
The teenager triumphed in tournament’s under-14 section, completing the 54-hole championship with a final-round 73 to post a winning total of 219 (+6).
Annabel Peaford was the leader going into the final round but soon found her lead clawed back by playing partner Naughton.
Three birdies for Naughton helped close the gap and a par on 18 was all she needed to claim the title by a two-shot margin from Hill Valley’s Lauren Crump.
Naughton said: “I feel very proud to win this tournament.
“It means a lot because I have worked really hard for this and it’s all paid off.
“A birdie at the second really got me started for the final round.
“I just missed out on a birdie at the 17th which was my hardest hole so that was alright too.
“I played really well. It was a hard course and now I just need to keep grafting away and get better and better.”
Naughton’s success follows that of fellow Tyneside teenager Jess Baker who – as reported in Grassroots Sport last month – produced an impressive display to win the 119th Women’s Amateur Championship at Hunstanton. The 19-year-old from Newcastle shone in the sun over the Norfolk links to achieve a 4&3 success against Sweden’s Louise Rydqvist in the 36-hole final.
The teenager, a member of Newcastle’s Gosforth Park Golf Club who attends the University of Central Florida in Orlando, became the fifth English winner of the coveted championship in the last 13 years.
It was the biggest title victory of her fledgling career so far - and earned her a coveted place in this week’s AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield, Scotland.
She can also now enter the US Women’s Open and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.