Rosie blossoming as a fine young golfer!
YOUNG COUNTY CHAMPION BEING TIPPED FOR TOP JUNIOR GOLF
ROSIE Belsham is being tipped as a major driving force in golf after winning the 2017 Northumberland Ladies’ County Golf Association County Championship, writes TONY HODGSON.
The 15-year-old from Whitley Bay took the title at Bamburgh Golf Club.
Not only did she claim the Championship Bowl, she was also the leading qualifier and recorded the best nett score over the qualifying 36 holes.
Belhsam, who plays for Whitley Bay GC, is also the youngest player to win the prestigious championship.
It is the latest in a string of successes for the young player - and Northumberland ladies’ captan Claire Whitfield is tipping her for even greater things in future.
She said: “Rosie is a very conscientous player. She works very hard at her game and always has the right attitude.
“She is a real talent and could go a very long way in the game.”
It was a case of revenge being so sweet for Belsham at Bamburgh - as in the final she overcame Gosforth Park’s Jess Baker, who had beaten her in their previous tournament encounter.
Belsham - whose handicap has dropped from five to two two this year - has held the Northumberland Junior Championship title for the past two years.
She has won junior tournaments across Northumberland and was also runner-up in the English Girls Open.
Last year she lifted the North of England Schools Championship and the Barlow Bowl and was joint runner-up in the Scottish Girls’ Under-14 Championship.
Mum Gina, who also plays at Whitley Bay, said: “I am very proud of Rosie - she has worked so hard at her game, especially in the past year.
“She is a member of the England Golf North regional squad and has been training wth the England under-16 squad, where she has learned so much from her coach J J Vallelly.
“Rosie is doing ever so well and her ambition is to one day turn professional.”
Belsham also set a major benchmark when playing at Stanley-based South Moor last year (pictured right).
She holed out from 166 yards in the second round of the North of England Under-14 Open to become the youngest player in the 93-year history of the club to sign for an albatross – three under par - at the par-five second hole. It was her first albatross and followed her first hole in one during a friendly match at her home club in which her mum also played.
The Whitley Bay High School pupil aced Bay’s third hole despite cutting her mother some slack by playing off the men’s tees!
Her albatross was chalked up in the second round of the Open.
The second hole was 425 yards and Belsham’s tee shot finished 55 yards from a copse of trees.
She soared over them with a wind-assisted six iron which hit the right fringe of the green half way up before rolling diagonally down and across almost the entire width of the green into the hole positioned front left.
Belsham will be part of the Northumberland squad - captained by Whitfield - in action in Morecambe later this week in the Northern Regional Ladies Championship against Lancashire,, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Cumbria and Durham.