Yorkshire players bid for glory at Lindrick

WOODSOME HALL’S Rochelle Morris, fresh from helping England retain their European team championship in Portugal, is part of a 17-strong Yorkshire entry in this week’s English women’s amateur championship at Lindrick, which starts today.

The White Rose competitors looking to claim national glory will also include sisters Abigail and Jessica Smee, from Hessle.

Fourteen-year-old Mia EalesSmith, who recently helped Yorkshire retain the Northern Counties title, will play on her home course.

Rotherham’s Olivia Winning will look to build on her recent fine run in the English women’s open match play, where she knocked out the top seed from the stroke play stage on her way to reaching the semi-finals.

Other players flying the White Rose of Yorkshire are Megan Garland and Ellie Goodall (Selby), Charlotte Heath (Huddersfield), Hannah Holden (Lightcliffe), Olivia Jay and Toni-Louise Naylor (Waterton Park), Holly Morgan (Hallamshire), Laura Morrison (Garforth), Jasmine Reese and Debbie Henery (Hickleton), and Morris’s club-mates Nicola Slater and Melissa Wood.

This is the second time the championship has been played at Lindrick and spectators are welcome.

As well as having a strong Yorkshire involvement, the field includes Cara Gainer (Castle Royle), who won the English women’s match play this month, British stroke play champion Sophie Lamb (Clitheroe), Gemma Clews (Delamere Forest), the Welsh stroke play winner, Emily Price (Cleobury Mortimer), the English stroke play champion, and Lily May Humphreys (Stoke by Nayland), the English Under-16 girls’ champion.

After 36 holes of stroke play qualifying today and tomorrow, the field is cut to 40 players and ties for the final two rounds on Thursday.