Bronte writes her name into history with US win

There will be no trouble spotting the competitor with the broadest smile as the biggest event in the women’s game, the US open, gets underway in lovely Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday.

Stockport’s Bronte Law is authoring quite a story of her own after following up a play-off loss in San Francisco earlier this month with a stunning breakthrough victory on the LPGA Tour in Virginia on Sunday.

Nothing underlines its value more than how rare it is for a woman from england to triumph on American soil. The last was Charley hull in 2016. Before that, you have to go all the way back to Karen Stupples in 2004.

At the Pure Silk Championship, Law showed pure steel as she kept nerves and fatigue at bay while temperatures soared well into the 90s.

Leading an event from start to finish is one of the hardest things to do and it was showing as the 24-year-old struck a few stray drives over the closing stretch.

‘It was the hardest fight of my life, for sure,’ said Law (with trophy above). ‘I started struggling with my driver and there were a few times when it looked like it was going pear-shaped. I really had to stay calm and strong, and it feels amazing to get my first win.’

Law had a stellar amateur career, winning a number of tournaments while studying sociology for four years in America at the prestigious UCLA — but the obvious highlight came in her third Curtis Cup in 2016, when she became the first British or Irish player in the long history of the biennial match against the Americans to claim five points out of five.

over the past two years she has learned her trade on the LPGA Tour, before her emergence in San Francisco, where she came from 10 shots back to force a play-off.

‘Although I lost, I learned so much, and I don’t think I would have won this event without going through that experience,’ reflected Law. ‘I came into the pro game believing I had the tools to do well but that was the week when, deep down, I truly believed I could compete at the top.’ Law’s victory means that, alongside British open Champion Georgia hall and hull, there are now three players from england inside the world’s top 25. Isn’t that something? ‘We’re all so similar in ages we’ve known each other for ever, and we definitely push one another,’ said Law. ‘If one of us achieves something, the others want it as well. We all want to be the best British player and so it’s a really healthy rivalry.’

So to Charleston, the sort of sedate, literary town that might suit a girl named Bronte (and yes, her mum was a big fan of the three novelist sisters).

‘It’s golf, so you never know what might happen, but I’ve got momentum and I’ll go there hoping to get into contention again,’ said Law. ‘That’s what I live for. The feeling you get when you have a shot at winning is why I play the game.’