Lily Hirst, a 21-year-old from Huddersfield, shot 6-under to win the English Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship by four shots at Stoneham Golf Club in Southampton, England.
Hirst carded rounds of 71-75-74-70 to get to 6-under.
After a steady level-par round in the morning, the 21-year-old landed a crucial eagle-two on the driveable 7th hole in the afternoon, along with three other birdies to secure the win ahead of nearest competitor Darcey Harry of Wales, who finished in solo second place at 2-under.
Harry meant business on the morning of the final day with three birdies on the opening three holes, while fellow countrywoman Millie Cottrell enjoyed another eagle on the 4th after her amazing three eagles in nine holes on day two. But while Cottrell couldn’t quite reproduce the form she showed on Wednesday, Harry found herself leading heading into the afternoon’s final round.
Burnham & Berrow’s Davina Xanh turned up the heat on a sunny day at Stoneham as she was 3-under in her morning round, and back-to-back birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 in the final round, including driving the green on the latter, saw her come within two of the lead. However, her challenge slipped away after she got into trouble on No. 16, leaving her to finish on level-par overall in 3rd place.
Iceland’s Gudrun Thorsteindottir, who had a remarkable 6-under on the front nine on the first day, regained some of her early tournament form to stay in contention throughout until she dropped three shots in the final three holes to finish in T4 alongside England’s Matilde Santilli, who herself was in contention but dropped three shots on the final two holes to finish 1-over overall.
Austria’s Johanna Ebner was also competing at the top in round three and despite three birdies on the front nine in the final round, she dropped shots after the turn to also finish T4.
Switzerland’s Amelie Weber had the round of the tournament as her seven birdies in the afternoon saw her shoot a tremendous 5-under, to finish T7 overall along with Frankie Dezis (Burnham & Berrow), France’s Zoe Rubichon and last year’s English Amateur champion Ellen Yates (West Hill) on 2-over overall.