Carly McDonald has completed a record-breaking win at the R&A Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship at Gog Magog.
The St Andrews native joins her fellow Scots Grace Crawford (2022) and Hannah Darling (2018) as a winner of the distinguished title thanks to a clinical final day performance in Cambridgeshire.
Record breaker
The 14-year-old shot a closing seven-under-par 65, the lowest final round from a champion, to go with her opening scores of 68 and 69 for a total of 14-under.
McDonald, hailing from the St Regulus club, finished three shots ahead of Switzerland’s Lana Guyot.
Kristella Sikk of Estonia placed third, five shots back from McDonald.
McDonald’s finish sets a new 54-hole record, breaking that of the defending Champion Sabrina Wong’s 203 effort by a shot.
Wong put up an admirable defence of her title, finishing in a tie for fifth place on five-under 211.
Quotes from the victor
“It is amazing to have won because this is a really big championship,” said McDonald.
“The R&A run it so well. It almost feels like you’re playing in The Open so I’m delighted to be standing here as the winner.
“It is a bit of a dream come true really. It’s pretty cool because I wasn’t expecting to win.
“This is my best win so far. I’ve got great memories to hold on to from this week.”
A third successive day of idyllic conditions (bright sunshine and minimal wind) greeted the 78 players from 23 countries competing over the 5,851-yard, par-72.
Making the most of conditions
On another perfect day for scoring, McDonald came back from a two-stroke deficit to Guyot after 36 holes to get her hands on the coveted Angela Uzielli Trophy – named after the decorated amateur golfer who represented Great Britain and Ireland in the 1978 Curtis Cup.
Guyot looked like the likeliest champion at the start of the final round, but by the time she walked off the 3rd green she was four-over-par for the day.
She began: bogey, double bogey, bogey to hand McDonald the lead, but the Guyot did well to bounce back and play the next 15 holes in six-under to place second.
McDonald arrived in Cambridgeshire with modest intentions – to better her 32nd place showing in the Championship last year.
She was quick to pounce on Guyot’s stumble over the opening few holes…
After a three-putt bogey on the 3rd, the Scot then played four holes from the 5th in five-under – birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle.
She reached the turn in 31 shots, moving to 11-under-par.
“I struggled on the front nine yesterday with my pace putting, so I spent two-and-a-half to three hours on the putting green last night just trying to improve it for today,” McDonald explained.
“The practice really helped. My putting was so much better today, especially over those four holes from the fifth. I made some really nice putts.”
Onto the next
McDonald’s title is now added to a successful defence of her Scottish Girls’ Open Championship at Luffness New, two weeks ago.
“This is a big confidence boost because I’ve got some big tournaments planned for this summer, and I want to do well in them,” she added.
“One of them is the Girls’ Amateur at Craigielaw so hopefully my confidence will continue because I want to play well in that.”
French player Elea Bastoni lifted the Liz Pook Trophy as the Championship’s best under-14 player.
A final round of 70 gave her a 211 total for fifth place overall, seven shots better than Scotland’s Stella Walters and Bella Watson of England.
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