Loretto boarding school golf pays
off for Jessica Wilcox

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Lincolnshire’s Jessica Wilcox and Warwickshire’s Abbey Gittings tied at the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes of qualifying in the English girls’ championship at Durham City.
Both teenagers shot two-under- par 70 in the second round – and both had identical first round totals of 77.
But 16-year-old Jessica, a member of the Blankney club, won the top seeding for the match-play stages of the championship by virtue of her last nine holes. She came home in 35, while Abbey scored 36.
“It’s great,” said Jessica, who is playing in the championship for the second time. “I didn’t do very well at all last year but I’ve practised a lot since then and I go to a boarding school in Scotland (Loretto School, Musselburgh) where we play a lot of golf.”
She came into the event in top form, having won the Lincolnshire Under-21 title last week, helped by a three-under par score.
Jessica’s second round was remarkably tidy: she had 11 straight pars before scoring birdies on the 12th, 14th and 16th. She had her only bogey of the day on the 18th: “I think I was getting nervous – I wanted to get in,” she laughed.
Abbey Gittings has also brought good form to the event as the winner of both the Warwickshire lady and junior county titles.
She scored one-under par on both nines in the second round. On the way out, she had eight pars and one birdie, while on the way home she had four birdies, including one on the 18th, but also had a double bogey and one other dropped shot.
Among the other good scores recorded during the day were level par rounds from Sarah Tyson (Redlibbets) and Daisy Dyer (Chigwell), who are both members of English Women’s Golf Association squads. Sarah qualified in third place and Daisy in fourth.
The leading 32 players qualify for the championship match-play. The next 32 play in the second flight.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
147 Jessica Wilcox (Blankney) 77 70, Abbey Gittings (Walmley) 77 70.
148 Sarah Tyson (Redlibbets) 76 72
149 Daisy Dyer (Chigwell) 77 72, Rachael Goodall (Heswall) 74 75.
151 Siobhan Richards (Owston Hall) 77 74, Heidi Baek (Felixstowe Ferry) 75 76, Charlotte Wild (Mere) 75 76.
152 Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) 77 75, Rebecca McGinley (South Moor) 75 77.
154 Jenna Birch (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 77 77, Rachel Woodcock (Blankney) 75 79, Jessica Bradley (Tiverton) 71 83.
155 Kimberley Crooks (Saltburn by the Sea) 78 77, Melissa Siviter (Enville) 76 79.
156 Sian Evans (Faversham) 79 77, Hannah Lovelock (Hindhead) 77 79.
157 Bronwyn Davies (Wolstanton) 81 76; Nicola Rawlinson (Leyland) 80 77
158 Nikki Dunn (Harrogate) 80 78, Harriet Wilson (Heswall) 80 78, Melissa McMahon (Yeovil) 80 78, Katie Burman (John O'Gaunt) 79 79, Emma Carberry (Highwoods, Bexhill) 79 79.
159 Ellie Robinson (Middlesbrough) 81 78, Emma Clegg (Wilpshire) 80 79, Giorgina Brown (Mere) 78 81, Kimberley Bradbury (Cavendish), Nikki Foster (Accrington & District) 76 83
161 Kayleigh Cann (Yelverton) 82 79, Elizabeth Over (Forest Pines) 80 81, Chloe Dexter (Beedles Lake) 79 82.

Full details and hole-by-hole scoring: http://www.englishwomensgolf.org/