Four Scots competing in Daily Telegraph
Junior Finals in the heat of Abu Dhabi
FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Charles Randall in Abu Dhabi
The brother and sister competing in the Daily Telegraph Junior Golf Finals, Katherine and Steve O'Connor, tried the undulating Abu Dhabi championship course on Monday as part of the 21-strong group of younsters aiming to lift the trophy on Sunday.
With more than 40,000 players competing each year in the qualifying tournaments scattered around the UK, it was remarkable the O'Connors should qualify together, albeit on their home course of Tadmarton Heath in Oxfordshire. Two siblings qualifying is believed to be a unique family double.
They started this week's Emirates adventure by playing nine holes in desert heat soothed by a stiff breeze. Steve won the boys section at Tadmarton Heath with a 64 and Katherine returned a 69 to go top of the girls, a family double that gave their father Arthur, the club's junior section organiser, much pleasure.
Steve, a two handicapper, starts the three-day tournament on Friday as an outsider, and even Katherine, off +1, is wary of her chances in her second appearance in the Daily Telegraph final.
"I think it will be tough," she said, "because this is perhaps the strongest group of girls in the final." Carly Booth, the Curtis Cup player from Pertshire, Alex Peters, last year's runner-up in Dubai, and Hannah Barwood, England women's amateur champion in May at the age of 17, seem to have the best pedigree in Abu Dhabi.
The boys will be looking to holder Stiggy Hodgson and fellow +3 handicapper Tommy Fleetwood to set the pace, and so Steve's attitude will be to relax and enjoy his golf on such a good PGA course.
Abu Dhabi, hosting this RBS-sponsored event for the first time, has provided an ideal course. The seemingly wide fairways disguise subtle problems caused by undulations and the occasional encroachment of the half-dozen salt water lakes. Thankfully the water is not often used as an American-style hazard, though wetness is a key feature in the long par-3 seventh.
Boys
Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale), Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall), Tom Boys (Royal Liverpool), Steven Jones (Canons Brook), Robert Bardsley (Moor Hall), Michael Saunders (Dartford), Oliver Huish (North Berwick), Steve O'Connor (Tadmarton Heath), David Hind (Mickleover), Bradley Hannah (Workington), Mark Geddes (Prenton), Sam Benton (South Staffs).
Girls
Carly Booth (Comrie), Hannah Barwood (Knowle), Alex Peters (Notts), Heide Baek (Felixstowe Ferry), Gina Brown (Mere), Rachael McQueen (Troon Ladies), Kelsey Macdonald (Nairn Dunbar), Nikki Dunn (Harrogate), Katherine O'Connor (Tadmarton Heath).
Junior Finals in the heat of Abu Dhabi
FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Charles Randall in Abu Dhabi
The brother and sister competing in the Daily Telegraph Junior Golf Finals, Katherine and Steve O'Connor, tried the undulating Abu Dhabi championship course on Monday as part of the 21-strong group of younsters aiming to lift the trophy on Sunday.
With more than 40,000 players competing each year in the qualifying tournaments scattered around the UK, it was remarkable the O'Connors should qualify together, albeit on their home course of Tadmarton Heath in Oxfordshire. Two siblings qualifying is believed to be a unique family double.
They started this week's Emirates adventure by playing nine holes in desert heat soothed by a stiff breeze. Steve won the boys section at Tadmarton Heath with a 64 and Katherine returned a 69 to go top of the girls, a family double that gave their father Arthur, the club's junior section organiser, much pleasure.
Steve, a two handicapper, starts the three-day tournament on Friday as an outsider, and even Katherine, off +1, is wary of her chances in her second appearance in the Daily Telegraph final.
"I think it will be tough," she said, "because this is perhaps the strongest group of girls in the final." Carly Booth, the Curtis Cup player from Pertshire, Alex Peters, last year's runner-up in Dubai, and Hannah Barwood, England women's amateur champion in May at the age of 17, seem to have the best pedigree in Abu Dhabi.
The boys will be looking to holder Stiggy Hodgson and fellow +3 handicapper Tommy Fleetwood to set the pace, and so Steve's attitude will be to relax and enjoy his golf on such a good PGA course.
Abu Dhabi, hosting this RBS-sponsored event for the first time, has provided an ideal course. The seemingly wide fairways disguise subtle problems caused by undulations and the occasional encroachment of the half-dozen salt water lakes. Thankfully the water is not often used as an American-style hazard, though wetness is a key feature in the long par-3 seventh.
Boys
Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale), Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall), Tom Boys (Royal Liverpool), Steven Jones (Canons Brook), Robert Bardsley (Moor Hall), Michael Saunders (Dartford), Oliver Huish (North Berwick), Steve O'Connor (Tadmarton Heath), David Hind (Mickleover), Bradley Hannah (Workington), Mark Geddes (Prenton), Sam Benton (South Staffs).
Girls
Carly Booth (Comrie), Hannah Barwood (Knowle), Alex Peters (Notts), Heide Baek (Felixstowe Ferry), Gina Brown (Mere), Rachael McQueen (Troon Ladies), Kelsey Macdonald (Nairn Dunbar), Nikki Dunn (Harrogate), Katherine O'Connor (Tadmarton Heath).
Labels: BOYSGIRLS
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