Duke of York's leading girl

gets Women's Open incentive

Marieke Nivard, the 18?year?old Dutch golfer who won the girls’ section of the 2008 Duke of York Young Champions' Trophy tournament, has received a special exemption into Final Qualifying for the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes this summer.
Final Qualifying takes place on Monday, July 27 at Fairhaven Golf Club, with the championship proper beginning on the Thursday of that week.
If successful at Fairhaven, Nivard would find herself teeing up at Lytham alongside players of the calibre of Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Laura Davies and last year’s winner, Jiyai Shin.
"I can’t believe my luck," said Nivard, who has a +3 handicap. "To have this chance of playing in my first British Open and competing against the best women golfers in the world was my biggest dream."
Only ten years ago, golf was at the bottom of Nivard’s list of sports.
"I hated it because you can’t run around and go crazy," she said. Luckily, the talent scouts had already picked her out. They gave her a place on a junior squad and, before too long, she could not put her clubs down.
"Today," she says, "playing golf is the only thing I want to do."
Ricoh’s move in awarding a Final Qualifying place to Nivard reflects the high standing of The Duke of York Young Champions Trophy tournament which was started in 2001 by the Duke himself and John Simpson, who used to manage Bernhard Langer and Nick Faldo.
Oliver Fisher, who was still a teenager when he lost out in a play?off in the European Tour’s 2008 Open de Andalucia, won the event in 2005, while such gifted European Tour winners as Pablo Martin and Rory McIlroy were both runners?up.
"I am delighted for Marieke," said the Duke of York. "The invitation from Ricoh to the leading girl in my Duke of York Young Champions Trophy is another wonderful development for the successful players in my tournament. When we set up the Young Champions Trophy, nearly 10 years ago now, we hardly dared hope for the success it is having, not only for the event, but also for the young players themselves. Marieke is going to have another great experience when she plays in Final Qualifying. We all wish her the best of success."
Javier?Diez Aguirre, Corporate Communications Director at Ricoh Europe PLC, said he was delighted to be giving the talented Nivard this opportunity. "Ricoh’s way of doing business is customer?driven and focuses on moving ideas forward. What better way to combine this approach than by enabling the talent of the future to tee off with the professionals of the day at the Ricoh Women’s British Open. Good luck to Marieke."