Kelly Tidy looks to complete rare double at the 2010 Girls' British Open Amateur Championship
Kelly Tidy from Bolton has the opportunity to become only the third player in history to win both the Ladies' and Girls' British Open Amateur titles in the same year. The only other British player to achieve the feat was Mickey Walker from Leeds in 1972, while Spain's Belen Mozo also achieved the prestigious double in 2006 when both tournaments were played in Northern Ireland.
Kelly Tidy won the Ladies' British Open Amateur title at Ganton in June but is still young enough to compete in the Girls' Championship when it is played at Royal Belfast Golf Club from 9th – 13th August. Kelly, a Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup player, has twice lost in the final of the British Girls' Championship, once to Henrietta Brockway (England) at Southerndown in 2007 when she was 15 and also to Laura Gonzalez-Escallon (Belgium) in the 2008 final when the Championship was played at Monfieth. She did not play in last year's Championship as it clashed with the Junior Solheim Cup Match which she was competing in.
The Championship has once again attracted a top quality field and has had to be reduced by ballot to 144 players. Two strokeplay qualifying rounds will take place on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th August to decide the top 64 qualifiers for the matchplay stages.
Perrine Delacoure (France) who won the title at West Lancashire Golf Club last year and Elizabeth Mallett (Sutton Coldfield Ladies') last year's runner-up and recent winner of the English Girls' Championship are both in this year's field and will be bidding to reach the final again.
Other notables include Lisa and Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) who at 15 became the youngest ever Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup team players when they competed in the 2010 Curtis Cup and Hayley Davis (Ferndown) the winner of the 2010 English Women's Championship.
Julie Yang, the 15-year-old South Korean girl who has been based in Scotland since last September when she moved from Arizona to Musselburgh to become a pupil at Loretto School is also one to watch. Her titles this year include the Welsh Women's Open Amateur Stroke-Play, the Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish schoolgirls and the Danish Amateur Championship. She has since then also came through the qualifying process and played in the 2010 Ricoh Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale.
The overseas challenge includes entries from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States.
Three of the girls named in the European Junior Ryder Cup team for the match against the United States on September 28-29 at Gleneagles are among the entries – Isabella Dellert (2010 European Girls' Young Masters' Champion), Manon Molle (France) and Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale).
The winner receives the Challenge Cup and the beaten finalist is awarded the Leven Trophy. The Lady Heathcoat-Amory Memorial Medal goes to the leading qualifier while vouchers will be awarded for the lowest scores in the qualifying rounds. The Todd Bowl is awarded to the lowest U16 player in the qualifying rounds while the lowest U14 player will receive a voucher. An international team event is also played in conjunction with the two stroke-play qualifying rounds.
About the Ladies' Golf Union ("LGU")
Founded in 1893, the LGU is the encompassing body for ladies' amateur golf in Great Britain & Ireland. The LGU Executive Council includes representatives of ladies' golf's national governing bodies in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Operational activities are undertaken by a wholly owned subsidiary, LGU Championships Limited ("LGUCL"), which in particular owns and runs the Ricoh Women's British Open, founded by the LGU in 1976 and one of the four Major Tournaments for Professional Women golfers. LGUCL also has responsibility for running British Amateur Championships and Home International events, and preparing the Great Britain & Ireland teams for representative matches, such as the Curtis Cup and the Vagliano Trophy.
Further information about the LGU is available on http://www.lgu.org/.