British Girls Championship:
Bell Strikes Discordant Note
By Peter Donald golf.com
Electronic Telegraph

iRACHEL Bell, of Ganton in Yorkshire, missed a great chance to go one better than Rebecca Hudson when she allowed the British Girls' Championship to slip from her grasp in the 18-hole final over the Rosemount course at Blairgowrie.

Hudson went down in the final six years ago and that was the start of a Continental domination of this event which continued on Saturday with a one-hole victory for Italy's Tullia Calzavara over Bell, 18, who was two up with five to play.

Mhairi McKay, of Turnberry, was the last home winner of the title when she made a successful defence in 1993 and Bell, matching Calzavara's sub-par golf, had this year's title in her sights.

After an evenly matched run to the turn, the English girl eagled the 12th, where she holed a 60-yard wedge, and then birdied the next to open up her two-hole lead.

But Calzavara, 16, hit back to square matters with birdies at the 14th and 15th. The next was halved in birdies, but Bell took three to get down from 40 feet at the 17th, while her opponent holed out in two from 30ft and a half at the last was enough to settle the title.

Both players were round in approximately three under par but it was a disappointing end to the challenge from home countries who had managed to get three players into the last eight but only one into the semi-finals.

Details BRITISH GIRLS' OPEN AMATEUR CH'SHIP (Blairgowrie).- Final (18 holes): T Calzavara (Italy) bt R Bell (Ganton) 1 hole.