Ellen Hume (class of 2016) is the new English Women’s Amateur Golf Champion
On Sunday 19th May, Ellen Hume, aged 19, playing for Mill Green Golf Club was up against the number one seed Lily May Humphreys, but the Hertfordshire star was able to hold her nerve at the wet and windy Saunton Golf Club in Devon.
The testing conditions didn’t affect the standard of golf with the momentum swinging between both players in the closing stages.
Humphreys birdied the short 16th to get back to all square but Hume immediately birdied the long 17 to go one ahead.
A par on the final hole from Humphreys took the match to a 19th hole.
And it was there that Hume claimed the title with a steady par, after Humphreys’ approach found a thick clump of rough just off the green.
Nineteen-year-old Hume said: “It’s the toughest match I’ve ever played. I know that Lily is a great player and I felt I was the underdog going into the match, definitely.
“It’s unbelievable, I never expected to win, especially with the opponents I’ve had. The odds weren’t in my favour.”
Not only did she have to face the top seed, the winner in 2017 and fresh from victories in the Irish and Welsh stroke play championships, but she had also been drawn against defending champion Georgina Blackman and England international Emily Toy in earlier rounds.
However, Hume’s confidence was also sky high going into the competition having won the Herts Championship earlier in the month at Sandy Lodge Golf Club in Northwood.
She showed her fighting qualities in this morning’s semi-finals after going four down to Emily Brennan in the first five holes.
But she began the comeback on the eighth and after overhauling the deficit, clinched a 3&1 win.
And she continued the momentum in the final, winning the first hole with a par, a start she believed was crucial to settle any nerves.
She was never behind in the game, although Humphreys pulled her back to all square on three occasions.
“Match play is a format I like,” she said. “My game was in a good place after my year at college in America and winning the county championship in exactly the same format helped me prepare for this.”
Report courtesy of the Welwyn Hatfield Times.
Felicity completed her studies at Roundwood Park gaining 3 A levels and 11 GCSEs. She was appointed Head Girl from 2008-9. Jonathan Richardson was Head Boy at the same time.
