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England win the Nations Cup at Welsh Womens 54 Hole Open Strokeplay Championship at Pyle & Kenfig

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England’s golfers – led by Gloucestershire’s Hannah Barwood – scored a double success in the Welsh 54-hole open strokeplay championship at Pyle & Kenfig.

Hannah, from Knowle, won the U21 trophy and was overall runner-up while the England team of Bedfordshire’s Holly Aitchison, Yorkshire’s Naomi Edwards, and Staffordshire’s Rachel Jennings won the Nations Cup by two shots.

Hannah, 17, had a final round of one-under par 73 on a day of wind and rain to move up the leaderboard. “It’s good to get one under your belt early in the season  – it gives you a bit of confidence,” she said. She finished four shots behind Rhian Wyn Thomas who signed off with a 71 to become the first Welsh winner since 1989.

 “It’s been a great three days,” Hannah added. “I played well throughout the championship but in the first two rounds I had a couple of holes where I ran up some big numbers. In the third round I kept it going and if I hit a bad shot I missed on the right side.”

Hannah had four birdies and three bogeys in her final round and her performance underlined her recent run of good form.

“I’ve been playing really well recently which is nice, because I changed my coach at the end of last year and I’ve also been seeing a new fitness instructor. I’ve had a lot of support from the English Women’s Golf Association who gave me the opportunity of pre-season warm weather training in Spain and included me in the squad for the French lady junior championship.”
 
Hannah, who is a member of EWGA’s Futures U18 squad, is an England girl international. She has won the English schools championship three times in the last four years.

One shot behind Hannah was Leicestershire’s Kym Larratt (Kibworth) who finished fourth – as she did in the previous weekend’s Helen Holm Scottish open strokeplay championship. Manchester’s Rachel Connor also scored 73 in the final round to take fifth place, just edging ahead of English champion Naomi Edwards who finished with 76.

England’s team of Holly Aitchison (Bedfordshire), Naomi Edwards (Ganton) and Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) scored 470 over three days, with the best two scores counting in each round.  They finished two clear of Wales B 472; followed by Scotland 475; Wales A 479; Norway 485.    

Leading scores:
Par 74, SSS 76, CSS +3, +3, +1

228 Rhian Wyn Thomas (Wales) 80 77 71
232 Hannah Barwood,(Knowle) 78 81 73; Niamh Kitching, (Ireland) 77 73 82
233 Kym Larratt (Kibworth) 80 74 79
237 Rachel Connor (Manchester) 85 79 73; Naomi Edwards (Ganton) 82 79 76.
238 Tara Davies Wales 79 82 77; Rachel Raastad (Norway) 79 81 78
241 Michaela Gunhildrud 85 78 78; Jane Turner (Scotland) 79 84 78; Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) 79 83 79; Sahra Hassan (Wales) 76 84 81; Holly Aitchison (Bedfordshire)  77 80 84