Girls lead Duke of York Young Champions Trophy

No girl has ever won the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy but all that could change at Dundonald Links as Camilla Hedberg from Spain and Laetitia Beck from Israel go into the final round with a one-shot lead over England’s Tom Lewis.

The boys will be giving chase tomorrow, with Scotland’s David Law, who is nine shots back, suggesting that anyone within ten shots of the lead could win. “The girls have done brilliantly to be no more than one-over-par for the day,” said Law. “To be honest, I don’t think the course is any easier for them than it is for us. Even allowing for the difference in the tees, they are mostly playing their shots to the green from behind us.”

Law, Lewis and the rest of the boys could well draw strength from the fact that Hedberg and Beck both admitted to feeling tired at the end of the 36-hole day which became necessary when Tuesday’s play had to be cancelled because of bad weather.

“I was beginning to feel a bit weary,” said Hedberg, the offspring of a Swedish father and a Spanish mother. “When it came to the 13th, I hit into the water short of the green and ended up with a double-bogey.”  

Hedberg holed a 20-footer at the second to get her afternoon round off on the right foot. Meanwhile, Beck recovered from a double-bogey, bogey start after lunch with a run of three successive birdies.

Lewis opened with a 74 and followed up with a 72 which, in his eyes, was not as good as it sounded. Having sped to the turn in 33, the English and British Boys’ champion had a run of three successive bogeys from the 13th. “I simply wasn’t sharp enough,” he said.

Though, up until this week, Lewis had little or no experience of playing with girls, he will be heading out for his final round in the company of Hedberg and Beck. “It’s going to be interesting to see how they approach things,” he said.

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