O’Connor Defends Her Welsh Ladies Amateur Crown With Thrilling Finish

Katherine O’Connor beat her Wales team foursomes partner Lauren Hillier to defend her Welsh Ladies Amateur title and keep the trophy for another year.

O’Connor, who practices at Wentworth where she works for the European Tour, was never up in the final until winning the 17th and then putting her tee shot on the 18th to within less than a foot of the pin to clinch victory by two holes.

Last year’s Welsh Amateur triumph also springboarded the West Byfleet player to the PING Order of Merit title, so she is hoping for similar success this season along with the chance to represent Wales at the World Amateur Championships in Mexico in September.

Although Hillier fell just short at the final hurdle, there was success for her Newport club with Jordan Ryan winning the Plate competition after finishing ninth in the stroke play on countback with just the top eight qualifying for the match play stages

“This feels just as good as last year,” said O’Connor after her win. “It is nice to defend and proves to me that I can still do it.

“I had a good season last year and just came in to this very relaxed and planning to enjoy it, just playing one shot at a time.

“My iron play was good, I hit a lot of good shots into the greens, while I was able to hit a lot of fairways which was important because the rough was very thick.

“The final was such a tight game. I played with Lauren last year in the foursomes at the Home Internationals but our games are very different. She hits the ball a long way, a lot further than me.

“I was never ahead until the 17th, it was always either one down or all square, but then I hit two good shots on 17 and then on the par three 18th I hit it to half a foot.

“The Cardiff course was in beautiful condition, the rough was thick and the fairways narrow, but it is such a nice course as well as a good test.

“I enjoy working at the European Tour and that gives me the chance to practice at lunchtimes and after work, as well as playing at weekends, so that is a massive bonus.

“My main target this year is the World Team Championships in Mexico in September, though winning the Order of Merit was amazing last year and it would be nice to do that again as well.”

O’Connor qualified for the final by beating former champion Becky Harries of Tenby in the semi-final and Kirsty O’Connor of Oakdale, who is no relation, in the quarter-final.

Hillier beat Megan Lockett of Huddersfield in the semi and The Vale Resort’s Elle Griffiths in the quarter-final. Teleri Hughes of Willow Creek and Llanishen’s Georgia Lewis also reached the last eight.

Winning the Plate was a bitter-sweet feeling for Ryan after missing out on the main event by the narrowest of margins, tying with Harries on scores but missing out on countback for the final round.

However she bounced back to beat Rhiannon Thomas of St Pierre in the final. “I am really happy to have won this, but disappointed not to qualify for the main championship,” she said.

“In the past the top 16 have gone through, so with just the top eight qualifying it meant the standard in the Plate was still very good.

“It is always nice to win and hopefully I can use that to play well in the next few weeks and if I can do that then I am hoping to play in the Welsh team for the Europeans, Home Internationals and World Amateur.”

Golf Union of Wales championships manager David Wilson added, “Congratulations to all four finalists, they played excellent golf in what was a challenging but fair venue at Cardiff golf club.

“The weather was lovely for the tournament and the course was in excellent condition, so there was a lot of excellent golf from Wales’s best lady amateurs