Isabella from Austria keeps a grip on English

open stroke-play championship

Austria’s Isabella Holpfer kept her grip on the English women’s open amateur championship and leads by five shots at the halfway stage. 

 

The 17-year-old (pictured top) is seven under par, having gone round in level par today at Coventry Golf Club. It keeps her well ahead of her closest challengers, although Cara Gainer and Mimi Rhodes both shot one-under to nibble away at the lead. 

 

They’re tied for second place on two-under, three ahead of Pasqualle Coffa of the Netherlands and Scotland’s Hannah McCook. They’re all high on a thoroughly international leaderboard which features representatives of six different countries in the top ten. 

 

Holpfer, who was runner-up in the British girls’ championship, was content with her performance today, even though she didn’t power further away from the field. “For sure it would have been nice to play a few under par but I think I was pretty solid,” she said. 

 

Her driving cost her some shots, notably a double bogey on the eighth where she found the trees, but her putting was again good as she claimed four birdies on the inward half. 

 

Gainer (Castle Royle) showed her powers of recovery after a double bogey on the third – her 12th – dropped her back to level par for the championship. Her response was to birdie two of the last three holes to restore her fortunes.

 

“It was my first double in two days and I didn’t feel I had done much wrong. It was just a slightly off tee shot,” she said. “But I still had four birdies and I’m really pleased with how I’m playing.” 

 

Rhodes (Burnham and Berrow) came in on the same mark and with a sense of ‘could have done better.’ She got her day’s score to three-under before slipping back with two bogeys and, to add to her irritation, one involved missing a short putt. 

 

But she’s upbeat about the prospects of tomorrow’s final 36 holes. “My game is on point and I’m quite excited,” she said. 

 

The day’s main mover was Curtis Cup player and Scottish open champion Lily May Humphreys (Stoke by Nayland), pictured right.

 

She shot two-under 71 to move up 38 places and into a tie for 14th. Although she's still four-over she said: “I’ll try and move up another few places tomorrow, that’s the goal.” 

 

The story behind her disappointing first round of 79 was a family trip to London last Saturday when she taught her three-year-old niece how to play hopscotch. “I managed to hop into a hole, rolled over on my ankle and couldn’t walk for the rest of the day,” she said. 

 

In fact, she had to rest the injury on Sunday and only started walking again on Monday, before playing yesterday. “It wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t help having two days off golf and I didn’t really hit my driver because I couldn’t rotate. I was blocking it a bit and you don’t want to go in the trees here! So it wasn’t the best start. But it was better today, I hit some drivers and didn’t really miss a fairway,” she said.  

 

At the end of today’s play the field was cut to the leading 40 players and ties on 156 and better   - a total of of 42 competitors - who go forward to contest Thursday's final 36 holes. 

 

Gloucestershire’s Claudia Ovens (Cotswold Hills) was among the players who missed the halfway cut, but she had the consolation of scoring her first hole in one. She aced the 171-yard 15th hole with a seven-iron. 

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD
par 146 (2x73) SSS 77 CSs 73
139 I Holpfer (Austria) 66 73.
144 C Gainer (Castle Royle) 72 72, E Rhodes (Burnham and Berrow) 72 72
147 H McCook (Grantown on Spey) 74 73, P Coffa (Netherlands) 74 73
148 S Lamb (Clitheroe) 73 75, N Armbruester (Switzerland) 73 75, L Jamieson (Heswall) 72 76, C McGinty (Knowle) 72 76.
149 J Ross (Clandeboye) 75 74, C Worby (Newport Links) 74 75, P Brown (Worthing) 73 76, C Heath (Huddersfield) 73 76
150 L M Humphreys (Stoke by Nayland) 79 71, A Muirhead (Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai) 78 72, M Hoogeboom (Netherlands) 78 72, E Lewis (Long Ashton) 76 74, E Toy (Carlyon Bay) 75 75, G Price (Bude and N Cornwall) 73 77.

 

Click here for full scores 

 

Images copyright Leaderboard Photography

 

‎ Lyndsey Hewison
‎ Press Officer
‎ England Golf
‎ pr@englandgolf.org
‎ 07590 878349