Hat-trick joy as Olivia Mehaffey wins Irish Girls Open in sudden-death
Winner for the third year in a row, Olivia Mehaffey (Royal County Down Ladies) with the 2015 Irish Under 18 Girl's Open Strokeplay trophy. Picture by Pat Cashman Photography
Olivia Mehaffey should make a significant move in the World Amateur Golf Rankings after she birdied the second extra hole to complete a sensational hat-trick of wins in the Irish Girls Open Strokeplay Championship at Roganstown Hotel and Country Club.
Olivia Mehaffey watches her chip at the second extra. hole at Roganstown. It finished close. Picture by Pat Cashman Photography (Please click image to expand)
Three strokes behind Austria’s Isabella Holpfer entering the final round, the Royal County Down Ladies' star made two birdies and two bogeys in a closing 71 to set the target of five over 218 that was matched by England’s Samantha Fuller, who birdied the 18th from 10 feet for a 72.
The pair ended up in a playoff for the title as Holpfer crashed to a 79 featuring one birdie, three bogeys, a double and a triple bogey and ended up in 11th place on 10 over.
Mehaffey and Fuller both parred the first extra hole, the par-three ninth, before the Irish star overshot the par-five 10th in two and chipped inside two feet to secure what turned out to be a winning birdie four
Hermitage’s Ciara Casey birdied the 18th for a 73 and excellent third place finish on seven over while Killarney’s Mairead Martin carded a 76 to claim ninth spot on 222.
Forrest Little’s Julie McCarth also finished inside the top 20 with combined rounds of 74, 74, 79 (227) good enough for 15th place.
England's Samantha Fuller birdies the 18th to get into a playoff. Picture by Pat Cashman Photography
The International Team Event was dominated by Sweden (Beatrice Wallin, Linn Grant and Els Lundquist) as they finished on a total of 441, one shot clear of both England and Scotland (442). The Irish team carded a combined total of 445.
Irish Girls (U18) Open Strokeplay Championship
Roganstown Hotel & Country Club (Par 71, CSS Rd 1 74, Rd 2 73, Rd 73)
218 Olivia Mehaffey (Royal County Down Ladies) 72 75 71, Samantha Fuller (ENG) 73 73 72
220 Ciara Casey (Hermitage) 73 74 73, Shannon McWilliam (SCO) 72 75 73
221 Amanda Linner (SWE) 74 74 73, Ebba Bjornberg (SWE) 76 70 75
222 Beatrice Wallin (SWE) 74 76 72, Elsa Lundquist (SWE) 74 72 76, Mairead Martin (Killarney) 76 70 76
223 Elisabeth Haller (GER) 73 76 74, Isabella Holpfer (AUT) 73 71 79
224 Louise Henningsson (SWE) 74 77 73 Pi-Lillebi Hermansson (SWE) 74 72 78
227 Martha Lewis (ENG) 74 78 75, Julie McCarthy (Forrest Little) 74 74 79
228 Cloe Frankish (ENG) 81 76 71, Hazel MacGarvie (SCO) 75 81 72, Emma Allen (ENG) 79 72 77
229 Linn Grant (SWE) 77 79 73, Linda Lundqvist (SWE) 78 75 76
231 Claire Robertson (SCO) 80 79 72, Sophie Lamb (ENG) 75 77 79
232 Annabel Wilson (Lurgan) 78 81 73, Jessica Hall (ENG) 80 78 74
233 Olof Einardottir (ICE) 79 75 79, Ebba Nilsson (SWE) 78 76 79, Chloe Goadby (SCO) 78 75 80
234 Emma Hale (SCO) 76 80 78
235 Jillian Farrell (SCO) 81 78 76, Sofie Babic (SWE) 76 82 77, Lucy Walton (ENG) 78 79 78
236 Tilda Green (SWE) 82 77 77, Hannah Karg (GER) 81 76 79, Anna-Maria Diederichs (GER) 79 76 81
237 Nicola Fall (FIN) 80 80 77, Niamh McSherry (Lurgan) 79 76 82
238 Joanne Free (SCO) 77 82 79, Iveta Posledni (CZE) 78 81 79, Jelina Fernando (ENG) 82 77 79 Carolin Kauffmann (GER) 77 81 80
239 Valerie Clancy (Killarney) 78 79 82, Chiara Vikkula (BEL) 74 82 83
241 Kirsty Brodie (SCO) 80 80 81, Nicole McGavisk (Donabate) 79 78 84
242 Alice Gotbring (SWE) 81 78 83, Marie Luise Kuschke (GER) 80 78 84
244 Alice Hutchinson (St. Anne's) 83 77 84, Clodagh Jones (Roscrea) 78 80 86
249 Katie Rafferty (Tipperary) 80 78 91
153 Magdalena Cervinkova (CZE) 74 79 WD
CUT
161 Mirren Fraser (SCO) 83 78 Sara Byrne (Douglas) 80 81 Valerie Serrien (BEL) 79 82
162 Lauren Mackintosh (GER) 81 81
164 Esther Henseleit (GER) 89 75, Victoria Craig (Royal Belfast) 85 79, Matilda Wahren (SWE) 84 80 Lilly Koester (GER) 83 81, Katie Aherne (Waterford Castle) 81 83
165 Murielle Frischknecht (SUI) 84 81
166 Clodagh Walsh (Castlewarden) 84 82, Maeve Rooney (Co. Sligo) 82 84
167 Elisa Corcoran (Grange) 87 80, Lauren Watson (SCO) 85 82 Ella Stromfelt (SWE) 81 86
168 Lisa O'Shea (Shannon) 82 86
170 Velia Hoever (GER) 87 83, Ainee O'Connor (ENG) 79 91
173 Yella Hammer (GER) 85 88
174 Clare Calvert (Royal County Down Ladies) 86 88
175 Kirsten Brown (SCO) 88 87
189 Carlotta Overheu (GER) 98 91.
2015 Irish Girls Open Champion, Olivia Mehaffey (Royal County Down Ladies) with Aine Derham (Lady Captain, Roganstown Golf Club) and Valerie Hassett (ILGU President). Picture by Pat Cashman Photography
