Grace Crawford completes wire-to-wire triumph in R&A Girls Under-16 Amateur Championship

The 15-year-old’s success at Enville Golf Club in the Midlands came eight days after she became the first Scottish player in 20 years to land the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open at Royal Troon.

Crawford, who is mentored by two-time winning Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew, is the second Scot to win the Girls Under-16 Amateur after Broomieknowe’s Hannah Darling claimed victory in the inaugural edition in 2018 at Fulford.

After opening with rounds of 73 and 75, Crawford held a two-shot lead heading into the closing circuit and the North Berwick West Links player wasn’t going to be denied.

Brimming with confidence following the biggest win of her young career on the Ayrshire coast the previous weekend, she opened with a birdie-4 before slightly opening the door for the chasing pack by then dropping four shots in the next three holes.

However, Crawford, who has seen her game blossom over the past six months as a member of the Albany Golf Academy in the Bahamas, was back on track when she birdied the par-4 eighth to be out in 38, two-over.

She then birdied the 12th before following a bogey at the par-4 12th with her fourth gain of the round at the 15th.

It was then a case of how many Crawford would win by, not if and, though she bogeyed the par-3 16th, it was job done as the rising star of Scottish women’s golf closed with an eagle-3.

Crawford punched the air several times as her 20-foot putt disappeared before two of her fellow players ran on to the green to give her a celebratory hug.

In signing off with a 72, the Stephen Gallacher Foundation ambassador finished with a four-over-par 220 total to win comfortably from England’s Isla McDonald O’Brien (72) and Pole Kunga Kusmierska (74) as they shared second spot on 224.

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