LUCY WILLIAMS won her first national title and did it in style as she so nearly holed in one to close out a thrilling match as she beat Charlotte Dalton of Ladbrook Park by 4&2 in the final of the English Mid Amateur Championship at Wallasey Herts champio

LUCY WILLIAMS won her first national title and did it in style as she so nearly holed in one to close out a thrilling match as she beat Charlotte Dalton of Ladbrook Park by 4&2 in the final of the English Mid Amateur Championship at Wallasey

Herts champion Lucy from Mid Herts was leading by three holes when the match came to the par 3 16th hole and she hit a perfect 3-wood tee shot which hit the hole and ran on 2ft. As the putt was conceded for a birdie, she was then five under par.

Between them the two 19-year-olds claimed 10 birdies in an outstanding display of golf, with Lucy producing some superb shots. She pitched dead at the par 4 sixth, hit a great shot from the rough to within 2ft at the eighth and sent soaring a 3-wood approach on to the green at the par 5 14th, to follow with the same club two holes later by nearly holing her tee shot.

"I am so happy, I really felt I hit the ball well - it's the best I've played all week," she said. "I was getting a bit irritated with my golf a couple of months ago as I felt I wasn't getting anywhere with it. Now I know what I can do - it's just a case of believing in yourself."

Lucy, who won the Herts Championship at Knebworth in May for the second time, had her Birmingham University golf team mate Andy Smedley as caddie, and her delighted parents, David and Sarah, there to watch her victory.

After the first four holes of the final were halved in par, Lucy went into a lead she never lost. She birdied the par 3 fifth and the eighth before dropping a shot at the 10th, only to birdie the next to restore her two-hole advantage.

It was Charlotte's turn at the 12th as she reduced the lead to one hole with a birdie two, but Lucy replied as she won the 13th with a par and was then conceded the long 14th after she had reached the green in two. The next was halved as Lucy ended the match with her perfect tee shot on 16.

Praise for Lucy came from Charlotte, who said "I played well but I got Lucy on a very good day - she deserved to win, playing like that."

"She played so well and made us proud of her," said her father David, a former Herts amateur and professional champion, a tour player for 17 years, and now a tournament director and rules referee on the European Tour.

Lucy reached the final by beating Lisa Bell (Matfen Hall) one hole, Emma Sheffield (Newark) 3&2, Hermione Fitzgerald (Links} 3&2 and Nicole Whitmore (Buckinghamshire) 3&2.

Herts colleague Clare Partridge (Moor Park) beat Holly Calvert (Lancaster) in the first round 3&2, then lost to Kate Whitmore (Sandiway), one hole, Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall) lost by two holes in the first round to Karen Heywood (Crompton).

For Lucy there's a further challenge ahead, as she plays in the Ladies British Amateur Stroke Play Championship in Malone, Northern Ireland, this week and also playing are Charlie Douglass and Charlie Field.

l TOM LEWIS was named by the R&A on Wednesday as one of a team of nine players who will meet France in the Jaques Leglise Trophy, to be played over two days on the Kingsbarn course, St Andrews, starting on Friday, August 29.

The selection of the 17-year-old Welwyn Garden City player follows his appearance in the British Boys Championship last week, and earlier in the season second place in the Fairhaven Trophy and third in the Brabazon Trophy.

l CHARLIE DOUGLASS of Brocket Hall shot rounds of 77 73 to win the girls event of the Prince of Wales Trophy at Woburn by three strokes, while Luke Goddard (Hendon) took the men's event by six strokes after rounds of 71 67.

l RYAN NEWMAN, 19, of Brookmans Park, has been selected as one of a group of 14 players representing the English Golf Union in the European Amateur Championships at Esjberg Golf Club in Denmark this week.