Lily Hirst holds nerve to win English Women's Open Stroke Play

Huddersfield’s Lily Hirst was crowned champion of the English Women’s Open Stroke Play after a final round four-under-par saw her seal a four-shot victory at Stoneham Golf Club.

After a steady level-par round in the morning, the 21-year-old landed a crucial eagle-two on the driveable 7th hole in the afternoon, along with three other birdies to secure victory ahead of nearest competitor Darcey Harry (Wales).

Hirst said: "I'm speechless. I feel like I've been dreaming of winning a tournament like this after I won the Champion of Champions a few years ago. I shot level-par in the morning and I was only one back heading into the final 18, so I thought I should attack everything and hole a few more putts as I left a few short in the morning. I knew I needed to shoot low.

"The 7th is obviously driveable and I hit a 5-wood and it bounced perfectly onto the green. I had a six-foot putt downhill, I got over it and as soon as I looked at the hole, I knew I was going to hole it. As soon as I did hole it, I knew it was going to be a good day."

Nearest challenger Harry meant business on the morning of the final day with three birdies on the opening three holes, while her fellow countrywoman Millie Cottrell enjoyed another eagle on the 4th after her amazing three eagles (including a hole-in-one) in nine holes on day two - read more here. But while Cottrell couldn’t quite reproduce the form she showed on Wednesday, Harry found herself leading heading into the afternoon’s final round.

Burnham & Berrow’s Davina Xanh turned up the heat on a sunny day at Stoneham as she was three-under-par in her morning round, and back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 in the final round, including driving the green on the latter, saw her come within two of the lead. However, her challenge slipped away after she got into trouble on 16, leaving her to finish on level-par overall in 3rd place.

Iceland’s Gudrun Thorsteindottir, who had a remarkable six-under-par on the front nine on the first day, regained some of her early tournament form to stay in contention throughout until she dropped three shots in the final three holes to finish in tied-4th position alongside England’s Matilde Santilli, who herself was in contention but dropped three shots on the final two holes to finish one-over-par overall.

Austria’s Johanna Ebner was also competing at the top throughout and despite three birdies on the front nine in the final round, she dropped shots after the turn to also finish tied-4th.

Switzerland’s Amelie Weber had the round of the tournament as her seven birdies on the final afternoon saw her shoot a tremendous five-under-par to finish tied-7th overall, along with Frankie Dezis (Burnham & Berrow), France’s Zoe Rubichon and last year’s English Amateur champion, Ellen Yates (West Hill), on two-over-par overall.

While the competition threatened to have a tense finish, ultimately Hirst showed her mettle to stay well in front and see out a fine victory. Asked about celebrations she added: "I've got a six-hour drive home back to Yorkshire so we'll probably have to stay somewhere overnight and I'll probably have some chocolate or my favourite sweets - some Percy Pigs!

"I've got a few weeks off and then I'm playing the English U25 Championship at Woburn so I'm excited for that."

Elsewhere, Ireland's Roisin Scanlon, who led after the first two days, endured a tough last day in the final group with Ebner, finishing tied-17th on seven-over-par.

View the full English Women’s Open Stroke Play leaderboard here.