Katherine O'Connor, beat Wrexham's Chloe Williams 2 and 1 in the final of the Welsh Ladies Close Match Play Championship at the Vale of Llangollen golf club for the first time - thanks to steady play throughout the event.
Katherine O'Connor, beat Wrexham's Chloe Williams 2 and 1 in the final of the Welsh Ladies Close Match Play Championship at the Vale of Llangollen golf club for the first time.
Katherine organises the entries for the top golf events in Europe as her day job, but now she has made her own entry into the golfing record books by winning the Welsh Amateur Championship.
The West Byfleet player, who studied at the University of Newport and plays for Wales thanks to her Dad from Cardiff, works for the European Tour at Wentworth as the membership and entries administrator, slipping out at lunchtime and after work to use the superb practise facilities to improve her own game.
“It is absolutely amazing to win it, I cannot quite believe it,” admitted O'Connor. “Everyone wants to win this one, I have worked so hard on my game and it paid off in my first final. I have been playing in this event for so long, nearly 10 years, and I have gained a lot of experience so I was able to concentrate on the next shot rather than worrying about the weather or the other player.
“I work now so I play golf to enjoy it, which means I am more relaxed about it. I missed out on playing for Wales in the European team last year, so hopefully this can help me back into that. I work in the week and use my holiday to play in golf events. I love golf so much so working for the European Tour is great and being based at Wentworth is very nice.
“I can watch all the top players through my job and see their scoring, so that has helped as well.”
O'Connor beat former champion Becky Harries from Tenby in the semi-final, while Williams beat Llanishen's Georgia Lewis. O'Connor went two holes up early in the final and was never behind, a birdie two at the 14th helping her to close out the match.
There was some consolation for Williams, she won the stroke play event by four shots, in qualifying for the match play stages.
“It was a good performance by so many of the players with very high quality throughout,” said Golf Union of Wales Championships manager Gavin Reen. However the Vale of Llangollen club was also superb all the way through. It certainly challenged the players while the hard work on the course paid off as it was in marvellous condition.”
