CHARLOTTE ELLIS will be travelling the world on the Ladies European Golf Tour again in 2013 after a scintillating performance at the tough LET Qualifying School in Morocco.

Ranged against 140 hopefuls bidding for the 30 available Tour places, Charlotte, from Cockleford near Cheltenham, shot a brilliant five-round total of 349 - 11 under par.

The Minchinhampton Golf Club member finished in ninth place, comfortably earning her precious Tour rights for next year.

The result gave Charlotte a huge lift after failing to qualify automatically for the Tour via the Order of Merit in her rookie season on the big stage.

Needing to finish in the top 85 of the money list against the world best golfers, she could manage only 111th after a mid- season slump saw her miss seven cuts in a row.

She rallied at the end of the season with solid finishes at tournaments in China, India and Dubai before heading for the make-or-break Tour School examination at the Al Maaden Golf and Amelkis Golf Club in Marrakech.

And she came through that brutal, nerve-racking challenge with little help from her driver.

“I was down in the dumps after Dubai and I was struggling with my driver so it stayed in the bag,” said Charlotte.

“I only used it about a dozen times over five rounds in Morocco.

“It left me longer shots into the green but the long game is my strength and I did not miss many greens. It also helped that my putter was hot all week.

In one round I had seven consecutive single putts which was pretty special.”

Despite opening rounds of 73, 67, 70 and 71 for a total of seven under par, Ellis was only just inside the top 30 heading for the tee on the extremely tense final day.

“I just tried to stay calm and stick with the plan,” she said. “The fact that I had been through Tour School before and had a year on the tour helped me enormously.”

Charlotte finished the job in style with six closing birdies for a final round of 68.

Now she has to start the process of gaining sponsorship for 2013 when she is confident she can make a greater impact.

“My first year on Tour was always going to be the most difficult, but I am confident I have the game to compete.

“It was very encouraging to see that I was ranked fifth in the world for hitting the greens in regulation.

“I feel very lucky to be able to travel the world, follow the sun, and sample all those different cultures with a lot of my friends.”