GOLF: Charlotte Ellis runner-up at Roehampton (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Cockleford golfer targets Turkish Ladies' Open next month

8:30am Thursday 26th April 2012 in Sport By Danny Hall, Sports Editor

ROOKIE golf pro Charlotte Ellis finished runner-up in the prestigious Roehampton Gold Cup over 36 holes on Saturday – just as she had done as an amateur in 2009.

Ellis, from Cockleford, led at the halfway stage after an opening one under par 71 but lost out to the extremely promising 16-year-old amateur Georgia Hall after slipping to a 76 in the afternoon round.

“I felt I played the same golf morning and afternoon,” insisted Ellis, who is attached to Minchinhampton (New) Golf Club.

“But the players in front were very slow and, being in the last group, I didn’t finish my round until 6.40pm, by which time I was very cold and stiff.

“It was frustrating to be held up for so long and it was no surprise that I bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes.”

Ellis finished three shots behind the precocious and in-form Hall, who had been a winner the previous week.

Among the positives for Ellis was her new association with caddy Chris Rideout, a tree surgeon by trade, who carried her bag for the first time.

They will team up again when Charlotte returns to the Ladies’ European Tour at the Turkish Open, which begins on May 10.

Charlotte’s first professional outing on tour, in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco last month, ended when she missed the cut by one shot.

“After Turkey, I have a week off and then it is five straight tournaments in a row,” she said.