Emily Taylor wins Roehampton Ladies Open Gold Challenge Cup

European Tour professional Emily Taylor won the Roehampton Ladies Open Gold Challenge Cup on Saturday.

It was the 87th playing of the 36-hole event, one of the most prestigious in ladies’ professional and amateur golfing calendar, over the parkland course at Roehampton Club in South-West London. Taylor, from Pleasington in Lancashire, set the pace in the morning with a four under par 68.

Taylor was able to maintain her lead over the 60-strong field in the afternoon, shooting a level 72 round that included four bogeys and four birdies. She won the Gold Cup by four shots from fellow professional Suzanne Dickens from Thorpe Wood, Peterborough.  Third was Sophie Walker from Forest Pines, Lincolnshire on 145.

In fourth spot, and leading amateur, was English Girls’ champion Sophie Keech from Parkstone, Dorset with a score of 146, closely followed by Gabriella Cowley from Hanbury Manor, Hertfordshire, with a 147.

Taylor, from a non-golfing family, started playing golf at the age of nine under the eye of her grandfather who advised her to copy the swing of Tiger Woods. This she did, winning the English Girls, the Irish Ladies Strokeplay and three other titles before securing the England Women’s Order of Merit in 2012. She then went to tour school and qualified second. She is now in her second full season as a tour professional.