Global Golf Post - January 10, 2012

SEBRING, FLORIDA | Charley Hull, all of 15 years old, has already established herself as the top female amateur golfer in the UK. Now, she’s starting to extend her dominance to American soil.

The precocious blonde from Woburn,
England, held off Thailand’s talented teenage
sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn on Satur-
day to win the 57th Harder Hall
Women’s Invitational. She add-
ed that prestigious title to the
Jones Doherty Matchplay she
won as a 14-year-old last year
(and will try to defend later this
month in Ft. Lauderdale).

Hull, ranked 10th in the
world, also accepted an invitation
from the LPGA’s supplemental tour, the Syme-
tra Tour, to play in the Florida’s Natural Charity
Classic, March 19-25 at Lake Region Yacht & CC
in Winter Haven, Fla. So it appears the young Miss
Hull will be enjoying the Florida sunshine for a
while longer until her homeland thaws out.

Hull, who held or shared the lead after the first two rounds at Harder Hall, began the final round two shots behind 16-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn, who shot 67 in the third round. Sister Moriya, 17, posted a 68 to earn a spot in the final foursome Sunday.

Only a stroke separated the three heading into the back nine. Hull made an unlikely par on the par- 3 12th after plugging her tee shot into the lip of a bunker. The 35-footer she holed seemed to ignite her. She then birdied three of the next five holes to take a two-shot lead over Ariya, and they matched pars on the par- 4 18th.

Hull closed with a 3-under 69 and a 6-under

Charley Hull

282 total. Ariya, No. 8 in the world and the reigning U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, finished with a 73 and 284 total. Moriya, who lost in the finals of last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, shot 71-285.

Steve Ellis

GREEN TAKES NEW YEAR’S IN PLAYOFF

Virginia Tech graduate Garland Green survived a three-man playoff at St. Petersburg CC in Florida to claim the 86th New Year’s Invitational tournament. Green, who birdied the final three holes, finished tied with second- and third-round leader Stephan Jaegar and former U.S. Junior champion Jim Liu at 10-under-par 278.

Liu went out with a bogey on the first playoff hole. Green kept the pressure on Jaegar for the next four holes, but could not get a putt to drop. The playoff ended on the 440-yard par- 4 15th, the sixth playoff hole, when Jaeger flew the green with his approach and made bogey.

Billy Williamson posted a closing 79 but hung on to win the Mid-Amateur title, shooting 6-over- par 294 to beat Canadian Dave Bunker by two shots. Mike Barbosa finished alone in third at 301.

Seventy-year-old Jim Holbrook, a St. Petersburg CC member who won the senior title in 2009, shot 11-over-par 227 to take the Senior Division again. He beat Thomas Hyland and Stuart Sierra by a shot when he sank an eight-foot par putt on the final hole. Englishman Ian Clarke, playing in this event for the second time, took the Mid-Senior title (age 40-54), shooting 2-over-par 218, nine shots clear of Phil Powell.