Leading qualifier Beth Coulter went the distance on day four of the R&A Women’s Amateur Championship as she survived two tight affairs to book her spot in the quarter-finals in Prince’s.
Coulter pipped the youngest player in the field in Cypriot Lucy Lin on the 19th in her morning last-32 tie before edging Frenchwoman Justine Fournand on 18 to advance to the last eight.
Sara Byrne’s campaign in Sandwich was brought to an abrupt end in the last-32 after Spaniard Andrea Revuelta pulled away from her on the back nine to win 4&2. The Douglas native was 2UP through six holes before losing four holes on the trot around the turn and she never recovered.
For Coulter it was a case of hanging tough as she came out on the right side of a topsy turvy battle with 13-year-old Lin where she went from 2UP through six to 1DN with five to play before a par on 19 eventually saw her progress into the afternoon.
“Yeah, she’s fab. She’s definitely the next Rose. At 13, I was not hitting it as far as she was. She’s a great putter and she has definitely a really bright future in the game of golf. Yeah, it was a great match,” said Coulter.
Her last-16 tie with Fournand was low on quality but it was a match she led from the second hole to the eighteenth as she won by 2 holes.
“Yeah, we had a great match out there and evening this morning. This afternoon made hard work of it coming in. I had two 2-putts on 16 and 17 but just misread them but I was confident 1-up going down 18 and finished it off,” explained the Kirkistown Castle woman.
“Yeah, match play it’s never over until it’s over. I’ve always held that value and I think it’s so important because even when you get down it’s important to not let it get away from you. Yeah, I’m really happy this morning. I battled back a bit when it got away from me and this afternoon I tried to keep my foot on the gas when I got up. Really happy.”
The 19-year-old has an impressive record in R&A Championships including a runner-up in the Girls edition to Hannah Darling in 2021 while she made the last-32 in the Women’s Amateur last year.
“I mean, it’s kind of moving through the ranks, I think it’s really cool and we have the 16 British Girls and this, I think it’s taking confidence from that going as far as I can in 16s and then building on that. So yeah, I mean, it’s fantastic. I love playing these championships, and we’ll see what I can do tomorrow.”
World number one amateur Ingrid Lindblad continued her good form with a 4&3 win.
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