Opening Golf to the World
Girls U16 Amateur
Scotland’s Carly McDonald wins R&A Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship in record style
26 Apr 26
4 mins
Scotland’s Carly McDonald finished in style for a record-breaking win at the R&A Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship at Gog Magog.
The St Andrews native joins fellow Scots Grace Crawford (2022) and Hannah Darling (2018) as winner of the prestigious title thanks to an impressive final day performance in Cambridgeshire. The 14-year-old carded a closing seven-under-par 65, the lowest final round from a champion, to go with earlier scores of 68 and 69 for a 14-under-par 202. She finished three shots ahead of Switzerland’s Lana Guyot. Kristella Sikk of Estonia placed third, five shots adrift of McDonald. McDonald’s 202 total sets a new 54-hole record, breaking defending champion Sabrina Wong’s 203 effort by a shot. Her 14-under par performance is four shots better than Wong’s ten-under last year. Defending champion Wong put up a stout defence of her title, finishing in a tie for fifth place on five-under 211.
Carly McDonald from Scotland in action at Gog Magog.
‘Dream come true’
“It is amazing to have won because this a really big tournament,” McDonald said. “The R&A run it so well. It almost feels like you’re playing in The Open so I’m delighted to be standing here as champion. “It is a bit of a dream come true really. It’s pretty cool because I wasn’t expecting to win. This is my best win so far. I’ve got great memories to hold on to from this week.” A third successive day of bright sunshine and very little wind greeted the 78 players from 23 countries competing over the 5,851-yard, par-72 Gog Magog lay-out. On another perfect day for scoring, McDonald overcame a two-stroke deficit to Guyot after 36 holes to get her hands on the coveted Angela Uzielli Trophy, named after the decorated amateur golfer who represented Great Britain and Ireland in the 1978 Curtis Cup. Guyot looked like the likeliest winner at the start of the final round. She had only recorded two bad holes in her first two rounds, dropping just three shots. However, by the time she walked off the 3rd green in the final round she was four-over-par for the day. She started bogey, double bogey, bogey to hand McDonald the lead. Guyot did well to fight back to play the next 15 holes in six-under to place second. McDonald arrived in Cambridgeshire intent on bettering her 32nd place showing in this event last year, when she was top Scot behind Wong. She went 31 places better thanks to imperious golf in the final round. She took full advantage of Guyot’s stumble over the opening few holes. She dropped just the one shot all day, a three-putt bogey on the par-4, 3rd hole. She then played four holes from the fifth in five-under – birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle – to play the front nine in 31 shots to move to eleven-under-par. That stretch effectively won her the tournament. “I struggled on the front nine yesterday with my pace putting, so I spent two and a half to three hours on the putting green last night just trying to improve it for today,” McDonald explained. “The practice really helped. My putting was so much better today, especially over those four holes from the fifth. I made some really nice putts.”
Scotland’s Carly McDonald lifts the Angela Uzielli Trophy.