ENGLAND Squad member Cara Gainer held off a great field in tough conditions to win the 47th Hampshire Rose.
The 23-year-old, from Castle Royle Golf Club, near Maidenhead, shot an impressive 36-hole total of four-under after carding rounds of 72 and 68. That was enough to hold off Hampshire veteran Kerry Smith, from Waterlooville GC, who was bidding to win the Rose for an historic fourth time.
Cara, playing off plus three, was delighted after adding her name on the prestigious Rose trophy alongside Women’s British Open winner Georgia Hall, who claimed it in 2012 and 2013, and fellow LPGA Tour star Charley Hull, from Kettering, the winner in 2010.
Cara, the 2016 Oxfordshire Ladies Amateur Champion, who won the English Matchplay Championship in 2017, said afterwards: “I’m super-thrilled to get my first win of the season in a great event with a really strong field.
“I’ve played in the Rose twice before and I think a bit of course knowledge really helped in tough conditions – particularly on the greens which were very fast and firm. My preparation has been great having been part of the mixed England squad that went to Australia for four weeks where a highlight for me was getting to the quarter-finals of the New South Wales Amateur.”
Essex player Holly Haslam, from Stock Brook Manor, was two shots back in third with Wrotham Heath GC’s Sharna Dutrieux, from Kent, a further two shots back in fourth.
The Hampshire Rose scores are combined with the scores from the Roehampton Ladies Open Gold Challenge Cup to create the 72-hole Gold Rose Trophy. The trophy – donated by North Hants’ Justin Rose – went to Chloe Ryan, from Ireland’s Castletroy Golf Club, who finished sixth in the Rose on one-over.
Smith, whose last Rose win was in 2016, was attempting to break the record of three wins she shares with the legendary Angela Uzielli. The Berkshire GC legend claimed her victories between 1985 and 1993, and won six British Senior Championships between 1990 and her sad death, in 1999, aged 59.
The Rose record total of 135 set by Hockley’s Alison MacDonald back in 1989, and equalled by Kent’s Claire Aitken in 2006, still stands.
