A JUNIOR Herefordshire golfer who was inspired by the professionals at The Open championship showcased her skills to win a county honour.

Ella Ashton, a junior member at Burghill Valley and The Herefordshire golf courses respectively, recently attended The Open to watch the stars and met some of her favourite players.

She used that experience to spur her on to victory at the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Girls 18-hole Championship.

Ashton had the chance at The 150th Open to follow Herefordshire golfer Oliver during his opening nine holes on Thursday and was also able to witness Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and eventual winner Cameron Smith take on the Old Course.

As she did in last year’s 9-hole County Champion Ashton made the step up to the 18-hole tournament being held at Bransford Golf Club near Worcester. 

The Florida style course, with numerous lakes, proved a stern challenge for all competing catching the young golfers out with many finding the water. 

Despite finding one of the lakes with her first shot on the opening hole Ashton was able to bounce back with a chip in to gain her first point in the Stableford competition.

Through her round Ashton remained patient, a trait she had witnessed watching the best players in the world, and proceeded to achieve nett birdies on the 5th, 6th and 7th holes to race to 16 points over the first seven holes.

A challenging few holes followed around the turn but Ashton rediscovered her scoring with a nett par on the 11th and a nett birdie on the par three 13th hole.

On the challenging 16th Ella found herself short of the island green and hit a superb wedge over the water to 20 feet and made the putt for another nett birdie and three more points.

By picking up two more points on the 17th Ashton finished ahead of the competition and claimed the Silver Salver awarded to the winner of the 18-hole competition.