Berkhamsted's Alice Hewson samples life in the Majors

BERKHAMSTED, HERTFORDSHIRE, UK - - 21-year old Berkhamsted amateur golfer Alice Hewson is enjoying an amazing year – and capped it last week by playing in her first Major.

2019 continues to be full of first-time achievements for the town’s rising star after she qualified for last week’s AIG Women’s British Open by winning a major European event on Sunday 28th July.

Hewson’s victory this year’s 2019 European Ladies’ Amateur Championship at Parkstone Golf Club in Dorset, where she came from seven shots behind the leader to lift the trophy after a play-off, was good enough to earn her a place in the British Open, which is one of global women’s golf’s four ‘major’ events each year.

It was the first time that Hewson has played in this country’s most prestigious women’s golf event. She was one of nine female amateur golfers in the 148-strong AIG Women’s British Open field at Woburn last week.

Although she failed to make the weekend it was valuable experience and she had a message for the members at her home club, Berkhamsted.

“It was my first Major, and it was even more special as it took place so close to home” said Hewson, who recently graduated from Clemson University in South Carolina where she had been studying – and starring in the Clemson Tigers golf team – since 2015.

“From a young age Berkhamsted Golf Club gave me an opportunity to get better, and to mature both on and off the golf course. All of the members there, especially the ladies, have been so supportive of me. I can never thank them enough. A lot of them came to Woburn last week and it meant so much to see some familiar faces.”

On her victory at Parkstone in July she said: “I was absolutely thrilled to win the European Ladies Amateur Championships, and the final day is definitely one I will remember forever.”

Earlier this year, Hewson became the first Englishwoman to play a competitive tournament round at the ultra-exclusive Augusta National in Georgia, USA, home of The Masters golf tournament, when she qualified to play in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament – and finished a creditable 10th in a field of 72 world-class amateur female golfers.

Alice Hewson first came to the notice of the England team selectors as a ten-year old, and in 2011 she became the England Under-13 Champion. The following year she entered the England Golf regional coaching scheme, while developing her game rapidly as a junior golfer at Berkhamsted, and while a pupil at Berkhamsted School where her mother Michelle is a swimming coach.

Hewson has represented England at senior level several times, and has already represented Great Britain & Ireland twice in The Curtis Cup – which is the female amateur equivalent of the men’s Ryder Cup.

Hewson has revealed plans to turn professional later this year, with her sights set on competing on the Ladies European Tour, the LPGA Tour in the USA, and in other events around the world.

A second talented young Berkhamsted golfer, 19-year old Hannah Screen, narrowly missed out on qualifying for the AIG Women’s British Open by just a single shot in Final Qualifying. Screen is also an England International and, like Hewson, has developed her game while on a golf scholarship at university in the USA.

Berkhamsted Golf Club is laid out on common land in Hertfordshire’s largest expanse of natural gorse and heather, with over five miles of bridleways and pathways running throughout the golf course and its huge 560-acre estate, full of natural beauty.

Contact Berkhamsted Golf Club on +44 (0)1442 865832 or see the club’s website at www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk for all golf club details, including location and travel tips.

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www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk

If you enjoy a natural and challenging golf course you will love playing at Berkhamsted. There are no man-made hazards and the course provides a unique challenge that over the years has seen our very best golfers put themselves to the test on the amateur circuit before they turned professional. Our annual Open event The Berkhamsted Trophy has, since 1960, been rated as one of British amateur golf’s most prestigious tournaments.