Curtis Cup call-up is the crowning glory for Kelly; Now teen star Tidy wants to make final six for USA trip.

Byline: HAROLD BROUGH

LANCASHIRE and England teenager Kelly Tidy has crowned a season of high achievement with a place at the summit of GB&I amateur ladies golf - a call-up for the Curtis Cup team to play the Americans.

The 17-year-old who travels regularly from her home at Bolton for the benefits of playing and practising at Royal Birkdale, where she is a member, has stepped from girls golf into the ladies arena and is on the edge of playing at the highest level.

She has finished runner-up in the British Girls for the second time and her successes this year also include runner-up in the English Girls Championship along with helping England to victory in the Girls Home Inter nationals.

"Yes, I have had a pretty good season," she said. "Winningwise it has not been my best season. I have won more in past seasons but in terms of status this has been the best."

The Curtis Cup is in America next year, at the Essex County Club, Massachusetts, and Tidy has already played with distinction in the States, this year finishing top scorer for the European team in the Junior Solheim Cup in Chicago.

Her other outstanding achievement was being named as first reserve for the GB&I Ladies Vagliano Cup team.

The key to Kelly's success is not some new development in her golf game but her overall ability.

"I am able to hit the ball a long way," she said. "I have always had that advantage over some of the other players. It makes it easier, keeping the ball on the fairway and sending the ball a long way. Definitely it has been an advantage.

"I suppose my average good drive is 240-245 yards and I can hit irons a long way too. So I can reach a par-5 in two in the wind. In Britain we play a lot of links golf and I play at Birkdale and I am used to playing in the wind." She began playing when she was five. Her father Paul was getting his clubs out of the cupboard and the curious youngster asked him: "What are those sticks, Dad?" She went with her father to the driving range and asked could she try hitting some balls. The local professional found her a cut-down seven iron and even now she can recall the sense of excitement that she was able to hit the ball naturally. The pro's verdict that day was: "This kid's got talent." Paul had a handicap of four. He does not play now but drives his gifted daughter to tournaments. She has been part of the Lancashire Girls set-up since she was six and on her travels around the county she won the English Girls Under-13s twice, the Under- 15s once and finished runner-up the following year Gareth Benson, a Lancashire county coach, has coached Kelly, but this year has moved to Steve Robinson from Sandburn, York.

He gave her some swing thoughts which, she says, were too technical to explain but, after the lesson last May, she went to St. Andrews, played the Old Course and returned six-under par. She is a member at Manchester but, like some others, most noticeably Corrie Lee of West Lancashire, she finds it worthwhile to travel from her home on the east side of Lancashire for the links golf experience on the Sefton coast, at the heart of England's Golfing Capital. It's a one-hour drive from her home to Royal Birkdale and she is there three times a week in the summer and twice a week in the winter when there are less hours of daylight. Dad Paul watches Kelly while she works at her golf, for as long as nine hours. He provides a double check on her game, helping to make sure she follows the guidance of Steve Robinson. "There is the prestige of playing at Royal Birkdale," she says. "Also it provides year-round golf. It is always open. The inland courses can be shut a lot, especially in winter." Kelly is a student at Bury College, working on a diploma in sport, and she manages to combine her golf commitments with her studies although. sometimes it can be difficult. Her ambition is to be on the Ladies European Tour by the time she is 21. Meanwhile, sights are on a place in the Curtis Cup team .

The squad of 20 is one of the youngest selected by the Ladies Golf Union and includes 11 teenagers with two 14 year-old Irish twins. Eight will be selected for the team and the announcement will be made next April following the Helen Holm Scottish Womens Open Amateur Strokplay at Troon. Tidy will work with Robinson during the winter and in the New Year she hopes to play in the Portuguese and Spanish Ladies Opens. At 17 she is already in the top ranks of the amateur game, a member of the England Ladies top group, the Performance Squad and, of course, she has the American experience where she proved herself a winner. The competition for the eight Curtis Cup places will be intense and she knows that it is results and consistency in performance that counts. But as Kelly prepares for winter coaching and the tournaments of early 2010 she says: "Yes, I do feel I am on track."

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Kelly Tidy