ON THE BALL

Ellen Ball watches the progress of her ball during the division 1 final of the Poverty Bay Women's Open on the Awapuni Links course yesterday. Home-course player Ball defeated Wairakei International member Karen McNeill (inset) 4 and 3. Picture by Paul Rickard

Gran and Nan were victorious inspiration for Ellen Ball on finals day of the Poverty Bay Women's Open yesterday.

The 17-year-old top seed proved too good on her home Awapuni Links course for gritty Wairakei International member Karen McNeill in the final of the McFadyen Cup championship 16.

Ball won 4 and 3 — a victory set up by her best nine holes of the two-day tournament featuring around 70 players.

Having struggled with her short game despite two cakewalk wins in getting to the final, Ball shot even-par 37 for the opening nine holes of the final, including birdies on the seventh and ninth.

It gave her a 3-up cushion and while McNeill reduced her deficit to 2-down, Ball finished it off with wins on the 14th and 15th holes.

“It was pretty cool,” Ball said of winning the title for the first time. “Especially having my Nana (Chris McDonald) and Grandma (Judy Ball) watching yesterday.”

“It was the first time she's (Judy) watched.”

Ball had plenty of whanau support, with father Lyndsay on her bag and mother Martine also watching.

McNeill could be pleased with her performance. With the championship division being off the stick, the 12-handicapper did well to hang in against her 2-handicapper opponent.

Ball, who finished at Gisborne Girls' High School last year and has been working for her father, will be putting in the hard yards on the practice fairway over the next couple of weeks.

She is in the Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay side for the Junior Girls Inter Provincial Tournament in Rotorua and another interprovincial event as she bids for a place in the HBPB side for the women's national interprovincial at the Omanu course in December.

Other division winners yesterday were Janet Muir (Electrinet Park member, division 2); Rachel Young (Putaruru, division 3); Pen Wanklyn (Poverty Bay, division 4) and Viv Kyle (Mahia, division 5).

A 27-hole stableford section was also held. Juliana Mitchell (Remuera) won division 1 with 56 points while Rosie Willock (Poverty Bay) won division 2 with 59.