Kristella Sikk returns from England with a third place finish!
Today the R&A Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship concluded near Cambridge, where Estonian women’s national team player Kristella Sikk achieved third place. This marks the first ever top three finish by an Estonian golfer in an R&A event. Sikk secured third place with a strong final day, an error free round that ended with an eagle on the final hole for a score of 66. Her total score was -9 (69, 72, 66).
First place went to Scotland’s Carly McDonald (-14), who defended her title at Gog Magog Golf Club, while second place was taken by Switzerland’s Lana Guyot (-11).
An opening round of 69 put Sikk in third place, just one shot behind the joint leaders. On the second day, she was paired in the first group with the two overnight leaders. After nine holes, she had moved into the outright lead at -2 for the day and -11 overall. However, a less successful back nine resulted in a round of 72, leaving her tied for sixth heading into the final day, still within reach of the leaders. Being placed in the third to last group may have given her some freedom on the final day, which led to a superb bogey-free round and a closing eagle on the final hole for a 66.
At the finish, it was clear that a podium place was secured, the only question was whether it would be second or third. Unfortunately, Switzerland’s Guyot made birdies in the final three holes to take second place away from Sikk. McDonald was in a class of her own, posting the best final round (65) and taking a convincing victory.
Last year at the same event, Sikk (Niitvälja Golfiklubi) finished tied 18th, while Guyot was tied 7th, and winner McDonald finished tied 32nd, though she was only 14 years old at the time.
A very happy Sikk commented after her round: “The tournament was very well organised, the course was in excellent condition and we also had good weather. The greens were fast, the course was firm and the ball rolled well. We did a practice round with my coach Hanna-Maria, where we discussed club selection and strategy, because the ball rolled a lot in some directions but not in others. On the first day I played very well, but my puttis didn’t drop. On the second day I played well until the 14th hole, but then had some bad luck. On the final day everything went very smoothly, my putts dropped, iron shots were straight, and I didn’t miss a single drive. I’ve never played this well in a tournament before, so I’m very happy with the result. Big thanks to Hanna-Maria for being there and helping with everything. Our cooperation worked really well and I’m already looking forward to the next one.”
Coach Hanna-Maria Tammo summarized the week in England: “The week went great. We played the practice round together and went through every hole—tee shot strategy, whether to attack pins, where you can and cannot miss, etc. The course was in excellent shape but very firm, so we had to be precise about which side the ball would roll toward on approaches and which side of the green was faster for putting. I think this gave Kristella a lot of confidence going into the tournament.
The first day was already ideal, Kristella’s best competitive round abroad so far. Very few mistakes and a bit of luck as well, resulting in -3. On the second day she started in the leaders’ group, alongside the eventual winner. There wasn’t as much luck, and a couple of mistakes came on easy holes, but Kristella stayed composed and finished at par. Going into the final day, she had no nerves, we agreed to aim for a bogey free round and that’s exactly what she delivered. She started with some tough par saves, but then the birdies started coming. After hole 13, she had moved from tied 6th to second place.
I did get a bit nervous after the mistake on hole 17, where Kristella missed the green and faced a difficult short sided chip over a ridge to a downhill pin. That chip went long, leaving another 20 metre chip, but she holed it brilliantly. She looked at me and said: ‘You said we were going for a bogey-free round!’ On the final hole she then holed an 8-metre putt from the edge of the green for eagle. An amazing finish with a -6 final round and no mistakes at all, no bogeys or worse throughout the entire tournament.”
