Slovenia may not be one of golf’s great hotbeds but, my goodness, Pia Babnik was certainly on fire at Royal Troon as she romped to victory in the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Amateur Open yesterday.
With a display of poise, precision and purpose, the 15-year-old finished so far ahead of the rest she was just about playing in the 2020 edition of the cherished championship.
In the end, Babnik, who became the youngest winner since Ireland’s Leona Maguire claimed the honours at just 14 in 2009, won by seven shots with a 15-under aggregate after a neatly assembled six-under 66 over the redoubtable Troon links.
France’s Charlotte Bunel was a distant runner-up while Aboyne’s Shannon McWilliam took fourth and was one of six Scots in the top-10.
There have been plenty of Helen Holm Championships down the years that have been played out in the kind of grisly conditions that would crack granite. Not this weekend, though.
“It was sunny, warm and there was no wind; I’ve played in Scotland before but didn’t expect this weather,” gushed Babnik, who led by four shots going into the final day after the opening two rounds at Troon Portland. “This was my first time playing Royal Troon. I handled it well. It was a course that suited me.”
It certainly did. A telling thrust on the front nine fortified her position at the top as she holed a raking eagle putt on the sixth before adding birdies at the seventh and ninth. A couple more birdies at 12 and 16 gilded the lily as she coasted to the biggest win of her young career.
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“I knew I was well ahead and just tried to keep calm and play my own game,” added Babnik, who hopes to be back in Scotland later this year for the Junior Solheim Cup at Gleneagles. “The Junior Solheim Cup is my big aim and this win is a big help.”
McWilliam finished with a flourish and holed a 20-footer on the last to salvage her par in a two-under 70 for a six-under tally. “It was the only putt that dropped all day,” she lamented of the ones that got away.
“I couldn’t get the pace of the greens and was either leaving them inches short or putting them three feet past. I had two lip-outs for eagle too. I had a couple of 12-footers for eagle during round two that also lipped out, so if I’d holed them, who knows what could have happened. But that’s golf.”
McWilliam has now finished in every position in the top five except first. “Maybe next year,” she said with a smile.
A Scot hasn’t won this particular title since 2002. In 2019, it was a rising star from Slovenia who took the prize and the plaudits.
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