Isle of Man Sport Aid beneficiary Ana Dawson has recently finished a very busy schedule of golf over in the UK.
The 15-year-old Cavendish Sport Scholarship recipient has travelled over and competed in England, Scotland and Jersey this year and, with another busy winter program already underway with the England Northwest Under-16 squad, the Peel junior will have travelled off-island no fewer than 18 times this year.
Early-season success in the Lancashire Ladies’ County Championships at Southport and Ainsdale GC, where Ana qualified fifth (out of over 50 players) and reached the quarter-finals, was swiftly followed by selection for Lancashire.
At the age of 14 years old, Ana was the youngest player in the Lancashire squad again this year for County match week, having first been selected last year when she was just 13.
Under the expert guidance of Anne Baines and Brenda Flett (lady captain), Lancashire went on to win Northern County match week at Sandiway GC in Cheshire with Ana more than justifying her selection by winning all her matches and achieving her county colours in the process.
Fresh from this success, the youngster travelled to Jersey with the Isle of Man team for the NatWest Island Games helping the team to an overall silver medal and individually finishing fifth at the La Moye and Royal Jersey Golf Clubs.
July also saw Ana finish third in the Lancashire Junior Championship (under-18s) at Morecambe GC and win the u15s age group.
After a disappointing finish in the Isle of Man Ladies’ Championship quarter finals, Dawson then headed straight on to the English Girls U16s Championship at Royal Cromer, Norfolk where a mid-table finish after qualifying for the last 32 was also a disappointing result after a promising start to the season.
Ana took a much-needed rest for a couple of weeks and followed it up with her best golf of the year after a round of 78 in the morning at Headingley in the North of England U18s.
She shot a four-under-par 70 in the afternoon to finish fourth overall which secured her place in the Lancashire team for the County finals at Frilford Heath (Oxfordshire) where she played against the leading English lady amateurs.
After some tight matches against five other counties, the Lancashire team were finally edged out into third place, one point behind Gloucestershire who took second leaving Nottinghamshire in first place.
However, it was a fantastic experience for Ana playing with and against some of the best England international players.
Ana would like to thank all the Isle of Man Sport Aid team for their ongoing assistance, along with valued support from the Cavendish Scholarship, Heritage Homes and Isle of Man Steam Packet for its continued help with travel costs.
Thanks must also go to Isle of Man Golf, Lancashire Ladies’ County Golf Association, England Golf, Allyn Laing, Paul O’Reilly, Peel Golf Club and QEII High School for also supporting and encouraging her this year.
Ana is now working hard on her winter training schedule and is already looking forward to an exciting 2016 season of competition.