Yorkshire golf: Rotherham's Olivia Winning enjoys Home Internationals victory with England

Olivia Winning, back row, second right, with the England team following victory in the Home Internationals at Conwy (Picture: LGU).

ROTHERHAM'S Olivia Winning helped England to success in the Women's Home Internationals for the third year in a row, at Conwy.

And her county team-mate Megan Lockett, of Huddersfield, was a member of the Wales team that finished runners-up.

England secured the title with a comprehensive 7-2 victory over hosts Wales on the final day of the championship. They had halved with Ireland on the opening day and scored a 6-3 win over Scotland on day two.

Their victory follows an earlier triumph in the European women's team championship.

Winning won two of her three foursomes matches in tandem with Curtis Cup player Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough).

Lockett, who stands third in the Welsh ladies' order of merit, was equally successful in the foursomes as she and Wrexham's Chloe Williams were bested only once in three matches.

The Yorkshire players also returned a win each from their singles.

This is England’s fifth win in the last six years and was achieved in difficult weather conditions, which included very strong winds and heavy showers.

Their team captain Elaine Ratcliffe commented: “I can’t say enough times that I saw some wonderful golf this week in tough conditions. I am very proud of how the girls always battled and were patient out there.”

The series began against Ireland, described by Ratcliffe, as “tough opposition who, in the conditions, played some amazing golf and whose short game was second to none in the foursomes.”

England managed just one halved result from the three foursomes, but dominated the singles, winning four of the six games to halve the match.

On the second day against Scotland, the team again struggled in the foursomes, winning just one point. But again they were superb in the singles, winning five of the six games.

“At least we had one point from the foursomes, but again we had a tall mountain to climb,” said Ratcliffe. “The girls went out and played well, we had some tight matches and they were magnificent from 12 onwards to turn some games around and to get the win.”

In the final match against Wales, Ratcliffe mixed up two of the foursomes pairings and “it all came together” with the team winning all three games.

Wales came out for the singles in determined mood and in the early stages the match was close. But then MacLaren and Gemma Clews drew away for big wins - 6&5 and 4&3 respectively - while Sammie Giles and Emma Allen worked steadily towards an identical winning scoreline of 2&1 to complete the victory.