Chloe Goadby is worthy winner in Scottish Women's at Gullane

Chloe Goadby, the beaten finalist in the last edition in 2019, emerged as a worthy winner in the Scottish Women’s Championship at Gullane after beating pre-tournament favourite Hannah Darling en route to the title.
Chloe Goadby (St Regulus) shows off the Scottish Women's Championship trophy after her win at Gullane. Picture: Gullane Golf ClubChloe Goadby (St Regulus) shows off the Scottish Women's Championship trophy after her win at Gullane. Picture: Gullane Golf Club
Chloe Goadby (St Regulus) shows off the Scottish Women's Championship trophy after her win at Gullane. Picture: Gullane Golf Club

Goadby, a 23-year-old who is a member of the St Regulus club in St Andrews, found herself up against her best friend, Minto’s Tara Mactaggart, in the final after she’d beaten talented teenager Darling 5&4 in the morning semi-finals.

East Lothian champion Mactaggart, who had defeated 2015 winner Clara Young by the same margin in the other last-four clash, found herself two down early on before fighting back to square matters after eighth holes on the No 1 Course at the East Lothian venue.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But Goadby then won three holes on the trot around the turn to take the title-decider by the scruff of the neck, going on to win 4&3 as she followed in the footsteps of 1994 champion Catriona Matthew by claiming the prize at Gullane.

Hannah Darling won the St Rule Trophy in St Andrews on Sunday and is now bidding to add the Scottish Women's Championship at Gullane this weekend. Picture: Scottish GolfHannah Darling won the St Rule Trophy in St Andrews on Sunday and is now bidding to add the Scottish Women's Championship at Gullane this weekend. Picture: Scottish Golf
Hannah Darling won the St Rule Trophy in St Andrews on Sunday and is now bidding to add the Scottish Women's Championship at Gullane this weekend. Picture: Scottish Golf

“Tara is my best friend and you could not have written it for us to meet in the final,” said Goadby, who is in the GB&I squad for the rescheduled Curtis Cup at Conwy in August. “I just had to keep my head down and not get ahead of myself.

“I got off to a solid enough start, capitalised on a couple of mistakes from her around the turn, made a couple of birdies and also holed a couple of clutch putts on 12 and 13.

“This win is pretty special and is probably the best one of my career.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Goadby, a Stirling University graduate, had to dig deep to beat Penelope Brown at the fifth extra hole in the first round on Saturday morning before coming through another tight tussle with Rachel Foster in the afternoon.

She then won the first two holes to set up her win over Darling, last weekend’s St Rule Trophy winner, before finishing off the job against MacTaggart to make amends for the disappointment of losing to Aboyne’s Kimberley Beveridge on the last green in the final at Kilmarnock (Barassie) two years ago.

“I’ve had some good runs in the Scottish and also done well in the qualifying only to go out early in the match-play stage,” said the new champion, who now finds herself heading back to the Ayrshire venue for this week’s Women’s Amateur Championship.

“In 2019 against Kimberley, it was such a close game and she hit a great shot on 18 to win it. It’s amazing to get the job done this week and it definitely makes up for that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s been tough due to the fact we’ve not had many events so far this year. Usually at this stage of the year, we’d have had a good run of tournaments before the Scottish Championship.

“My first event of the year was the St Rule last weekend and I had a couple of good rounds but also a disaster in the middle.

“I fought my way through the qualifying this week and came through a couple of tough matches on Saturday, which boosted my confidence.

“I played some of my best golf of the week against Hannah as I knew that was always going to be a tough match.”

A message from the Editor:

Get a year of unlimited access to all of The Scotsman's sport coverage without the need for a full subscription. Expert analysis, exclusive interviews, live blogs, and 70 per cent fewer ads on Scotsman.com - all for less than £1 a week. Subscribe to us today https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions/sports

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.