Hall determined to retain her Welsh National title

Winning the Asbri Golf Welsh National PGA Championship is one of Lydia Hall’s proudest achievements in golf, and the Ladies European Tour player is keen to retain her crown again at Celtic Manor.

She will be among an elite group of PGA Professionals tackling the Roman Road course at the Ryder Cup venue in the Asbri Golf-sponsoredevent and is determined to win for the second year in succession.

Hall won the 36-hole tournament staged on the unforgiving curse at Tenby Golf Club by a shot after posting a two-under par score of 138.

In doing so the 29-year-old made history by becoming the first female player to win the tournament and, inevitably it was a proud moment.

“To be the first ever female to win that competition was a massive honour,” said Hall.

“I knew all of the history and I was looking forward to playing in it, but to come away with the trophy was just an honour.

“It was really nice to have my family and my coach to be there to see me bring it home.

Interest in women’s sport across the country is continuing to rise and has been fuelled by the recent success of the women’s England cricket team and their footballing counterparts at the European Championships.

And Hall believes her victory at Tenby has helped raise the profile of women's golf as she looks forward to a return to Celtic Manor.

“Women’s sport is growing massively at the moment, especially women’s golf, so me winning the Welsh PGA National last year is only going to help that cause in making sure there more women’s events in the future.

“Celtic Manor have been a massive supporter of Welsh golf and it will be nice to hopefully defend the title around that track.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s at Celtic Manor this year so it’s different kind of test.

“Preparation is key and I need to give myself plenty of opportunities and this year I’m playing better than I was last year so I’m really looking forward to defending my title.”

One man determined to stop Hall in her tracks and see his name on the trophy again is 2015 champion Garry Houston.

The Welshman is using the event as preparation for the PGA Cup, after he qualified for the Great Britain & Ireland team to face America at Foxhills in September.

“I’ve geared most of my schedule towards making sure that I’m peaking towards the PGA Cup,” said Houston, who finished runner-up in 2014.

“It’s a big deal now in my calendar, so I won’t be overplayed but where I play I obviously want to perform well.”

“I was confident of defending my title last year because Tenby was a course I knew very well.

“I spent a bit of time as an assistant there so I was excited about playing last year. I played okay but it didn’t quite happen for me on the second round and Lydia played superbly.

“I’m very determined to win at Celtic Manor. It would be nice to win it twice.”

The Welsh National PGA Championship gets under way on 23-24 August at Celtic Manor. This year £1,500 is on offer for the winners, with second place earning £1,215 and third place taking home £960.

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