St Regulus golfer Nina Fischer records "inspirational" win

Aged just 10-years-old, young golfer Nina Fischer, a member of St Andrews club St Regulus, managed to see off her competition to take the title at the inaugural event, played over the weekend.

She etched her name on the trophy and made history by playing some magnificent golf over the famous course’s fairways and greens.

The tournament was open to all of the links’ season ticket holders and played on the Carnoustie Championship Course.

In excellent conditions, the membership took full advantage.

Competitors played out nine holes in a strokeplay format before the top four nett scores at the end of the day’s play battled it out in a play-off over a final tenth hole, played over the 18th on the course, to become champion.

As well as collecting the title, the victor also wins a once in a lifetime prize of a round of golf with 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie.

Nina’s competitors in the play-off, Michael Law, David Martin and Bruce Shepherd, also played some fantastic golf during the nine-hole stroke play stage of the competition.

In the end, though, the young prodigy did enough to seal a famous win.

Keir McNicoll, head PGA professional at Carnoustie said: “This championship has been a real triumph here at Carnoustie, we have always been a venue that believes in making the game inclusive and growing and adapting it for the future.

"Nina’s win was a fantastic, inspirational, finish to a wonderful day of excellent golf.

"We believe that the game of golf, which has so many health and wellbeing benefits, should be open to everyone who wants to play and a championship like this is another step on that exciting journey.”

The Carnoustie Golf Links 10-hole championship, held in association with Double A Trading Company, was inspired by the course’s original architect, Allan Robertson, who laid out the first 10 holes in 1842, although the first record of golf played at Carnoustie dates all the way back to 1527.

The unique routing of the course saw competitors play the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes, with the final 10th hole play-off taking place on the 18th hole.

The scoring on the day saw David Martin with the lowest nett on 32, Michael Law was 33.

Nina and Bruce Shepherd were both 34.

The Carnoustie Championship Course has hosted The Open eight times and the AIG Women’s Open twice.

It has also hosted The Senior Open Championship on two occasions, in addition to hosting The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship annually.

It’s a course that challenges each person who visits and is commonly known as golf’s greatest test.

Lawrie, who will now partner Nina in a round over the course as part of her prize, famously won his Open title there in 1999.

The Open, golf’s pre-eminent championship, was played for the eighth time at Carnoustie in July 2018, with Francesco Molinari lifting the claret jug.