MALTON & NORTON Golf Club's ladies are champions of Britain.

The Welham Park outfit won the prestigious National Golf Club Classic after beating Gosport & Stokes Bay in the final in Spain.

The six woman squad of Judy Butler, Jean Mackenzie, Carol Simpson, Wendy Jackson, Jackie Roberts and Emma Brown performed superbly at the El Rompido resort, in Huelva, to give the club its biggest success in its 115 year history.

Having won nine matches to board the plane for the finals, Malton destroyed Accrington and District GC 5-0 in the semi-finals.

With Roberts coming in for Mackenzie in the final, Gosport took the upper hand early on and were up in three matches, down in one and all square in another after eight holes.

But Malton fought back strongly and won the title with a 3 1/2 - 1 1/2 success.

More than 3,000 golf clubs took part in the competition, which began in January, and the Ryedale ladies were cheered on by more than 30 club members who made the journey to support them in the final stages.

A delighted Brown, who has won many of golf's major prizes on the amateur circuit, said the team's victory was up with all of those successes.

"It was a great result," she said. "We were confident after doing so well to get this far. Everyone got off to a good start against Accrington in the semi-final and it was great to see everyone up on the scoreboard on the course. It gave us a lot of confidence, to win 5-0, that we could go on and do well.

"I was two down through four holes in the final and it was all a bit up and down to start with. But Carol won 3&2 from being level and I was four up at that point so we were nearly there.

"It was great to turn it around and be on our way to victory. We were giving 63 shots as a team and they had gone through ten rounds and were unbeaten so it was just a case of doing what we could."

On the El Rompido course, Brown added: "The course was good and challenging. It was a thinking course and the greens were fantastic. They were really fast and had a few borrows in them. It was really interesting.

"(Overall) We won 11 games and it is brilliant. It's the biggest thing we have won as a club and it is fantastic to have been a part of that and to be involved in this team - a Malton team that won a national title."

Richard Jagger, Malton managing secretary, added: “This really rounds off a wonderful year for the golf club. The ladies have done us proud and have been absolutely magnificent from start to finish.

"I hope this victory inspires more women and girls to take up the game of golf at Malton & Norton Golf Club.”