Olivia’s Ireland target top flight

Olivia Mehaffey, who is hoping for a top eight finish in her first senior European Championships. Picture by Pat Cashman

The year 12 student will be making the step up from girls golf to the senior ladies team in this week’s European Championships at Ljubljana Golf Club in Slovenia.

Olivia will play two qualifying rounds today (Tuesday) and tomorrow hoping to help Ireland to make the top eight after they missed out by a single shot last year.

It will be a new experience for the Banbridge girl.

“This will be the first time I’ve played for the ladies in the Europeans,” she said. “I’ve played girls for the past three or four years but this will be a far better standard.

“I played the ladies home internationals last year but that was the first time. I think I need to make this step up now because I’ve played girls so much.

“It’ll be great to get away with the senior team and it’s nice that I know them all already. They’re all young girls as well.

“We have a really strong team and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be up there. We all believe that we can be in flight A. Now we just have to play the golf to do it.”

Olivia’s fresh from her performance at the British Amateur Championships that saw her as the leading Irish player, making it to the last 32 at Royal St George’s.

“I played good golf on a very difficult course,” she said. “The girl I played in the second match wasa different league altogether. She started birdie, birdie, birdie and then kept hitting everything stiff.”