SIR Nick Faldo took up golf because he was thrilled by watching Jack Nicklaus win the Masters on TV. Rachel Gourley has a Barbie doll to thank for her inspiration.
Rachel is playing as if she is inspired. At the age of eight, the Cramlington schoolgirl has just won the Spanish Girls Under-12 Championship, eight shots clear of the field at La Cala, near Malaga – signing for scores of 80 and 84 on a par 73 course.
Late last year she came first in the British Junior Tour Order of Merit, another under-12 event, which put her through to the finals at the Forest Pines club in Lincolnshire.
Boys and girls played off the same tees. Rachel triumphed again, this time a mere five shots clear of the chasing pack.
Adding to natural talent and the support of her family, Rachel has the same coach as Northumberland’s only European Tour player Chris Paisley – Andrew Nicholson from the David Leadbetter Academy at Wynyard.
Nicholson, who has worked with Faldo and Justin Rose, said: “Rachel is up there with anybody I have ever seen for her age – she is truly exceptional.”
All of the above suggests Rachel will be going to the World Junior Championships in California this July not just to make up the numbers.
However, none of it gets to her dad, policeman Tony Gourley, a three-handicap member of Arcot Hall, anything like as much as his daughter’s joyous love of her sport.
He said: “Naturally, all her family like to see her do well, but the main thing for Rachel is the pleasure she gets out of it.
“She is always keen to play but only because she enjoys golf so much. She’s just having fun.”
Rachel’s introduction to golf came about by an unusual route.
When she was four, she was taken to the American Golf discount store in Gosforth by her mother Emma, an accountant, to buy a father’s day present for Tony.
Her dad added: “Some Barbie golf clubs for girls caught her eye while she was in there. Rachel asked Emma if she could have a set as a fifth birthday present.
“My dad Ian, also a member at Arcot, bought them for her birthday – and that was it.
“As soon as Rachel started playing after getting her clubs from her grandad, she took to it.
“We had taken her along when we went to watch professional tournaments, including The Open Championship, but although my dad and myself both play golf it was seeing the Barbie connection in the store which got her playing – she had her own Barbie doll. She’s won two dance competitions. She enjoys ballet, tap and modern dance as well as golf.”
Rachel’s first tournament success arrived as a five-year-old at a Northumberland Ladies Junior Flag Day at Rothbury.
A pupil at Burnside Primary School in Cramlington and a junior member of Arcot, her idol is the American professional Paula Creamer, who won the US Women’s Open in 2010.
