Olivia to make Olympic history

Banbridge High School pupil Olivia Mehaffey is in for a big summer after she was chosen to become the first girl to represent Ireland in the Olympics. Shes off to the Youth Olympics in China in August. Picture by Pat Cashman.

The Banbridge High School girl has been selected to take on the singles event in Nanjing, China this summer.

It’s the biggest boost of what has been a good year for the teenage Royal County Down girl, who will compete for a medal from the 19th to the 26th of August at the Zhongshan International Golf Club in Nanjing.

Her selection came after she topped the Order of Merit with a bright start to the 2014 golfing season. She made her Ladies European Tour debut back in March in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, where she even made the cut.

After that, she fired an almost flawless 68 at Royal Troon to finish third in the Scottish Ladies Strokeplay Championship.

“I’m honoured to play for Ireland,” she told the ‘LEADER.’ “It will be a great experience and good to be up against the best of the best.

“I head out to China on the 9th of August for two and half weeks. There will be lots of like other sports going on and it should be a really exciting experience. I’m really looking forward to it.”

At the time of going to press, Olivia was on the verge of reaching the Irish ladies Close semi-final. She was two-up after 14 holes in her quarter-final. The tournament is due to finish today. Keep up to date with Olivia’s progress today on our Twitter page @BanLeader.