Nicola Callander, left, is celebrating after finishing third in the Scottish Girls' U16 Championships

WELWYN Garden City golfer Nicola Callander finished in third place at the Scottish Girls’ U16s Championships at the Strathmore Golf Centre, Perthshire.

Anglo-Scot Nicola first created headlines when at the age of 12 she became the youngest ever winner of the De Paula Cup, a Hertfordshire Ladies’ County event open to women with handicaps of between 10 and 20.

She successfully defended the title the following year before her handicap became too low for her to play in the event.

Subsequently, she has gone on to be a regular in both the Hertfordshire Girls’ and Ladies’ County teams, in the latter playing alongside the likes of 2009 English Amateur champion Charlie Douglass, 2010 Irish Ladies’ Stroke Play champion Hannah Burke and 2011 English Amateur champion Lucy Williams.

Nicola plays her golf at Mill Green and WGC Golf Club and is coached by Ian Parker head professional at Mill Green. She is also a member of the Hertfordshire Talented Athlete Programme, based at the University of Hertfordshire, which offers advice and support to promising local youngsters from a variety of different sports.