DURHAM champion Jessica Hall is celebrating again after adding the Bishop Auckland Club Championship to her growing list of achievements.

The 15-year-old, who is believed to have become the youngest ever winner of the Durham Ladies Championship earlier in the summer, turned on the style on the course she has played since being introduced to golf.

Hall carded two rounds of 75, 76 to beat the previous champion, who had held the honour for 16 years in a row. She had narrowly lost out on the last hole.

The talented golfer, playing in the English Under-15s Championship this week, said: “To win was special to me as it has been one of my aims to win the Bishop Auckland Ladies Championship.

“Winning it was great after losing last year. It was especially good as I am the county champion, yet until this week I wasn't my club champion. The previous lady winner has won the club championship 16 years running, and this made me more determined to win. My dad was my caddie and he was very proud of me. I couldn't wait to bring the trophy home and show it to my friends and family.

“At one stage I was hoping to match the course record as I was one-under through 13 holes and had a couple of good birdie opportunities to come. That remains one of my aims in golf.”

A FORMER Sunderland academy footballer turned PGA Professional is facing the biggest test of his fledgling golfing career.

Paul Nessling, 24, used to get a lift to training at Sunderland with team-mate Jordan Henderson in an old Fiat Punto belonging to the Liverpool and England star’s mother.

Yet when his desire to train faded he soon realised that football was no longer the game for him, and turned down a full-time contract at 18 to switch his attentions to reaching the pinnacle of golf.

This year he faces the biggest playing test of his career so far, the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship.

He said: “These are guys that you play with regularly and you want to be doing the same as them and playing in big events like the PGA Cup. Obviously in years to come I’d love to be playing on tour and things like that.

“I’m working hard on my game – I was probably better at football than I am at golf! But football was never the sport for me. I was going into training and I just wasn’t interested. I just wanted a career in golf.”

THE time was right for a Consett golfer when he scored a hole-in-one during a recent club competition to be rewarded with a limited-edition BOSS watch as recognition for the achievement.

Robert Mabin, 50, scored his ace on the 185-yard, par-three eighth at Consett, and the 14-handicapper was rewarded with a specially-commissioned, commemorative timepiece.

The German brand has once again pledged to reward club golfers with an exclusive watch for every hole-in-one recorded during a club competition in 2014 after giving away £600,000-worth of limited-edition mementos in 2013. Mabin is among the latest to achieve the feat this year.

The scheme is open to any golfer whose club uses HowDidiDo – a free-to-use, web-based social network for golfers – and anybody playing in official club competitions is eligible. Currently, more than 1,800 clubs use the website.