BRIONY BAYLES has come a long way since she pinched a club from her dad in the garden while he cleaned them more than seven years ago – and 2016 could have provided a sign of things to come.

As the curtain prepares to come down on another year in a few weeks’ time, the talented teenager is already looking at trying to build on the momentum from a glorious year on the amateur circuit.

Bayles has been a regular on the England regional coaching programme over the last few years and the fact she has shone against some of the best international golfers around this year is a further indication of her potential.

At the age of 16 she has sights set on heading for the States in the not too distant future and she made herself known internationally by claiming one of the biggest prizes in junior golf earlier this year.

“Winning the St Andrew’ Junior Ladies Open was the main thing,” said Bayles, a member at Bishop Auckland and Wynyard while she also plays regularly at Headlam Hall.

“I wasn’t going to enter the competition either because it clashed with a Northern Counties event but my dad said I should for the experience. It was a really well ran competition.

“I played against a girl from Dubai, Alison Muirhead, a scratch golfer, and a top seed, in the semi-final, so it was a really strong field with golfers from all over.

“I had to qualify first from the Strathtyrum course, where I shot three over and was tied fourth. Alison was the leading qualifier on two under there, and I was one of the top 16 to qualify for the match play rounds – so I ended up playing on the Old Course and the Eden Course. It was a great experience.”

By beating Muirhead in the last four Bayles then defeated Leicester’s Jessica Bailey in the final when she held her nerve to hole a memorable 4ft putt in front of the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse to claim the trophy.

Bayles said: “My dad, David, couldn’t even watch and he was by the 18th. I just tried to focus on my swing … those are the moments you practice for. I wanted to play it safe enough while trying to be aggressive.

“It was just a fantastic feeling. Holing my putt on the 17th, having had a near miss on the tee shot over the hotel, was also a great feeling. I had hit a shot low and I didn’t think it would get over the hotel and the green shed but it did. But holing the good putt on the last was something else.”

The former Staindrop Academy pupil also won the Northern Golfer Junior Champion of Champions at Chester-le-Street by breaking the course record for the ladies with a 69 gross, while she was tied fourth in the Scottish Under-16s and tied 13th in the English Girls Under-16 Championship at Nottingham.

On top of those, Bayles claimed both the Bishop and Wynyard junior titles and was runner-up in the Durham County Girls title to Jessica Hall. “It’s amazing to think back to where it all started!” said Bayles.

“My dad never used to clean his clubs, but he decided to clean them in the back garden one day and I started to swing around with them. My mum suggested I got a little club from Sports Direct and I used to hit those little plastic balls with holes in the garden.”

Now, six years after taking the sport more seriously, Bayles is travelling over from Staindrop to Hartlepool to further her education and to develop her golfing talent under the watchful eye of European Tour pro Graeme Storm.

Storm is the golf consultant at Dyke House College and Bayles is enrolled as a golf scholar in the Sixth Form there. She said: “I would like to go to study in America and get my qualifications while I am out the. The goal is to play professionally on Tour and make a career out of golf.

“I go up to Hexham to get coaching off Andy Paisley too but one of the main reasons I have decided to go over to Dyke House every day to do my A-levels is to get tuition from Graeme Storm. It is a fantastic opportunity. Graeme has come to a session or two already with me.

“I’m doing A-levels in Psychology, Business Studies, Maths and Further Maths and I want it to lead to an American scholarship. I just want to be a Tour player long term, whether that is on the LPGA or Ladies European Tour, I don’t know.”