SMOOTH swinging golf ace Natasha Slater will be mixing with some of the best young players in the world at the Grand Final of the Faldo Series.

The 15-year-old claimed her spot among an elite field with victory in the competition's Scottish Championship near St Andrews.

Slater claimed a four-shot victory in the girls event on the Dukes course, just a few miles from the Old Course, where competition sponsor Sir Nick Faldo was in action in the Open last week.

Her rounds of 75, 72 and 79 earned her the under-16s and overall girls crowns and a place in the Grand Final against players from across Europe, North and South America and the Middle East.

She will also benefit from coaching at the hands of Faldo and other experts during a week in Europe in September, with the venue for the final yet to be confirmed.

It is a competition she is looking forward to, and the Cumbria Ladies champion said: “The final will be a good experience.

“You have a week's training with Sir Nick Faldo, so it will be really good.

“Past winners have been like Rory McIlroy and Yani Tseng, so it's a very big competition.

“It will be a great experience just to play with different people with the same ability but from different countries.

“It's a great opportunity and I hope I can benefit a lot.

“I want to compete as well as I can in the tournament. If I win, then that's great, but if I play as well as I can, then it's a good place to make an impact.”

Slater, who now plays off a handicap of 0.7, ended the three days of competition at the Dukes four shots clear of second-placed Louise Duncan, of West Kilbride, with both players shooting a 72 over the course of the event – the joint-best round of the tournament.

The Ulverston Victoria High School pupil, a member at Furness who also plays at Ulverston, Barrow and Dunnerholme, was pleased with how the championship went, and said: “I felt I played steady. I played in the competition last year but I didn't win and that spurred me on for this year.

“This time I just felt more prepared for what the competition was and how it was run.

“I learnt from the first day wheat I needed to improve and put things right on the second day.

“The third day was a bit windier, but I just did what I needed to do to win.

“I was playing with the person who was second and we had the same score, so I knew I was doing all right.

“It's one of the biggest wins I've had. I was really excited when I knew I had won – it made up for last year when I finished third.

“I was only five shots off getting to the final last year, so I was desperate to get there this time.”