GARON Park golfer Dulcie Sverdloff has won the Irish under-18 stroke play championship team compe-tition.

The Southend player partnered fellow Essex teenager Sophie Madden to form the winning England team which finished two shots clear of Ireland A in the team competition.

The event was played over the first two rounds fo the 54-hole championship at Roganstown.

Sverdloff and Madden’s acheivement is more notable because there were in a team of two compared to the three-strong teams other countries fielded.

With each country’s two best scores counting, it meant the worst score could be discarded, a luxury denied to the English duo.

And 18-year-old Sverdloff and Madden, who is a member at the West Essex club, played well in the individual event to be among four players tied for second place.

But Sverdloff, who won the British Colleges title last year, claimed the silver pendent awarded to the runner-up on countback after finishing two shots behind the winner, Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey.

Madden, 16, is the English U15 champion and was runner-up at the Scottish U16 championship earlier this month.

Both girls were in the winning Essex team at 2012 County Finals.

FULL GOLF ROUND UP IN THURSDAY'S ECHO