Welsh golfer Harry aiming to reach LPGA in style

Darcey Harry is a rising Welsh star aiming to prove golf can be cool en route to the LPGA Tour.

Harry has made an impressive to start to her rookie season on the Ladies European Tour (LET) having come through qualifying school in December.

But the 21-year-old's ultimate target is to compete with female golf's biggest names on the USA-based LPGA Tour – and to emulate Michelle Wie and Charley Hull by doing it in style.

"They show the world that golf can be a fashionable sport, that you can make it look cool and it's fun," Harry says.

"I am quite big into my fashion and they incorporate golf and fashion really well, so they are definitely my favourites.

"I think in women's golf especially, we've got to modernise and show little girls that it is a cool sport to be in and you don't have to wear your high socks and baggy trousers. Girls can look cool doing it and that's something that I hope to inspire as well."

Harry, from Dinas Powys, took up golf by chance, first swinging a club as a toddler at the Vale Resort in Hensol because that was where she went to creche.

"I have probably always been able to really hit driver, even when I was a little girl," she tells BBC Sport Wales.

Darcey Harry was runner-up at last year's English Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship

By her mid-teens, Harry was playing for Wales and had become a member at the prestigious Royal Porthcawl.

She has experience of playing in America, having been partly educated in the Bahamas to aid her golfing development.

"I lived in Albany. That's where Tiger Woods is part-time based so I got to see him a few times out on the golf course," Harry explains.

"Justin Rose was based there for a long time too. We had the same coach and that was pretty cool."

Harry's "side passion" is horses, and she graduated last year in equine sciences at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester.

She has a horse, Larry, who she rides whenever golf allows – and insists that is not about to change despite the risk of an injury which could affect the day job.

"He's a very lovely horse," Harry says. "He always looks after me so as long as I do things sensibly, I should be fine."

Larry has been a little lonely of late, however, with Harry travelling the globe on the back of her success in qualifying school, where the top 20 players landed LET cards.

She came second, shooting eight under par on the final day in Morocco having turned professional to take her tour chance.

Darcey Harry is currently 25th on the Ladies European Tour order of merit after a promising start to her rookie season

Harry's first LET event, in Morocco in February, saw her miss the cut.

Yet her second start, at the Australian Women's Classic last month, began with a round of 64 and ended with a sixth-placed finish, with Harry in the final group on Sunday.

"I don't think I've ever played in front of such big crowds before," she says.

"But I loved every moment of it. I played with some players who have been on tour for over 10 years. It was great to watch them, to see how they do it and learn from them."

There was more good news the following week at the Women's NSW Open, also in Australia, where Harry finished 14th.

After a week back home in Wales - which included a ride on Larry - Harry returns to action at the South African Women's Open on Thursday.

Next comes a trip to South Korea before a string of summer events in Europe.

The biggest of those is in her own backyard, with Porthcawl hosting the Women's Open – the largest female sporting event ever to be staged in Wales - from 31 July.

To set up what would be a major debut, Harry will probably need to come through qualifying.

"Fingers crossed," she adds.

"I know the course inside out. I know every patch of rough, that's for sure!

"There are going to be huge crowds. I think my golf thrives from crowds and it would be amazing having lots of friends and family coming out to watch if I did qualify."

Darcey Harry says she is inspired by England's Charley Hull, who is currently the highest-placed European - in eighth - in golf's women's world rankings

Harry's other target for her maiden LET season is to gain enough ranking points to ensure she secures a tour card for next year.

The early successes in Australia have taken some pressure off – and also fuelled belief that she can compete at this level.

Harry is conscious that as one of only three Welsh players on the LET – alongside Chloe Williams and Lydia Hall – she is flying the flag for her homeland.

"We are a really small country so it is a big struggle," she says.

"I think the next generation do need some people who are on tour and doing well, hopefully to inspire the young girls coming up especially."

Harry's ability to influence potential golfers of the future will only increase should she follow in the footsteps of Wie and Hull by achieving her LPGA dream.

"Whether it happens next year, whether it happens in five years, you can't ever put a time on anything," she says.

"But that is my ultimate goal, to be playing in the States."