LIL Dykes admitted that her great-grandfather must have been guiding her around Great Harwood golf club as she clinched the Ladies Observer Shield.

The Scot’s relation is James Braid, the five times Open golf winner and a designer of courses at Gleneagles and Carnoustie among others.

At the start of the day, Lil’s caddie Val Robinson gave her a badge of her great-grandfather to spur her on.

She was the first to admit she needed it as she took on England’s 17-year-old golfer Nikki Foster in the showdown on Sunday.

But the badge in her pocket worked for the 59-year-old who was ecstatic at her victory.

"He must have been with me all around the course as that’s the only way I could have won," said Lil, an Accrington golfer who clinched victory on the 18th hole.

"Val had found a photo of my great-grandfather and had scanned it in and made into a pin and she gave it me at the start of Sunday’s final as a surprise. I was really touched. And I think he was there in spirit as I played out of my skin."

She certainly did as Lil has only been playing golf for four years and her handicap is 14.

Although there were only four holes where she didn’t have a spare shot, it was always going to be a tough ask against teenage star Nikki, a full-time golfer, who is at the top of her game, playing off plus one and already carving out a name for herself in the ladies golfing world.

Lil, who lost the final last year, admitted she didn’t expect the victory.

"I am just shell-shocked. It’s an honour to play against someone with the class of Nikki.

"I watched her play for Lancashire - although all my friends told me to keep my eyes shut as she is such a good players - and she’s the type of player you expect to watch on television never mind play against. She hits all the right shots.

"I was nervous in last year’s final and I didn’t play well but this year I felt okay despite the number of people watching.

"The main thing was I didn’t want to let myself down. I kept turning to Val and saying "I am doing okay aren’t I?" at every hole and I was just pleased to play some good golf."

Lil has a sporting background having played hockey for Scotland Under 23s and she struck up a good bond with Val Robinson, the former England hockey player.

Nikki had her mum Debbie as caddie and had father Trevor, who once famously led the Open as an amateur ahead of Seve Ballesteros at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 1988, watching on.

And the young golfer took a lead on the par-four first as she showed her ability to drive the ball a long way although Lil pegged it back to all-square by the second hole.

On the par four fourth Lil took the lead after a birdie but it was soon all-square again in a nail-biting clash.

Nikki can drive off the tee but Lil was a match for her while both ladies were chipping and putting well.

Lil went into a bunker on the eighth but got out of it and, at the turn, it was all-square as more and more people turned up to watch events unfold.

By the par four tenth, Lil again went one-up with a nett two but the match was hanging in the balance

One spectator remarked by the 11th that Nikki was playing that well that she was three under par - but still one down and it showed the quality on show.

By the 12th, a wayward second shot got the game back to square but a rare mistake by Nikki - hitting the tee shot out of bounds on the 13th - again put Lil in charge.

On the par five 14th an important putt by Nikki stopped Lil going two up and then it was Lil’s turn to make what was probably her only major mistake on the 15th.

She found the bunker on the side of the tee and, despite a number of shots, was just hitting sand and conceded the hole to get it back to level.

If anyone thought that would rattle inexperienced golfer Lil though, they were wrong.

"I just put it behind me. I didn’t have a shot on that one anyway so I just decided to get it up," said Lil.

She went one-up again on the 16th in a nip and tuck game but, this time, it was a lead she wasn’t to relinquish.

Lil could have won the game on the 17th but again found the bunker although this time she did get out of it and had a putt for the victory - but it rolled agonisingly too far for Lil.

And so to the 18th where Nikki needed to win it to take the thrilling game to extra-holes.

But it all went wrong for the Great Britain playerwhose tee-shot found the trees - and she then had to roll the ball out with her second shot- and then found the bunker with the third while Lil was in the green in two - and Nikki conceded.

"I was fortunate Nikki made a mistake as I knew she could drive the ball and I thought I was looking at extra holes which I couldn’t really face!

"But it was brilliant for me. Everyone knows what a good golfer Nikki is and she will go on to bigger and better things. It was just an experience to play against her, a future star."

Nikki, who is going to America for five months as she works on her golf, admitted: "Lil played fantastically and you can take nothing away from her."

Nikki, who won the Observer Golf a couple of years ago, has had a busy time in the last year competing for England and Britain’s girls for the final time and also taking the step up to the senior ladies national team and she also helped Lancashire be crowned champions of England.

While she was disappointed at losing the Observer final, you get the feeling there will be bigger trophies coming the teenager’s way.