Huddersfield's Heath and Lindrick's Slater inside top 10 in English championship

She fired a two-under-par 70 to sit eighth, three shots behind leader Chloe Howard (Boringdon Park).

Heath laid the foundations for her score with a three-under-par outward nine that included a birdie and an eagle.

Lindrick’s Nicola Slater, recent winner of the English women’s open match play championship, also goes into round two in the top 10 after a 71 that saw her accumulate five birdies.

Making up a trio of Yorkshire players inside the top 25 is Jess Smee (Hessle), who had a quartet of birdies in her 73.

Howard shot five-under 67 to be a stroke ahead of Lancashire pair Sophie Lamb (Clitheroe) and Hollie Muse (West Lancashire), while the good scoring conditions created plenty of other sub-par rounds.

Howard dropped just one shot, on the second, before covering the rest of the course with six birdies and 10 pars.

There was a time when that early bogey might have derailed the 19-year-old from Plymouth, but her first year at Georgia State University in the USA has helped her develop her mental approach and her course management.

“It’s helped my mental game a lot, where I used to struggle,” said Howard. “I bogeyed the second hole and it would be so easy to put your head down, but my mental strength now is very good.”

This is her first big event since returning home for the summer break, having notched up a string of good results on the US college circuit, including five top 10s.

Other Yorkshire scores: 77 Melissa Wood (Woodsome Hall); 78 Abigail Smee (Hessle); 79 Mia Eales-Smith (Lindrick), Olivia Jackson (Pannal); 82 Debbie Henery (Hickleton); 85 Ellie Goodall (Selby); 86 Laura Morrison (Garforth); 88 Lucy Eaton (Skipton).