THE BENTLEY CHALLENGE - Girls just wanna have fun...

They are professional golfers and compete passionately on the golf course, but on this occasion they find themselves on a totally different kind of course...

I once had a Jaguar Mark 2 like the one Inspector Morse used to drive in the TV series, only mine was green. It was a used car, of course, but I still remember the feeling of getting into the driver's seat and taking it home from the shop. The smell of real leather, the beautiful polished walnut dashboard and folding trays on the back of the seats. It was a proud moment.    The memory was brought back to me on this early morning in July, sitting in another of Britain’s iconic cars, this time a brand new Bentley Continental. Unfortunately, it is not my car and I’m not in the driver's seat. In fact, we are at Thruxton race track where the first Ladies' Pro Golfer Bentley Track Challenge is about to take place.    The competitors are three young ladies from the Ladies' European Tour, Cheyenne Woods, Henni Zuel and Carly Booth, together with legendary Dame Laura Davies. None of the three youngest have tried anything like this before, but Laura Davies has had some experience. “I have done some track racing in the past, but that was a long time ago. I’m really looking forward to this and I love the Bentley cars,” she says.

RISING STARS. The three young ladies are considered rising stars in professional golf, but the question now is how they will perform behind the wheel of a powerful Bentley Continental V8 S on England’s fastest racetrack.    Cheyenne Woods is an American professional golfer, born in Phoenix, Arizona on 25^th July 1990, and is Tiger Woods’ niece. She has won more than 30 amateur tournaments and turned professional in 2012 after graduating from Wake Forest University in North Carolina. In 2013, Woods became a member of the Ladies' European Tour and finished 78^th on the Order of Merit.     Henni Zuel, born 6^th January 1990, is an English professional golfer and the youngest-ever player to join the Ladies' European Tour as an amateur. She was a nominee for a Britain’s Best Award for Home Grown Talent and entered the professional Ladies' European Tour after turning pro in 2008.    Carly Booth, born 21^st June 1992, is a Scottish professional golfer. At the end of 2009, aged 17, she became the youngest-ever Scot to qualify for the Ladies' European Tour. Booth enjoyed an amateur career richly laced with records and accolades, being described as a Scottish golfing prodigy. Aged 12, she played with Sandy Lyle in the British Masters Pro-Am and at 14 she appeared in her first professional event, the Ladies' Scottish Open, and finished 13^th.

THE VETERAN. The name Laura Davies should be familiar to most of us. As an English professional golfer, she has achieved the status of the nation's most accomplished female golfer of modern times, being the first non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA money list, as well as winning the LET Order of Merit a record seven times. As of 2012, she has 84 professional wins worldwide, with 20 on the LPGA, including four majors.     Since turning professional in 1985, she has won at least one individual title somewhere in the world every season, except for 2005 and 2011. She is a member of the US-based LPGA Tour, a life member of the Ladies' European Tour, and needs only one major victory, or two regular LPGA Tour wins, to enter the World Golf Hall of Fame.    After a short briefing and some practice laps under the supervision of Bentley’s GT Racing Drivers, Steven Kane and Duncan Tappy, to familiarise themselves with the cars and the track, the ladies are ready.     The competition takes place at two separate venues. First they'll drive through an obstacle course in the parking lot. The results from this challenge will then be combined with the fastest lap time in order to establish the winner.    As professional golfers, these ladies are used to performing under pressure, but there still seems to be a bit of tension in the air as they put helmets on for the speed test. Soon, the roaring sound of powerful engines echoes around the race track as the contestants finish their laps, and with speeds of up to 140mph, we can but wonder how it felt.    “It was amazing,” says Cheyenne Woods. “I must admit I was very nervous, but as soon as we started there was no time for that. I had to focus on what I was doing, as there is a lot to remember. It goes so fast. This is a lot harder work than I thought, but what a rush! I loved it!”

AND THE WINNER IS. Although the difference in lap time was only five seconds between number one and number four, it did not come as much of a surprise that Laura Davies was the overall winner. And true to the custom of the sport of racing cars, she happily sprayed her fellow contestants with champagne on the podium. “This has pretty much been my dream day. Everyone knows how much I love driving fast cars and it has been a brilliant experience to race on the quickest track in the UK. It’s especially nice to finish on top of the podium ahead of the youngsters," she says with a big smile.    The youngsters themselves don’t seem to mind having been defeated by their older competitor. “It’s been great fun and so different from the sport we usually compete in. Definitely an experience we shall remember,” they say.    You might not be seeing any of these ladies behind the wheel on a race track any time soon, but I’m pretty sure you will see them on the golf course in upcoming tournaments.