Hampshire's first ever European Ladies Tour golfer has claimed that being overweight cost her the chance of playing for her country as an amateur.

Demands for her to lose weight or forfeit her full international claims caused Overton's Kirsty Taylor so much distress that she has now set up a webstite to help "protect" younger players from a similar emotional upheavel.

Taylor, who is 22 and won the Italian and Portuguese Championships before going to Spain in September and earning her European Tour card at the first attempt, said she turned professional because she knew her size would always stand in her way of progressing as an amateur.

The twice Hampshire champion from the Sandford Springs Club in Kingsclere, knew she was battling the odds as far back as June 1999 after winning the Italian title.

ELGA, the governing body of ladies golf, told her she would only be considered for a full England call up if she lost a couple of stone.

According to her father Richard: "We got an exercise bike, her mum set her a special diet and she worked hard through the winter. But when there was no noticeable weight we suspected a thyroid problem and sent her to her doctor.

"But Kirsty was a big baby. She's always been big. Who knows, if she lost a few stone she might not be able to play. Her whole golf game has been built around her size."

But Taylor's weight problems came back to haunt her in 2000. She set a course record at Wallton Heath during the British Match Play Championships and although she was selected for the England under-21 team in Italy, her dad said: "She was dumped after just two games."

And in June this year after winning the Portuguese title, she received a letter from the English Ladies Golf Association voicing concern that "she wasn't participating in the fitness programme and that, in some ways, was distruptive."

ELGA chairman Di Stock, who lives in Fleet, said: "We were not asking her to lose five stone. She was just not making the necessary commitment to keep fit."

So England didn't want her and Taylor's size meant she was denied lottery funding.

Richard Taylor said: "It all had distressing effect on Kirsty. There were many tearful moments and a few tantrums out on the course and I'm sure these emotional upsets were at the root of it.

"But she shouldn't be judged on her size, she should be judged on her record. What she achieved as an amateur was superb and now she has won her European Tour card at the first attempt.

"I'm the proudest dad in Hampshire."

Taylor has already received a big boost from the European Tour chairman Ian Ranbdall who has made it clear that the Tour "does not discriminate" against size.

Laura Davies has fought similar problems as Taylor throughout her career and emerged as one of the world's top women golfers.

Kirsty Taylor's website is: www.foreverpar@aol.com