TEEN sensation Nicola Ford sets off on a dream trip to Sun City, South Africa, tomorrow to compete in one of the world's most prestigious junior golf competitions.

The 17-year-old from Chorley has qualified for the final of the Daily Telegraph/Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Junior Golf Championship.

It is a competition previously won by Andrew Coltart and Justin Rose and more than 38,000 young golfers took part in qualifying competitions around the country.

Ford, a golfer at Shaw Hill where European Tour golfer Nick Dougherty is a member, won the Southport and Ainsdale qualifier with a one-under par score of 73, the second best score from any golfer anywhere in the country in any qualifier.

With a handicap of five, she will be competing against golfers with handicaps of scratch or similar, so is considered an outsider.

But she says she just wants to go an enjoy it.

"I am just going to go and play the best I can," she said.

"I'm a bit nervous but I think I can use that to my advantage.

"I'm feeling confident. Most of the girls have lower handicaps than me but I qualified in second so I might have a chance."

The competitors - 21 boys and girls in all - fly out tomorrow afternoon and stay for a week. They play three rounds of 18 holes on October 29, 30 and 31.

And after a dream week in South Africa, Ford is off to La Manga, Spain, next month with Shaw Hill after their junior team qualified for the final of the Sunday Telegraph Junior Team Championships.

"We won our North Lancashire League, then went through to the North West finals at Mere and came second," said Ford. "The top two went through and we won the national final at Brockett Hall in Hertfordshire on Monday.

"I shot level par there which brought my handicap down to five and really boosted my confidence going into the Telegraph comp."