A BUDDING teenage Hagley Golf Club star has been chosen to represent Europe in the equivalent of the Ryder Cup for the disabled - at the tender age of 15.

Ellie Perks, who has a form of dwarfism, will fly the flag for the region in the prestigious Phoenix Cup - disabled sport's answer to the legendary competition - in Scotland in September.

Ellie, a pupil at King Charles I School, Kidderminster, will join the sport's elite at five courses - Gleneagles, Panmure, Carnoustie, Trump International and Blairgowrie - from Monday September 14 to Tuesday September 22 as the contest's youngest competitor.

It's the latest accolade in Ellie's remarkable golfing success story.

She took up the sport at the age of seven through the charity Golf for Disabled Children, which is endorsed by Lord Sebastian Coe, and has been giving up 18 hours a week ever since as a volunteer helping people with disabilities take up the sport.

Last August Ellie's work won her the prestigious Hero's Handshake Award from the Golf Foundation and England Golf Young Ambassadors - the first ever girl to do so.

She also gives her time helping the Dwarf Sports Association UK and Little People UK.

Ellie, who lives in Kidderminster and is a member of Hagley Golf Club, has brought her golf handicap down from 54 to just 18 in one year to earn her Phoenix Cup place.

She said: "It's good for me because it shows, as a disabled golfer, nothing should stop you achieving.

"Being disabled you sometimes get people taking the mickey, but this shows them I can do what I want to do - and hopefully makes them feel a bit embarrassed!"