TOP FOUR SEEDS THROUGH TO SEMI-FINALS
SCOTTISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Top seed Heather MacRae continued her impressive progress in the Scottish women's amateur golf championship at Dunbar today when the four leading qualifiers claimed their places in the semi-finals.
That meant a last four line-up of Heather MacRae v Martine Pow and Anne Laing v Louise Kenney.
The 22-year-old Heather from Dunblane was five under par and shot seven birdies in all in winning by 5 and 3 against 20-year-old Lesley Hendry, winner of the Ayrshire county championship for the past two years.
"I got to four under par in the first qualifying round so this was my best scoring of the week so far," said Heather.
She cut short her final term at San Diego State University a few weeks ago so that she could come home and make an impact on the early-season tournaments she would have otherwise have missed.
A place in the GB&I team for the Curtis Cup match at Bandon Dunes, Oregon at the end of July is her target and she is bang on schedule for that.
Such was the quality of Miss MacRae's game today that her opponent was two under par herself for the first nine holes - and still one down.
Heather covered the last seven holes of the quarter-final in five under par. She birdied the ninth, 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th, winning them all to surge from all square after seven holes to match over on the 15th green.
Miss MacRae's semi-final opponent will be Martine Pow. The Selkirk player won by 2 and 1 against Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder) who had been two up after five holes, having birdied the second.
Martine got it back to all square at the turn with successive birdies at the eighth and ninth.
Emily regained the lead at the 11th but Miss Pow never lost a hole after that. She squared with a par at the 12th and went one up for the first time with a birdie 4 at the long 14th before she won the hole and the match after a concession at the 17th.
Fiona Lockhart's reign as Scottish champion is over. Anne Laing (Vale of Leven) gained a measure of revenge over Fiona who beat her 3 and 2 in last year's championship final at Cruden Bay. This time round Anne triumphed by 5 and 4 with approximate figures of two under par. She was never in arrears after birdieing the short fifth to cancel out Fiona's winning birdie at the short third.
Hilary Laughland (Mortonhall) gave No 2 seed and new course record-holder Louise Kenney (Pitreavie) a run for her money before losing at the 20th. Hilary went two up after only three holes to give her the confidence to take on her highly-rated opponent.
Louise turned the tide to be one up after 16 holes but Hilary played a fine approach shot to within 3ft of the flagstick to birdie the 17th and square the contest. Then the Lothians player holed out bravely from 4ft on the 18th green to take the tie down the 19th after Louise had sunk a 15ft putt for a par 4.
Miss Kenney won through to the last four with a pitch-and-putt birdie 4 at the long 20th where Hilary was in a greenside bunker in two.
QUARTER-FINALS
H MacRae (Dunblane New) bt L Hendry (Routenburn) 5 and 3.
M Pow (Selkirk) bt E Ogilvy (Auchterarder) 2 and 1.
A Laing (Vale of Leven) bt F Lockhart (St Regulus) 5 and 4.
L Kenney (Pitreave) bt H Laughland (Mortonhall) at 20th
Top seed Heather MacRae continued her impressive progress in the Scottish women's amateur golf championship at Dunbar today when the four leading qualifiers claimed their places in the semi-finals.
That meant a last four line-up of Heather MacRae v Martine Pow and Anne Laing v Louise Kenney.
The 22-year-old Heather from Dunblane was five under par and shot seven birdies in all in winning by 5 and 3 against 20-year-old Lesley Hendry, winner of the Ayrshire county championship for the past two years.
"I got to four under par in the first qualifying round so this was my best scoring of the week so far," said Heather.
She cut short her final term at San Diego State University a few weeks ago so that she could come home and make an impact on the early-season tournaments she would have otherwise have missed.
A place in the GB&I team for the Curtis Cup match at Bandon Dunes, Oregon at the end of July is her target and she is bang on schedule for that.
Such was the quality of Miss MacRae's game today that her opponent was two under par herself for the first nine holes - and still one down.
Heather covered the last seven holes of the quarter-final in five under par. She birdied the ninth, 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th, winning them all to surge from all square after seven holes to match over on the 15th green.
Miss MacRae's semi-final opponent will be Martine Pow. The Selkirk player won by 2 and 1 against Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder) who had been two up after five holes, having birdied the second.
Martine got it back to all square at the turn with successive birdies at the eighth and ninth.
Emily regained the lead at the 11th but Miss Pow never lost a hole after that. She squared with a par at the 12th and went one up for the first time with a birdie 4 at the long 14th before she won the hole and the match after a concession at the 17th.
Fiona Lockhart's reign as Scottish champion is over. Anne Laing (Vale of Leven) gained a measure of revenge over Fiona who beat her 3 and 2 in last year's championship final at Cruden Bay. This time round Anne triumphed by 5 and 4 with approximate figures of two under par. She was never in arrears after birdieing the short fifth to cancel out Fiona's winning birdie at the short third.
Hilary Laughland (Mortonhall) gave No 2 seed and new course record-holder Louise Kenney (Pitreavie) a run for her money before losing at the 20th. Hilary went two up after only three holes to give her the confidence to take on her highly-rated opponent.
Louise turned the tide to be one up after 16 holes but Hilary played a fine approach shot to within 3ft of the flagstick to birdie the 17th and square the contest. Then the Lothians player holed out bravely from 4ft on the 18th green to take the tie down the 19th after Louise had sunk a 15ft putt for a par 4.
Miss Kenney won through to the last four with a pitch-and-putt birdie 4 at the long 20th where Hilary was in a greenside bunker in two.
QUARTER-FINALS
H MacRae (Dunblane New) bt L Hendry (Routenburn) 5 and 3.
M Pow (Selkirk) bt E Ogilvy (Auchterarder) 2 and 1.
A Laing (Vale of Leven) bt F Lockhart (St Regulus) 5 and 4.
L Kenney (Pitreave) bt H Laughland (Mortonhall) at 20th
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