IN-FORM MELISSA FAVOURITE

TO REPEAT HELEN HOLM WIN,

THIS TIME OVER THREE DAYS

Only two Scots – Lesley Nicholson (1999) and Heather Stirling (2002) – have won the Helen Holm Scottish women’s open amateur stroke-play championship in the last 14 years and it’s long odds against that record being improved at Troon this weekend.
For the first time since Belle Robertson won the inaugural 54-hole tournament in 1973, the “Helen Holm” is being played over three days instead of two at Troon Portland and Royal Troon.
The field of 90 consists some of the best female amateurs in Great Britain & Ireland plus France, Sweden, Germany, Finlay and Austria. For some reason, the Spanish Federation continues to ignore the event even though it is now one of the tournaments that counts towards the European amateur rankings.
There are 45 players with handicaps of scratch or better, including the 19-year-old England international and Curtis Cup player Melissa Reid from Derby. Melissa (pictured above) won the title with a 13 under par total last year and a recent victory in the Whittington Heath Ladies’ Trophy 36-hole open event, in which she lowered the course record, indicates that she will be very hard to beat even though this is the best field ever assembled at Troon.
Scotland’s hopes of a home win may rest on the shoulders of Jenna Wilson (Strathaven), Heather MacRae (Dunblane New), Kylie Walker (Buchanan Castle), Martine Pow (Selkirk), Krystle Caithness (St Regulus) or Carly Booth (Comrie).
There will be much interest in the performance of 14-year-old Carly, a Junior Ryder Cup player, who has flown back from the David Leadbetter Golf Academy at Bradenton, Florida where she has been a student since last autumn.
Has she become an even better player by becoming immersed in golf morning, noon and night over the past nine months? This weekend should provide a pointer
After the first and second rounds on Friday and Saturday over Troon Portland – whose par-5 holes are two-shotters for this class of player – the leading 66 and ties will qualify for Sunday’s final 18 holes over Royal Troon which is more of a test, particularly if the wind blows.