MICHELE THOMSON WINS NESS

OPEN FOR FIRST TIME

AT INVERNESS

Aberdeenshire county champion Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) followed up her semi-final appearance in the recent Scottish women’s amateur golf championship at Barassie, by winning the Ness Open SLGA Order of Merit 36-hole event for the first time in perfect golfing conditions at Inverness Golf Club today (Sunday).
Michele, 19, who has also held the North of Scotland women’s title for the past two years, had rounds of 72 and 71 for an aggregate of 143, one under par and two under the CSS aggregate for the two rounds.
Miss Thomson had eight birdies over the two rounds - at the fifth, 14th, 17th and 18th in her first round and at the second, fourth, 14th and 15th in the afternoon.
"I hit the ball well and kept it in play which is very important at Invernesss which can be quite a tricky course to score on if you are not on the fairway," said Michele.
Kelsey MacDonald, 16-year-old Nairn Dunbar player who missed the “Scottish” because of school studies, finished one shot behind Michele with scores of 74 and 70 for 144.
Roseanne Niven (Crieff), just back from her first five months at the University of California Berkleye, finished joint third with 16-year-old repeating Renfrewshire women’s county champion, Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm).
Roseanne had scores of 76 and 70 while Megan had 74 and 72.
Defending champion Laura Murray (Alford) finished seventh on 152 with a pair of 76s.
+Picture of Michele Thomson with the Ness Open trophy by courtesy of Sheilah Ramsay.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72). CSS 73 72
143 M Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 72 71.
144 K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar0 74 70.
146 R Niven (Crieff) 76 70, M Briggs (Kilmacolm) 74 72.
148 C Gruber (Royal Dornoch) 77 71.
151 L Hendry (Routenburn) 76 75.
152 L Murray (Alford) 76 76.
154 E Fairnie (Dunbar) 80 74, K Harper (Inverness) 79 75, A Niven (Inverness) 75 79.
155 A Ramsay (Kirriemuir) 81 74.
156 J Carthew (Ladybank) 81 74, S Vass (Tain) 77 79.
158 A Ryan (Tain) 80 78, E Lowery-Gold (Eaton) 79 79.
160 J Turner (Mortonhall) 83 77, C McAndrew (Nairn Dunbar0 81 79.
163 K Walker (Buchanan Castle0 80 83, E Briggs (Kilmacolm) 78 85.
166 S Leslie (Westhill) 86 80.
167 M Howieson (Inverness) 85 82, S Jackson (Ladybank) 82 85.
168 S Wood (Drumpellier) 79 89.
179 T Fraser (Fortrose & Rosemarkie) 83 93.
182 F Fullerton (Huntly) 90 92.
184 G Dryburgh (Beaconsfield0 96 88.
185 J Vass (Tain) 95 90.
189 S MacDonell (Inverness) 96 93.
192 C MacLeaod (Nairn Dunbar) 94 98.
199 R Bannerman (Strathpeffer Spa) 99 100.