MELISSA BREAKS ONE RECORD AND DENISE ANOTHER IN NOTABLE

ST RULE TROPHY TOURNAMENT

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Derby girl Melissa Reid made all the running to win by the commanding margin of eight strokes a St Rule Trophy tournament highlighted by very low scoring over the St Andrews New and Old Courses at the weekend.
The 19-year-old from the Chevin club thus completed a notable Scottish double. A few weeks ago, Curtis Cup player Melissa retained the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur title at Troon.
At St Andrews, Miss Reid, set the first-round pace with a six-under-par 69 - one shot outside the New Course women's record on Saturday - and then held off the challenges of 19-year-old Henrietta Brockway (Yeovil) and Old Course record-breaker, 18-year-old German Denise Becker on Sunday over the Old Course.
Melissa had Sunday rounds 72 (four under par) and 68 (eight under par) for an 18-under-par aggregate of 209 – in one fell swoop a staggering six strokes better than the tournament record of 215 set by Catriona Matthew in 1994.
Amazingly, in her post-tournament comments, Miss Reid said she did not feel she was swinging at her best but, with her new-found mental strength this season, she stay focused and was able to get great figures without being on song ... the stamp of a really good player.
OK, so Miss Reid lost to Naomi Edwards (Ganton) in the recent final of the English women's closed amateur championship, but it would take a brave person to predict someone to beat Melissa in next week's British women's open amateur championship at Alwoodley, Leeds.
Miss Brockway got on level terms on Sunday with Miss Reid after 36 holes on 10-under-par 141, thanks to an eight-under-par 68 to tag on to her opening 73. But Henrietta fell away (slightly) in the third round with 39 for the outward half, which, despite steady rain from late afternoon onwards, was playing very short, with nine-hole totals of 30, 32 and so on.
In the third round, Denise Becker, an 18-year-old from Germany, broke the Old Course St Andrews women's record of with a 10-under-par round of 66. The previous record was set by Mhairi McKay (Turnberry) in 1993 when she had a 67 over the Old Course.
Miss Becker had an outward half of eight under par 30 with an eagle and six birdies and only one par figure in the first nine.
She birdied the first three holes of the inward half but then was one over par for the last six holes with five pars and her only bogey at the 15th.
Brockway, Becker and Australian Kate Coombes were joint runners-up on 217 but the Everard Trophy for being officially placed second went to Denise Becker for having the best last round of the three on 217
Miss Brockway pipped Carly Booth, the 14-year-old Comrie prospect, for the Lawson Under-18 trophy. Carly signed off with a 69 (32-37) for 219 which earned her joint sixth place overall and the honour of being the leading Scot in what is now an international event.
A tremendous effort by Carly, which must have been noted by the Ladies Golf Union selectors, out in force with a GB&I team for the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe at Fairmont St Andrews to be chosen shortly.
Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), only 16, finished third in the Under-18 event with a total of 220. She was joint ninth, alongwith Heather MacRae (Dunblane New) and others.
For two of the leading three Scots to be aged 16 must be a source of encouragement for the SLGA and national coach Kevin Craggs.
Defending champion Krystle Caithness (St Regulus) finished joint 18th after getting off to a slow start with a 78. Her closing round of six-under-par 70 over the Old Course should restore her confidence.
England (432) won the team event from Ireland (438), Germany (440) and Scotland (444).
Deirdre Smith (Co Louth), the 2004 Irish women's champion, had a hole in one at the 13th over the New course on Saturday.
A total of 27 players finished with sub-par 54-hole aggregates. That must be a third record for this particular St Rule Trophy.
At the same time, without wishing to detract in any way from the girls’ efforts, it must be time that the SLGA course-raters revised the par for the par-5 holes of under 400 yards in length – not only at St Andrews but also at Troon Portland where there was also exceptionally low scoring in the recent “Helen Holm” tournament.

WEEKEND SCOREBOARD
FINAL TOTALS
Par 75 76 76. CSS 76 75 75
Par 227
209 M Reid (Chevin) 69 72 68.
217 K Coombes (Australia) 77 69 71, D Becker (Ger) 77 74 66, H Brockway (Yeovil) 73 68 76.
218 R Bell (Ganton) 76 68 74.
219 M Riordan (Tipperary) 78 70 71, S Doering (Ger) 71 73 75, C Booth (Comrie) 74 76 69.
220 E Bennett (Australia) 77 72 71, K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) 74 72 74, D Smith (Co Louth) 72 77 71, H MacRae (Dunblane New) 78 70 72, S Kirchmayr (Ger) 77 72 71.
221 N Holleder (Ger) 76 73 72.
222 B Mullins-Lane (Harefield Place) 73 76 73.
223 L Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 77 71 75, K Smith (Waterlooville) 74 73 76, B Loucks (Wrexham) 77 74 72.
224 K Caithness (St Regulus) 78 76 70, R Jennings (Izaak Walton) 76 72 76.
225 T Davies (Holyhead) 78 74 73.
226 E Ogilvy (Auchterarder) 73 75 78, T Delaney (Carlow) 77 77 72, E Lyons (West Surrey) 78 74 74, S Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 78 72 76, P Halbig (Ger) 77 75 74, N Edwards (Ganton) 74 75 77.
227 D Montgomery (The Lambourne) 75 75 77.
228 L Ball (Matfen Hall) 77 74 77, R Livingstone (Musselburgh Old) 79 72 77, E Givens (Blackwell Grange) 77 72 79, D Karlsson (Swe) 73 76 79, K Walker (Buchanan Castle) 77 73 78.
229 K Hillas (Norway) 82 70 77, S Bishop (Cochrane Castle) 76 78 75, V Sternebeck (Ger) 79 76 74, T Von Ruben (SAf) 86 71 72, J Wilson (Strathaven) 78 78 73, K Brotherton (Tulliallan) 79 74 76.
230 C-M Carlton (Stirling Univ) 77 80 73, S Evans (Vale of Llangollen) 78 74 78.
231 L Murray (Alford) 77 73 81, M Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 88 71 72, A Scott (Consett) 80 75 76, S Keating (Aus) 80 76 75.
232 N Podmore (High Legh Park) 76 77 79, J Dotten (Can) 77 75 80, B Arthur (Aus) 84 72 76, C Gruber (Royal Dornoch) 78 76 78, R Flood (Aus) 77 78 77.
233 J Turner (Mortonhall) 80 74 79, R Niven (Crieff) 79 77 77.
234 P Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) 75 82 77, J Carthew (Ladybank) 78 77 79.
235 C Choi (Aus) 81 78 76, S Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 79 76.
236 A Ramsay (Kirriemuir) 84 75 77, L Kenney (Pitreavie) 83 77 76, T Hoffmeister (Ger) 82 76 78..
238 E Moffat (St Regulus) 84 76 78, J Hodge (Knowle) 78 80 80, M Gunhildrud (Nor) 79 80 79.
240 R Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 82 78.
241 K Harper (Inverness) 86 75 80.
244 J Nicolson (Wrexham) 84 78 82.
245 S Ovadia (US) 86 79 80.
247 M Briggs (Kilmacolm) 87 79 81.
252 A Bushby (Strathmore) 84 79 89.
258 E Cuthill (Lanark)( 91 86 81.
261 T Karlsson (Swe) 80 90 91.
NR T McDonnell (Ennis).
Withdrew: C Lee (West Lancs) 78 88 w/d.

INTERNATIONAL TEAM EVENT
432 England (N Edwards, M Reid, K Smith).
438 Ireland (T Delaney, M Riordan, D Smith).
440 Germany (S Doering, T Hoffmeister, N Holleder).
444 Scotland (K Caithness, H MacRae, J Wilson).
446 Australia (B Arthur, C Choi, K Combes), Wales (T Davies, S Hassan, B Loucks).
467 Norway (M Grunhildrud, K Hillas).
489 Sweden (D Karlsson, T Karlsson).

*Picture above shows Melissa Reid on the left and Denise Becker on right.