United States girls junior championship at Lakewood, Washington

SALLY WATSON (FOUR UNDER PAR)

QUALIFIES FOR MATCH-PLAY IN

JOINT FIFTH PLACE

Sally Watson, 16, from South Queensferry has qualified for the match-play stages of the United States girls' junior championship for the second year in a row.

This time, at Tacoma Country & Glf Club, Lakewood in Washington State, she did it in joint fifth place in an international field of 156 with a four-under-par tally of 140 (69-71) to establish herself as one of the genuine contenders for the prestigious title.

Sally, who reached the last 16 of this championship 12 months ago, succeeded this week where last year's two finalists failed.

Defending champion Jenny Shin from California and beaten finalist Vicky Hurst from Florida both finished on nine-over-par 153, missing the match-play cut by two strokes. Jenny shot 73-80, Vicky 74-79.

Miss Watson beat Carly Booth from Comrie at Tain to become the youngest ever winner of the Scottish Under-18 girls' match-play title two years ago when she was only 14. She has not played in that tournament since. Carly, 15, won that championship at Peterhead last week. Sally reached the final of the British girls championship last year.

A resident student at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy at Bradenton, Florida, Sally birdied the first, third, 10th, 14th and 16th in her second-round, one-under-par 71. She had bogeys at the second, eighth, ninth and 15th in halves of 36 (one over par) and 35 (two under par).

At that point in the day, the Scot, the only European entry to the championship, shared the leading mark in the clubhouse with 12-year-old Alexis Thomson from Florida, the youngest ever competitor in the recent US Women's Open. Alexis had scores of 72 and 68.

The top seed among the 64 qualifiers for the match-play was 15-year-old Kimberly Kim from Hawaii. She did not play nearly so well as she did in her opening 62, which was three shots inside the course record, but a 72 gave her a 10-under-par total of 134 - two ahead of Ha-Na Jang (South Korea) 69-67 and three in front of Mina Harigae (California) 68-69.

The only other competitor to finish ahead of Sally Watson in the card-and-pencil test was Kristen Park from California in fourth place with 68 and 70 for 138.

Sally is in the lower half of the draw - Kimberly Kim is in the top half. The Scot will play Karisa Akin from Elizabethtown, Kentucky in the first round. Karisa had scores of 73 and 78 to hit the limit mark of 151 and was officially placed joint 58th.

LEADING QUALIFIERS

Par 144 (2 x 72) 6,363yd.

134 Kimberly Kim (Hawaii) 62 72.

136 Ha Na Jang (South Korea) 69 67.

137 Mina Harigate (California) 68 69.

138 Kristen Park (California) 68 70.

140 Alexis Thompson (Florida) 72 68, Sally Watson (Scotland) 69 71, Jennifer Johnson (California) 69 71, Evan Jensen (Florida) 68 72.