SCOTS TEE IT UP ON ORANGE

BLOSSOM TOUR AT ORMOND

BEACH, FLORIDA TODAY

Six students from Scottish universities plus members of the Ladies Golf Union Elite Squad chasing places in the GB&I Curtis Cup team make up one of the strongest European challenges ever for the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur 72-hole championship which tees off at Oceanside Country Club, Ormond Beach in Florida today.
It is the second event on the annual Orange Blossom Tour for female amateurs.
Alford's Laura Murray (Robert Gordon University) and Edinburgh's Stephanie Crolla (Heriot-Watt University) accepted invitations to join the University of Stirling travelling squad of Rachel Cassidy, Holly Calvert, Stephanie Farrar and Lynsey Hunter.

Rachel Cassidy, pictured above, from Dublin is the Stirling team captain.
PGA Trainee of the Year and former Stirling graduate and past Scotland amateur international Lesley Mackay is with the group to offer guidance and coaching support.
Aberdeenshire county champion Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) is also there alongwith with other LGU Elite Squad members Liz Bennett, Naomi Edwards, Sahra Hassan, Rachel Jennings and Kerry Smith.
Sarah Carty from Dublin completes a 13-strong challenge from this side of the Atlantic.
US Curtis Cup team captain Carol Semple Thompson is in the field but the leading American is likely to be a past Curtis Cup team player Virginia Grimes, who won the “Sally” in 1998 and 2006 and, with a handicap of +4.1, is the highest rated player – on paper – in the big field.
Claire Hourihane (Ireland) in 1983, Claire Waite (England) in 1984 and Vicki Thomas (Wales) in 1994 figure on the list of previous winners.
The Scottish students are also playing in next week’s Orange Blossom Tour event - the Jones/Doherty match-play championship at Coral Ridge Country Club, Fort Lauderdale from January 14 to 19.
It is 16 years since LPGA Tour top Scot Catriona Matthew from North Berwick, then a Stirling golf scholarship student, brought home the Jones/Doherty Cup.