SOLID START BY WATSON

SISTERS AS ORANGE

BLOSSOM TOUR TEES OFF

IN FLORIDA CHILLER

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM WEBSITE

Alison Walshe apparently didn’t neglect her game during the holiday season. The Arizona University senior shot a first-round 72 Thursday at Harder Hall Country Club to take a one-shot lead over UCLA junior Tiffany Joh at the Harder Hall Invitational.

A bogey on the final hole kept Walshe from posting the day’s only under-par round in cold, blustery conditions at Sebring, Florida.

Walshe, a Massachusetts resident, showed she’s used to such conditions.

Walshe, winner of last year’s North and South Amateur, and Joh, the 2006 US Women’s Amateur Public Links champion, are considered almost automatic selections to the American Curtis Cup team for the Old Course, St Andrews match against Great Britain & Ireland at the end of May.

The United States team will be announced after next week’s "Sally" (South Atlantic Amateur Championship), the second event on the Orange Blossom Tour in Florida.

Taylore Karle – winner of last week’s Joanne Winter Arizona Silver Belle – is in third place after a two-over 74. She’s tied with 2006 Harder Hall champion Stacy Lewis, the top-ranked player in the Golfweek/Titleist Amateur Rankings.

“I’m just happy to be done,” Lewis said after her round. She teed off in the day’s first group at 7:30 a.m. It was 31 degrees at the time and the wind was blowing 20 mph when she hit her first shot.

South Queensferry sisters Sally and Rebecca Watson made a solid start in the testing conditions with rounds of 77 and 80 respectively. Sally, pictured above, is lying joint 10th and Rebecca is not all that far behind her with three rounds to go.

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE COMPLETE SCOREBOARD