Heather MacRae blooms in first

WPGA One-Day Series event

Gullane assistant professional Heather MacRae from Dunblane has set her sights on securing the Ryder Cup Wales 2010 WPGA One-Day Series crown after opening her campaign in winning style today.
The 25-year-old winner of the British women's open amateur stroke-play championship over the Nairn links in 2005 and a Curtis Cup reserve before she turned pro recaptured some of the brilliance of her amateur days to take the honours at Cheshire's Dunham Forest Golf Club with a two-under-par 70 - the only sub-par score.
Teign Valley’s Laura Eastwood, second overall last year and WPGA Order of Merit winner in 2007, was second at with a 73. Huddersfield’s Alex Keighley and Hannah Dargan (Pannal) shared third place on 74 in the first WPGA event of the summer.

MacRae, pictured above, who has just completed the first year of her three-year PGA foundation degree and whose brother is also an assistant pro, made light work of the course as she recovered from a dropped shot at the fifth with birdies at the seventh, eighth and 14th.Heather, a former San Diego University graduate, was making her first appearance in a WPGA event, and the 500-mile round trip from the Lothians was a worthwhile one.

“I’m very happy as this was my first event and it’s a great start,” said Heather.“It shows I can go out there and play golf against the background of working and studying, having had success when I played full-time as an amateur.

“I hardly played last year so this year I want to play more and will certainly look to play in as many of the one day series events as I can and try and come top, though work and travelling can make that a problem.

“I’ll be playing a lot with the men in Tartan Tour events this year and so it’s good to turn up and play with the ladies rather than being out there on my own as the only woman.”

There are a total of seven one-day events which count towards the WPGA Order of Merit, won last year by Wales’ Joanne Pritchard.

The next event is at Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk, on Tuesday, May 26.

Rob Holt, chief executive of Ryder Cup Wales 2010 which is continuing to make a huge impact at all levels including the women's game, revealed they were delighted to support the women's professional game.

"Wales' pledge to make golf more accessible to women is supported by Ryder Cup Wales' backing for the WPGA's one day series schedule," he said.

"As a result of the successful Ryder Cup bid, we are working with partners to encourage more players to the game, with the development of the women's game at the forefront, and events such as these organised by the WPGA are helping to do just that."

Today's scores:

RYDER CUP WALES 2010 WPGA ONE-DAY SERIES Event 1
Dunham Forest Golf Club.
Par 72
70 Heather MacRae (Gullane).

73 Laura Eastwood (Teign Valley).

74 Alexandra Keighley (Huddersfield), Hannah Dargan (Pannal).
75 Lysa Jones (The Oaks), Emma Prentice (Gog Magog), Alison Gray (Ormskirk), Rachael A Lomas (Naas).