Scot's daughter

Laura only Brit in

semi-finals at

Harlech

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
A Bedfordshire-born daughter of a Scot from Eyemouth, Laura Collin (pictured in Harlech clubhouse by Cal Carson Golf Agency) celebrated her 22nd birthday in great golfing style by reaching the semi-finals of the Ladies British open amateur championship over the Royal St David’s Golf Club links at Harlech in Northwest Wales this afternoon.
Bedfordshire-born Laura is the only uncapped player in the last four – the others being the Spanish Nos 1 and 2 seeds Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz, and Germany’s Caroline Masson.
Through her father-cum-caddie Alistair, Collin is qualified to play for Scotland but she has played two or three times in the English closed championship which means that England is the country of her choice although she is not – so far –a member of any England squad.
In the morning third round , Laura squeezed through at the 20th against a genuine Scot, Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell) before, in the quarter-finals, ending the great championship debut run of 14-year-old Irish twin prodigy Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell).
Collin, a member of John O’Gaunt Golf Club and a supervisor at her local sports centre in the town of Sandy, Bedfordshire, beat Leona by 5 and 3 with three under par figures after winning the first two holes with a bogey 5 and a par 4.
It was Miss Maguire’s weakest start in any of her match-play ties. Previously, she had established a big lead on the outward holes. She never recovered to touch the heights of earlier in the week or the form that won her this year’s Helen Holm Scottish stroke-play title or the French Under-21 championship.
You have to keep reminding yourself that the Maguire girls are only 14 years of age ... how would YOUR golfing nerve have stood up to a first appearance in a British championship at that age?
“I didn’t think I would get nearly as far as the semi-finals,” said Laura who made her debut at North Berwick 12 months ago but did not get past the qualifying rounds.
“I’ve been to several professional coaches over the past few years,” said Laura, a +1 player who finished in the top 15 of the English stroke-play last year.
.“But I had got to the point when my head was stuffed full of golf theory and too many thoughts were running through my mind when I was on a golf course.
“I decided to forget everything I had ever been told and just to play every shot as it came. And that has worked wonders for me over the past few months. My dad who has a handicap of five helps me a bit but I’ve not been to a pro coach for some time.”
Laura will now play the No 1 seed, Carlota Ciganda from Pamplona, Spain, who did not defend the title after winning it at Alwoodley in 2007. Carlota, a 19-year-old student at Arizona State University, the current European champion and the backmarker with +5 of a handicap in the Harlech field, won her quarter-final by 3 and 2 against Hannah Barwood (Knowle).
Ciganda, a nice girl who has certainly not been spoiled by her phenomenal golfing success at an early age, has now won 10 match-play ties in a row, counting the six at Alwoodley, which won her the championship two years ago. She is the hot favourite to regain the British title.
The second semi-final will feature 20-year-old German-born Caroline Masson, a student at Oklahoma State University and ranked No 26 on the US college circuit, against Azahara Munoz from Malaga, Spain, the No 2 seed, who played for four years in the States as a student at Arizona State University before graduating last month.
Playing in her last Ladies British open championship before she turns professional after the US Women’s Open next month, Azahara, the 2004 British girls champion, was two down after five holes against Rhian Wyn Thomas, the 20-year-old scratch Welsh international from Vale of Glamorgan but fought back over the closing holes to win the 13th, 15th and 16th for a 2 and 1 win with roughly level par figures.
. The No 30 qualifier, Caroline beat Nathalie Mansson (Sweden), a student at Tennessee University, by 3 and 2 with three-under-par figures.
Friday's results:
THIRD ROUND
Carlota Ciganda (Spain) bt Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down) 3 and 2.
Hannah Barwood (Knowle) bt Caroline Hedwall (Sweden) 2 and 1.
Laura Collin (John O’Gaunt) bt Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) at 20th.
Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) bt Sian James (Bristol & Clifton) 4 and 3.
Caroline Masson (Germany) bt Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale) 3 and 2.
Nathalie Manson (Sweden) bt Marion Ricordeau (France) 3 and 2.
Rhian Wyn Thomas (Vale of Glamorgan) bt Jodi Ewart (Catterick) at 19th.
Azahara Munoz (Spain) bt Lauren Taylor (Woburn) 7 and 5.
QUARTER-FINALS
Ciganda bt Barwood 3 and 2.
Collin bt Maguire 5 and 3.
Masson bt Mansson 3 and 2.
Munoz bt Thomas 2 and 1.