By COLIN FARQUHARSON
It's a long time - if ever - since I heard almost universal agreement within a field of competitors that they are privileged to be playing a particular course.
Yes, every competitor worth her salt is raving about the choice of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club's Balgownie links as the first-time venue for the British women's open amateur stroke-play championship which tees off on Wednesday with the first of four rounds and a field of 99.
"Fantastique et magnifique" chorused the French girls after a couple of practice rounds.
"They could and should play the men's and women's Opens here," enthused a competitor from England.
"I must come back and play here myself," said one father caddieing for his daughter."
"What a course, what a challenge," said three times Scottish champion Anne Laing who beat Michelle Wie not once but twice in the Curtis Cup foursomes of 2004 at Formby.
It's been a momentous week inside the Royal Aberdeen clubhouse which, not all that long ago, permitted women in the clubhouse on infrequent occasions.
Director of Golf Ronnie MacAskill has been at the club for 34 years now and he is not prepared to get involved in discussions about days of yore but he is genuinely pleased that the club and its all-male membership have not objected in the slightest about giving up their locker-rooms – and toilets – to the females for the week.
"We really are delighted to be staging a Ladies Golf Union championship for the first time. We are hosting the Walker Cup men's international match in 2011 but this British women's amateur championship is also a notable first," said Ronnie.
So who's going to win the title? A bit like trying to predict the winner of the Grand National although as Sir Michael Bonallack once said: "The great players almost always come to the front over great links courses."
Two Scots fought out a play-off for this British stroke title in Northern Ireland 12 months ago with University of California-Berkeley student Roseanne Niven (Crieff), pictured above, beating Kylie Walker (Buchanan Castle).
The current women's champions of Scotland (Kilmacolm's Megan Briggs), England (left-hander Charlie Douglass from Brocket Hall) and Wales (Tara Davies of Holyhead) are in the field as are England's mid-amateur title-holder Lucy Williams (Mid Herts), Scotland's repeating Under-21 champion Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), Curtis Cup teenager Carly Booth (Comrie) and the 15-year-old brilliant prospect from Notts Ladies, Alexandra Peters, who lost in the semi-finals of the British girls' open championship at West Lancashire Golf Club only last Friday.
If a Continental player is going to triumph, then it could be either of the two French aces in the pack – Lucie Andre or Marion Ricordeau, currently Nos 1 and 3 in the European Golf Association women's amateur rankings.
The leading British player in the EGA rankings, No 5 Rhian Wyn Thomas (Vale of Glamorgan), is also in the Balgownie field. +Royal Aberdeen Golf Club and the Ladies Golf Union would welcome spectators on all three days of the championship. Admission and car parking is free.
WEDNESDAY'S FIRST ROUND TEE TIMES 7.30 Emma Briggs (Chart Hills), Amanda Johnston (Kings Hill), Victoria Bradshaw (Bangor). 7.41 Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), Rhian Wyn Thomas (Vale of Glamorgan), Anne Laing (Vale of Leven).
7.52 Sammy Leslie (Westhill), Laura Charlier (Belgium), Louise Mernagh (Woodenbridge).
8.03 Claire Hargan (Mortonhall), Tracey Boyes (Meon Valley), Franziska Neef (Germany). 8.14 Sian James (Bristol & Clifton), Myrte Eikenaar (Netherlands), Marion Ricordeau (France).
8.25 Fiona Hay (Deeside), Ann Ramsay (Kirriemuir), Morag MacPherson (Kilmarnock Barassie).
8.36 Sarah Cunningham (Ennis), Donna Pocock (Murcar Links), Ciara Butler (Newlands).
8.47 Chrisje De Vries (Netherlands), Carly Booth (Comrie), Hannah Barwood (Knowle).
8.58 Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), Laura Murray (Alford), Sarah Attwood (Gog Magog). 9.09 Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall), Rachel Connor (Manchester), Margarita Ramosa (Mexico).
9.20 Laura Collin (John O'Gaunt), Natalie Lowe (Macclesfield), Jane Turner (Craigielaw).
9.31 Lesley Atkins (Minto), Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield), Jill Meldrum (Dullatur).
9.42 Katie Mundy (Dunwood Manor), Aedin Murphy (Carlow), Gemma Bradbury (Cottrell Park).
9.53 Kristy McLaughlin (Canada), Hannah Turland (Tidworth), Kate Whitmore (Sandiway).
10.05 Louise McGillivray (Banchory), Gillian Simpson (Murrayfield), Sabine End (Germany).
10.15 Lucy Williams (Mid Herts), Katherine O'Connor (Tadmarton), Marion Duverney (France).
10.26 Laure Castelain (France), Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton), Tara Davies (Holyhead). 10.50 Julia Maisongrosse (France), Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton), Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down Ladies).
11.01 Kylie Walker (Buchanan Castle), Monique Smit (South Africa), Roseanne Niven (Crieff). 11.12 Sheena Wood (Aberdeen Ladies), Tessa De Bruijn (Netherlands), Sarah Faller (Galway). 11.23 Eleana Collins (Hong Kong), Alexandra Peters (Notts Ladies), Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa). 11.34 Dianne Galbraith (Canada), Mhairi Johnstone (Northern), Annabel Niven (Crieff). 11.45 LaurenTaylor (Woburn), Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm), Harriet Owers-Bradley (Wollaton Park). 11.56 Amy Boulden (Maesdu), Giulia Carrando (Italy), Maaike Naafs (Netherlands).
12.07 Corisande Lee (West Lancashire), Ellie Givens (Blackwell Grange), Hannah Ralph (Cowdray Park). 12.18 Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies), Sarah Creowe (Tipperary), Julia Brook (Corham Hurst). 12.29 Laura Chemarin (France), Caroline Karsten (Netherlands), Karen Delaney (Carlow). 12.40 Elaine Moffat (St Regulus), Linda Urquhart (Banchory), Nicola Rawlinson (Leyland). 12.51 Joana Silva Pinto (Portugal), Katy McNicoll (Carnoustie Ladies), Lucie Andre (France).
1.02 Carrie MacKenzie (Beauchief), Katherine Russell (Royal Ashdown Forest), Zala Jenko (Slovenia). 1.13 Charlotte Wild (Mere), Valerie Sternebeck (Germany), Faye Sanderson (Heworth). 1.24 Johanna Hodge (Knowle), Emma Fairnie (Dunbar), Jeanne Metivier (France). 1.35 Nikki Foster (Pleasington), Isabelle Boineau (France), Louise Kenney (Pitreavie).
The leading 40 and ties after two rounds will qualify for Friday's third and fourth rounds.
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