Solheim Cup format switch will put

four-balls ahead of foursomes

Solheim Cup captains Beth Daniel of the United States and Alison Nicholas of Europe have agreed to switch the playing format for the first two days of this year's match at Sugar Grove, Illinois.
The opening session on both days will now feature four-balls, where each team member plays her own ball, followed by alternate-shot foursomes in the afternoon, the LPGA said Tuesday.
"I always felt as a player that we would see better golf if you played your own ball in the morning and then played alternate shot in the afternoon," Daniel said in a statement. "As a captain, you see more golf out of your players in the morning to help you make your picks in the afternoon. Another positive is that fans on the first tee in the morning see four players tee off in a group instead of just two."
"The host captain has the choice of whether to play the foursomes or four-ball first but in fact, switching the order has been considered by the European side before," Nicholas said. "We are all happy with the decision that has been made."
The 11th Solheim Cup will be played at Rich Harvest Farms from August 21-23 when Europe, beaten 16-12 in Sweden in 2007, will be looking for its first win on American soil in the biennial competition.
The Americans lead 7-3 in the series, which is the women's equivalent of the men's Ryder Cup.

East Lothian county captain Pam Hall, champion Jayne Smith, county president Caryl Campbell and Handicap Quaich winner Beryl Morris (image by courtesy of East Lothian Ladies County Golf Association.

Jayne Smith is East Lothian champion for a fourth time
Former Scotland international Jayne Smith (Gullane) won the East Lothian women's county golf championship for a fourth time today over the Gullane No 2 course.
Playing in her ninth final since 1987, Jayne, the No 3 seed, beat top qualifier Mary Lou Renton (Gifford) by 4 and 3.
Jayne's previous wins in the championship came in 1987 (as Jayne Ford), 2001 and 2003. She was beaten finalist in 1988, 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2008.
For Mary Lou, it was a third defeat in the county final. She lost to former Scottish champion Hilary Monaghan in 1995 and to Kelly Brotherton in 2005.
Beryl Morris (Dunbar), playing off 24, beat Ann McIntosh (Gullane), playing off 22, by on hole in the Handicap Quaich Final.
Today's results:
CHAMPIONSHIP
Semi-finals
Mary Lou Renton (Gifford) bt Line Mortensen (Gullane) 1 hole.
Jayne Smith (Gullane) bt Emma Fairnie (Dunbar) 4 and 3.
Final
Smith bt Renton 4 and 3.
HANDICAP QUAICH
Final

Beryl Morris (Dunbar) (24) bt Ann McIntosh (Gullane) (22) 1 hole.

Scott v Lloyd, Norris v Wood

in Lanarkshire semi-finals

Joanna Scott (Cathkin Braes) is the odd one out in the four players who will contest Wednesday morning's semi-finals of the Lanarkshire women's county golf championship at Drumpellier Golf Club.
Joanna has never won the title previously while her opponent, Lesley Lloyd (Hayston) was champion in 1997, and the other semi-final features the defending champion Susan Wood (Drumpellier) against No 2 seed Fiona Norris (Hamilton), who won the title in 1988 and 1992.
Leading qualifier Pat Hutton (Lanark), who last won the champion in 1985, was beaten 4 and 3 in the quarter-finals by Lesley Lloyd.
The Bronze Championship final will be between Caroline Smith (Strathaven) and Margaret Porteous (Drumpellier).
Match-play results:
First round
Pat Hutton (Lanark) bt Anne Clark (Drumpellier) 5 and 4.
Lesley Lloyd (Hayston) bt Liz Lees (Hamilton) 7 and 5.
Hilary Stuart (Bothwell Castle) bt Carol McCall (Strathaven) 6 and 5.
Joanna Scott (Cathkin Braes) bt Elaine Cuthill (Lanark) at 19th.
Alison Bell (Strathaven) bt Ray Wilson (Carluke) 3 and 2.
Susan Wood (Drumpellier) bt Angela Devine (Hamilton) 4 and 3.
May Hughes (Lanark) bt Janice Paterson (Drumpellier) 1 hole.
Fiona Norris (Hamilton) bt Marion Brodie Strathaven) 7 and 5.
Quarter-finals
Lloyd bt Hutton 4 and 3.
Scott bt Stuart 2 and 1.
Wood bt Bell 5 and 3.
Norris bt Hughes 1 hole.

BRONZE CHAMPIONSHIP
Semi-finals
Caroline Smith (Strathaven) bt Linda McLanachan (Strathaven) 2 and 1.
Margaret Porteous (Drumpellier) bt Jean Glass (Drumpellier) 3 and 2.

Lesley and Ann head East Area qualifiers

for LGU Medal Grand Final at Crieff

Lesley Rolland (Dunfermline) and Ann Parker (Braehead) topped the Silver and Bronze Division returns respectively in today's (Tuesday) LGU Medal East Area Final at Balbirnie Park Golf Club near Glenrothes.
Lesley had a net 68 off five of a handicap in the Silver and Anna a net 71 off 26 in the Bronze. Alison McNair (Aberdour), playing off 26, also had a net 71 but lost out in a comparison of the pair's inward halves.
Lesley Rolland, Lynn Newton (Thornton), Moira Brown (Gogarburn), Ann Parker, Alison McNair and Joyce McCarthy (Baberton) were the six qualifiers to go forward to the LGU Medal Grand Final at Crieff Golf Club on Sunday, June 7.
Norma Hogg (Merchants of Edinburgh), playing off 24, qualified with a net 72 (better last six) but is unavailable for the June date and fourth-placed Joyce McCarthy was given her place.

Leading returns
Par 72. CSS 74.
Silver Division - Lesley Rolland (Dunfermline) (5) 68; Lynn Newton (Thornton) (9) 73; Moira Brown (Gogarburn (12) 74; Dianne Watson (Leven) (5) 75 (better inward half).
Bronze Division - Ann Parker (Braehead) (26) (better inward half), Alison McNair (Aberdour) (26) 71; Norma Hogg (Merchants of Edinburgh (24) (better last six), Joyce McCarthy (Baberton) (22) 72 (better inward half).
.

Louise Fraser pips Rachael Watton

for top Midlothian seeding

Former international-class women's rugby player Louise Fraser (Kingsknowe) and Mortonhall junior member Rachael Watton topped the 16 qualifiers for the match-play stages of the Midlothian women's county championship at Newbattle Golf Club today.
They both had aggregates of 147 for the 36-hole qualifying contest, Louise coming in with a splendid second round of 70 to match the total of Rachael, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who led by two strokes after a first-round 71.
Louise Fraser's better second round earned her the No 1 seed role.
St Andrews hotelier Fiona De Vries (St Rule), a member of the winning Scotland veterans' team against Ireland at Cruden Bay recently, was the third best qualifier with scores of 73 and 76 for 149.
Former Scotland international Claire Hargan (Mortonhall), bidding to win the Midlothian title for the sixth time in the past seven years, qualified in sixth place with 79 and 75 for 154. Title-holder Rachael Livingston (Musselburgh), who ended Claire's run of five consecutive championships, was unable to defend this year.
QUALIFIERS
147 Louise Fraser (Kingsknowe) 77 70, Rachael Watton (Mortonhall) 71 76.
149 Fiona De Vriews (St Rule) 73 76.
150 Claire MacDonald (Gullane) 76 74.
152 Kirsten Blackwood (Craigmillar Park) 76 76.
154 Claire Hargan (Mortonhall) 79 75.
155 Stephanie Crolla (Duddingston) 79 76.
157 Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw) 79 77.
157 Noreen Fenton (Dunbar) 80 77.
159 Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe) 77 82.
160 Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe) 79 81.
164 Susan Rennie (Uphall) 82 82.
165 Karen Marshall (Baberton) 82 83.
166 Linda Caine (Dunbar) 84 82.
167 Gillian Simpson (Murrayfield 83 84.
172 Diane Moncrieff (Lochend) 84 88.
FRIDAY'S DRAW
First round match-play
9.0 Fraser v Moncrieff.
9.07 Fenton v Gabrielle Macdonald.
9.15 Blackwood v Rennie.
9.22 Marshall v Claire MacDonald.
9.30 De Vries v Caine.
9.37 Nicholson v Hargan.
9.45 Crolla v McIntosh.
9.52 Simpson v Watton.

B CHAMPIONSHIP
First round
10.0 Helen Warnock (Harburn) v Coleen Derighetti (Lochend.
10.07 Lesley Campbell (Torphin Hills) v Mandy McB ain (New Swanston).
10.15 Pam Townsend (Murrayfield) v Sandra Wilkes (Deder Park).
10.22 Sandra Ashurst (Murrayfield) v Dee Williams (Craigmillar Park).
10.30 Caro9le Mason (Dalmahoy) v Jaci Moriarty (Lochend).
10.37 Mary Davidsdon (Kingsknowe) v Hannah Scott (Broomieknowe).
104.5 Susan Dalrymple (Craigielaw) v Yvonne Blyth (Prestonfield).
10.51 Sue Caton (Kingsknowe) v Margaret Alexander (Baberton).

SLGA need volunteers to run

live scoring service from

"Scottish" at Southerness

The Scottish Ladies Golfing Association introduced a "live scoring" service on its website - http://www.slga.co.uk/ - from the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur championship at Troon last weekend.
It was so successful that during the final round on Sunday over Royal Troon, the website "crashed" because it was overloaded with thousands of people logging on or trying to log on to find out who was winning.
It is believed that many of the "hits" came from Ireland as
the 14-year-old Maguire twins, Leona (the ultimate winner) and Lisa (who finished joint third) were in contention. There would also have been many from Scotland as Nairn Dunbar's Kelsey MacDonald was actually leading at one point of the final round before finishing second.
Encouraged by the response, the SLGA now plan to run a live scoring website service from the Scottish women's amateur championship at Southerness Golf Club on the Solway Firth from May 19 to 23.
The only snag is that live-scoring is a labour-intensive operation. The SLGA need volunteers they can send out onto the course to radio back to the clubhouse all the scores every three holes during the two qualifying rounds.
"We need as many as 13 volunteers, so that they can get regular breaks during the day. It might be more difficult to get as many down at Southerness than it was from the Troon area where the population is bigger and possibily more interested in golf," said Mrs Fiona Farquharson (pictured above by Cal Carson Golfing Agency), the SLGA's Tournament Officer.
"We were delighted with the way the website live scoring went at our first attempt. The weather and the Troon links terrain meant that the radio reception for messages coming in from our volunteers out on the course caused us a few problems but it was well worth it.
"At Southerness, we plan to do live scoring during the Tuesday-Wednesday stroke-playing qualifying rounds, have a break, and then resume the service from the later stages of the match-play on Friday and the 18-hole final on the Saturday morning."
Anyone who wants to volunteer should telephone the SLGA headquarters in Perth at 01738 442357 or send an E-mail to secretary@slga.co.uk

Murray Carnie and Paul Lawrie, a busy season ahead on the junior golf front (Cal Carson Golf Agency image).

Paul Lawrie junior events tee off

at Peterculter this Sunday

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com
The Paul Lawrie Junior Golf Programme becomes three dimensional this season with the Junior Jug taking in the national scene and 18-hole Stableford competitions being added to the Aberdeenshire-only Flag events which have been run for the past three years.
There will be 13 Flag events at Aberdeenshire venues from Aboyne to Westhill, all aimed at getting boys and girls started playing golf competitively. This is the fourth year of these non-handicap competitions in which the players stop after they have played 36 strokes. The winners are those who have completed the most holes or parts of holes after they have played their 36th stroke.
The Stableford events are for Under-15 year olds - boys or girls - with the only stipulation that they must have an official handicap to participate.
The majority of the Flag and Stableford events will be run at the same venues, starting with Peterculter Golf Club on Sunday.
"We couldn't attempt a programme of this size without the goodwill of the golf clubs in providing courtesy tee times at weekends on their courses. They've been great," said Murray Carnie, the Paul Lawrie Foundation's chief organiser.

"We get around 60 boys and girls coming along to each Flag competition and there will be qualifiers from each one for the Grand Final at Deeside Golf Club on September 20 when we will also be holding the Paul Lawrie Under-16 & Under-18 open."
The Junior Jug will have one-round qualifying competitions at Cowglen (July 29), Craigielaw (July 29), Kingsfield (July 30), Nairn Dunbar (July 31), Southerness (August 1), Downfield (August 7) and Inchmarlo (August 11). Competitors can play at more than one venue if they wish.
The maxium handcap is 28 for boys and 36 for girls. The top four scratch and handicap players at each venue will qualify for the Grand Final at Dundonald Links in September.
Information about how to enter all three of the Paul Lawrie Junior Programme competitions is available on http://www.paullawriegolf.com/