Julie Yang (14) one to watch in

St Rule Trophy all-star line-up

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
It’s a star-studded field of female amateurs for the 54-hole St Rule Trophy tournament over the St Andrews’ New and Old Courses this weekend.
All eight quarter-finalists in the recent Scottish women’s championship, including new champion Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) are in the select field of 60 who play 18 holes over the New Course on Saturday and two rounds over the Old Course on Sunday. There is no cut.
Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), one of only two Scots in the GB and I Curtis Cup team for next month’s match, missed the “Scottish” because of Glasgow University exams but she is playing in this, her last competition before she sets off for the Massachusetts match against the Americans.
Former Australian champion Justine Lee, with a handicap of +4, on paper the highest rated player in the field will be trying to follow in the footsteps of such stars as Annika Sorenstam (1990) and Catriona Matthew (1994-95), past winners of a tournament which has come to be regarded as one of  Europe's leading stroke-play tournaments for female amateurs since it began in 1984.
But it is one of the lesser known names in the field who could be attracting the most attention by Sunday evening. Fourteen-year-old Julie Yang, of South Korean extraction, arrived at Loretto School, Musselburgh last September from Phoenix, Arizona with a CV that included wins on the American junior circuit.
Nothing much happened over the Scottish winter, understandably, until Julie won the Welsh women’s open amateur stroke-play championship before finishing second in the German women’s equivalent after leading most of the way.
That performance gained her a place in the Ladies European Tour’s German Open, in which she was the only amateur to make the final day, finishing in the top 30 with a one-over-par total of 289 after having a double bogey 6 at her third last hole.
Kevin Reid, a housemaster and professional coach Richard Valentine’s right-hand man at the Loretto Golf Academy, is tipping Julie Yang to develop into a star on the LPGA Tour by her early 20s.
“Julie is the best 14-year-old player I have ever seen. She hits the ball long and straight and has a great short game. If she keeps on improving, as I am sure she will, Julie is going to be a top of the tree player well within the next decade,” said Kevin who himself played for Scotland at junior level.
And the good news from Scottish golf's point of view is that she will be a student at Loretto for the next three or four years. She will not, of course, be able to play in the Scottish women's (closed) championship but there are several open events in which she could be a home-based leading light.
+Julie Yang, who has +2 of a handicap, will be the third player to tee off in the first group at the New Course at 9.30am on Saturday. Ireland's Gillian O'Leary has the honour of striking the first ball of the tournament. She will be followed by Tara Davies, who recently retained the Welsh women's (closed) title - and then it will be Julie's turn.
The St Rule Trophy is unique in that the tee times for all three rounds are drawn up in advance. Julie Yang, Gillian Monteith (Portpatrick Dunskey) and Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) will tee off as a group at 9.50am and 2.50pm on Sunday over the Old Course.
+Other notables' tee times:
Kelsey MacDonald: Saturday 10.50am New Course. Sunday 10am and 3pm Old Course.
Louise Kenney: Saturday 9.40am New Course. Sunday 9.40am and 2.40pm Old Course.
Pamela Pretswell: Saturday 11.20am New Course. Sunday 10am and 3pm.

RECENT WINNERS OF THE ST RULE TROPHY
2000 Vikki Laing (Scotland) 153 (36 holes).
2001 Alison Coffee (Ireland) 221
2002 Karen Borjeskog (Sweden) 217.
2004 Louise Stahle (Sweden) 141 (36 holes).
2005 Naomi Edwards (England) 225.
2006 Krystle Caithness (Scotland) 216.
2007 Melissa Reid (England) 209.
2008 Kylie Walker (Scotland) 148 (36 holes).
2009 Kylie Walker (Scotland) 218

RECENT WINNERS OF INTERNATIONAL TEAM EVENT
2000 SCOTLAND
2001 SCOTLAND.
2002 IRELAND.
2003 IRELAND.
2004 SWEDEN.
2005 ENGLAND.
2006 IRELAND.
2007 ENGLAND.
2008 FRANCE.
2009 SCOTLAND.

This weekend's teams:
SCOTLAND - Louise Kenney, Kelsey MacDonald, Pamela Pretswell.
ENGLAND - Charlotte Wild, Charlotte Ellis, Nikki Foster.
IRELAND - Gillian O'Leary, Marian Dunne, Karen Delaney.
WALES - Amy Boulden, Gemma Bradbury, Tara Davies.
AUSTRALIA - Stacey Keating, Justine Lee, Ashley Ona.