Rachael Tayor driving off for Scotland in last year's Girls Home Internationals in Lancashire (image by Cal Carson Golf Agency, click on it to enlarge).

GERMANY CALLING! RACHAEL TAYLOR'S ROUTE TO

-

CRAIGIELAW BEING STYMIED BY VOLCANIC ASH

FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON at CRAIGIELAW

Bavaria-based Rachael Taylor is tonight on standby for a flight from Munich to Edinburgh.

She is scheduled to tee off at 9.20 tomorrow morning on her debut in the 97th Scottish women's amateur championship at Craigielaw.

So far her efforts to make it from Germany to Scotland have beeen stymied by the volcanic ash from Iceland which closes airports right, left and centre at short notice.
The Glasgow-born daughter of Gerry Taylor, the Scot who has the plum job of head professional, with a staff of 36, at the five-star Hartl Golf Resort, Bad Griesbach in south-east Germany near the Austrian border has been trying since the weekend to find airports that are open in Bavaria and Britain.
Rachael, in an E-mail to Kirkwoodgolf at tea-time today, said:
"My flight to Scotland on Sunday night was cancelled. We booked another flight today, but it was also cancelled. My last and only chance is to go standby tonight. I'm just about to go to the airport to try and get on! It's about a 100 miles away.

"So far the flight hasn't been cancelled from the Edinburgh end. Fingers crossed!"

Claire Hargan, the SLGA's Championship Manager, said:
"We are very much hoping Rachael will make it. It's an important championship for her in that Scotland team selections for later in the season can be based on performances this week."
Munich Airport is about 1 1/2 hours away from where the Taylors live but Claire understands that Rachael and her parents drove something like 700 kilometres at the weekend to try to find an airport that was open."
Miss Taylor is a Scotland girl international and recent winner of an open tournament in Germany. She told Kirkwoodgolf earlier in the month:

“I started playing golf in Germany with my dad at the age of eight and played my first adult tournament at the age of 11. Although I have lived almost of all my life in Germany, I feel as Scottish as any of the other girls,” said Rachael, a fluent German speaker.
Strathclyde University law student Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) is going to tackle exams AND defend the Scottish title she won at Southerness 12 months ago when she beat Dunfermline schoolteacher Louise Kenney (Pitreavie) in the final.
Megan, who is 20, won the West of Scotland women's championship last year and then won the "Scottish." She is halfway towards repeating the double, having already retained the West championship this season. A recent victory in a Renfrewshire county medal confirmed that she is staying in form.

Louise Kenney and Scottish Under-21 champion Kelsey MacDonald (Stirling University & Nairn Dunbar) will be very keen to show the GB&I team selectors that they made a mistake by leaving them out of the squad of eight for next month's Curtis Cup match in the United States.
Neither of the Scots picked for the Essex County Club, Massachusetts - California university student Sally Watson and Glasgow University student Pamela Pretswell - is in the Craigielaw field. Pamela has an important exam on Thursday.
If local knowledge counts for anything then Craigielaw Golf Club member Jane Turner
Six scratchings - Heather Anderson (Alyth), Emma Bisset (Elie & Earlsferry), Lesley Hendry (Routenburn ), Anne Laing (Vale of Leven) and the Wilson sisters, Gail and Rebecca, from the Grange club, Dundee - have brought the field down to 69.
They will play two stroke-play rounds today (Tuesday) and tomorrow to produce 32 qualifiers for the championship's match-play stages which culminate with an 18-hole final on Saturday morning.
The next 16 in the two-round aggregates have the chance to contest the Clark Rosebowl match-play competition.

LAURA MURRAY BIDS TO BOW OUT

-

OF ‘SCOTTISH’ AS CHAMPION

This could be the last Scottish women’s amateur golf championship in which Alford’s Laura Murray plays – and what better way to bow out than as the title-winner at the end of this week at Craigielaw Golf Club? writes Colin Farquharson
Laura originally planned to turn professional at the end of last year but coach Kevin Craggs persuaded her that 12 more months in the amateur ranks would stand the 21-year-old in good stead when she tackled the Ladies European Tour School and, hopefully, in her subsequent rookie year as a pro.
A Scotland international and a member of the Paul Lawrie Foundation team, Laura likes the Craigielaw links with its splendid view across the Firth of Forth to Fife. That's a good sign. Very few players win tournaments over courses they don't like. It's the best kind of bonding!
“The SLGA have lengthened the course the lady members play at Craigielaw from 5,371 to 6,001yd with a par of 73 instead of 71. That’s good. There’s not a lot of trouble if you miss the fairways but the greens are quite tricky,” said 21-year-old Laura, who is also a member at Aboyne and Murcar Links golf clubs.
“It’s not enough to hit them, you’ve got to leave your approach shots where you have a flat or an uphill putt. So a bit of skill required there.
“I’m looking forward to it. I think I’ve got a real chance. I’ve lost to the players who went on to win the championship in the past two years – Michele Thomson in the semi-finals at Lossiemouth in 2008 and Megan Briggs in the quarter-finals at Southerness last year.”
You can't get much closer to winning the title than losing to the person who does.

TWO TESTS FOR THREE GIRLS

- GOLF, THEN SCHOOL EXAMS!

The first three players off the tee at 8.30 am tomorrow morning at Craigielaw could be excused for having more than

Lesley Atkins (Gullane), a pupil at the Loretto Golf Academy, Musselburgh, Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) and Katie McIntosh (Broomieknowe) are all sitting school examinations later in the day.

FIONA FARQUHARSON NOW SMELLING

-

THE FLOWERS ALONG THE WAY

Gamekeeper turned poacher is perhaps not the most appropriate term for the change of roles but it just about sums up how Fiona Farquharson, many times ladies' club champion at King James VI, Perth, feels as she prepares to compete in the Scottish women's amateur championship at Craigielaw.
After organising and running this championship for several years as the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association's Tournament Director, Fiona retired from the post late last year so that, having turned 50, she could play in senior women's amateur tournaments.
"I've not played in the Scottish women's championship since the Centenary one over the Old Course, St Andrews in 2003," said Fiona, "so I'm very much looking forward to teeing it up rather than chasing around making sure the tournament organisation is in place. It's a great feeling in the sunshine here, knowing that I am going to be out there enjoying it, rather than stuck in the clubhouse for the week."