Scots to the fore in British women's open amateur championship qualifying

SALLY WATSON GIULIA MOLINARO LAUREN MACKIN

Last player to finish, Giulia Molinaro (70) leads by two,

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Sally Watson 72 and young Lauren Mackin 73

FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON AT GANTON, YORKSHIRE

Italian Giulia Molinaro, a 19-year-old student at Arizona State University but originally from Venice, was the very last player in the field of 144 to finish around 8pm ... and she took a two-stroke lead with a three-under-par 70 at the end of a long, hot day - play began at 6.30am in the first qualifying round of the British women's open amateur championship at Ganton Golf Club, not far short of Scarborough on Yorkshire's east coast.
Giulia, who will be 20 on July 23, would probably not have believe you had you told her on the fifth tee that she would finish up two shots clear of the star-studded field. By that time she was already to over par, having bogeyed the second with three putts and the fourth by missing the green.
But, having got that out of her system, Molinaro began to pull herself up through the field, hole by hole. She holed a 30ft putt for a birdie 2 at the fifth and pitched and putt for a birdie 4 at the long sixth. Now really in the mood, Giulia, whose parents have come over from Kenya, where they stay, to watch her in action, sank a 30ft putt for a birdie at the eighth and then got home with a drive and a four-iron at the par-5 ninth for a two-putt birdie, her fourth in five holes, which saw her turn in two-under-par 35.
Her putting was very good but her short game was pretty tidy into the bargain. She got up and down from greenside bunkers to save par at both the 10th and 12th.
She holed another great putt - a 25footer - for her fifth birdie of the day at the 14th and then got her drive off the meat of the club at the 460yd, par-5 15th, leaving herself only a nine-iron approach shot which she put to within nine feet of the stick - almost "gimme distance" for the way Molinaro was putting - and, sure enough, down the putt went for her sixth and last birdie.
But Ganton has not staged Walker and Curtis Cup matches and other big tournaments for nothing. The course, provoked by the Molinaro Magic, finally got its own back when she misjudged the required club at the short 17th.
"There was a little bit of wind there on the tee. I was between a six and a seven-iron. I chose the six-iron and the ball went over the back of the green. I should have played the seven-iron. I couldn't get up and down to save a par 3. But, after all the luck (for luck, read skill) I'd had, I wasn't complaining," said Giulia who came home in one-under-par 35 for her 70.
Giula's great effort ended the three-way logjam at the top of the leaderboard. Until the Italian broke the tie, Curtis Cup Scot Sally Watson, 18, from South Queensferry but now a member at Elie and Earlsferry, 19-year-old Taylore Karle from Scottsdale, a US Curtis Cup team reserve two years ago, and Canadian Sue Kim shared the lead on one-under 72.
Most of the eight-strong GB and I Curtis Cup team who played at Essex County Club, Massachusetts the weekend before last are suffering from varying degrees of tiredness, both physically and mentally, but not Sally.
"I took a good, long rest after the Curtis Cup match and I think that paid off today," said Sally whose summing up of the 2010 match is: "We can beat them at Nairn in 2012!"
"So, at the moment, I am feeling good and looking forward to the rest of the week."
Watson did take four holes to get into her stride at Ganton. After bogeying the second and fifth, she notched the first of her five birdies, a 2 at the short fifth, quickly followed with a 3 at the par-4 seventh to turn in level par 37.
She almost holed her seven-iron tee shot at the 165yd 10th hole, the ball coming to rest a foot from the flagstick and she picked up further birdies with a nine-iron third shot and a 12ft putt for a 4 at the long 13th.
Sally got hom in two at the last par-5 on the course, the 15th, and, in the final analysis, might have been second on her own but from missing the green at the tricky 17th (170yd ) and failing to save par. An inward half of one-under-par 35 gave her the 72.
Playing partner Sue Kim and Sally seemd to spark off each other on the inward half. The Canadian birdied the short 10th, the 12th, the long 13th and the 14th but to describe this as a "purple patch" was to ignore the double bogey 6 at the 11th. Sue was out in 38 and home in 32.
Watson and Kim equalled the 72 of clubhouse leader Taylore Karle had been in the pole position on her own from early afternoon.
Five players start the second and final qualifying round sharing fifth place on 73 - Scot Lauren Mackin, two Swedes, No 1 US women's college player Caroline Hedwall and championship debutante Daniela Holmqvist, Spain's Camilla Hedberg and Curtis Cup player Holly Clyburn from Woodhall Spa. English girls champion Holly, incidentally, had a double bogey 6 at the 16th - there seemed to have been very few pars at that hole and also the 17th - in an inward 37.

Lauren Mackin, 16-year-old Glasgow-born Scottish exile in Majorca, for a long time was the leading Scot with her 73 In fact, the tall girl who was once an outstanding running prospect in Central Scot before her parents moved to Majorca, could have been leading the field. She bogeyed the 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th, slipping back to par from a four-under positon which would have given her the lead, even after Giulia Molinaro's late heroics.
"I played without using my driver today because I staved a finger playing volleyball in Majorca," said Lauren who birdied the short fifth, and the par-5 ninth to get it out in two-under 35. She then got 3s at the par-4 11th and 12th.
"My caddie was getting all excited but I just go out to play golf and take it as it comes. I don't feel any pressure because I am not thinking about being selected for international teams and that sort of thing."

Mackin, who has been steadily putting together some decent scores in open tournaments, starting in the Orange Blossom Tour in Florida earlier in the year, was stuck for an answer when asked if she would play for Scotland - if asked by the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association.

"I've never been asked so I can't tell you what my reaction would be," said Lauren who is an articulate, mature 16-year-old.

Early starter Curtis Cup Scot Pamela Pretswell had sand in her shoes by the bucketful after being in six bunkers on a way to a 75 on a gloriously warm and sunny morning.

"I've not been in so much sand since the last time I was at a beach - but I certainly wasn't having fun," joked Pamela who was in six bunkers in all - two of them at one hole - in halves of 36 (one under par) and 39 (three over par).

She birdied two par-5s on the outward journey - the sixth and ninth - by getting home in two shots at both and two-putting. Her first shot dropped came at the seventh where she bunkered her second.

Another shot was shed when she was bunkered at the short 10th. Then came a double bogey 7 at the long fifth were she came out of a bunker ... into a another one.

And there was another bunker visit at the 15th before a final one - the sixth in all - at the 18th.

"I hit the ball quite well actually and was surprised to finish up in bunkers with some of the shots which were not bad ones," said Pamela who confessed she was still on a bit of a high from the recent Curtis Cup match in the States.

"I've not come down yet, so I'm not feeling as tired as some of the other Curtis Cup girls are. It was a fantastic experience."

Pretswell has made the last 16 in the past two Ladies British championships at Harlech last year and North Berwick the year before.

Nineteen-year-old Taylore Karle from Scottsdale, Arizona - who was a bit miffed not to get even a mention from the US Curtis Cup selectors for this year's match after being first reserve for the 2008 match at St Andrews, took over the lead early in the afternoon with a 72 - the first player to beat the testing LGU par of 73 for the composite course, which uses some men's tees as well as some from the Ganton ladies' course.

She bogeyed the first and second but recovered very well to birdied the fourth, sixth, eighth, 11th and 15th in halves of 37 and 35.

Ganton continued to prove a tough test of golf as the shadows lengthened. Former champion Emma (Duggleby) Brown went out in 36 and back in 44 for an 80. In the same threesome, Curtis Cup player Danielle McVeigh required 84 shots, 45 of them for the outward half which included a 9 with two lost balls at a par-5 hole and Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm), Scottish champion last year, finished with an 83, the same score as another Scotland cap, Jane Turner (Craigielaw). and youngster Gillian Monteith (Portpatrick Dunskey).

Loretto School's 15-year-old Julie Yang, recent winner of the Paul Lawrie Scottish schoolgirls title, the Welsh women's open amateur stroke-play and pipped for the German women's open amateur titles, had a disappointing 81.

There has to be a reason for so many very good players having relatively high scores. No one complained about the putting surfaces, quite the contrary, so it must be the basic golf tenet - you have to keep your drives on the fairways and hit the greens in regulation to score well.

Laetitia Beck, the Florida-based Israeli player, led the field at two-under-par when she reached the turn in two-under-par 35 but she was another victim of the inward half, taking 42 shots for the second day and returning a 77.

Then Carlota Ciganda, the Spanish player who won this title at Alwoodley three years ago, returned a 78 after 5pm. Ciganda had double bogey 6s at the first, seventh and 12th in halves of 41 and 37. Former British stroke-play champion Roseanne Niven (Crieff) had a 91 (47-44).

The expectation had been that, given the perfect scoring conditions, and little or no rough, some player or players get under 70. But it never happened. It was until last player in Giulia Molinaro, that anyone got close to that level of scoring. Perhaps a tribute to the Ganton course.

St Rule Trophy winner Laura Murray (Alford), pictured below driving off the first at Ganton today by Cal Carson Golf Agency, offered the explanation that the fairways were very narrow in places and if you missed them, you sometimes did not have a straightforward recovery shot because of trees being in the way. Laura, out in par 37 with the help of an eagle 3 at the ninth, took 45 shots, dropping eight to par over the last five holes alone, to come home for an 82.

She had a quadruple bogey 8 at the 16th where more than once she had to play out sideways from the trees.
Late in a very long day, Scottish champion Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) and former finalist Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder) both returns 76s. Kelsey dropped two shots to par at the 15th and 18th. Ganton is certainly a course you have to keep your concentration applied until the last putt drops.
Big-hitting Emily achieved not one but TWO eagles - the first at the ninth and the second at the 15th

IRISH PLAYER FIRST TO GET SLOW PLAY

PENALTY IN LGU HISTORY

Aedin Murphy, 21-year-old Irish international from Carlow, became the first player in Ladies Golf Union history to be penalised for slow play. She had one shot added to her score, giving her a first-round 79.

The LGU have been setting up in recent years a stricter timekeeping for players' rounds but this is the first time they have followed through with a penalty.

"I know I am a very slow player, have been for as long as I can remember. My coach and I have been trying to speed up the routine I follow before every shot but I am not succeeding at the moment," said a tearful Aedin, who is a student at the University of Ireland, Maynooth.
"Most players have goals to win tournaments or get picked for international teams. My goal is to become a much faster player."

Despite her penalty, Aedin had the lowest score by any Irish player on the day.

AND VOUCHER-WINNERS WILL FORFEIT THEM IF THEY DON'T ATTEND

PRIZEGIVINGS WITHOUT REGISTERING AN APOLOGY IN ADVANCE

+Further evidence of the Ladies Golf Union adopting a firmer line is that the prize vouchers of competitors who failed to attend the prizegivings at events and have not recorded an apology for their absence will forfeit their vouchers, the value of which will be donated to the LGU's official chairty.

FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND SCOREBOARD

+Leading 64 after 36 holes qualify for match-play

Par 73

70 Giulia Molinaro (Italy).
72 Taylore Karle (US), Sally Watson (Elie and Earlsferrty), Sue Kim (Canada).

73 Daniela Holmqvist (Sweden), Lauren Mackin (Majorca), Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa), Caroline Hedwall (Sweden), Camilla Hedberg (Spain).
74 Emma Sheffield (Newark), Tonje Daffinrud (Norway), Mireia Prat (Spain), Marieke Nivard (Netherlands), Sarah Attwood (Gog Magog).

75 Nikki Foster (Pleasington), Sara Juneau (Canada), Jennifer Kirby (Canada), Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton), Anna Aresse (Spain), Hannah Grant (Enmore Park), Patricia Sanz (Spain), Christine Wong (Canada).

76 Stefanie Kenoyer (US), Sara Garbutt (Ganton), Lara Katzy (Germany), Jessica Speechley (Australia), Tara Watters (Muswell Hill), Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), Rebecca Lee-Bentham (Canada), Charlotte Wild (Mere), Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder), Ami Storey (Ponteland), Sophia Popov (Germany), Marion Ricordeau (France).

77 Marta Sanz (Spain), Leigh Whittaker (Germany), Sian James (Bristol and Clifton), Justine Dreher (France), Adriana Zwanck (Spain), Olivia Lansing (US), Nina Holleder (Germany), Hannah Burke (Mid-Herts), Jacqueline Hedwall (Sweden), Laetitia Beck (Israel), Hannah Barwood (Knowle), Chrisje De Vries (Netherlands), Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton).

78 Ines Lescudier (France), Lucy Williams (Mid Herts), Fanny Vuigner (Switzerland), Ellie Robinson (Brass Castle), Ashley Ona (Australia), Pia Halbig (Germany), Thea Hoffmeister (Germany), Carlota Ciganda (Spain), Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale), Charlie Douglass (Brocket Hall).

79 Rachael Goodall (Heswall), Valerie Sternebeck (Germany), Amy Boulden (Maesdu), Bronte Law (Bramhall), Karlijn Zaanen (Netherlands), Aedin Murphy (Carlow), Anne Tanguay (Canada), Marita Engzelius (Norway), Lauren Taylor (Woburn), Tara Davies (Holyhead), Myrte Eikenaar (Negtherlands).

80 Samantha Postillion (US), Alexandra Peters (Notts), Alessandra Braida (Italy), Margot Ivanoff (France), Natalie Lowe (Macclesfield), Gillian O'Leary (Cork), Emma Brown (Malton and Norton), Justine Lee (Australia), Emma Goddard (Vale Royal), Raphaela Dywer (Hayling Island), Lucie Andre (France), Hayley Davis (Ferndown), Meghan Stasi (US), Abbey Gittings (Walmley), Georgia Hall (Ferndown), Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Royal Jersey).

81 Laura Chemarin (France), Alessandra Averna (Italy), Lene Hafsten-Morch (Norway), Gemma Bradbury (Cottrell Park), Julie Yang (Loretto School), Anna Christina Kindgren (Columbia), Ann Lindner (Germany), Morgane Bazin de Jessey (France), Mathilde Cassaignau (France), Nicole Whitmore (Woburn).

82 Laura Murray (Alford), Anais Maggetti (Switzerland), Stacey Keating (Australia), Desire Blaauw (Netherlands), Jess Wilcox (Blankney), Ariane Provot (France).

83 Amanda Strang (Sweden), Gillian Monteith (Portpatrick Dunskey), Louise Larsson (Sweden), Roberta Roeller (Germany), Catherine Elliott (US), Lauren Collin (John O'Gaunt), Chiara Brizzolari (Italy), Jane Turner (Craigielaw), Krista Puisite (Latvia), Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm).

84 Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down Ladies), Pauline Loulier (France), Johanna Tillstrom (Sweden), Marion Duverney (France).

85 Audrey Riguelle (France), Lucy Gould (Bargoed), Emilee Taylor (Gainsborough), Lee Charpier (France), Nicola Dunn (Harrogate), Valentine Derrey (France).

86 Stephenia Kirchmayr (Germany), Caroline Karsten (Netherlands), Marion Kaddouche (France), Katherine O'Connor (Tadmarton), Laura Jansone (Latvia), Olivia Birrer (Switzerland).

87 Laura Stempfle (Germany), Nicole Vandermade (Canada(, Maaike Naafs (Netherlands), Kerry Postillion (US), Clemence Abrahamian (France), Hermione Fitzgerald (unatt), Angela Morris (Brough).

88 Perrine Delacour (France), Sarah Cunningham (Ennis), Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield), Stacey Shanahan (Australia)..

89 Rebecca Gee (Wellingborough), Hannah Turland (Tidworth).

90 Ines Diaz-Negrete (Spain), Mara Puisite (Latvia).

91 Roseanne Niven (Crieff).

Withdrew: Kate Whitemore (Mere)..