French folly - New Under-21 championship dates clash with "Helen Holm"

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
What possessed the French Golf Federation to change the normal first week of April dates for their French Under-21 girls championship to clash head-on with the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play championship at Troon Portland and Royal Troon from April 22 to 24?
It is the French who will suffer most - although they might not think so.
For instance, Ireland's 16-year-old Leona Maguire (and her twin sister Lisa) are entered for the "Helen Holm"  ... instead of Leona, pictured right, trying to win the French Under-21 girls' title for a third year in a row! That's quite a snub.
Leona won the Portuguese women's amateur title and Lisa the Spanish women's championship earlier this year.
As well as the Maguires, two of the best teenagers in England - 15-year-old Charley Hull (Woburn) and  16-year-old Bronte Law (Bramhall) - will be in action at Troon, not Paris.
France's Barbara Genuini won the "Helen Holm" in 2009 when she was one of 14 French entries. In fact, the French Federation were in the habit of sending over more entrants than any other Continental country. This year, the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association has not received a single entry from a French competitor.
I would not attempt to find out the raison d'etre from the French Federation. Of all the foreign golf bodies I deal with in the course of the year, the French are just about the only ones who never acknowledge, never respond to my E-mails, seeking information on this or that.
Somebody once told me that's because I don't send the messages in French. They maybe right but I wouldn't dare inflict my schoolboy French on them.