TWO YOUNG SCOTS LEAD THE STARS ON A DAY OF HIGH SCORES

ALYSON McKECHIN AND RACHAEL TAYLOR MATCH PAR ON A DAY

WHEN THE ROYAL ASHDOWN FOREST COURSE WAS THE WINNER

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Even the most partisan Scottish golf supporter could not have predicted that at the end of a long opening day in the British women's open amateur stroke-play golf championship, the joint leaders on par 72 would be two Scottish teenangers, 18-year-old Alyson McKechin (Elderslie), pictured right, and Germany-based professional's daughter, 19-year-old Rachael Taylor. pictured below.
With the cream of British and Irish female amateur golf in the field of 113, why did Royal Ashdown Forest's course in East Sussex "win" the first day hands down?
There was no wind to speak of and there is not a single bunker anywhere under an old forest conservation act, so the only explanation for the general level of high scoring was that the woodland/heathland course, a royal hunting forest in ancient times, was simply too difficult a lay-out on which to score well.
Bogeys, double bogeys and higher were common. Birdies were rare and eagles an endangered species.
Royal Ashdown Forest has been used by the R and A as an Open championship qualifying venue – and today the competitors in this LGU tournament could see why for themselves.

This south-east of England course, where there is less rainfall than most other parts of the country, has not staged many tournaments for female amateur golfers, outwith local members, in recent years and that lack of familiarity in particular with the hard greens that required pitch and run shots a la links golf but were not nearly as fast as they expected for putting was a problem that most of the contestants have failed to get to grips with so far.
As defending champion Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), remarked after a returning a four-over-par 76: “I think it’s going to be a high-scoring tournament.” Which could turn out to be the understatement of the season.
Playing partner and fellow Curtis Cup player Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) looked set to prove all the doom and gloom critics wrong when she cruised to the turn in two-under-par 34 with birdies at the fifth and eighth and not a suggestion of a bogey on her card.
But Royal Ashdown Forest bared its teen on the back nine and bit back – hard – on the 16-year-old talented Irish twin. Leona required 41 shots (five over par) to get home, starting with a double bogey 6 and ending the back nine with a double bogey 7 at 17 and a bogey 5 at the last for a 75.
Incidentally, Pamela Pretswell birdied the 17th where Leona had the 7 so where’s the logic of that?
Leona’s twin Lisa had a 77 which included a double bogey 6 at the 10th. Also on 77 is another highly promising 16-year-old, Bronte Law (Bramhall). Bronte had a double bogey 6 at the 15th in halves of 38 and 40.
Curtis Cup and Vagliano Trophy team player Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) later joined Leona Maguire on the 75 mark.
Britain’s youngest ever women’s open amateur champion, 16-year-old Lauren Taylor (Woburn), pulling her own clubs, had the same score as Pamela Pretswell, a 76. The only 6 on Lauren had on her card was at the 17th.
Alyson McKechin, a member of the Scotland team in the girls’ home internationals the week before last, had birdies at the second, 12th, 16th and 18th in halves of 37 (one over par) and 35 (one under). She bogeyed the first, seventh, 11th and 17th.
Lanarkshire county champion Rachael Taylor, whose Airdrie-born father is a golf professional in Germany, had halves of 34 and 38 with birdies at the third, eighth and 17th. She did not drop a shot until the 10th – where she dropped two with a 6, followed by a bogey at the 11th, then covered the last seven holes in one-under par.
Welsh teenager Amy Boulden (Llandudno Maesdu) and two other youngsters, England girl cap Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough) and Belgium’s Laurence Herman, are tucked in behind the Scots. Boulden’s 73 was so steady – 15 pars, one birdie, two bogeys – she could have been playing a different course from those who shot in the high 70s and 80s.
Amy started with a bogey and had her only other dropped shot at the 10th. The Astor Trophy and Vagliano Trophy team player birdied the 17th in halves of 37 and 36.
Meghan MacLaren, whose father David is a European Tour director, highlighted her card with an eagle 3 at the 17tb which enabled her to get home in par 36.
It was Meghan who suggested to me that the so-hard greens were the basic cause of the general high scoring - which produced a CSS for the day of 76 - four over par.
Pamela Pretswell was one of the few players who did not have a 6 on her card - but bogeys at the fourth, short sixth, seventh, 15th and 16th before she gained her only birdie of the day at the long 17th.
Heather growing in the rough - and sometimes in the middle of a fairway - is another factor that makes Royal Ashdown Forest a very good test of golf, worthy of professionals and maybe just a little too difficult for a percentage of this field.
"I didn't miss many fairways and when I did was only a yard or so off them and I felt I was severely punished," said Pamela who is by no means out of the hunt at only four shots off the pace.
There will be a cut to the leading 40 and ties at the end of the second round - and what the dividing line will be is anybody's guess.
When I was a cub golf reporter, my elders in the profession used to say that to predict a halfway cut mark say for 40 and ties, you should count where 40 and ties comes up to in the first round scores ... double that figure and add one and, more often than not, that is the cut mark.
Tonight there are 36 players on 76 or better and a further eight on 77.
So 2 x 77 = 154 +1 = 155 as the projected cut-off mark.