ANNE WALKER IS A DOUBLE WINNER AS COACH IN CALIFORNIA

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Scottish exile Anne Walker, head coach of the University of California-Davis women's golf team for the past four years, led her girls to a second team victory of the 2011-2012 US college golf season in this Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown which ended at Boulder Creek Golf Club, Boulder, Nevada on Wednesday.
They shot a school record 277 total in the first round and went on to post a final aggregate of 869 which gave them victory by 15 shots from joint runners-up Pepperdine and San Diego State.
Anne, playing out of Strathaven GC, lost to Vikki Laing in the final of the Scottish Under-18 girls championship in the late 1990s and they both later were recruited by the University of California-Berkeley.
After four successful years as a player on the US college circuit, Anne stayed on at the university as a member of the women's golf team back-up staff.
She was head-hunted by UC-Davis four years ago - and her career has been on the up-and-up since then.
Recruiting promising young players from all over the world is one of the secrets of coaching/managing a successful team on the US college circuit and Anne Walker has done well in that respect.
UC-Davis now have a break over the winter months until next February sees them back in action.
+Former England international Ellis Keenan from London, a third-year student at the University of Las Vegas-Nevada, finished T82 in a field of 88 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. She had disappointing rounds - well below her potential - of 82, 79 and 81 for 242 - 33 shots behind the winner, Grace Na (Pepperdine) who won by two with a total of seven-under-209.