KELSEY WILL CERTAINLY BE AT CURTIS CUP - TO CHEER ON GB and I

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Kelsey MacDonald is reacting in the best possible fashion to the end of her dream of playing in a Curtis Cup match in her home town of Nairn.

"Obviously I am hurting at the moment ... very  disappointed not to be selected for the team, as others will be," said the 21-year-old Nairn Dunbar GC member and Stirling University student who was named fourth reserve for the June 8-10 match against the United States.
"As everyone knows my aim for the last few years  has been to
represent GB and I in what I regard as the pinnacle of women's amateur golf.
"I realise that golf is full of ups and downs and I have been
fortunate to have had more ups than downs, although it does not feel like that at the moment.
"I would really like to thank everyone who has given me so much support and encouragement and really do wish Tegwen and the GB and I squad success in June.

"And I will certainly be there every day to cheer them on." 

Wouldn't it be a nice gesture if the LGU could involve Kelsey in some way over Curtis Cup week?

Team captain Tegwen Matthews, who played in four Curtis Cup matches in succession in the 1970s, said it had been difficult to whittle down the initial squad of 12 to just eight.
"It's heartbreaking for me, and I said it to all the girls at the weekend, to leave out any of them," she added.
Particularly difficult, she revealed, was omitting Kelsey MacDonald from the eight who will play.
Matthews said the decision of the selectors came down to recent form.
"It was a very hard decision to leave out Kelsey. I think she would be the first to admit that she hadn't quite been able to carry on her form last year from the year before. She also changed her clubs earlier this year and hasn't quite been able to find her form this season either.
"The pressure was massive on the girl, bless her, being the local player. Nairn wanted her to be there, she wanted to be there and I'm sure Scotland wanted her to be there. There are a lot of boxes Kelsey ticks but unfortunately her form just wasn't there."
It is understood that MacDonald lost two of her three matches in the Selection Trial at Nairn, including a defeat by Leona Maguire in the singles.

Kelsey ends her five years at Stirling University in May and plans to go to the Ladies European Tour Q School next January.

But, despite her Curtis Cup omission, she has plenty to play for in her last season as an amateur.

She flies out to Turkey this week for several days' practice at Gloria Golf Club, Antalya - the venue for the women's amateur team championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy from September 27 to 30.

Before that Kelsey has an excellent chance of regaining the Scottish women's amateur championship at Tain - a course she knows very well - from May 15 to 19,

Then there's the British women's open amateur championship over the Carnoustie championship course at the end of June, the British stroke-play at Shandon Park Belfast at the end of August .... and, of course, one last chance to help Scotland regain the Women's Home Internationals title at Cork in September.