Laura Murray receives the St Rule Trophy from Lady Angela Bonallack (Cal Carson Golf Agency image)
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Alford's Laura Murray has become only the fourth player to pull off the Scottish women's amateur championship and St Rule Trophy winning double in the season.
The 23-year-old from the Aberdeenshire village did it impressive style, winning the prestigious 54-hole St Andrews tournament for the second time in three years this evening.
In 2010 she had to go to a play-off which she won against Curtis Cup selection Amy Boulden.
This weekend, Laura won it a bit more easily - by two shots in the end from Emma Goddard (Royal Liverpool) with scores of 73 over the New Course on Saturday and 74-73 over the Old Course today for a seven-under-par total of 220.
Murray, supported by the Paul Lawrie Foundation, shared the lead after Saturday's round but forged two shots clear with her first circuit of the Old Course and when she used her long-hitting powers to birdie the par-5 second, fourth and fifth in her final round, the title was hers to lose.
She did bogey the fifth but an eagle 3 at the 13th allowed her to bogey the treacherous 17th, the Road Hole, and still win with something in hand.
The last Scottish champion to win the St Rule Trophy three weeks after her national triumph was Heather Stirling 10 years ago. The only other Scots to pull off the big early-season double have been Catriona Matthew (twice) and Anne Laing.
Worth noting also that Laura Murray is only the fourth player to have won the St Rule Trophy twice. Another Aberdeenshire player (although she was a St Rule Club member at the time as she was working in St Andrews), Christine Middleton (Cruden Bay) did it in 1988 (last of five years as a 36-hole tournament) and 1989; Catriona Lambert/Matthew (North Berwick) did it in 1993 and 1994, and Kylie Walker (Buchanan Castle) also won it back to back in 2008-2009.
The St Andrews Old Course has quite a few shortish par-5s for ladies, so perhaps the long-hitting Murray cashed in again on her length off the tee?
Not so, she revealed in her post-victory interview.
"For once it wasn't my driving which was the key, as it was when I won the Scottish title at Tain a couple of weeks ago," said Laura.
"My driving has gone off a bit and my coach and boyfriend Keil (Beveridge) and I have been working on that to get back on to the straight and narrow. But I only hit six fairways on the New Course on Saturday, so the rest of my game was in pretty good nick.
"No, it was my putting that pulled me through. I holed an awful lot of good putts over the three rounds. From round about the 10ft range, I hardly missed anything.
"I'm playing well and that gives me confidence - I just wish I was playing in the Curtis Cup match this week! Seriously, I am really looking forward now to the British women's championship at Carnoustie at the end of this month. "
Emma Goddard posted the clubhouse target of five-under-par 222 with half the field still to finish - rounds were taking 4 1/2 hours - after posting a four-under-par 72. In the end only Laura Murray overhauled the Lancashire player.
Emma had a startling recovery from a double bogey 6 at the comparatively simple first hole - she birdied the next five holes and also the ninth to be out in four-under-par 34. She bogeyed the 11th but birdied the 13th in level par 38 home.
Joint third place, a shot behind Goddard, were three players, former Scottish champion Louise Kenney (Pitreavie), Bethany Garton (Royal Lytham), whose final round of 70 was the best of the tournament, and Sweden's Jenny Haglund, all on 223.
Bethany Garton, only 18 and scratch player, had 31 putts and birdied the first, fifth, eighth, ninth and 12th in a bogey-free round. Her Old Course figures were
OUT: 3-5-4-5-4-4-4-2-3:32. IN: 3-4-3-4-5-4-4-5-4:36
She is pictured left in front of the RandA clubhouse at St Andrews. It was her debut in the St Rule Trophy.
The Lawson Trophy for the highest finishing Under-18 year old was won by Emily Taylor (Royal Lytham), pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who won the Welsh women's open amateur stroke play championship last weekend.
Her final round of 71 for 225 for joint seventh place overall pipped clubhouse Under-18s leader Jessica Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) by two shots with Clara Young (North Berwick) a close-up third, only three behind Taylor.
Emily's closing score was the joint second best - Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) had the other 71 - score of the final round when the north-easterly wind dropped from its previous chilling gusts of up to 17mph to under 10mph.
Emily birdied the second, ninth, 10th, 12th. 13th, 14th with only one bogey (at the 11th) in halves of 36-35.
Jessica had three very good rounds of 75-77-75 for 227 and came 10th in a quality field.
Young Clara finished joint 11th overall alongside Scottish championship beaten finalist Jane Turner (Craigielaw) and 2010 national champion Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) with ever-improving scores of 79, 76 and 73.
Former Scottish girls champion Lesley Atkins (Gullane Ladies) led the Under-18s after rounds of 74-75 but she fell away to a joint fourth finish after a final round of 83 for 232.
Out in 39, Lesley moved under par with birdies at the 10th and 12th but then it all unravelled over the last six holes for which she was eight over par.
A triple bogey 8 at the 13th was followed by a bogey 6 at the 14th, a double bogey 6 at the 15th, and bogey 5s at the 16t 18th for 44 shots home.
Gabriella Cowley (West Essex) was one of the pre-tournament favourites for the Under-18s trophy on the strength of her winning the Scottish Under-16s open stroke-play title at Strathmore on her last visit to Scotland in April.
But things went pear-shaped for Gabriella with rounds of 74-77-83 and a disappointing total of 233. In her second round over the Old Course, Cowley was five under par after only five holes, thanks to birdies at the long second, the third, the long fourth and an eagle 3 at the long fifth.
A double bogey 6 at the sixth didn't stop her in her tracks because she promptly birdied the seventh and turned in two-under 36.
But maybe the light had gone out after all. The inward half cost Gabriella 41 shots with bogeys a the long 13th, the long 17th and the 18th.
Incidentally, the Lawson Trophy was contested by 17 in the Under-18 years category, a record for the St Rule Trophy which was instituted in 1984. Which throws up a clubhouse talking point: Should there be a British Under-18 girls' stroke-play championship over four rounds? You might say there is one already, but it is part of the British women's stroke-play, which is not quite the same.
Charlotte Wild (Mere) finished joint seventh on 225 but she looked as if she was going to be challenging for the lead if she kept up a great run she had in the middle of her third round.
Charlotte birdied the fourth-fifth-sixth, then the eighth-ninth (out in 33) and the 10th to six under par for the round with eight holes to play.
But Wild went off the boil down the home straight with bogeys at the 11th, 14th and 16th for 40 home and a 73 that might have been a sub-70.
Laura Murray, Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) and Jane Turner (Craigielaw) won the international team trophy for Scotland with a total of 446 - two ahead of runners-up England.
It was a good day for the Briggs girls who both finished in the top nine. Megan's closing 71 came after she reached the turn in 33, showing no signs of the shoulder injury that forced her to retire the previous weekend in the Irish stroke-play. Megan finished sixth on 224, Eilidh ninth on 226.
 Ireland international Aedin Murphy (Carlow) won a special prize for a hole in one with a six-iron at the 145yd eighth hole in the second round over the Old Course. It was her third ace. She came into the field late on from the waiting list.
The Old Course "bit back" one hole later - Aedin had a double bogey 6 at the ninth!
Aedin is pictured left receiving her prize from Lady Angela Bonallack.
Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.
The CSS for the three rounds was 76-78-76.
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