NICOLA CALLANDER WINS TITLE BY A SHOT FROM GEMMA DRYBURGH, GABRIELLE MACDONALD IN DRAMATIC FINISH AT BLAIRGOWRIE

Leading prizewinners in the 2012 Scottish Under-21 girls' open amateur stroke-play championship over 54 holes of the Lansdowne course, Blairgowrie
                       Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Nicola Callander, 16-year-old Anglo-Scot from Hertfordshire, won the Scottish Under-21 girls' open amateur stroke-play championship in a dramatic finish at sunny but quite windy Blairgowrie today.
Nicola, the overnight leader after rounds of 74-69 over the par-73 Lansdowne course, started the final round with a one-stroke advantage over Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw) with Aberdeen-born Gemma Dryburgh (Beaconsfield) four shots off the pace in third place.

Gemma made the most ground over the first nine, reaching the turn in 35 to Nicola's and Gabrielle's 38 apiece.
And by the time they got to the 18th tee, Nicola had lost the lead after driving into trees at the 17th and running up a double bogey 7.
Dryburgh's par 5 at the penultimate hole put her into the lead by one stroke with Macdonald another shot farther back.
Then came the last-hole drama.
OUT OF BOUNDS
Dryburgh, 19-year-old Tulane University, New Orleans student, hooked her drive into the trees, hacked out on to the fairway but then was horrified to see her seven-wood third shot to the green drift rightish in the wind, ricochet right twice, first off a tree and then a grass bank, ending up out of bounds on the road on the right.
The hole cost Gemma a triple bogey 7 for a 75 (35-40) and a final total of three-over-par 222.
At the same hole, Callander, after a good, safe drive, got a flyer with a five-iron second which finished just off the back of the green in a tufty lie. She took three to get down from there but a 5 for 78 - her worst of the three rounds - gave her a two-over total of 221 and not just one but two Scottish titles - the Under-21s and the Menzies Trophy for Under-18s.
Hampshire county player and ladies champion of Mill Green Golf Club, near Welwyn, Nicola is the youngest Scottish Under-21 girls champion since Carly Booth, who was 15 at the time, in 2007.
Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) had won the last four Under-21 titles on the trot, but did not begin her sequence until she was 17. Nicola now has the chance for a five-timer!
Macdonald, 19-year-old Edinburgh-based St Andrews student, parred the last four holes for a 78 and a share of second place on 222.
Gabrielle was a possible winner until she dropped three shots over the 10th (double bogey), 11th and 12th (bogey).
It was such a what's-going-to-happen-next last hole that even the winner had her doubts.
"I wasn't sure who had won until we signed the scorecards and I saw the totals," said Nicola whose father, Forfar-born Colin Callander, is a former Editor of Golf Monthly and now combines freelance golf writing with acting as Press Officer at events such as the Curtis Cup and the Ricoh Women's British Open.
The family home is Welwyn (as in Welwyn Garden City - Nick Faldo's home club as an amateur) but Nicola is a member at neighbouring Mill Green where the club pro Ian Parker has played a big part in Nicola's progress.
PATRIOTIC FATHER
But first credit must go to her dad because it was Colin who got her started in golf at an early age and, realising at an early age that she had above average talent, he was determined that Nicola would play for Scotland rather than England - she was qualified to play for both - and that was why he took her up to play in the recent Scottish Under-18 girls' match-play championship.
By playing in that event, Nicola had nailed her colours to the mast as a Scot and burned her boats as a future England player.
Earlier in the season she had finished third in the Scottish Under-16 stroke-play championship at Strathmore and if the SLGA selectors had not heard of Nicola before that, then her performance in the Under-18s match-play - third best qualifier and quarter-finalist - clinched a debut for Scotland in the Girls Home Internationals at Radyr GC, Cardiff from August 6 to 9.
Her four-under-par round of 69 on Day 2 at Blairgowrie has cut her handicap from 2.7 to 1.5, perhaps too late for her to get into the field for the British girls' championship which is at Tenby, also in South Wales, the week after the GHI.
BOUND FOR MILLFIELD
Nicola, who will be enrolling at Millfield School (golfing FPs include Brian Barnes and Malcolm Gregson) in the autumn,  is not going back over the Border yet. She is playing in Sunday's Mackie Bowl 36-hole SLGA Order of Merit event at Gullane.
Colin Callander, setting aside his paternal pride and assessing the tournament as a golf writer, was the first to admit that Gemma Dryburgh was the unlucky loser at the end of the day.
In her first-round 78 she had a quadruple bogey 8 at the 10th and a double bogey 5 at the short fifth. Take the 8 or the last-hole 7 out of the equation and the Aberdonian has won - but that kind of "what if?" theorising is pie in the sky.
Nicola Callander - remember,  she won't be 17 until NEXT February - with little or no experience to fall back on - got the job done over the 54 holes and when we look back a few years hence, we might be able to say we were there when a new Scottish star was born.
FINAL ROUND FIGURES
Here is how the fortunes fluctuated over the final round at Blairgowrie (Par 73 Out 37 In 36):

CALLANDER (started at 143, -3)
OUT: 4-4-4-4-6-4-4-5-3: 38
   IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-7-5: 40 Total 78 (+5) 221 (+2)

DRYBURGH (started at 147, +1)
OUT: 5-4-4-3-3-4-4-5-3: 35
  IN:  5-4-3-4-4-4-4-5-7: 40 Total 75 (+2) 222 (+3)

MACDONALD (started at 144, -2)
OUT: 5-3-5-5-3-5-4-4-4: 38
   IN: 6-4-5-4-4-4-4-5-4: 40 Total 78 (+5) 222 (+3)

FINAL TOTALS
Par 219 (3x73) Yardage: 6,036 SSS 75 CSS 75 75 75
221 Nicola Callander (Mill Green) 74 69 78
222 Gemma Dryburgh (Beaconsfield) 78 69 75, Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw) 73 71 78
225 Lena Weichselgartner (Germany) 74 75 76
227 Rachel Walker (Dumfries and Co) 76 75 76
228 Rachel Taylor (Germany) 73 78 77, Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) 72 78 78
230 Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) 71 80 79
231 Katie Bradbury (Cottrell Park) 79 71 81
232 Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) 75 76 81
234 Gillian Scanlan (Hamilton) 78 80 76, Megan Clyne (Deeside) 80 77 77, Charlotte Austwick (Fulford) 76 78 80, Nicola Rawlinson (Royal Birkdale) 76 72 86
235 Jessica Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) 80 78 77
236 Jess Wilcox (Blankney) 75 80 81, Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) 76 78 82
237 Kirsty Condon (Blankney) 81 78 78
238 Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) 86 74 78, Linzi Allan (West Kilbride) 78 82 78
239 Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne) 80 82 77, Danielle Ker (Roxburghe) 81 78 80, India Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) 80 77 82, Emily Aird (Blairgowrie) 78 78 83, Lesley Atkins (Gullane Ladies) 77 75 87
240 Laura Alexander (Eaglescliffe) 76 84 80, Jordana Graham (Southerness) 77 78 85
241 Heather Munro (Monifieth) 77 80 84
242 Melinda Vontobel (Germany) 83 80 79, Amelia Taylor (St Annes Old Links) 78 81 83
243 Gemma Bradbury (Cottrell Park) 85 81 77
244 Katie McGarva (Troon Ladies) 84 82 78, Linsey Stevenson (Elie and Earlsferry) 84 78 82, Bethany Garton (Royal Lytham) 80 81 83, Hazel McGarvie (Troon Ladies) 82 78 84
245 Tara Mactaggart (Minto) 85 81 79, Florence King (Rothley Park) 82 82 81, Shannon McGuire (Canmore) 82 82 81, Rebecca Hovell (Alyth) 85 79 81
246 Emily Dalgetty (Glencorse) 81 79 86
247 Eva O'Connor (Bothwell Castle) 89 79 79
249 Katie Reid (Monifieth) 88 74 87
250 Paige Kemp (Rochford Hundred) 86 78 86, Rachel Polson (Peterculter) 79 84 87, Hannah Scott (Broomieknowe) 81 81 88
251 Tegan Seivwright (Deeside) 87 84 80
252 Nicola Taylor (Dunnikier Park) 85 84 83, Jemma Chalmers (Monifieth) 80 80 92
253 Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe) 90 86 77, Eilidh Watson (Muckhart) 79 89 85
254 Eleanor Tunn (Reay) 82 89 83, Molly Stewart (Murcar Links) 86 83 85, Claire Robertson (Carnoustie Ladies) 81 85 88
255 Jessica Dalgetty (Glencorse) 84 83 88, Andrea Walker (Falkirk) 80 86 89
257 Shannon McWilliam (Aboyne) 86 87 84
258 Charlotte Munro (Gullane Ladies) 88 83 87, Alison Goodwin (Glenbervie) 86 82 90
259 Kirsty Brodie (Strathmore) 88 87 84, Alexandra Qayum (Ranfurly Castle) 89 84 86, Rheanna Thom (Alyth) 84 87 88
260 Emma Hale (Troon Ladies) 95 82 83, Nicola Robertson (Dunblane New) 82 87 91
261 Emma Greenlees (Dumfries and Co) 92 82 87, Kirsten Pryde (Deeside) 86 86 89
262 Olivia Borwick (McDonald Ellon) 87 86 89
266 Alexandra Tait (St Regulus) 89 84 93
271 Joanne Free (Gullane Ladies) 93 87 91
272 Emily Glencorse (Millport) 93 90 89
274 Emma Kennedy (Paisley) 90 92 92
280 Beth Donoghue (Alloa) 91 91 98
283 Jennifer Duncan (Auchterarder) 91 88 104
284 Alexandra Duffy (Cathkin Braes) 104 93 87
286 Ellie Bryce (Strathaven) 93 91 102
291 Heather Neilson (Greenburn) 97 88 106
293 Jennifer Allan (West Kilbride) 104 94 95
297 Catherine Goodwin (Glenbervie) 106 97 94
301 Zara Alexander (Eaglescliffe) 100 99 102

   Gabrielle Macdonald, Nicola Callander and Gemma Dryburgh who all combined to make it a last round to remember at Blaigowrie today.

                       Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

PRIZEWINNERS

FIRST ROUND

Best U15 years net: Eilidh Crawford (Harburn) (11) 72

Best U18 years net: Nicola Callander (Mill Green) (3) 71

Best U21 years net: Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw) (1) 72

Best U15 years scratch: Andrea Walker (Falkirk) 80

Best U18 years scratch: Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) 71

Best U21 years scratch: Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) 72

SECOND ROUND

Best U15 years net: Eva O'Connor (Bothwell Castle) (10) 69

Best U18 years net: Jennifer Duncan (Auchterarder) (19) 69

Best U21 years net: Katie Bradbury (Cottrell Park) (1) 70

Best U15 years scratch: Hazel MacGarvie (Troon Ladies) 78

Best U18 years scratch: Nicola Callander (Mill Green) 69

Best U21 years scratch: Gemma Dryburgh (Beaconsfield) 69

THIRD ROUND

Best U15 years net: Kirsty Brodie (Strathmore) (10) 74

Best U18 years net: Alexandra Duffy (Cathkin Braes) (15) 72

Best U21 years net: Linzi Allan (West Kilbride) (5) 73

Best U15 years scratch: Eva O'Connor (Harburn) 79

Best U18 years scratch: Rachel Walker (Dumfries and Co) 76

Best U21 years scratch: Gemma Dryburgh (Beaconsfield) 75

54-HOLE AGGREGATES

Best net: Nicola Callander (Mill Green) (3) 212 (71-66-75)

Best U15 years scratch: Hazel McGarvie (Troon Ladies) 244

Best U18 years scratch (Menzies Trophy): Nicola Callander 221

CHAMPIONSHIP - 1st Nicola Callander (Mill Green)

                           2nd Gemma Dryburgh (Beaconsfield) (better last round)

                           3rd Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw)  

                           4th Lena Weichselgartner (Germany)

                           5th Rachel Walker (Dumfries and County)

NEXT YEAR'S SCOTTISH UNDER-21 GIRLS OPEN AMATEUR STROKE-PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP WILL BE HOSTED BY INVERNESS GOLF CLUB FROM JULY
                              24 to 26.