PAUL LAWRIE FOUNDATION WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT LAURA MURRAY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Paul Lawrie tonight gave a huge vote of confidence to Laura Murray, the reigning Scottish women's amateur champion who failed to survive Stage 1 of the Ladies European Tour Q School in Morocco at the weekend.
"The Paul Lawrie Foundation will continue to support Laura next year, no matter where she plays as she has been a fantastic ambassador for us," said Paul. 
Laura may be temporarily down but she is certainly not out as far as her target of playing on the Ladies European Tour is concerned.
The 24-year-old from Alford, Aberdeenshire, playing in the LET pre-qualifying event for the first time at Marrakech, failed to make it through to this week's Final Q School over the same Al Maaden and Amelkis courses.

"It was a big learning curve for me and it ended in disappointment but it just increased my appetite to play golf at the highest level," said Laura who became one of the few players to win the Scottish women's amateur championship (at Tain) and the St Rule Trophy at Sf Andrews within two weeks of each other last May.
It was her second victory in the prestigious St Rule Trophy but she did not recapture that level of form in Morocco.
"I haven't made my decision for what lies ahead next season, but I'm staying amateur for the time being. I'm sure whatever happens next year it'll be just as exciting, if not more than this season past."
Laura, who works part-time at the Kippie Lodge sports centre, Milltimber, has a choice.
She can continue as an amateur, defend her Scottish title and the St Rule Trophy as well as setting herself a target of gainining selection for the GB and I team for the Vagliano Trophy match at Chantilly against the Continent of Europe, then tackle the Ladies European Tour Q School again next December when it will be staged over the same Marrakech courses.
Or Laura could follow the example of Curtis Cup Scot Pamela Pretswell who turned professional after the Nairn victory over the Americans and campaigned on the Ladies European Tour developmental circuit (LETAS) .
The three leading money-winners on the LETAS circuit at the end of the season automatically gain playing rights on the following year's Ladies European Tour without having to go to the Q School. Pretswell topped the LETAS money table this year and she and Kylie Walker are the only Scots guaranteed a place on the Ladies European Tour next year.
There will be five Scots at the Final LET Q School over 90 holes, starting at Marrakech on Thursday - Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), still an amateur, Vikki Laing (Musselburgh), Pamela Feggans (Patna, Ayrshire), Katy McNicoll (Carnoustie) and Heather MacRae (Gleneagles).
MacDonald and MacRae have come through the Stage 1 pre-qualifier; McNicoll was exempt from Stage 1 by finishing fourth in the LETAS Order of Merit; Feggans and Laing finished too far down the LET Order of Merit to keep their cards by were exempt from Stage 1.
There will be a cut after four rounds before the qualifiers play the final 18 holes over the Al Maaden course. Only the leading 30 and ties will win LET players' cards.
+Emily Taylor (Royal Lytham and St Annes), who headed one of the "fields" in Stage 1 as an amateur, says she will only relinquish her amateur status if she wins one of the 30-odd LET cards up for grabs next Monday. 
That's good news for the GB and I selectors who must have her pencilled in for a place in the team to play the Continent of Europe in next June's Vagliano Trophy match at Chantilly GC, near Paris.

TO VIEW THE COMPETITORS WHO WILL MAKE UP "FIELD A" IN THE FINAL STAGE 

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FOR THE NAMES OF THE COMPETITORS WHO WILL BE IN "FIELD B"

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