OLIVIA LEADS FROM START TO FINISH AT WET AND WINDY HELEN HOLM

 Leading prizewinners at the "Helen Holm." L to R: Amy Boulden (Wales team winners, Becky Harries could not stay for prizegiving), Alyson McKechin, Olivia Winning, Poppy Finlay, Olivia Mehaffey (best third round).

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Olivia Winning, 18-year-old Yorkshire player, scored the biggest win of her golfing career at a sometimes wet but always windy Royal Troon Open championship links today.
The 6ft Rotherham Golf Club member  won the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play championship with a five-under-par total of 220, finishing off with a three-over-par 78 in the testing conditions.
Olivia made every post a winning one, in every sense of the word, leading from start to finish after a 70 then a 72 at Troon Portland in the opening rounds. 
"I've been so busy studying for my A-levels that I could not get up to Troon in time to play a practice round over either course but this was the third time I'd played in the Helen Holm so I did have that to fall back on," said Olivia who also won the Under-18s trophy.
"It's definitely the biggest win I've had so far and I felt a little bit under pressure over the last few holes, especially in a greenside bunker at the last. I thought I had to get up and down to avoid a play-off. I didn't know I had a couple of shots in hand.
"But it's a great feeling to win from a field as strong as this."
Olivia is bound for the University of Tulane, New Orleans where Aberdeen-born Gemma Dryburgh is a second-year student.   
Joint runners-up, two shots behind on 222 were 19-year-old Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) (76-72-74), who made a brave bid to become the first Scot since Heather Stirling in 2002 to win the prestigious event, and Poppy Finlay (Vicars Cross) from Chester.
Alyson, who was officially placed second with the better last round,   packed five birdies into her downwind outward half of 34 (three under par) and got another at the 12th but bogeys at the 14th and 16th blunted her challenge to the winner down the home straight.
"Playing with the professionals on the Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour last week certainly helped me," said Alyson who is coached by Kevin Craggs.
"It was very tough out there today. You had to try to control the ball downwind on the outward half and then battle your way into the wind coming home."
Poppy Finlay had scores of 72-74-76 for 222.
The hole that meant the difference between winning and finishing joint second for Poppy was the par-4 nine hole. It cost her a quadruple bogey 8. 
Earlier she had birdied the second, third and fifth to close on the leaders.
Defending champion Amy Boulden, one shot off the pace at the start of the final round, never recovered from a double bogey 7 downwind at the fifth. A bogey at the eighth saw her turn in 40 and her hopes died finally with another bogey at the 12th.
The Curtis Cup star finished joint fourth on 223 after a closing 80.
On the same mark was another GB and I player, Bronte Law, closing with a 78.
The CSS was 78 - three over par - and the best scores over Royal Troon were a pair of two-under 73s by Wales' Becky Harries (Haverfordwest) and Ireland's Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies).
Only five players finished the 54 holes under par.
An indication of how bad the weather was for the last day (it was by no means windless on the first two days either!), Olivia Winning's 220 winning total is the second highest in the last 14 stagings of the tournament. The highest in that period was 227 by Nathalie David in 2003.
England-based players have now won the "Helen Holm" six times since the turn of the Century -  Rebecca Hudson (2000), Fiona Brown (2001), Emma Duggleby (2004), Melissa Reid (2006 and 2007), Charlotte Ellis (2011) and now Olivia Winning (2013).
Olivia Mehaffey from Royal Co Down Ladies was the long-time leader in the clubhouse on level par 225 after posting a third-round 73, the joint best Sunday score.   
Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak), ranked No 6 in the world, retired after opening rounds of 76 and 79. She has been feeling under the weather lately and probably should not have played on Friday and Saturday.
She notified the SLGA tournament office very shortly after handing in her second-round card on Saturday that she did not feel well enough to continue and would be setting off on the long journey home to Dorset before Sunday's final round 
Wales, represented by Amy Boulden and Becky Harries, won the international team event with a total of 449. Scotland (Eilidh Briggs and Kelsey MacDonald) were second on 457.

          Alyson McKechin, Olivia Winning and Poppy Finlay
                     Pictures by Cal Carson Golf Agency
   HELEN HOLM SCOTTISH WOMEN'S OPEN AMATEUR STROKE-PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
First two rounds Troon Portland, third round Royal Troon
FINAL TOTALS
Par 225 (3x75) CSS 77 76 78.
220 Olivia Winning (Rotherham) 70 72 78.
222 Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) 76 72 74, Poppy Finlay (Vicars Cross) 72 74 76.
223 Bronte Law (Bramhall) 77 68 78, Amy Boulden (Conwy) 76 67 80
225 Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies) 75 77 73. Rachael Goodall (Heswall) 73 70 82
226 Becky Harries (Haverfordwest) 78 75 73, Aimee Ponte (Royal Guernsey) 76 76 74, Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) 75 76 75.
227 Alexandra Peters (Notts Ladies) 76 74 77, Amber Ratcliffe (Royal Cromer) 77 72 78.
228 Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) 76 76 76, Chloe Ryan (Castletroy) 74 75 79
229 Gabriella Cowley (Brockett Hall) 77 76 76, Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) 78 74 77, Maria Dunne (Skerries) 72 79 78.
230 Jane Turner (Craigielaw) 75 77 78, Jessica Carty (Holywood) 72 79 79, Charlotte De Corte (France) 76 74 80.
232 Sophie Lamb (Clitheroe) 79 78 75, Sophie Powell (Stockport) 78 77 77, Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) 76 75 81, Kerry Smith
(Waterlooville) 77 73 82.
233 Iona Stephen (Ranfurly Castle) 76 78 79, Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) 74 79 80, Sarah-Jane Boyd (Truro) 80 73 80, Lauren Whyte (St Regulus) 76 76 81.
234 Bethan Popel (Long Ashton) 81 75 78, Emma Nilsson (Sweden) 82 74 78, Nicola Stephen (Gosforth Park Ladies) 76 78 80, Bethany Garton (Royal Lytham) 78 76 80, Gemma Clews (Delamere Forest) 74 79 81, Ashleigh Greenham (West Essex) 77 75 82, Annabel Dimmock (Wentworth) 77 75 82.
235 Samantha Birks (Wolstanton) 77 77 81, Kirsty Beckwith (Moortown) 76 77 82, Josefine Nyqvist (Sweden) 76 77 82, Connie
Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) 76 76 83
236 Jess Wilcox (Blankney) 77 79 80, Anaelle Carnet (France) 76 74 86
237 Carla Reynolds (Seapoint) 81 79 77, Victoria Bradshaw (Bangor) 77 81 79, Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell) 75 82 80.
238 Chloe Rogers (Braintree) 75 82 81, Lucy Goddard (Mid-Herts) 78 78 , Emma O'Driscoll (Ballybunion) 77 76 85.
239 Jerry Lawrence (Rochester and Cobham) 84 76 79, Eloise Healty (West Lancs) 81 78 80, Eilidh Watson (Muckhart) 82 76 81, Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigelaw) 80 76 83, Clara Young (North Berwick) 78 77 84, Aedin Murphy (Carlow) 74 75 90
240 Sarah Cunningham (Ennis) 76 81 83, Emma Greenlees (Dumfries and Co) 81 76 83.
241 Louise Macgregor (Falkirk) 83 77 81, India Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) 79 75 87
242 Jessica Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) 79 76 87
243 Emma Hale (Troon Ladies) 80 80 83, Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) 79 78 86, Tara MacTaggart (Minto) 78 78 87.
244 Nikki Foster (Trentham) 80 80 84, Charlotte Thompson (Channels) 84 73 87
246 Rachel Walker (Dumfries and Co) 81 79 86.
249 Laura Doherty (Howth) 78 76 95
252 Bronwyn Davies (Trentham) 80 80 92.
254 Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne) 80 80 94.

INTERNATIONAL TEAM EVENT
449 WALES (Amy Boulden and Becky Harries).
457 SCOTLAND (Eilidh Briggs and Kelsey MacDonald).
463 IRELAND (Leona Maguire and Lisa Maguire).
469 SWEDEN (Emma Nilsson and Josefine Nyqvist)
Did not finish:  ENGLAND (Bronte Law and Georgia Hall, retired). 

PRIZEWINNERS
SCRATCH
1st Olivia Winning 220
2nd Alyson McKechin 222 (better  last round).
3rd Poppy Finlay 222
4th Bronte Law 223 (better last round)
5th Amy Boulden 223

BEST UNDER-18
Olivia Winning 220

BEST ROUNDS
First round - Olivia Winning 70
Second round - Amy Boulden 67
Third round - Olivia Mehaffey 73 (better last 6)      


TEAM EVENT
Wales (Amy Boulden and Becky Harries) 448