GAME OF TWO HALVES FOR KELSEY PRO DEBUT IN TURKEY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
There was precious little Turkish delight for the five Scots in action at the National Golf Club, Belek, Antalya in this week's Ladies European Tour event.

Kelsey MacDonald, pictured, making her debut as a professional, Kylie Walker and Pamela Pretswell were the best of the bunch with three-over-par rounds of 76 to be lying joint 53rd in a field of 126 for the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open.
Vikki Laing had a 77 for a share of 72nd place and Carly Booth brought up the rear with a 78 for joint 86th place behind Carlota Ciganda, the Spaniard from the bull-run city of Pamplona, on four-under--par 69.
Kelsey shook off the gloom of covering her first nine holes (the 10th to the 18th) in the paid ranks in five-over-par 42 shots to complete her round with two birdies, at the long fifth and ninth, and seven pars for a second nine of two-under 34. Certainly a game of two halves!
Kylie Walker also started at the 10th and reached the turn in 39 with bogeys at the long 15th and 17th. She had two more bogeys after that but a birdie at the eighth got her back in 37.
Pamela Pretswell also had only one birdie, at the long 14th, in halves of 39-37.
Vikki Laing was another to have only one bright spot on her card, a birdie at the ninth, and a 77 puts her on borderline to make the cut at the end of the second round.
Carly Booth must improve on her opening 78 which included a triple bogey 7 at the 17th and a hat-trick of bogeys from the seventh to the ninth in halves of 40-38.
Ironically she had the more birdies than the rest of her compatriots - at the 13th, long 14th and 18th.

SCOTS' SCORES
76 Kelsey Macdonald, Kylie Walker, Pamela Pretswell (T53).
77 Vikki Laing (T72)
78 Carly Both (T86). 

REPORT FROM LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR

Carlota Ciganda showed the way as she shot a first-round four-under-par 69 at National Golf Club to lead the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open by a stroke.

The Spanish 22-year-old, who shot a course record 66 in last year’s tournament, mixed five birdies with one bogey on a warm and cloudy morning in Belek, Antalya. 

“I’m very happy with my round. I think it’s a good start with four-under today. I played very solid today, hitting lots of fairways and greens and then I made a few putts out there so I think it’s a good result to start here,” said last year’s European No.1 Ciganda.

Showing why she is currently ranked second on The 2013 European Solheim Cup points list, Ciganda started on 10 and birdied 13 and 15 before impressively saving two pars on 16 and 18.

On the front nine, she then almost eagled the first hole before picking up back-to-back birdies on six and seven. She dropped her only shot of the day on her last hole, the par-four ninth.

“I wanted to do a bogey-free round, but I mean, it’s hard not to make mistakes in 18 holes and I hit a little bit to the left and it bounced to the bunker so I couldn’t make up and down,” she said.

Four further players, who all played in the morning, ended the day a shot behind at three-under: South African Lee-Anne Pace, Australian Sarah Kemp, Carmen Alonso of Spain and Norwegian Cecilie Lundgreen. 

Lundgreen, a graduate of last season’s LET Access Series, was elated with her round after she reverted to using her old golf clubs this week.

She said: “Last season I had such a good season on the Access Series and played a few events in Sweden. My coach was so kind to get me some new clubs and I started the season with these new clubs but I wasn’t really hitting it that well. At a clinic last week I hit some shots with my old clubs and said, ‘Wow! This is like heaven!’”

“I had four birdies on the front nine, which got me off to a great start and then I was fighting a bit on the back nine to keep it. It was steady, I putted well and my focus was on hitting fairways, which you need to do out here.”

Alonso, another long hitter who recently lost her full tour card, was delighted to be back in the mix and said: “I think today was a great day. I played really well and focused on what I have to do. I didn’t think about the score. I think that was the main thing, because this golf course is really difficult.”

Pace, the 2010 LET money list winner, was taking a similarly laid back approach. She said: “I’m taking it one shot at a time and my coach James (Petts) is here this week so I’m getting things grooved. It was a strange round as I didn’t hit a lot of greens but the ones I hit got close and I made four birdies I think. The short game worked fantastic.”

The defending champion, Christel Boeljon from the Netherlands, who won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, was part of a group at two-under 71.

Her round included an eagle two on the par-four 13^th hole and she was one of three players to achieve the rare feat on the first morning, along with Henni Zuel, who eagled the par-four ninth and Marion Ricordeau, who eagled the par-four 18^th.

Swedish rookie Rebecca Sorensen was six-under after 11 holes, but dropped five shots in three holes from the fourth and ended the day in a group on one-under along with England’s Laura Davies.

The 2010 tournament champion Melissa Reid was in a group at two-over along with fellow English player Charley Hull.

 

COMPLETE FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par 73 (36-37) 

69 - Carlota Ciganda (ESP)

70 - Sarah Kemp (AUS) , Carmen Alonso (ESP) , Cecilie Lundgreen (NOR) , Lee-Anne Pace (RSA)

71 - Laura Cabanillas (ESP) , Trish Johnson (ENG) , Christel Boeljon (NED)

72 - Linda Wessberg (SWE) , Laura Davies (ENG) , Charlotte Ellis (ENG) , Eleanor Givens (ENG) , Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER) , Miriam Nagl (GER) , Katie Burnett (USA) , Rebecca Sorensen (SWE) , Mikaela Parmlid (SWE)

73 - Megan Grehan (USA) , Daniela Holmqvist (SWE) , Marion Ricordeau (FRA) , Veronica Zorzi (ITA) , Emma Cabrera-bello (ESP) , Mireia Prat (ESP) , Connie Chen (RSA)

74 - Leigh Whittaker (GER) , Holly Clyburn (ENG) , Marta Silva Zamora (ESP) , Rebecca Artis (AUS) , Sophie Giquel-bettan (FRA) , Diana Luna (ITA) , Rebecca Hudson (ENG) , Maria Hernandez (ESP) , Nontaya Srisawang (THA) , Valentine Derrey (FRA) , Florentyna Parker (ENG) , Sharmila Nicollet (IND)

75 - Liz Young (ENG) , Melissa Reid (ENG) , Beth Allen (USA) , Paula Hurtado (COL) , Minea Blomqvist (FIN) , Julie Greciet (FRA) , Morgana Robbertze (RSA) , Joanna Klatten (FRA) , Maria Salinas (PER) , Bree Arthur (AUS) , Charley Hull (ENG) , Margarita Ramos (MEX) , Sophie Walker (ENG) , Cathryn Bristow (NZL) , Nikki Campbell (AUS) , Whitney Hillier (AUS)

76 - Anais Maggetti (SUI) , Virginie Lagoutte-clement (FRA) , Stefania Croce (ITA) , Emily Taylor (ENG) , Jade Schaeffer (FRA) , Line Vedel (DEN) , Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) , Cassandra Kirkland (FRA) , Becky Brewerton (WAL) , Nina Holleder (GER) , Pamela Pretswell (SCO) , Georgina Simpson (ENG) , Mallory Fraiche (USA) , Kylie Walker (SCO) , Klara Spilkova (CZE) , Caroline Afonso (FRA) , Viva Schlasberg (SWE) , Kelsey Macdonald (SCO) , Noora Tamminen (FIN)

77 - Stephanie Na (AUS) , Lucie Andre (FRA) , Helena Callahan (SWE) , Sarah King (AUS) , Holly Aitchison (ENG) , Malene Jorgensen (DEN) , Hannah Burke (ENG) , Steffi Kirchmayr (GER) , Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) , Margherita Rigon (ITA) , Stacy Lee Bregman (RSA) , Ursula Wikstrom (FIN) , Louise Larsson (SWE) , Vikki Laing (SCO)

78 - Lauren Mielbrecht (USA) , Sahra Hassan (WAL) , Sena Ersoy (TUR) , Camilla Lennarth (SWE) , Celine Palomar (FRA) , Jessica Yadloczky (USA) , Danielle Montgomery (ENG) , Sophie Sandolo (ITA) , Henni Zuel (ENG) , Carly Booth (SCO)

79 - Laura Jansone (LVA) , Marjet Van Der Graaff (NED) , Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) , Karen Lunn (AUS) , Tara Davies (WAL) , Alison Whitaker (AUS) , Lydia Hall (WAL) , Maha Haddioui (MAR)

80 - Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) , Begum Yilmaz (TUR) , Isabell Gabsa (GER) , Melanie Maetzler (SUI) , Tania Elosegui (ESP) , Isabella Ramsay (SWE)

81 - Kym Larratt (ENG) , Kaisa Ruuttila (FIN) , Elina Nummenpaa (FIN) , Nikki Garrett (AUS) , Elisabeth Esterl (GER) , Gwladys Nocera (FRA)

82 - Sara Wikstrom (SWE) , Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) , Rachel Drummond (ENG) , Laurette Maritz (RSA)

83 - Virginia Espejo (ESP) , Stefanie Michl (AUT)

84 - Jamila Jaxaliyeva (KAZ)

85 - Julia Davidsson (SWE) , Carin Koch (SWE)

86 - Aylin Ercel (TUR)

90 - Zuzana Kamasova (SVK)