PAMELA GENERATES HER OWN HEAT IN AMSTERDAM

Pamela Pretswell, in joint 10th place, and Vikki Laing, sharing 23rd spot, head the Scottish challenge in the Ladies European Tour's Deloitte Women's Open at Amsterdam in the Netherlands today (Friday).

In cool conditions - 9 degrees at best - Hamilton's Pretswell, pictured by Andy Forman, playing out of The Nairn Golf Club, probably felt more at home than most competitors and she generated her own heat by a four-under-par outward half of 33. 
A double bogey 6 at the 10th knocked her back a bit as did another 6 at the long 15th but a 2 at the short 17th saw her round in a creditable two-under-par score of 71.

Musselburgh's Laing birdied two par-5s on the way out, the first and the eighth, plus the 10th and 16th in halves of 38-35 for a par-matching 73.

The weekend prospects are not so good for the other two Scots in the strong field.

Comrie's Carly Booth is lying joint 76th on 77 and Kylie Walker is sharing 93rd place on 78. Both will be struggling to beat the second-round cut which is forecast for 150.

Sweden's Camilla Lennarth is the overnight leader by three shots with a seven-under-par 66.

DELOITTE WOMEN'S OPEN

Amsterdam, Netherlands

LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES

Par 73

66 Camilla Lennarth (Swe)

69 Benedikte Grotvedt (Nor), Gwladys Nocera (Fra).

SELECTED SCORES
70 Melissa Reid (Eng) (T3).
71 Holly Clyburn (Eng), Hannah Burke, Pamela Pretswell (Sco) (T10).

72 Charley Hull (Eng) (T17).
73 Vikki Laing (Sco), Henny Zuel (Eng) (T23).
74 Georgia Hall (Eng) (am), Florentyna Parker (Eng) (T32)
75 Liz Young (Eng) (T49).

77 Carly Booth (T76).

78 Kylie Walker (T93).

REPORT FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
By BETHAN CUTLER, LET Media Manager

Camilla Lennarth of Sweden fired a career-best round of seven-under-66 to take a three-stroke lead after the opening day of the Deloitte Ladies Open in the Netherlands. 

The Ladies European Tour rookie professional, pictured coming off the final green today, fired five birdies and an eagle around The International, a challenging new course next to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.

After a bitterly cold start to the day, she took advantage of the warmer afternoon conditions, posting four birdies on the back nine before picking up three further shots on her last two holes.

She chipped in from 30 metres with her third shot on the par-5 eighth hole before adding a final-hole birdie on the ninth.

“Before I teed off I saw the leaders at three-under and I was a little surprised,” said Lennarth. “I just aimed for a par on every hole and things went my way. I made some putts and that gave me some momentum.

The 24-year-old from Stockholm added that the round was the perfect fillip following a lacklustre start to the season, despite the fact she tied for second after shooting an opening-round 70 in the weather-shortened South African Women’s Open, last month.

“I was hoping for a better start this year, I played well at Q-School but I’ve been struggling so it’s nice that even though I didn’t strike the ball as well as I can, I got a great score out there. This is the best score I’ve ever posted in a tournament.”

Second-placed Gwladys Nocera, the LET No.1 player in 2008, was also filled with confidence following her opening round of four-under-69, containing six birdies and two bogeys.

“I hit the ball pretty well. I was most of the time close to the pin, the right side of the green, so lots of birdie opportunities. Everything was good and the course was hard, so nothing to complain about,” said Nocera, who won the Dutch event in 2007 and 2008 in Eindhoven.

“I’ve come from playing badly and losing so much confidence and now being able to play well again feels good so I don’t want to think about it. I just want to play golf, because that’s what I love.”

Of the six players in a group at three-under-par, only Melissa Reid and Line Vedel started early, in temperatures hovering around 7C for most of the morning.

Reid, the 2010 event winner at Broekpolder, said: “It was so cold this morning that you couldn’t warm up and you were shivering putting your ball on the tee so the mental side was to get over that. When you’re freezing you have to keep your body warm and your hands warm and that was the biggest challenge.”

Miriam Nagl, Bree Arthur, Titiya Plucksataporn and home hope Christel Boeljon from the Netherlands all played in the afternoon and ended in a share of third at three-under-par.

The defending champion, Carlota Ciganda, was part of a large group a shot further back at two-under-par and will be five shots off the lead going into the weekend.

  THE COMPLETE FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD

66 Camilla Lennarth (SWE)

69 Benedikte Grotvedt (NOR) , Gwladys Nocera (FRA)

70 Christel Boeljon (NED) , Line Vedel (DEN) , Miriam Nagl (GER) , Bree Arthur (AUS) , Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) , Melissa Reid (ENG)

71 Tandi Cuningham (RSA) , Carlota Ciganda (ESP) , Hannah Burke (ENG) , Nikki Campbell (AUS) , Holly Clyburn (ENG) , Emily Taylor (ENG) , Pamela Pretswell (SCO)

72 Nina Holleder (GER) , Stacey Keating (AUS) , Hannah Jun (USA) , Dewi Claire Schreefel (NED) , Nikki Garrett (AUS) , Charley Hull (ENG)

73 Kristie Smith (AUS) , Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) , Vikki Laing (SCO) , Diana Luna (ITA) , Stacy Lee Bregman (RSA) , Carin Koch (SWE) , Henni Zuel (ENG) , Maha Haddioui (MAR) , Veronica Zorzi (ITA)

74 Ashleigh Simon (RSA) , Lee-Anne Pace (RSA) , Louise Larsson (SWE) , Cheyenne Woods (USA) , Georgia Hall (ENG) , Tania Elosegui (ESP) , Stefanie Michl (AUT) , Yu Yang Zhang (CHN) , Florentyna Parker (ENG) , Mallory Fraiche (USA) , Lucie Andre (FRA) , Mette Hageman (NLD) , Ursula Wikstrom (FIN) , Smriti Mehra (IND) , Jacqueline Hedwall (SWE) , Sophie Sandolo (ITA) , Dawn Shockley (USA)

75 Liz Young (ENG) , Karen Lunn (AUS) , Nontaya Srisawang (THA), Anais Maggetti (SUI), Lydia Hall (WAL), Sophie Giquel-bettan (FRA) , Whitney Hillier (AUS) , Sharmila Nicollet (IND) , Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) , Marta Silva Zamora (ESP) , Laurette Maritz (RSA) , Noora Tamminen (FIN) , Valentine Derrey (FRA) , Sophie Walker (ENG) 

PROJECTED CUT MARK - 150

76 Linda Wessberg (SWE) , Mikaela Parmlid (SWE) , Zuzana Kamasova (SVK) , Beth Allen (USA) , Joanna Klatten (FRA) , Elina Nummenpaa (FIN) , Alison Whitaker (AUS) , Rebecca Artis (AUS) , Celine Herbin (FRA) , Stefania Croce (ITA) , Cathryn Bristow (NZL) , Tara Davies (WAL) , Charlotte Puts (NLD)

77 Elisabeth Esterl (GER) , Jia Yun Li (CHN) , Maria Hernandez (ESP) , Daniela Holmqvist (SWE) , Stephanie Na (AUS) , Lauren Taylor (ENG) , Rebecca Hudson (ENG) , Chrisje De Vries (NED) , Eva Bjarvall (SWE), Sarah King (AUS), Cecilie Lundgreen (NOR) , Anne Van Dam (NLD) , Jade Schaeffer (FRA) , Minea Blomqvist (FIN) , Connie Chen (RSA) , Carly Booth (SCO) , Xi Yu Lin (CHN)

78 Kaisa Ruuttila (FIN) , Rebecca Sorensen (SWE) , Marjet Van Der Graaff (NED) , Marion Ricordeau (FRA) , Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER) , Kylie Walker (SCO) , Trish Johnson (ENG)

79 Erika Holmen (SWE) , Holly Aitchison (ENG) , Elise Boehmer (NLD) , Sahra Hassan (WAL) , Danielle Montgomery (ENG) , Jessica Yadloczky (USA) , Laura Jansone (LVA) , Margherita Rigon (ITA)

80 Becky Brewerton (WAL) , Margarita Ramos (MEX) , Malene Jorgensen (DEN) , Julie Greciet (FRA) , Charlotte Ellis (ENG) , Caroline Afonso (FRA) , Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) , Virginia Espejo (ESP)

81 Helena Callahan (SWE)

82 Georgina Simpson (ENG) , Leigh Whittaker (GER) , Melanie Maetzler (SUI) , Laura Cabanillas (ESP)

83 Julia Davidsson (SWE)

85 Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) , Maria Salinas (PER)

86 Steffi Kirchmayr (GER)

RTD Virginie Lagoutte (FRA), Dewi Weber (NLD)