HEATHER MacRAE LEADS SCOTS AFTER FIRST ROUND IN MOROCCO

                              HEATHER MACRAE ... Good start to LET Final Q School

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Heather MacRae leads a Tartan Army of seven Scots after the first round of the 90-hole Ladies European Tour Final Qualifying School at Marrakech, Morocco.
The Gleneagles Hotel pro staff player from Dunblane shot a three-under-par 69 over the Al Maaden course.
She had six birdies which helped to compensate for a double bogey at the short 12th, the low point of her otherwise sparkling round which sees her start Round 2 three shots behind leader Rebecca Sorensen from Sweden.
Now Heather, winner of the Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour Championship at Dalmahoy, must keep her good form going. She started well in the final event of the LETAS Circuit but unravelled over the final round and finished sixth in the Order of Merit. Has she finished fifth she would have gained automatic promotion to the Ladies European Tour.
The first hurdle for the Scots to clear is the cut to the leading 60 and ties for the last of the five rounds on Wednesday.
Ayrshire's Pamela Feggans from Doone Valley Golf Club is lying joint 28th on par 72 (four birdies, four  bogeys at Al Maaden) while Kelsey MacDonald from Nairn and Elie-based, Edinburgh-born Sally Watson are joint 42nd on 73. Both played the Jack Nicklaus-designed Samanah course.
Kelsey birdied the fifth, eighth and 14th but bogeyed the seventh, ninth, 16th and 18th.
Sally had birdies at the ninth, 13th, 15th and 17th, with bogeys at the second, third, seventh, 10th and 16th.0
Fife-based but originally from the Bridge of Allan, professional caddie Heather Stirling is on the limit mark of joint 60th after a 75 while Michele Thomson from Stirling, is sharing 65th place with a 76 and Glasgow's Gemma Webster is tied 71st on the 77 mark in a field of 95 players.
 Heather Stirling birdied the 11th and 13th at Al Maadenbut had a double bogey 7 at the par-5 12th. The 2002 Scottish women's amateur champion and Curtis Cup player was the winner of the Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour Order of Merit, which gave her free flights and accommodation at both Stage 1 and Stage of the Tour School.
Michele Thomson had only one birdie, at the sixth, and bogeys at the second, seventh, 11th, 14th and 15th at Samanah.
Gemma Webster birdied the first hole but had a double bogey 5 at the short third and also bogeyed the second, fifth, 113th and 18th at Al Maaden.

 SCROLL DOWN PAST THE SCORES FOR THE
 ON-THE-SPOT REPORT FROM BETHAN CUTLER,
 Media Manager of the Ladies European Tour

Al Maaden and Samanah courses, Marrakech, Morocco
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72 at both courses
66 Rebecca Sorensen (Sweden)
67 Tessa Teachman (US), Nina Muehl (Austria), Caroline Martens (Norway)
68 Julie Tvede (Denmark), Maha Haddioui (Morocco), Sophie Sandolo (Italy)
69 Heather MacRae (Scotland), Anna Scott (England), Hannah Ralph (England).

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
72 Pamela Feggans (T28)
73 Kelsey MacDonald, Sally Watson (T42)
75 Heather Stirling (T60)
76 Michele Thomson (T65)
77 Gemma Webster (T71)
 
THE COMPLETE FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
+Leading 60 and ties after four rounds will qualify for
final round on Wednesday.
Par 72 at both courses
66 Rebecca Sorensen (SWE) 
67 Caroline Martens (NOR), Nina Muel (Austria) (am), Tessa
Teachman (US).
68 Julie Tvede (DEN), Maha Haddioui (Morocco), Sophie 
Sandolo (Italy).
69 Hannah Ralph (ENG), Heather MacRae (Sco), Anna Scott (Eng).
70 Virginia Espejo (Spain), Nina Holleder (Germany), Cathrn Bristow (NZ), Isabella Ramsay (Sweden), Josephine Janson (Sweden), KimWilliams (South Africa).
71 Elina Nummenpaa (FIN), Stefania Avanzo (Italy) (am), Fiona Puyo (France), Amy Boulden(Wales), Galina Rotmistrova (Russian), Maria Beautell (Spain), Laura Jansone (Latvia), Victoria Lovelady (Brazil), Anjelika Hammar (Sweden), Lucy Williams (England), Nicole Garcia (South Africa) (am).
72 Ana Larranta (Spain), Leigh Whittaker (Germany), Emily Perry (NZ), Ariane Provot (France), Lauren Taylor (England), Pamela Feggans (Scotland), Smriti Mehra (India), Jessica Ji (South Korea), Steffi Kirchmayr (Germany), Anaelle Carnet (France) (amateur), Julia Davidsson (Sweden), Ashley Ona (Australia), Amber Ratcliffe (England) (am), Adriana Brent (Australia).
73 Henni Zuel (England), Sally Watson (Scotland), Laurence Herman (Belgium), Kelsey MacDonald (Scotland)), Rebecca Green (Australia), Nobuhle Dlamini (Switzerland), Anais Maggetti (Italy), Karolin Lampert (Germany) (amateur).
74 Valdis Jonsdottir (Iceland), Christine Wolf (Austria), Charlotte Ellis (England), Krista Bakker (Finland) (amateur), Isabelle Boineau (France), Lucie Andre (France), Bonita Bredenhann (Namibia),, Isabell Gabsa (Germany),  Charlotte Thompson (England), Carmen Alonso (Spain).
75 Melodie Bourdy (France), Mia Piccio (Philippines), Heather Stirling (Scotland), Lina Boqvist (Sweden), Elisabetta Bertini (Italy).
76 Matia Maffiuletti (Italy), Michele Thomson (Scotland), Benedikte Grotvedt (Norway), Kiran Matharu (England), Melanie Maetzler (Switzerland), Viva Schlasberg (Sweden).
77 Phillis Meti (NZ), Maggie Yuan (Australia), Lucie Hinnerova (Czech Republic), Jacqueline Hedwall (Sweden), Maria Salinas (Peru), Gemma Webster (Scotland}, Astrid Vayson De Pradenne (France), Ainil Bakar (Malaysia, Anna Kindgren (Colombia) (amateur), Linda Henriksson (Finland).
78 Julie Maisongrosse (France), Rachel Goodall (England), Tara Delaney (Ireland), Antonella Cvitan (Sweden), Emma Taylor (England), Nina Pegova (Russia) (amateur), Lisa Shervill (Eng).
79 Marion Duvernay (France) (am), Therese Larsson (Sweden).
80 Josefine Sundh (Sweden), Emma Westin (Sweden), Charlotte Wild (England).
81 Caroline Rominger (Switzerland), Chrisje De Vries (Netherlands), Anna  Svenstrup (Sweden).

Sorensen leads by one after first day at Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifying

MARRAKECH, MOROCCO: Sweden’s Rebecca Sorensen carded a sparkling six-under-par 66 at Golf Al Maaden and swept to the top of the leader board on the opening day of the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifying in Marrakech, Morocco.

After a calm and sunny day, the 27-year-old from Grabo holds a one stroke advantage over three other players: Tessa Teachman from the United States, Norwegian Caroline Martens and Austrian amateur Nina Muehl.

Italian Sophie Sandolo, Denmark’s Julie Tvede and Moroccan Maha Haddioui shot rounds of 68, followed by Britons Heather Macrae, Anna Scott and Hannah Ralph on 69.

Sorensen, a rookie on the LET this year who made three cuts from seven appearances, birdied the second and bogeyed the sixth to make the turn in level par but picked up six birdies on Al Maaden’s back nine to put herself in pole position to secure a full card and improve her Tour status from 2013.

Teachman was the only player in the top ten positions who played on the longer Samanah Golf Course and the 24-year-old from Baton Rouge in Louisiana posted five birdies, including four on the back nine.

“The course is in amazing condition and the greens are true and quick. I’m very impressed by everything around here. It’s been great,” said the graduate of Louisiana State University.

“This is my first time across the Atlantic. I’ve played in China in 2011 when we played the World University Games and that was my first international trip and I’ve crossed the Atlantic now. I’ve really enjoyed it; it’s been great. I want to see as much of the world as I can and play golf.

“I just hit it really well and hit it close a lot, which was very nice, stress free. I made a lot of putts and missed a couple still. There are a lot of opportunities out there. I played last week in the pre-qualifier in Rabat and it was tight and tough. It’s very nice to come here and you are rewarded for your good shots.

"There's a little bit more breathing room here. I was playing well in Rabat but scores were high and it’s nice to come here and finally get some scores under par.”

The next best scores on the Samanah Course were 70s, recorded by Spain’s Virginia Espejo and Swedish duo Josefin Janson and Isabella Ramsay. 

They share 11^th position with New Zealand’s Cathryn Bristow, South African Kim Williams and Germany’s Nina Holleder, who played their first rounds on the Al Maaden Course.

Espejo’s score was particularly impressive considering that she played through injury. “The bottom of my foot is inflamed and I have a sprained ankle which means no practice, so I won’t get tired!” said the LET rookie from Madrid.

“I hit it alright off the tee, because it’s an open course, my shots into the greens were awful.  I missed so many greens but then I made so many putts, I think I had under 25 putts, it was crazy. My putting was the best part of my game by far but it’s very tough when you have very short putts to aim outside of the hole.

" On a straight putt you don’t believe it and try to find breaks that aren’t there. I trusted the lines that I read and just hit the putts where I thought they were going to go.”

Janson also considered the greens as Samanah’s greatest defence: “I started off really well and kept the birdies coming but made a couple of bogeys at the end. I played really solid and hit the ball good. The greens are perfect and tough if you are too far from the pin because they are very slopey but I put a good speed on them.”

The field will play the Samanah and Al Maaden courses alternately for the first four rounds, followed by a cut to the leading 60 players and ties.
The final round will be played at Samanah Golf Club. At the end of 90 holes on Wednesday, the top 30 players and ties from a field of 95 will earn their full cards for the 2014 Ladies European Tour (in category 8a).