STIRLING, WATSON AND THOMSON GAIN PASS MARKS IN MOROCCO

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com 
Three Scots who have featured on the inaugural Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour - Heather Stirling, Sally Watson and Michele Thomson - out of the seven in the starting field have progressed from the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School four-round "B" and "C" pre-qualifying competitions at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Rabat in Morocco today.
That means there will be a total of eight Scots in the field for the five-round Final Q School, starting over two Marrakesh courses, also in Morocco, on Saturday (December 14).

Stirling, Watson and Thomson join Gemma Webster, who came through the "A" pre-qualifier, and Heather MacRae, Kelsey MacDonald and Pamela Feggans whose LETAS Order of Merit ranking took them past the eliminators, and Kylie Walker who has entered the Final Q School, although she did not have to, presumably in the hope of gaining a higher category of LET membership than she currently has.
Heather Stirling, (pictured right), a past Scottish women's amateur champion and Curtis Cup player, finished second today in the "C" Pre-Quaifier over the par-72 Blue Course. She had four steady rounds, finishing with a 75 for 297.
Heather, now 36, played on the US Futures Tour when she turned pro but made a steadier income caddieing in Florida - and then St Andrews and Gleneagles - and gave up playing the game for six years. 
The inaugural Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Tour this year persuaded her to dust off the clubs and she did so well that she won the mini-tour's Order of Merit, a four-figure prize that paid for her flights and accommodation in Morocco, including the Final Q School if she made it that far - which she has.
Another qualifier at the Blue Course was West Kilbride-based former England amateur international Lisa Shervill who did not miss any of the 14 events on the inaugural Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Tour.
We like to think that the regular competitive outings on the PLGC SLOt, helped Lisa's case. She finished with her best of the four rounds, a 73, to be T14 and hit the limit qualifying mark of 309.
Penicuik's Jane Turner, who also turned pro to play on the Paul Lawrie Tour, slipped out of the top 15 and ties who qualified at the Blue Course where the field was only 34 strong.
Jane finished disappointingly with an 81 (40-41) for 316 - seven shots more than the limit qualifying mark. Turner never got to grips with the par-36 inward half in any of her four rounds, never managing to better 41 home.
Among the other non-qualifiers at the Blue Course was Olympic Games bronze medallist in the Great Britain women's hockey team, Chloe Rogers. Playing as an amateur Chloe totalled 314. She played several times on the Paul Lawrie Tour this year.

Elie-based, Edinburgh-born Sally Watson (pictured left) was always among the leaders at Pre-Qualifier "B" over the more testing par-73 Red Course. She eventually finished fifth with a 77 for 301, being able to double-bogey the short 17th on her last circuit and still qualify with ease.
Other qualifiers at this venue included former Curtis Cup heroine at Nairn in 2012, Amy Boulden from Wales, and a Curtis Cup player from an earlier era, past England amateur champion Kiran Matharu from Leeds. Kiran played in quite a few of the Paul Lawrie Ladies Tour events. She qualified comfortably in eighth position on 306, although her opening round of 72 was easily her best of the four. 
The only other Scot to gain pass marks at the Red Course was former Scottish champion and past Curtis Cup player Michele Thomson from Ellon.
Michele, pictured below, looked to have only a slim chance of figuring among the leading 23 and ties who would qualifying for the Final School when she started 85-81 but she responded to the pressure with very good third and fourth rounds of 73 and 74 for 313 to qualifying in joint 19th place.

From no birdies over the first 36 holes to six birdies over her last 36, Michele clinched her place with the final birdie at the 16th in her last round.
Alford's Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) started well with a 76 but then drifted out of contention and a closing round of 80 for 319 left her in joint 26th place - three shots more than the limit qualifying mark.
Laura might still have got over the qualifying line with nine holes to play but she had a double bogey and three bogeys for an inward 41.
Carnoustie's Katy McNicoll failed to recapture the early-season form that made her one of the stars of the Paul Lawrie Tour in the spring and early summer.
She finished with an 81 for 324 and 34th place in the field of 52.
Former Scottish Under-21 champions Kelly Brotherton from Dollar but Killarney based since she turned pro was never at the races after starting with an 87 and finishing with an 81 for 327 and joint 39th place
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR QUALFYING SCHOOL
Pre-Qualifier "B"
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Red Course, Rabat, Morocco
LEADING QUALIFIERS
Par 292 (4x73)
291 Karolin Lampert (Ger) (am) 78 69 72 72
298 Amy Boulden (Wal) 75 75 73 75, Ariane Provot (Fra) 74 74 72 77
299 Ainil Bakar (Mal) 78 72 73 76
301 Sally Watson (Sco) 74 75 75 77
302 Anjelika Hammar (Swe) 77 75 74 76
305 Joesefine Sundh (Swe) 75 77 74 709
306 Kiran Matharu (Eng) 72 79 77 78

SELECTED OTHER QUALIFIERS
308 Emma Taylor (Eng) 75 83 74 76 (T10)
313 Michele Thomson (Sco) 85 81 73 74 (T19).

DID NOT QUALIFY (316 and better qualified)
319 Laura Murray (Sco) 76 86 77 80 (T26)
324 Katy McNicoll (Sco) 83 80 80 81 (34th)
325 Lucy Davies (Eng) 84 80 79 82 (T35)
327 Kelly Brotherton (Sco) 87 79 80 81, Tara Dayer-Smith (Eng) 82 79 88 78 (T39).
333 Lauren Blease (Eng) 81 89 85 79 (T46).

PRE-QUALIFIER "C"
Blue Course
LEADING QUALIFIERS
Par 288 (4x72)
293 Krista Bakker (Fin) (am) 73 75 70 75
297 Heather Stirling (Sco) 75 73 74 75
300 Tara Delaney (Ire) 76 72 77 75, Julie Maisongrosse (Fra) 74 75 74 77
301 Jessica Ji (SKor) 79 73 77 72
391 Mehra Smriti (Ind) 77 77 75 73
303 Rebecca Green (Aus) 77 80 74 72, Nicola Garcia (SAf) (am) 74 78 76 75
305 Lucy Williams (Eng) 79 75 72 79

SELECTED OTHER QUALIFIER
309 Lisa Shervill (Eng) 79 79 78 73 (T14)

DID NOT QUALIFY (309 and better qualified)
310 Natalie Lowe (Eng) 83 75 77 75 (T16)
313 Holly Calvert (Eng) 84 75 77 77 (18th)
314 Chloe Rogers (Eng) (am) 80 83 80 71, Rachel Drummond (Eng) 78 78 78 80 (T19)
316 Jane Turner (Sco) 77 79 79 81 (T25)
324 Hayleigh Wigmore (Eng) 75 82 80 87 (T29)

THE QUALIFIERS IN FULL

A total of 24 players have qualified from Pre- Qualifier B to Final Qualifying:

 

Pos	P L A Y E R	Nat	Score	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Karolin Lampert (a)		-1	78	69	72	72	291
2	Amy Boulden		+6	75	75	73	75	298
2	Ariane Provot		+6	74	75	72	77	298
4	Ainil Bakar		+7	78	72	73	76	299
5	Sally Watson		+9	74	75	75	77	301
6	Anjelika Hammar		+10	77	75	74	76	302
7	Josefine Sundh		+13	75	77	74	79	305
8	Kiran Matharu		+14	72	79	77	78	306
9	Tessa Teachman		+15	78	75	78	76	307
10	Rebecca Sorensen		+16	76	80	80	72	308
10	Emma Tayler		+16	75	83	74	76	308
10	Ana Larraneta		+16	78	76	77	77	308
10	Maggie Yuan		+16	75	76	79	78	308
10	Josephine Janson		+16	76	78	76	78	308
15	Anna Svenstrup		+17	80	77	77	75	309
16	Nina Muehl (a)		+18	79	82	75	74	310
16	Victoria Lovelady		+18	79	77	77	77	310
18	Valdis Jonsdottir		+20	78	81	76	77	312
19	Michele Thomson		+21	85	81	73	74	313
19	Phillis Meti		+21	76	77	81	79	313
21	Stefania Avanzo (a)		+22	83	78	76	77	314
21	Lucie Hinnerova		+22	80	76	77	81	314
23	Maria Beautell		+24	76	84	79	77	316
23	Therese Larsson		+24	80	74	83	79	316

 

Finland´s Krista Bakker won the Pre- Qualifier C with a total of 293 shots (+5) followed by Heather Stirling (297).

A total of 15 players have qualified from  Pre- Qualifier C to Final Qualifying:

 

1	Krista Bakker (a)		+5	73	75	70	75	293
2	Heather Stirling		+9	75	73	74	75	297
3	Tara Delaney		+12	76	72	77	75	300
3	Julie Maisongrosse		+12	74	75	74	77	300
5	Jessica Ji		+13	79	73	77	72	301
6	Smriti Mehra		+14	77	77	75	73	302
7	Rebecca Green		+15	77	80	74	72	303
7	Nicole Garcia (a)		+15	74	78	76	75	303
9	Lucy Williams		+17	79	75	72	79	305
10	Emma Westin		+18	77	79	76	74	306
11	Adriana Brent		+19	81	79	71	76	307
11	Ashley Ona		+19	77	77	76	77	307
13	Matia Maffiuletti		+20	81	76	75	76	308
14	Lisa Shervill		+21	79	79	78	73	309
14	Nina Pegova (a)		+21	77	76	80	76	309

57 players in total from the three Pre-Qualifier events have advanced to the 2014 Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifying in Marrakech. They will join the players from LET and LETAS exempt from pre-qualifying plus any amateurs who have entered from the top 25 of the Women’s World Amateur Rankings at the close of entries.

• Find Final results PQ A here: http://www.letscoring.com/leaderboard/67945
• Find Final results PQ B here: http://www.letscoring.com/leaderboard/67946
• Find Final results PQ C here: http://www.letscoring.com/leaderboard/67947

Stay tuned for a new exciting week and to meet the future stars of the Ladies European Tour. 2014 Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifying will take place in Marrakech from 14 to 18^th December and will be played over five rounds, with the field split in two, playing the first four rounds over the Samanah and Al Maaden courses alternately on 14^th-17^th December.

After a cut to the top 60 players and ties, the final round will be played at Samanah on the 18^th December. The top 30 and ties will be offered category 8a membership, securing playing privileges on the Ladies European Tour for the 2014 season.

Photo: Karoline Lampert, Lalla Aicha Tour School Pre-Qualifier B champion. Credits: Mustapha Benabdelkrim

EDITOR'S MESSAGE TO ALL THOSE WHO FAILED TO GET PAST THE PRE-QUALIFYING STAGE .... TAKE A LEAF OUT OF HEATHER STIRLING  AND MICHELE THOMSON'S BOOK AND GET IN THAT EXTRA COMPETITIVE
ROUNDS THAT ARE SO IMPORTANT WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN IN SITUATIONS LIKE THE QUALIFYING SCHOOL
THE PAUL LAWRIE SCOTTISH LADIES TOUR WILL BE BACK IN 2014
DON'T MISS IT.
IT COULD BE YOUR STEPPING STONE TO GREATER THINGS.