By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
It's 11 years since a Scot - Heather Stirling - won the Helen Holm Scottish women's amateur stroke-play championship at Troon - and at the end of the first day of this year's 54-hole tournament, the prospects of a home winner come Sunday evening are only fair.
That's maybe being a bit pessimistic because who knows what the next 36 holes will bring?
On a day when a blustery west wind made the closing holes on Troon Portland very testing - and very costly for quite a few competitors, Carnoustie's Ailsa Summers, pictured right, and Jane Turner (Craigielaw) kept alive a glimmer of success with rounds of one-under-par 74 and 75 respectively which will see them start their second round over Troon Portland in joint sixth and joint 10th positions.
England and Ireland competitors are hogging the leading positions on a day when highly-ranked players such as Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak), No 6 in the world, defending champion Amy Boulden (Conway) and Bronte Law (Bramhall) could not match the par of 75.
Hall and Boulden returned 76s and Law a 77.
Rotherham youngster Olivia Winning established a useful two-stroke lead with an outstanding score of five-under-par 70 (34-36). She birdied the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, 11th and 12th and was heading for a sub-70 score until her one and only bogey popped up at the 16th.
She leads from Northern Ireland's Jessica Carty (Holywood), Poppy Finlay (Vicars Cross) and Ireland's Maria Dunne (Skerries) from Co Dublin, all on the 72 mark.
Both Finlay and Dunne ran up 7s in the closing stages, Poppy a double at the long 15th and Maria a triple bogey at the 17th.
Rachael Goodall (Heswall) is in fifth place on her own with a 73.
Ailsa Summers, 19, who had birdied the second, fifth, ninth, 11th and 13th with shots dropped at the third and fourth, needed to par the last five holes to share second place on 72 but she bogeyed the short 14th and 17th.
Jane Turner, pictured left, also let it slip after she birdied the long 15th - her fifth birdie of the day. She bogeyed the last two holes for a par-matching 75.
Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) is on the 76 mark with a three-birdie card that included a triple bogey 6 at the short eighth.
Another former Scottish champion, Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) also finished on 76 with three shots dropped over the last two holes: double bogey 6 at the 17th a bogey 6 at the 18th. She had earlier birdies the first, third, ninth and 13th in halves of 37-39.
Other Scots on 76 include Scottish U18 girls champion Lauren Whyte (St Regulus) and another promising youngster, Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies), as well as Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) who played well in the Paul Lawrie Tour events last week, and student Iona Stephen (Ranfurly Castle).
Megan Briggs' younger sister Eilidh had a 78 after reaching the turn in 35 with birdies at the first, sixth and ninth. The Stirling gymastic student began to unravel with bogeys at the short 10th and long 1tth. She got one back with a birdie at the short 14th but then came five shots dropped to par over the last four holes - a bogey at the long 15th, a double bogey 5 at the short 16th and bogeys at both the 17th and 18th.
Jessica Meek, the 18-year-old Carnoustie Ladies player who finished within the first three in both the opening Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour last week at Dalmahoy and Ratho Park came down to earth with a bump at Troon Portland.
She signed for a 79 after having an eagle 3 at the long sixth and birdies at three other long holes, the first, second and 11th. Like so many other players, it was the last four or five holes that saw her come to grief.
Jessica dropped seven shots to par over the last four holes with double bogeys at the 15th, 17th and 18th and a bogey at the 16th.
Georgia Hall, on paper the best player in the field, started well enough with birdies at the two opening par-5 holes on Troon Portland, which are both reachable in two shots. She dropped a shot at the seventh but got back to two under par with a birdie at the long 12th.
It went pear shaped after that for the Dorset youngster with bogeys at the 13th, short 14th and long 18th for a 76 (37-39).
Defending champion and Curtis Cup star the last time she was in Scotland, Amy Boulden had halves of 35-41 for her 76 which also starated with birdies at the first and second and also at the sixth and seventh after a shot dropped at the third.
She lost it over the last six holes which saw her drop four shots to par - at the 13th, long 15th, short 16th and 17th.
The field will be cut to the leading 66 players for the final round on Sunday over the Royal Troon links.
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 75
70 O Winning (Rotherham).
72 J Carty (Holywood), P Finlay (Vicars Cross), M Dunne (Skerries).
73 R Goodall (Heswall).
74 A Murphy (Carlow), A Summers (Carnoustie Ladies), G Clews (Delamere Forest), C Ryan (Castletroy).
75 C Rogers (Braintree), Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell), O Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies), Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell), J Turner (Craigielaw).
76 I Stephen (Ranfurly Castle), A McKechin (Elderslie), L Whyte (St Regulus), A Peters (Notts Ladies), N Haynes (Gosforth Park), C Jaffrey (Troon Ladies), K Beckwith (Moortown), K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), C De Corte (Belgium), A Boulden (Conwy), G Hall (Remedy Oak), S Cunningham (Ennis), A Carnet (France), A Ponte (Royal Guernsey), M Briggs (Kilmacolm), Josefine Nyqvist (Sweden).
77 K Smith (Waterlooville), S Birks (Wolstanton), B Law (Bramhall), V Bradshaw (Bangor), G Cowley (Brockett Hall), A Ratcliffe (Royal Cromer), A Greenham (West Essex), E O'Driscoll (Ballybunion), A Dimmock (Wentworth), J Wilcox (Blankney).
78 S Powell (Stockport), B Harries (Haverfordwest), L Doherty (Howth), B Garton (Royal Lytham), R Walker (Dumfries and Co), C Young (North Berwick), L Goddard (Mid-Herts), T MacTaggart (Minto), E Briggs (Kilmacolm)
79 I Clyburn (Woodhall Spa), G MacPherson (Loudoun Gowf), H McCook (Grantown on Spey), S Lamb (Clitheroe), J Meek (Carnoustie Ladies), G O'Leary (The Island).
80 H McGarvie (Troon Ladies), E Hale (Troon Ladies), D Macve (Surrey National), K Beveridge (Aboyne), H Scott (Broomieknowe), N Foster (Accrington), A Farrell (Moate), B Davies (Trentham), S-J Boyd (Truro), G MacDonald (Craigielaw).
+At the start of Round 2 there will be 64 players with scores of 80 or better. The leading 66 players and ties after 36 holes advance to Sunday's final round.
81 E Greenlees (Dumfries and Co), C Reynolds (Seapoint), E Healey (West Lancs), D Sverdloff (Garon Park), B Popel (Long Ashton).
82 E Nilsson (Sweden), E Watson (Muckhart), N Callander (Mill Green), K Wright (Stranraer).
83 H Vizard (Pleasington), L Macgregor (Falkirk), S Smart (Knowle), N Banovec (Slovenia).
84 J Lawrence (Rochester and Cobham), H Munro (Monifieth), J Chalmers (Monifieth), L Ball (Matfen Hall), C Thompson (Channels).
86 A Taylor (St Annes Old Links), K McIntosh (Broomieknowe).
87 N Ferguson (Milngavie), O Jay (Waterton Park).
89 F King (Rothley Park).
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