ARGUABLY STRONGEST EVER FRIELD FOR HELEN HOLM TROPHY

SCOT'S DAUGHTER MEGHAN MAKES 

DASH FROM ALABAMA TO AYRSHIRE L


By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com
It is a measure of how important this weekend's Helen Holm Trophy Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play golf championship at Troon is to contenders for places in the GB and I Curtis Cup team that Meghan MacLaren (pictured) is making a three-plane journey from Alabama to Ayrshire in a frantic dash to be in the field for the first round at Troon Portland on Friday.
England international team player Meghan, from Wellingborough, Cambridge, is in her second year as a student at Florida University. She won the Irish women's open amateur stroke-play championship las year, having won three times in her freshman year at college in USA.
But that was then.
Six of the eight places in the team to defend the Curtis Cup at St Louis, Missouri from Jun 6 to 8 will, for the first time, be decided by (a) the World Amateur Golf Rankings and (b) the Ladies Golf Union Order of Merit - the top four eligible players from the WAGR and the next two from the LGU Order of Merit.
The LGU International Selection panel will be responsible for only two wild-card selections.
MacLaren finished 12th in a USA college tournament that finished in Alabama on Wednesday.
She then jumped into a waiting taxi to take her to the nearest airport to make the first of three plane journeys across thousands of miles to get to Glasgow Airport tonight (Thursday)
"I have my fingers crossed that the jet lag stays away until Monday," says her mother Mary, who made her debut for the Irish senior women's team this year and whose husband David, a Scot, is a European Tour executive.
Meghan is currently 12th among the GB and I players in the WAGR. She needs to WIN the Helen Holm tournament to have a chance of being on the Curtis Cup team list when it is announced on May 6.
MacLaren is, of course, not the only GB and I hopeful in the field which will play 36 holes over Troon Portland Friday-Saturday and a final round over Royal Troon on Sunday.
But she is the only US college student who is making an expensive trip over to Scotland for the tournament.
Wentworth's Annabel Dimmock, sixth among the GB and I players in the WAGR, won on the Florida Orange Blossom Tour in January and lost in the final of the Spanish women's championship in March. She also won the Sunningdale foursomes earlier this year with a professional partner, former Walker Cup player Steve Brown.
Annabel will start favourite to be the seventh English winner at the "Helen Holm" since 2000 but it is one of the strongest fields ever to assemble at Troon for the event  
I could name at least a dozen players who have a chance if they strike form this weekend and hold it all together down Royal Troon's long and testing inward half, especially if the wind is blowing at them from the direction of the clubhouse.
The last Scot to win the "Helen Holm" was Heather Stirling in 2002. Alyson McKechin (Elderslie), who will defend the Scottish closed title at Prestwick next month, went close at Troon last year.
The SLGA would welcome spectators on all three days. There is no admission charge and car parking is also free. 

PAULA GRANT  SPEARHEADS 

IRISH CHALLENGE AT TROON

THE IRISH VIEWPOINT

By DENISE McCARTHY
Irish Champion Paula Grant (Lisburn) will lead the Irish challenge at the Scottish Women's Open Strokeplay, Helen Holm Trophy, when the prestigious championship tees off this weekend at Troon

Paula is joined by recently crowned Irish U18 Girls Strokeplay Champion Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies) and both will be looking to impress the GB and I selectors ahead of the May 6 announcement of the Curtis Cup team to face the USA at St. Louis in June.

In total there are 14 Irish players competing in the event which sees competitors play one round of 18 holes each day over the Troon Portland course on Friday and Saturday with the top 66 players and ties progressing to compete in the final round of 18 holes over the Royal Troon course on Sunday.
Joining Paula (pictured) and Olivia are a host of ILGU High Performance  and National squad members, a mix of current Internationals and developing players looking to grow their experience in International events. 

Those partaking in this year’s event are:

Victoria Bradshaw (Bangor), Mary Doyle (The Heath), Maria Dunne (Skerries), Amy Farrell (Moate), Paula Grant (Lisburn), Julie McCarthy (Forrest Little), Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies), Aedin Murphy (Carlow), Emma O'Driscoll (Ballybunion), Gillian O'Leary (The Island), Carla Reynolds (Seapoint, Jessica Ross (Donaghadee), Chloe Ryan (Castletroy) and Sinead Sexton (Lahinch).

Denise McCarthy

 High Performance Unit
Irish Ladies Golf Union

E denise@ilgu.ie

HELEN HOLM TROPHY - ALL THE PREVIOUS WINNERS
 
1973 Belle Robertson (Scotland) total 238
1974 Sandra Needham (Scotland) 236
1975 Muriel Thomson (Scotland) 235
1976 Muriel Thomson (Scotland) 233
1977 Beverley Huke (England) 239
1978 Wilma Aitken (Scotland) 230
1979 Belle Robertson (Scotland) 234
1980 Wilma Aitken (Scotland) 225
1981 Gillian Stewart (Scotland) 231
1982 Wilma Aitken (Scotland) 231
1983 Jane Connachan (Scotland) 228
1984 Gillian Stewart (Scotland) 217
1985 Pamela Wright (Scotland) 244
1986 Belle Robertson (Scotland) 227
1987 Elaine Farquharson (Scotland) 227
1988 Alison Gemmill (Scotland) 233
1989 Sara Robinson (England) 225
1990 Catriona Lambert (Scotland) 225
1991 Julie Hall (England) 224
1992 Mhairi McKay (Scotland) 227
1993 Julie Hall (England) 224
1994 Katie Tebbett (England) 223
1995 Maria Hjorth (Sweden) 219
1996 Joanne Hockley (219
1997 Kim Rostron (England) 219
1998 Karen-M Juul (Denmark) 225
1999 Lesley Nicholson (Scotland) 222
2000 Rebecca Hudson (England) 213
2001 Fiona Brown (England) 215
2002 Heather Stirling (Scotland) 215
2003 Nathalie David (France) 227
2004 Emma Duggleby (England) 211
2005 Martina Gillen (Ireland) 215
2006 Melissa Reid (England) 212
2007 Melissa Reid (England) 211
2008 Barb ara Genuini (France) 214
2009 Leona Maguire (Ireland) 219
2010 Danielle McVeigh (Ireland) 215
2011 Charlotte Ellis (England) 213
2012 Amy Boulden (Wales) 215
2013 Olivia Winning (England) 220.