CONNIE FROM KILWINNING SETS CRACKING PACE WITH A 73 AT PRESTWICK

CONNIE JAFFREY: pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency after her excellent opening round of  73 

Seventeen-year-old Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies), the highest world-ranked player in the field of 110, took Prestwick's tough and tricky links by the scruff of the neck and shook out an excellent round of one-under-par 73 today in the first qualifying round of the 100th Scottish women's amateur championship.
With a misty morning giving way to a blustery wind, there was no prospect of anyone else in the field getting close to the Kilwinning teenager's score over the first 18 holes.
Runner-up in the "Helen Holm" at Troon last month, Jaffrey showed her class over a course that had the clubhouse awash with horror tales of 8s, 9s and even 10s.
You might think that Connie's local knowledge of this particular Ayrshire links was the basis for the skill with which she plotted her way past the out-of-bounds burn, the cavernous bunkers and the punishing rough which has apparently sprouted considerably over the past
couple of weeks.
In fact, Prestwick is a members' course and young Jaffrey has not played it all that many times in the past.
This is her debut in the Scottish ladies' championship and she marked it with the following figures:
OUT: 534 535 644 - 39 (one over par)
   IN: 524 343 445 - 34 (two under par)
She had birdies at three par-5s on the way out - the third, eighth and ninth.
Then she had a marvellous run from 11th of birdie-birdie-par-birdie.
"I'm very pleased with a 73 because I bogeyed four of the first seven holes where my course management was not as good as it should have been and I didn't hole anything," said Connie.
"But I got up and down for a birdie 4 from about 70yds out and that seemed to settle me."
Next best on the leaderboard on the 77 mark are last year's finalists from Longniddry, defending champion Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) and runner-up Clara Young (North Berwick), as well as Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe).
Curtis Cup GB and I selection Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) had a 78 and her older sister Megan, a former national champion, a 79 which included an inward half of 35 bettered only by Connie Jaffrey.
At the end of the day, the CSS was 79, five over par. 

M

       Defending champion Alyson

100th SCOTTISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND
Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire
Par 74 (38-36) CSS 79
73 Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) 39-34
77 Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) 38-39, 
Clara Young (North Berwick) 39-38, Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe) 39-38
78 Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) 41-37, Rachel Walker (Dumfries and Co) 42-36, Nichola Ferguson (Milngavie) 39-39
79 Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) 44-35, Elaine Moffat (St Regulus) 40-39, Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) 39-40
80 Sheena Wood (Aberdeen Ladies) 42-38
81 Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) 42-39, Lauren Whyte (St Regulus) 42-39, Rachel Polson (Peterculter) 40-41, Jordana Graham (Southerness) 42-39, Katie Wright (Stranraer) 41-40
82 Susan Wood (Drumpellier), Noni Stephen (Wentworth), Emma Hale (Troon Ladies), Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne), Hazel Macgarvie (Troon Ladies)
83 Alison McBride (Harburn), Kirsty Brodie (Strathmore).
84 Jess Meek (Carnoustie Ladies), Lesley Atkins (Gullane), Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey), Karen Marshall (Baberton), Louise MacGregor (Glenbervie), Cara Thompson (Royal Dornoch), Alex Glennie (Kilmarnock Barassie), Ellie Bryce (Strathaven).
85 Eilidh Watson (Muckhart), Louise Fraser (Kingsknowe)
86 Jennifer Saxton (Kinross), Alison Bartlett (Royal Dornoch), Gale Macpherson (Loudoun Gowf), Claire Robertson (Carnoustie Ladies), Carol Whyte (Milngavie), Margo Gardner (Linlithgow). 
87 Linzi Allan (West Kilbride), Georgia Coughlin (Fairhaven), Jane Finnie (Troon Ladies), Jillian Farrell (Cardross), Alexandra Qayum (Ranfurly Castle), Leanne Wilson (Kelso), Lindsay Mathie (Troon Ladies)
88 Sammy Leslie (Aberdeen Ladies), Hannah Scott (Broomieknowe), Katie Reid (Monifieth), Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe), Shannon McWilliam (Aboyne), Fiona Gilbert (Carnoustie Ladies), Pat Hutton (Lanark), Katie Malcolm (Dumfries and Co).
89 Lauren D'Ambrosio (Carluke), Joanne Free (Gullane), Tara Mactaggart (Minto), Jennifer Rankine (Haggs Castle).
90 Nicola Robertson (Stirling), Karen Ferguson (Liberton)
91 Jemma Chalmers (Monifieth), Linda McDougall (Greenock)
92 Jenny Potter (Cathkin Braes), Ruth Rankin (Lanark), Kirsten Brown (Strathaven), Sandra Goldie (Eastwood), Lynne Terry (Cruden Bay), Lauren Lee (Musselburgh), Stacey Cameron (Gullane Ladies)
93 Kirsten Blackwood (Glencorse), Denise Cowan (Ranfurly Castle), Emma Wilson (Elie and Earlsferry), Katie Scott (Strathaven)
94 Isla Moncrieff (Pitlochry), Gail Thomoson (Ayr Belleisle), Jennifer Mack (Haggs Castle), Dawn Young (North Berwick), Diane Moncrieff (Lochend).
95 Heather Munro (Carnoustie Ladies), Emma Caddow (Strathaven), Fiona Scott (Bothwell Castle), Linda Bain (Lochend), Kirsty Burgess (Silverknowes).
96 Rosalind Purdom (Prestwick St Nicholas), Laura McGeachy (Haggs Castle), Charlotte Munro (Gullane), Angela Devine (Hamilton), Beth Paterson (Eastwood).
98 Rachael Livingstone (Craigmillar Park), Bobbi Waugh (Moor Hall).
99 Lesley Barker (Kilmarnock Barassie), Alison Melvin-Finch (Hirsel).
100 Catherine Malcolm (Prestwick St Cuthbert), Heather Anderson (Troon Ladies)
101 Winifred MacCallum (Falkirk)
102 Suzanne Ireland (Prestonfield)
105 Jill Harrison (Cruden Bay), Elizabeth Irvine (Alford)
114 Mandy McBain (Turnhouse), Mary Miller (Blairgowrie), Fiona Findlay (Lochend)
115 Lynn Cackett (Broomieknowe).
117 Angela Joss (Alford), Lesley McTaggart (East Kilbride)
122 Rachel Irvine (Largs) 
124 Eileen Gillelspie (Lochend)
Withdrew: Lorna Bennett (Ladybank).
No Returns: Fiona Farquharson (King James VI), Elizabeth Hale (Caldwell).