MACDONALD IS NEW SCOTTISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPION

    Connie Jaffrey, left, and Gabrielle MacDonald after the championship prizegiving.
 GABRIELLE BEATS CONNIE AT 19th IN 

CLASSIC 100th FINAL

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com  
Gabrielle MacDonald, 21 year-old St Andrews University student from Edinburgh, beat the top seed, 17-year-old Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) at the 19th hole in a 4hr 6min marathon final climax to the 100th Scottish women's amateur golf championship at Prestwick Golf Club, birthplace of the Open.
Craigielaw Golf Club member Gabrielle was the 10th of the 32 qualifiers for the match-play stages and is "only" 11th Scot in the Women's World Amateur Rankings, compared to Connie Jaffrey being No 2 behind Gemma Dryburgh, so the MacDonald Clan member entered the championship match very much the underdog against Connie who marked her debut in the event by being the leading qualifier and beating Curtis Cup debutante Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) in the semi-finals (Eilidh's older sister Megan lost to MacDonald in the other penultimate tie).
It was a classic match-play final with first one player, then the other holding the whiphand.
Gabrielle, who fancies finding out, once she has graduated, whether or not she is a good enough golfer to make the grade in the pro ranks, was in the driving seat after nine holes - two up, after shaking off a potentially demoralising double-bogey 6 start to birdie the third, eighth and ninth
Young Jaffrey, runner-up in the recent "Helen Holm" Scottish stroke play at Troon, then had her purple patch to win the 10th, 11th and 12th, the latter two holes with birdies, to transform her position into a one-hole lead.
But MacDonald squared the contest with a pitch-and-putt par 4 at the 13th and then birdied the 16th with a pitching wedge approach and an 8ft putt to go one up.
Jaffrey, who enrols at Kansas State University in August, was not yet ready to admit defeat against an opponent who would not be subued. 
Connie birdied the 17th to draw level again. With the tension mounting, MacDonald charged a birdie putt attempt downhill at the 18th. 
The ball sped about 5ft past but after Jaffrey had missed her putt from about 10ft - which would have made her champion had it gone in - MacDonald, with nerves of steel, rammed home the 5ft putt for a half in 4 to send the final down the 19th.
Jaffrey had completed the 18 holes in an approximate 75 (one over par) to MacDonald's 76. Good scoring in a cool northerly wind and contrary to the old adage that you play your good golf GETTING to the final and not in the last match itself.
Banishing memories of her double bogey 6 at the opening hole around four hours earlier, MacDonald  had a little bit of luck when her second shot ricocheted off the railway line wall down the right and finished up just short of the putting surface.
Jaffrey, who had also bounced her second shot off the wall when they played the hole the first time and she won it with a 4 to a 6, did not play nearly as well second time round.
She used a hybrid wood off the tee and that left her needing to play the same club again in a bid to get home in two. But Connie missed the green left, had to pitch over a bunker and could not put enough backspin on the shot to give herself a reasonable chance of salvaging a par 4 to match MacDonald's solid two-putt for victory.
"I just ran out of shots," said Connie when it was all over. "I'm a little bit down, having had such a great week and not being able to finish it off with a win but I'll get over it."
MacDonald said: "I was always comfortable and just tried to play my own game, hit the fairways, stay out of trouble and keep hitting greens. I enjoyed it immensely but I feel a little bit sorry for Connie who has had an
outstanding week. At 17 she is a great prospect for Scottish ladies golf to have."
She can say that again.
Two years from now the next Curtis Cup match will be played at Dunlaoghaire in Ireland. If Jaffrey continues to work as hard on her game and keeps improving at the rate she has done over the past 18 months or so, I will forecast now that she will be in the GB and I team. Remember where you heard it first.
Next year's Scottish women's amateur championship will be played at Monifieth.

Result:
FINAL - Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) bt Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) at 19th.

FIGURES for 18 HOLES
Gabrielle MacDonald 76 (two over par)
OUT 6-3-4 4-3-4 5-4-4: 37
   IN  6-3-5 4-4-5 3-5-4: 39 
Connie Jaffrey 75 (one over par)
OUT 4-3-6 4-4-5 5-4-4: 39
   IN 4-2-4 5-4-5 5-3-4 : 37

Hole 19: MacDonald par 4. Jaffrey bogey 5.