British stroke-play champion Meghan MacLaren not chosen

 for GB and I's Astor Trophy team of five

E-MAIL FROM DAVID MacLAREN 

I was bringing myself up to date via your excellent website with recent events in the world of elite women’s golf. I read with particular interest Colin Farquharson's comments on the peculiar decision of the Australians to apparently disregard the World Amateur Rankings and consequently the compelling claims of Karis Davidson for inclusion in their Astor Trophy team. 

For just about the first time, I found myself somewhat at odds with Colin's comment that the LGU, in contrast to the Antipodean counterparts, used the WAGR and OOM to select the GB and I team. Number one, I understand the point he was making.

Number two, The World Amateur Rankings, although a truly fantastic innovation for amateurs, are far from perfect. 

Number three, matchplay is different to the strokeplay format that dominates the WAGR calculations. 

Number four, the performance of the GB and I team, under Elaine’s captaincy, was commendable in many ways, and all the team members scored points. 

Number five, all the girls who weren’t selected knew what they had to do to qualify automatically.

 Number six, the existence of wild cards is designed – as exemplified by numerous Ryder Cup team selections – to be able to take into account lots of different factors. 

However….as a matter of actual fact, when Colin said that the LGU had picked the GB and I team based on the WAGR and OOM, I couldn’t  help hope that the (current) World ranked 73 and current British stroke-play champion (an LGU event) - Meghan MacLaren -  does not see that particular comment. She was not chosen.

I hope that I speak not as a blinded parent, and would never wish to detract from the claims and efforts of the selected team and their own families. However, whilst the WAGR is very far from perfect, it is an incredible device and the best means we have for measuring relative performance over a 12 month period. 

The Vagliano Trophy match will take place in 2015 and, seeing through my job the incredible standard of elite women’s golf played within many continental European countries, I truly hope that the LGU will select the strongest possible team for the event, and employ the fairest and most transparent selection criteria.

 I also hope that the principle of a GB and I team will be just that, rather than a composite team from the four qualifying countries (or Golfing Union in the case of Ireland). If not,  the current British stroke-play champion has plenty of celtic blood in her!

 

Best regards

 

David MacLaren