KirkwoodGolf: Helen Holm Scottish women's amateur stroke-play

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Helen Holm Scottish women's amateur stroke-play

Shannon (15) on World No. 3 Strom's tail as

they face Royal Troon test on Sunday

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
World No 3 Linnea Strom, an 18-year-old from Gothenburg, the highest ranked player ever to enter the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play championship at Troon, 
leads the field after 36 holes by one shot, despite taking six more  to get round Portland this morning - a two-over 74 - compared with a four-under 68 yesterday.

A northerly wind made scoring more difficult and several players who had good first-round scores did not adapt successfully to the testing conditions which saw the cut mark rise steadily until it reached 14-over-par 158.
Strom is on two-under-par 142, one shot ahead of Shannon McWilliam, pictured, at 15 Aberdeenshire's youngest-ever women's county champion from Aboyne (71-72) and French teenager Anais Meyssonnier (72-71) as the qualifiers move over from Portland the Royal Troon Golf Club's links, an Open championship venue many times since 1923.
Strom, twice a Junior Ryder Cup player, birdied three par-5 holes - the first, eighth and 12th and she also had a birdie at the par-4 ninth in 36 to the turn. The blonde Swede dropped shots at the fourth, sixth, 14th, 17th and 18th.
McWilliam, a winner in Ayrshire already this month - at the SLGA women's champion of champions tournament at Glasgow Gailes - birdied two long holes: the first and the 13th,and  dropped shots only over the last few holes with bogeys at the long 15th and 18th.  
She is bidding to become the first Scot since Heather Stirling in 2002 to win the "Helen Holm" and also the youngest ever winner of the event.
Can she do it? Well, Shannon went round Portland today in two shots fewer than the leader. If she could do that tomorrow round Royal Troon, it might well be a historic victory that would have them dancing in the streets (there are not many)  of Aboyne on Saturday night!
Meyssonnier, from Paris Country Club, posted a one-under-par 71 - the only sub-par score of the day -  in the late afternoon,
She got off to a flying start with birdies at the first, second and third, bogeyed the fourth but got further biries at the fifth, ninth, 11th and 13th in halves od 34-37.
Needing "only" pars at the last three holes to take the lead from Strom, Meyssonnier bogeyed the 16th and 17th.  
Joint leader overnight on 68, 15-year-old Hollie Muse, the SLGA Under-16s stroke-play winner at Strathmore earlier this month, sagged to a 77 for 145 and a share of fourth place with Irish U18 champion three years in a row, Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies) who has scored 72-73.
Olivia, a Junior Vagliano Trophy player, finished third in last year';s "Helen Holm" behind Annabel Dimmock and Connie Jaffrey, neither of whom is in the 2015 field.
Muse never recovered from three bogeys in a row - seventh, eighth and ninth in 39 to the turn (compared with 32 yesterday). The Lancashire lass got her only birdie at the 13th but bogeyed the 15th, 17th and 18th for 38 home.
 Mehaffey reeled off nine straight pars on the outward half and then bogeyed the 10th before birdieing the 12th and 13th. The 15th and 18th cost her shots 
Home course 15-year-old Hazel MacGarvie, who had a 70 in the first round, did not find it so easy today. She returned a 79 for 149 with a card that had double bogey 5s at two short holes, the eighth and the 14th, in halves of 40-38
Hazel birdied the 12th and 13th to give herself a fighting chance of staying fairly close to the leaders but the last five holes saw her drop five shots. But the Troon Ladies youngster is still only seven shots off the lead - with the Royal Troon test still to come. 
Jae Bowers (Prestbury), one of the three players on 68 after the first round, had a 78 (40-38) in the second circuit with only one birdie, at the 13th. 
The cut to the leading 66 players and ties - 70 players got through - fell at 14-over-par 158 as the scores in general continued to rise - good news for Scottish champion Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) and compatriots Jennifer Saxton (Kinross) and Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) who were on the wrong side of the projected limit mark for most of the day. 
MacDonald, recovering from a wrist injury, had an 80 for 158 while Saxton, well in the first-round mix with a 71, plummeted to an 87 and 158. McCook scored 75 and 83.
Ten Scots from a starting line-up of 20 advanced to the final round 

SECOND-ROUND SCORES, TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72) SSS 77 CSS 77 (Rd 1) 77 (Rd 2)
70 players with totals of 158 and better qualified for Sunday's final round at Royal Troon
142 L Strom (Swe) 68 74
143 S McWilliam (Aboyne) 71 72, A Meyssonnier (Fra) 72 71
145 O Mehaffey (Royal Co Down) 72 73, H Muse (W Lancs) 68 77
146 J Bowers (Prestbury) 68 78
147 I Mehmet (Royal Mid Surrey) 69 78, A Laisne (Fra) 71 76
148 S Lamb (Clitheroe) 73 75
149 A Herbaut (Fra) 74 75, I Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) 73 76, C Ryan (Castletroy, Ire) 73 76, M Finn (Swe) 75 74, N Banovec (Slovenia) 76 73, H MacGarvie (Troon Ladies) 70 79, E Codet (Fra) 73 76
150 M Veysseyre (Fra) 73 77, M Claisse (Fra) 77 73, A Bailey (Kirby Muxloe) 72 78.
151 E Svensson (Swe) 72 79, S Keech (Parkstone) 73 78, E Healey (W Lancs) 74 77, N McSherry (Lurgan, Ire) 73 78, A Wilson (Lurgan, Ire) 73 78
152 C Williams (Wrexham) 73 79,  P Grant (Lisburn, Ire) 76 76, O Winning (Rotherham) 77 75, G Clews (Delamere Forest) 74 78, L Bailey (Kirby Muxloe) 78 74, N Greville (Ashburnham) 74 78, B Morris (Tenby) 73 79
153 V E Carta (Ita) 76 77, B Popel (Long Ashton) 74 79, K Gillum (Lilleshall) 73 80, S Seston (Lahinch, Ire) 73 80, G Paton (Royal Montrose) 72 81, M Doyle (The Heath, Ire) 76 77, O Bugnard (Fra) 75 78
154 C Frankish (Charthills) 78 76, E Genoux (Fra) 72 82, P Finlay (Vicars Cross) 73 81
155 S Giles (St Mellion) 77 78, J Bailey (Kirby Muxloe) 76 79, Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne) 75 80, J Free (Gullane) 77 78, B Garton (Royal Lytham) 80 75, B Davies (Wolstanton) 72 83
156 L Farina (Ita) 78 78 , S Fuller (Roehampton) 74 82, L Skeates (Buckinghamshire) 78 78
157 E Prior (Burhill) 81 76, M Lewis (St George's Hill) 77 80, L Macgregor (Falkirk) 78 79, T Mactaggart (Minto) 76 81, E Slater (Woodhall Spa) 78 79, J Ross (Donaghadee) 76 81, L Vrain (Fra) 80 77
158 C Salort (Fra) 76 82, E Goodall (Selby) 75 83, C Caron (Fra) 81 77, N Slater (Furness) 78 80, A Dutrieux (Wrotham Heath) 79 79, J Saxton (Kinross) 71 87, G MacDonald (Craigielaw) 78 80, G Batty (Powfoot) 76 84, L E Horsford (Wimbledon Park) 78 80, H McCook (Grantown on Spey) 75 83, L Brunt (Royal Birkdale) 76 82, A Branes (W Sussex) 74 84, I Wardle (Prestbury) 77 81

MISSED THE CUT

160 S Wood (Drumpellier) 80 80, B-J Smith (Woodhall Spa) 81 79, N Callander (Mill Green) 84 76, S Birks (Llandrindod Wells) 76 84, K McIntosh (Broomieknowe) 76 84, C Goadby (St Regulus) 79 81, M Lawrence (Rochester and Cobham) 73 87

161 S Madden (W Essex) 79 82, S Burke (Ballinrobe, Ire) 79 82, C Austwick (Fulford) 80 81
162 J Maihaniemi (Fin) 75 87, E Coleman (Trentham) 77 85
163 K Beckwith (Alwoodley) 80 83, C Lafourcade (Fra) 81 82, E Hale (Troon Ladies) 78 85.
164 K-J Stanley (Manchester) 78 86, E Hamilton (Notts Ladies) 81 83, J Tournant (Fra) 81 83, O Jackson (Pannal) 81 83
165 J Vincent (Effingham) 82 83
166 I Stephen (Wentworth) 80 86
167 H Scott (Broomieknowe) 81 86, L Evans (Lilleshall) 82 85, E-J Harris (Peel, Isle of Man) 80 87
168 V Craig (Royal Belfast) 82 86, M Diamond (Royal Portrush) 88 80
170 A McBride (Harburn) 84 86
171 A Basnett (Aberdovey) 73 77
174 R Barton (Clays, Wales) 85 89, H Langford (Perton Park) 89 85, S Ludovica (Ita) 80 94
No Return: K Wright (Stranraer) 80 NR

INTERNATIONAL TEAM EVENT STANDINGS
290 FRANCE: Veysseyre 72 71, Laisne 71 76
294 IRELAND:  Mehafffey 72 73, Ryan 73 76
301 ENGLAND: Clyburn 73 76, Clews 74 78
303 SWEDEN: Strom 68 74, Svensson 72 79.
309 ITALY: Carta 76 77, Farina 78 78
312 WALES: Williams 73 79, Birks 76 84
316 SCOTLAND: McCook 75 83, MacDonald 78 80


LAST YEAR'S TOP TEN FINISHERS
214 Annabel Dimmock (Wentworth) 70 71 73
217 Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) 74 72 71
220 Olivia Mehaffey Royal Co Down) 73 79 68
221 Chloe Ryan (Castletroy) 74 73 74, Anaelle Carnet (Fra) 72 74 75
222 Sarah-Jane Boyd (Truro) 77 70 75
224 Gabriella Cowley (Hanbury Manor) 76 76 782, India Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) 76 74 74, Sinead Sexton (Lahinch) 74 73 77
225 Ellie Goodall (Selby) 73 79 73, Lauren Whyte (St Regulus) 72 75 78.

Labels: