World No 3 Linnea Strom will be hard
to beat in "Helen Holm"
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
I think it was the late, great Walter Hagen - he died in 1969, anybody else remember him? - who coined the phrase "Who's gonna be second?" as a token of his self-confidence at tournaments in America.
But the same question might be asked with reference to Sweden's Linnea Strom, pictured right, Number 3 in the Women's World Amateur Rankings updated by the RandA this week, and the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play championship which tees off on Friday with the first of two rounds at Troon Portland before the Sunday finale over the classic links of Royal Troon Golf Club.
Linnea is believed to be the highest world-ranked player ever to play in the "Helen Holm."
She was in the Europe team against the USA in the Junior Ryder Cup match of 2012 and also in 2014 at Blairgowrie.
Strom has won in America - the Junior Polo Classic - Spain (she won the 2014 Spanish women's open title and lost in a play-off when defending it earlier this year) - and umpteen events in her native Scandinavia.
She has played for the Continent of Europe against GB and I in the Vagliano Trophy and is a certainty for a place in this year's match at Malone Golf Club, Belfast in June.
There is only one other player from the top 50 of the world rankings in the "Helen Holm" field and that's No 20, Virginia Elena Carta from Germany.
Strom has a handicap of +4.7 and Carta's rating is +4. If they play to these handicaps in the "Helen Holm" they will finish first and second, a long way ahead of the opposition.
But, as we all know, nothing is ever certain in golf at any level and Strom and Carta's lofty world rankings could inspire the rest of the field to knock them off their perches, this weekend, anyway!
It's 13 years since a Scot - Heather Stirling in 2012 - won our native ladies' stroke-play title and the odds against a home-grown winner surfacing by teatime on Sunday are probably no better than 100-1.
In the absence of Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) with a shoulder injury, and 12 Scots at United States' colleges, including Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies), who finished second to England's Annabel Dimmock (now a professional) 12 months ago, none of the 19 Scots in the field has a handicap or a CV in the same category as Strom or Carta for that matter.
On paper, Scotland's best hope of even a top-10 finish is native champion Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) who beat Connie Jaffrey in last year's Scottish final at Prestwick. But Gabrielle has been nursing a wrist injury for most of the winter and that is not a good preparation for the first "major" of the British women's amateur golf calendar.
Is there a Scottish teenager capable of stepping up to the plate and hitting a home run - to mix sporting metaphors?
Possible candidates are the Aboyne pair, Shannon McWilliam and Kimberley Beveridge, and home club player, Hazel MacGarvie (Troon Ladies).
Shannon, only 15, won last year's Paul Lawrie Scottish schoolgirls title and this season already has won the SLGA women's champion of champions tournament at Glasgow Gailes, held over from last autumn, plus a runner-up finish behind England's Hollie Muse in the SLGA U16 girls' open strokeplay and, last week, joint third behind hat-trickster Olivia Mehaffey in the Irish U18 girls' open stroke-play.
Both Muse and Mehaffey are in the "Helen Holm" field.
Beveridge has played through the winter off the men's tees in the North-east Alliance circuit, a tactic that helped Alford's Laura Murray hit the ball farther and become a rookie pro on the Ladies European Tour.
The top 66 players and ties on Saturday evening, after 36 holes at Troon Portland, will qualify for the final round at Royal Troon.
+Elaine Farquharson-Black (Deeside), who won the "Helen Holm" in 1987, will be at Troon in her capacity as captain of the GB and I team for the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe at Malone Golf Club, Belfast on June 26-27. That team of nine will be chosen in May and as its skipper, the Aberdeen solicitor will have an input to the selection process.
+Welsh star Chloe Williams (Wrexham), who played for GB and I in the Astor Trophy team match-play tournament at Adelaide in January, has managed to secure replacement clubs for her own, stolen out of her locked car overnight earlier in the week.
On the point of withdrawing from the "Helen Holm," field, Chloe got them in time for her to drive to Troon and squeeze in one, maybe two practice rounds to help her get used to the clubs. She has played both courses before.
+Spectators will be made very welcome
TOP TEE TIMES TODAY
07.10 Charlotte Lafourcade, Iona Stephen,Gabrielle MacDonald.
08.00 Sammy Fuller, Mary Doyle, Scandroglio Ludovica
09.50 Linnea Strom, Virginia Elena Carta, Anyssia Herbaut
10.00 Emma Svensson, India Clyburn, Chloe Williams
10.20 Chloe Ryan, Sophie Keech, Agathe Laisne
10.10 Olivia Mehaffey, Inci Mehmet, Marion Veysseyre
10.40 Samantha Giles, Paul Grant, Sophie Lamb
10.50 Sophie Lamb, Olivia Winning, Hollie Muse
to beat in "Helen Holm"
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
I think it was the late, great Walter Hagen - he died in 1969, anybody else remember him? - who coined the phrase "Who's gonna be second?" as a token of his self-confidence at tournaments in America.
But the same question might be asked with reference to Sweden's Linnea Strom, pictured right, Number 3 in the Women's World Amateur Rankings updated by the RandA this week, and the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play championship which tees off on Friday with the first of two rounds at Troon Portland before the Sunday finale over the classic links of Royal Troon Golf Club.
Linnea is believed to be the highest world-ranked player ever to play in the "Helen Holm."
She was in the Europe team against the USA in the Junior Ryder Cup match of 2012 and also in 2014 at Blairgowrie.
Strom has won in America - the Junior Polo Classic - Spain (she won the 2014 Spanish women's open title and lost in a play-off when defending it earlier this year) - and umpteen events in her native Scandinavia.
She has played for the Continent of Europe against GB and I in the Vagliano Trophy and is a certainty for a place in this year's match at Malone Golf Club, Belfast in June.
There is only one other player from the top 50 of the world rankings in the "Helen Holm" field and that's No 20, Virginia Elena Carta from Germany.
Strom has a handicap of +4.7 and Carta's rating is +4. If they play to these handicaps in the "Helen Holm" they will finish first and second, a long way ahead of the opposition.
But, as we all know, nothing is ever certain in golf at any level and Strom and Carta's lofty world rankings could inspire the rest of the field to knock them off their perches, this weekend, anyway!
It's 13 years since a Scot - Heather Stirling in 2012 - won our native ladies' stroke-play title and the odds against a home-grown winner surfacing by teatime on Sunday are probably no better than 100-1.
In the absence of Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) with a shoulder injury, and 12 Scots at United States' colleges, including Connie Jaffrey (Troon Ladies), who finished second to England's Annabel Dimmock (now a professional) 12 months ago, none of the 19 Scots in the field has a handicap or a CV in the same category as Strom or Carta for that matter.
On paper, Scotland's best hope of even a top-10 finish is native champion Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) who beat Connie Jaffrey in last year's Scottish final at Prestwick. But Gabrielle has been nursing a wrist injury for most of the winter and that is not a good preparation for the first "major" of the British women's amateur golf calendar.
Is there a Scottish teenager capable of stepping up to the plate and hitting a home run - to mix sporting metaphors?
Possible candidates are the Aboyne pair, Shannon McWilliam and Kimberley Beveridge, and home club player, Hazel MacGarvie (Troon Ladies).
Shannon, only 15, won last year's Paul Lawrie Scottish schoolgirls title and this season already has won the SLGA women's champion of champions tournament at Glasgow Gailes, held over from last autumn, plus a runner-up finish behind England's Hollie Muse in the SLGA U16 girls' open strokeplay and, last week, joint third behind hat-trickster Olivia Mehaffey in the Irish U18 girls' open stroke-play.
Both Muse and Mehaffey are in the "Helen Holm" field.
Beveridge has played through the winter off the men's tees in the North-east Alliance circuit, a tactic that helped Alford's Laura Murray hit the ball farther and become a rookie pro on the Ladies European Tour.
The top 66 players and ties on Saturday evening, after 36 holes at Troon Portland, will qualify for the final round at Royal Troon.
+Elaine Farquharson-Black (Deeside), who won the "Helen Holm" in 1987, will be at Troon in her capacity as captain of the GB and I team for the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe at Malone Golf Club, Belfast on June 26-27. That team of nine will be chosen in May and as its skipper, the Aberdeen solicitor will have an input to the selection process.
+Welsh star Chloe Williams (Wrexham), who played for GB and I in the Astor Trophy team match-play tournament at Adelaide in January, has managed to secure replacement clubs for her own, stolen out of her locked car overnight earlier in the week.
On the point of withdrawing from the "Helen Holm," field, Chloe got them in time for her to drive to Troon and squeeze in one, maybe two practice rounds to help her get used to the clubs. She has played both courses before.
+Spectators will be made very welcome
TOP TEE TIMES TODAY
07.10 Charlotte Lafourcade, Iona Stephen,Gabrielle MacDonald.
08.00 Sammy Fuller, Mary Doyle, Scandroglio Ludovica
09.50 Linnea Strom, Virginia Elena Carta, Anyssia Herbaut
10.00 Emma Svensson, India Clyburn, Chloe Williams
10.20 Chloe Ryan, Sophie Keech, Agathe Laisne
10.10 Olivia Mehaffey, Inci Mehmet, Marion Veysseyre
10.40 Samantha Giles, Paul Grant, Sophie Lamb
10.50 Sophie Lamb, Olivia Winning, Hollie Muse
Labels: Amateur Ladies
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | 4:41:00 pm
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