102nd Scottish women's amateur championship at West Kilbride

It's Ailsa Summers versus Gabrielle 

MacDonald in tomorrow's final

BY COLIN FARQUHARSON
A  brilliant late birdie blitz swept Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) through to her first Scottish women's amateur championship final at the 102nd staging of the tournament at West Kilbride Golf Club this sunny afternoon in Ayrshire.
The 22-year-old 2013 St Rule Trophy winner and St Andrews University graduate, who was the 15th of the 32 match-play qualifiers, scored a 4 and 2 win over the No 6 seed, Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) in the semi-finals.
The match was all square after 11 holes with little hint of what was to come.
Summers birdied the 11th to go one up, halved the 12th in pars, halved the 13th in birdies and then birdied the 14th, 15th and 16th, winning all three holes for a 4 and 2 triumph.
Ailsa was five under par for her last six holes and one under par for the match.
Hannah, who had been one up on the eighth tee, was four over par for the holes played. 
Ailsa Summers, whose mother - as Mary Mackie - reached the final of the British girls championship at Edzell in 1982 and gained a full cap for Scotland as Mary Summers in 1986, will play Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw), the 2014 Scottish champion, in tomorrow's 18-hole final at West Kilbride.
MacDonald, the 23-year-old No 8 seed, staged a similar birdie barrage in the closing stages of her 2 and 1 semi-final win over the No 4 seed, Tara Mactaggart Minro).
Gabrielle was two up twice on the outward half but lost the ninth and 10th to be pulled back to all square.
The tempo was raised when the 13th was halved in birdie 4s. After a half in par at the 14th, Gabrielle then birdied the 15th (won), 16th (halved) and 17th (won) for a 2 and 1 victory with two under par figures for the 17 holes.
Mactaggart, who had four birdies of her own, was only one over par for the match, figures that would have won her many a semi-final in the past.
When MacDonald and Summers, good friends from their days together as students at St Andrews University,  tee it up in the final, they will be renewing a 2014 rivalry which saw Gabrielle beat Ailsa by 2 and 1 in the quarter-finals and go on to take the title at Prestwick.
 The week's No 2 match-play event for the Clark Rosebowl was won by 15-year-old Jennifer Rankine (Haggs Castle) who beat Wendy Nicholson (Baberton) by 3 and 1 in the final. Jennifer, who was two over par for the match, was never behind at any stage and was four up after 10, only to lose the 11th, 12th and 13th.
Rankine steadied the ship in time, winning the 15th and 17th.

QUOTES (from Scottish Golf News)

AILSA SUMMERS

“Gillian Paton is a strong player and I had my work cut out in the quarter-final. We had a good game and it was a close match which I knew would go all the way.

“The semi-final was a scrappy affair and I think Hannah would also admit it was not our best golf but I managed to dig in. All week I’ve been hitting a driver on the 14th and I drove the green there which was fortunate. And I was lucky at the 15th too so I feel I was riding my luck a bit.

“It feels good to reach the final as I’ve had some tough matches which could have gone either way. The weather has been so good and the views amazing so it’s been an enjoyable week. I know Gabrielle really well as we went to St Andrews together and we’ve played a lot together. She beat me two years ago in the quarter-final so it will be a really good match.”

  GABRIELLE MACDONALD

“It was pretty close (against top seed Jess Meek). I birdied the first which was a good start. We both played well and I just managed to come out on top.

“I just tried to focus on my own game as anything can happen in match play. I got off to a good start again with a birdie at the first in the semi-final, but didn’t play well in the middle, with one out of bounds at the tenth.

"But I told myself to hang in there and then I started to play pretty solid, and then I played really well on the last three holes.

“Ailsa and I have played a lot of golf together and she is a really good player. I’ve been in the final before so I’ll take some confidence from that so it‘ll be a really good game.”

 

 

The 18-hole championship final will be played by Gabrielle MacDonald and Ailsa Summers at West Kilbride from 8.30am on Saturday morning.

CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS
(qualifying places in brackets)
G Macdonald (Craigielaw) (8Q) bt J Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) (1Q) 2 holes
T Mactaggart (Minto) (4Q)  bt S Wood (Drumpellier) (28Q) 4 and 3. 
H McCook (Grantown on Spey) (6Q) bt J Free (Gullane) (14Q) 3 and 2.
A Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) (15Q) bt G Paton (Royal Montrose)  (26Q) at 20th

SEMI-FINALS 
G MacDonald bt T Mactaggart 2 and 1
A Summers bt H McCook 4 and 2.


CLARK ROSEBOWL
SEMI-FINALS
J Rankine (Haggs Castle) bt R Foster (Turnberry) 5 and 4.
W Nicholson (Baberton) bt  R Hunter (Lanark) 2 and 1.

FINAL
 J Rankine bt W Nicholson 3 and 1

Macdonald v Mactaggart and McCook v 

Summers in semi-finals

Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies), one down to Angus county team-mate Gillian Paton (Royal Montrose) after 17 holes in the last quarter-final to finish, kept her nerve to square the tie at the 18th and win at the second extra hole.

Ailsa, the 2013 St Rule Trophy winner and the 15th qualifier at West Kilbride, will play the No 6 seed Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) in this afternoon's semi-finals. McCook (pictured left) beat Joanne Free (Gullane) 3 and 2.
Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw), the No 8 qualifier who beat top seed Jess Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) by two holes this morning, will play Stirling student Tara Mactaggart (Minto), the No 4 seed, who beat Lanarkshire champion Susan Wood, 4 and 3.
The Clark Rosebowl final this afternoon will be contested by Jennifer Rankine (Haggs Castle) and Wendy Nicholson (Baberton).
Rankine beat Rachel Foster (Turnberry) 5 and 4, while Nichblson came from back three down at the turn, to beat Ruth Hunter (Lanark) 2 and 1. 


 EARLIER NEWS
Top seed Jess Meek KOd by Gabrielle 

Macdonald in quarter-finals

By COLIN FARQUHARSON  
Top seed Jessica Meek (Carnoustie Ladies), a student at the University of Missouri, was beaten in this morning's quarter-finals of the 102nd Scottish women's amateur championship.
The former Scottish U21 girls champion and 2014 St Rule Trophy winner lost by 2 and 1 to the 2014 champion Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw). The match was all square after 15 holes before Gabrielle won the 17th and 18th for victory.
Macdonald will play Stirling student Tara Mactaggart (Minto) in the first semi-final this afternoon.
Tara was the first player to reach the semi-finals this morning. She beat Lanarkshire champion Susan Wood (Drumpellier) 4 and 3 a
Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) is also through to the last four. Two up after 15 holes in the quarter-final against Joanne Free (Gullane), the former Stirling student won the 16th for victory.