Jess Meek tops qualifiers for Scottish women's

championship match-play at West Kilbride

NEWS RELEASE FROM SCOTTISH GOLF
With a few additional words by Colin Farquharson
Jess Meek, pictured in action by Cal Carson Golf Agency at the St Rule Trophy last Sunday, carded an impressive six-under-par 67 in the second day’s stroke play qualifying at the 102nd Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship, topping the leaderboard with an aggregate of nine under par 137 at a sun-baked West Kilbride.

The 22-year-old from Carnoustie’s round of for the day included 

eight birdies, with only one double bogey blotting her copy book 

as the competition now moves into the match play stages.

A third-year student at the University of Missouri, Meek, a past

Scottish Under-21 girls champion and St Rule Trophy winner in 

2014,  was one of the US-based Scots whose schedules allowed 

 them to return to Scotland ahead of the Championship which was 

 moved this year to a later date to accommodate the players at 

college in the United States.

 It's a move that has produce the strongest "Scottish" field 

since the country's best young girl golfers started enrolled at 

American colleges.

Defending champion Clara Young (North Berwick), is also a 

student at Missouri University and, there are four US college 

students among the leading seven match-play qualifiers. 

Apart from Meek and Jaffrey, Lauren Whyte (St Regulus) is a 

student at Baylor University, Texas and Rachael Taylor , whose 

father is a club pro in Germany, has just completed four years at 

North Carolina State University. 

Of course, some very good players are or have been students at 

SCOTTISH universities, such as Chloe Goadby, Tara Mactaggart, 

Eilidh Briggs and Hannah MCook - all Stirling University, and 

Ailsa Summers and Gabrielle Macdonald of St Andrews 

University.


  
Speaking after her round, Jess Meek said;

“It was good, it was a nice day with nice weather, so I just went out there and knocked the ball around a little bit. I hit it solid off the tee which I think is the important thing and if you keep it in play you can take advantage of some of the shorter par fours and fives.

“Anything can happen in match play so you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself. I’ve played in this championship five times now and there’s been some upsets. I’ve been upset, I’ve upset people. Match play is tough and we’ll see what happens by the end of the week.”

The overnight leader after day one, Connie Jaffrey, from the Troon Ladies club and a second-year student at Kansas State University, finished a shot behind on eight under par for two rounds, with Chloe Goadby (St Regulus) three shots behind her in third.

With the championship field cut to the top 32 players, there was a play-off for the last qualifying spot between Royal Dornoch’s Cara Thompson and Louise Fraser from Kingsknowe Golf Club, with Fraser securing her place after one extra hole, and now facing top-seed Meek on Thursday.

Another player happy to be through to the knock-out stages was 16 year-old Louise Duncan who was able to compete in between her higher exams. The West Kilbride member thrived having competition on her home course. She finished better than expected, tying for twelfth, although she was disappointed to drop three shots on the last hole.

She said: “I played well today just got nervous at the end. It is good to have the Scottish Amateur here and good to play in it as it’s great to have competition to play against.”

The next 16 players are also in action as they now contest the Clark Rosebowl. The 18-hole championship final will be played at West Kilbride from 8.30am on Saturday morning.

West Kilbride last hosted the Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship when Alison Rose won in 1997. The club on the Ayrshire coast, which hosted the Scottish Boys Championship in 2014, boasts spectacular views across the Firth of Clyde to Arran.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS

Par 146 (2x73) SSS 73 CSS 73 73
137 J Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) 70 67
138 C Jaffrey (Troon Ladies) 69 69
141 C Goadby (St Regulus) 70 71
143 T Mactaggart (Minto) 71 72, L Whyte (St Regulus) 71 72
144 70 74, H McCook (Grantown on Spey) 71 73, R Taylor (Reichswald, Germany).
145 G Macdonald (Craigielaw) 71 74, E Briggs (Kilmacolm) 71 74
146 J Allan (Glenbervie) 76 70, R Polson (Kemnay) s74 72.
147 L Duncan (West Kilbride) 75 72, C Young (North Berwick) 73 74, J Free (Gullane) 73 74, A Summers (Carnoustie Ladies)  70 77.
148 K Marshall (Baberton) 75 73, K Brodie (Strathmore) 74 74.
149 E Hale (Troon Ladies) 75 74, K Beveridge (Aboyne) 74 75, E Watson (Muckhart) 73 76, R Walker (Dumfries and Co) 72 77
150 E Moffat (St Regulus) 77 73
151 N Robertson (Stirling) 78 73
152 J Saxton (Muckhart) 76 76, A McBride (Harburn) 76 76.
153 G Paton (Royal Montrose) 79 74, J Mackintosh (Hazlehead) 78 75, S Wood (Drumpellier) 75 78, S Leslie (Kemnay) 73 80, K McIntosh (Broomieknowe) 71 82. 
155 L Ronnie (Kilmarnock Barassie) 78 77 
156 L Fraser (Kingsknowe) 81 77 (bt C Thompson, Royal Dornoch, 81-77, in play-off for the last place in the draw.

MATCH-PLAY DRAW 
First round
8.30 J Meek v L Fraser
8.38 K Marshall v K Brodie
8.46 E Briggs v J Saxton
8.54 G Macdonald v A McBride
9.02 L Whyte v S Wood
9.10 L Duncan v R Walker
9.18 C Young v E Watson
9.26 T Mactaggart v S Leslie.
9.34 C Goadby v K McIntosh
9.42 J Free v K Beveridge
9.50 R Polson v E Moffat
9.58 H McCook v J Mackintosh
10.06 R Taylor v G Paton
10.14 J Allan v N Robertson
10.22 A Summers v E Hale
10.30 C Jaffrey v L Ronnie

REST OF SECOND ROUND TOTALS
158 C Thompson (Royal Dornoch) 81 77
159 A Bartlett (Royal Dornoch) 79 80, J Rankine (Haggs Castle) 77 82, M Stewart (Murcar Links) 75 84.
160 H Scott (Broomieknowe) 82 78, J Graham (Southerness) 83 77, L Macdonald (Cardross) 83 77
161 R Foster (Turnberry) 83 78, M Briggs (Kilmacolm) 83 78, W Nicholson (Broomieknowe) 75 86
162 M Sievwright (Buckpool) 82 80, M Gardner (Linlithgow) 80 82
163 C Garrett (West Kilbride) 80 83
164 A Glennie (Kilmarnock Barassie) 82 82
165 C Irvine (Craigielaw) 82 83.
166 D Young  (North Berwick) 79 87
167 L Atkins (Minto) 82 85.
168 A McDonald (Bothwell Castle) 88 80, K A Scott (Strathaven) 79 89
169 K Reid (Monifieth) 80 89.
169 P Wilson (Burntisland) 85 84, R Hunter (Lanark) 83 86
170 S Cameron (Gullane) 89 91
176 E O'Connor (Bothwell Castle) 87 89, N Callander (Welwyn Garden City) 89 87 
181 C McLaughlin (West Kilbride) 94 87
182 L Munro (Ayr Belleisle) 95 87

CLARK ROSEBOWL MATCH-PLAY
First round
10.46 J Rankine v K Reid
10.54 M Gardner v C Garrett
11.02 R Foster v L Atkins
11.10 H Scott v A McDonald
11.18 J Graham v P Wilson
11.26 W Nicholson v D Young
11.35 M Sievwright v C Irvine
11.42 L Macdonald v R Hunter

To view results, please visit scottishgolf.org where you can also see  live scoring for the Scottish Women’s Amateur Match Play, and the Clark Rosebowl.