AUDREY THOMPSON IS TOP SEED

IN AYRSHIRE CHAMPIONSHIP

Routenburn’s Lesley Hendry, bidding to win the title for a third year in a row, qualified as the fourth seed when the Ayrshire women’s county golf championship, with a starting field of 101 players from 17 clubs, began over Troon Portland today.

Lesley, pictured right, had birdies at the third and 18th in compiling an 83 in bright and very breezy conditions which produced a CSS of 76.
Audrey Thmpson (Loudoun) led the 16 qualifiers for the match-play stages with a five-over-par 80, despite a triple bogey at the seventh. She birdied the first and 11th holes.
Jane Finnie (Troon Ladies) is the No 2 seeded after an 81.
Alex Glennie (Barassie) had the same score as Lesley Hendry, an 83, but the card comparison put her in third place.
Rachael McQueen (Troon Bentinck), only 17 years old, also had an 83 with birdies at the first, second and ninth. She was placed fifth in the draw on a card countback.

QUALIFIERS
80 Audrey Thompson (Loudoun).
81 Jane Finnie (Troon Ladies.
83 Alex Glennie (Barassie), Lesley Hendry (Routenburn), Rachael McQueen.
84 Debbie Watt (Belleisle), Greta Smith (Ardeer).
86 Rosemary Donaldson (Troon Ladies), Catherine Malcolm (Prestwick St Nicholas).
87 Morag McPherson (Troon Ladies).
88 Liz Keohone (Loudoun), Lynda Laing (Troon Ladies).
89 Linda Parry (Irvine).
90 Jennifer Linklater (Largs).
94 Catriona Williamson (Prestwick St Nicholas).
97 M MacGregor (Barassie).

AUTOMATIC DRAW

Thompson v MacGregor.

Malcolm v Donaldson.

McQueen v Laing.

Parry v Hendry.

Glennie v Linklater.

Keohone v Watt.

Smith v McPherson.

Williamson v Finnie.

HANNAH AND SIAN BOTH ON 77 MARK
IN BIG 12 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

Baylor University, Texas students Hannah Burke from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire and Folkestone’s Sian Reddick were lying joint seventh in a field of 60 players at the end of the first round of the Big 12 Conference Women’s Championship at Ridgewood Country Club, Waco in Texas.
Over a par-72 course of 6,412yd, Hannah compiled her five-over-par 77 with birdies at the seventh, 15th and 16th but an outward half of 40 included a double-bogey 6 at the eighth.
Former English women’s amateur stroke-play champion Sian had no birdies in her 77 but she did have a double bogey 6 at the seventh.
Danielle McVeigh, the Irish girls champion of 2005, was back in joint 22nd place after a 78 which included not one but two double-bogey 6s, at the second and 11th. She did compensate with birdies at the first, sixth and ninth.
Amanda Costner (Kansas) is the leader on one-under-par 71, one shot ahead of Daniell’s Texas A&M team-mate, Christa Spedding.
Texas A&M (300) lead the team event by eight shots from Oaklahoma State, Baylor and Colorado in a field of 12 colleges.

DONEGAL STUDENT SHARES LEAD IN
SOUTHLAND CHAMPIONSHIP

Thomas Kearney from Donegal, a junior-year student at Texas-San Antonio University, shared the lead on two-under-par 70 with two other players at the end of the first round in the Southland Conference Collegiate championship at The Club at Comanche Trace in Kerryville, Texas.
Londoner James Taverner (South-east Louisiana) had a 74 to be sharing 11th place ahead of team-mate Peter O’Keeffe from Cork. Petere had a 75 to be joint 16th.
Fergal Rafferty (Sam Houston State) from Carrickmore was in joint 18th place after a 76.
Aaron O’Callaghan (South-east Louisiana) from Cork was in a share of 20th place on 77 in a field of 50 players.
Matt Carver (South-east Louisian) and Casey Clendenon (Lamar) shared the lead with Kearney on 70.
Lamar (284) lead the team event from South-east Louisiana and Texas-San Antonio (290) in a field of 12 college squads.

JACKSONVILLE JOCKS TO FORE IN
ATLANTIC SUN CHAMPIONSHIP
Jacksonville University, Florida’s Scottish golf students Russell Knox from Inverness and Duncan Stewart from Grantown on Spey were lying sixth and joint ninth respectively at the end of the first round of the Atlantic Sun Conference’s men’s college golf championship at The Golf Club at Sanctuary Cove, Waverly in Georgia.
On a day when the weather was against low scoring – three players shared the low on two-over-par 73 – Russell, pictured right, was not all that happy with a 75 over the 7,003yd, par-72 course.
That’s because he finished with a double bogey 6 at the 18th . He had two birdies, at the long seventh and 10th but dropped other shots at the first, fourth, sixth and 10th in halves of 38 and 37.
Duncan also marred his scorecard with a double bogey 5 at the short 16th. He had birdies at the 11th, 12th and 17th but bogeys at the fourth, seventh, eighth, 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th in halves of 39 and 38.
If Knox and Stewart were rueing missed chances, compatriot Jordan Findlay (East Tennessee State) from Fraserburgh must have been wondering where his golf game has gone wrong this year.
He had another nightmare day in scoring an 11-over-par 82 for joint 32nd place. Jordan had triple bogey 7s at both the 17th and 18th, having run up double bogey 6s at the sixth and 14th in halves of 38 and 44.
Underlining the degree of difficulty of the course and the conditions, Rhys Davies from South Wales, winner of 10 tournaments in his four years at East Tennessee State University, could do no better than a 79 which put him in joint 16th place alongside Jamie Kennedy (Jacksonville) from Edinburgh.
Irishmen Seamus Power and Gareth Shaw (both East Tennessee State) shared the lead on 73 with Jeff Dennis (North Florida).
LEADING SCORES
Par 71
73 J Dennis (North Florida), S Power (East Tennessee State), G Shaw (East Tennessee State).
74 D McAndrew (Stetson), M O’Neal (North Florida).
75 R Knox (Jacksonville).
Other GB scores:
77 D Stewart (Jacksonville) (jt 9th).
79 R Davies (East Tennessee State), J Kennedy (Jacksonville) (jt 16th).
82 J Findlay (East Tennessee State) (jt 32nd).
LEADING TEAMS
302 North Florida.
307 East Tennessee State.
310 Jacksonville.

... BUT NEIL AND DANIEL STRUGGLE IN PEACH
BELT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Daniel Sommerville from St Andrews and Glasgow's Neil McBride , both students at Clayton State University, Atlantic were lying in joint 33rd and joint 37th positions in a field of 40 players at the end of the first day in the Peach Belt Conference college championship at Harbor Club, Georgia.
Over a 7,022yd, par-72 course, which might have been on the long side for both players, Daniel scored 85 and 81 for 166 while Neil shot 82 and 85 for 167.
One of their Clayton State team-mates, Will Wilcox, led on level par 144 with scores of 73 and 71.