ROSEANNE'S TOP-TEN FINISH HELPS

CALIFORNIA WIN FIRST TEAM

TITLE IN 30 MONTHS

Roseanne Niven helped the University of California Berkeley scored its first team tournament win in 30 months - March 2005 was the last - in the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic at Fort Collins, Colorado this week.

The 18-year-old Crieff Golf Club member, pictured right, achieved a top-10 individual finish with scores of 71, 77 and 73 for 222. She had seven birdies and no double bogeys over the 54 holes.
Team-mates Shannon Yocum and Pia Halbig from Germany, making her college debut, finished first and second on two-under-par 214 and 216 respectively.
California's total of 868 tied the college's lowest in a 54-hole event.
Baylor's pair of English students, Hannah Burke and Sian Reddick finished on 224 and 226 respectively. Hannah had double bogeys at the eighth and 16th in her final round.
Sian had eight bogeys in her first round and eight birdies over the three rounds.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

Individual

214 Shannon Yocum (Caliofnria) 73 71 70.

216 Pia Halbig (California) 71 74 71.

Other totals:

222 Roseanne Niven (California) 71 77 73 (jt ninth).

224 Hannah Burke (Baylor) 74 72 78 (jt 21st).

226 Sian Reddick (Baylor) 79 72 75 (jt 34th).

Team

868 California.

887 Washington State.

891 Brigham Young, Colorado.

Other total:

920 Baylor (10th of 20 teams)

Irish Ladies Golf Union Press Release

CANADIAN ALISON MURDOCH WINS IRISH SENIOR
WOMEN'S OPEN TITLE FOR A THIRD TIME

Favourite Alison Murdoch from Canada captured her third title in four years after adding a final round 76 to win the 2007 Irish Senior Ladies Open Stroke-play at Ennis Golf Club.
Murdoch started brightly with birdies on the second and sixth holes to turn one under par. Another birdie on the 12th saw her surge further ahead of the field which afforded her the luxury of bogeying five of the six remaining holes and still win by two strokes.
Ireland’s Sheena O’Brien Kenney (Grange) was next after firing a tournament best of 73. Her round included a birdie at the second and an eagle 2 at the fourth where she holed her pitching wedge approach shot from over a hundred yards.
Next best was defending champion Vicki Thomas (Wales) who added a solid 78 while Ireland’s Marilyn Henderson (West Rhine) claimed fourth spot ahead of Jean O’Connor (Wales).
Carmel Cahill’s 16th place finish earned her selection to the Ireland team for the Seniors Home Internationals at Royal Tara Golf Club from October 2 to 4.
Irish Close Champion Mary Madden will lead the team with help from the experienced Curtis Cup veteran Mary McKenna (Donabate) and the in-form O’Brien Kenney. Team is:
Carmel Cahill (Hermitage)
Valerie Hassett (Ennis)
Marilyn Henderson (West Rhine)
Eileen MacMullan (Donegal)
Mary McKenna (Donabate)
Mary Madden (Ballinasloe)
Sheena O’Brien Kenney (Grange)
Team Captain – Rhona Fanagan (Milltown)
Team Manager – Roma English (Larne)

FINAL TOTALS AT ENNIS GOLF CLUB

233 Alison Murdoch (Can) 77 80 76
235 Sheena O'Brien-Kenney (Grange) 85 77 73
238 Vicki Thomas (Wal) 85 75 78
243 Marilyn Henderson (Ger) 81 82 80
244 Jean O'Connor (Wal) 84 81 79
245 Diane Williams (Can) 84 80 81
247 Chris Utermarck (Ger) 88 80 79
247 Violet McBride (Belvoir Park) 82 80 85
249 Valerie Hassett (Ennis) 86 84 79
249 Andrea Stockdale (Eng) 85 84 80
250 Mary Madden (Ballinasloe) 89 82 79
250 Mary Gorry (Baltinglass) 83 86 81
254 Eileen MacMullen (Donegal) 80 87 87
256 Marianne Copp (Eng) 90 86 80
256 Pamela Morgan (Lahinch) 89 85 82
257 Carmel Cahill (Hermitage) 88 85 84
258 Mary Powell (Nenagh) 87 82 89
260 Rhona Fanagan (Milltown) 91 87 82
260 Mary Kavanagh (New Ross) 90 84 86
261 Olivia Conroy (Co Longford) 86 85 90
262 Mary Geaney (Killarney) 93 84 85
262 Sue Joy-Sobota (US) 87 91 84
265 Catharina Thott (Swe) 89 87 89
266 Roma English (Larne) 92 88 86
266 Angela Colm (Can) 89 91 86
266 Margot Trembath (Can) 87 88 91
267 Judy Collins (Can) 90 90 87
267 Eily Duigenan (Edenderry) 89 87 91
269 Evelyn Blackmon (US) 87 91 91
272 Irene Stenlundh (Swe) 90 87 95
274 Claire Ruane (Ennis) 85 95 94

English Ladies Golf Association Press Release

ELIZABETH EARNSHAW NOMINATED AS ELGA
PRESIDENT FOR 2008-2009

Elizabeth Earnshaw, who was one of the first women to referee at The Open championship, has been nominated as the 2008-09 president of the English Ladies’ Golf Association.
Her appearance alongside the players at St Andrews in 1995 was one of a number of notable “firsts” in a long and high-profile career at the sharp end of golf administration.
Now Mrs Earnshaw, an OBE for services to golf and an honorary member of both Ladbrook Park Golf Club and the Warwickshire Ladies’ County Golf Association, is looking forward to the next stage of her career as ELGA president.
“This is a very great honour and I am absolutely delighted to be given this opportunity,” she said. “This is a very interesting time for ELGA which has a modernisation programme designed to meet the challenges of the modern world.”
Mrs Earnshaw is no stranger to change. During the 1990s she took on a key role for the Ladies Golf Union in the creation of a new women’s handicapping system which reflected current playing form.
She was also involved in combining the men’s and women’s schemes into the unified handicapping system which is in use today. In addition, she has helped devise the system used by the continental European countries.
Mrs Earnshaw’s own handicap has been as low as four and is currently 13. She is a past captain of the Warwickshire second team and has made occasional outings for the first team.
However, her time and energies were increasingly devoted to administration and particularly to the rules of the game. She’s a computer programmer by profession with a natural inclination to be precise and to seek practical solutions to problems.
Her earliest brush with the rules came on the day she completed her first card for handicap – only to be told that it couldn’t count because she hadn’t signed the book before going out to play.
That sparked an interest which led to her becoming a highly-regarded rules expert. She’s been chairman of both ELGA and the LGU and has chaired the rules and regulations committees of both organisations.
She was in the first wave of representatives of national organisations invited to attend the R&A’s Referees School and she was the first LGU representative on the R&A Rules of Golf committee.
Her expertise brought the invitation to be one of the first two women to referee at The Open in 1995. She was also the first British women to referee at The Masters, in 1997, and has been on duty at two further Open championships, as well as at all the top women’s amateur tournaments.
When Mrs Earnshaw refereed at St Andrews it was a golfing sensation. She remarked: “Nowadays, there are always women among the referees at these events but then the Press went bananas. They didn’t want to know about the rules – they wanted to know if I’d be allowed in the R & A clubhouse at St Andrews!”
The answer, for the record, is: “Yes. The members are very hospitable.” Mrs Earnshaw began her golf as a member at Barrow Golf Club in Cumbria, before moving to London where she joined Royal Mid-Surrey and Hampstead. She moved to Warwickshire in 1974 and has been a member at Ladbrook Park since then.

EUROPEAN GIRLS BEAT AMERICANS
IN JUNIOR SOLHEIM CUP

Let's hope it's a good omen for the Solheim Cup later this week. Europe beat United States 14-10 in the Ping Junior Solheim Cup in the two-day match which finished today in Sweden.
Here are all the results:
DAY ONE
FOURSOMES (3-3)
European names first
Carlota Ciganda & Nicola Rossler bt Sydney Burlison & Allie White by 1 hole.
Sara Monberg & Caroline Hedwall lost to Jane Rah & Vicky Hurst 4 and 3.
Henrietta Brockway & Sally Watson lost to Isabelle Lendl & Courtney Ellenbogen 1 hole.
Marta Silva & Florentyna Parker bt Kimberley Kim & Stephanie Kono 5 and 4.
Audrey Goumard & Nathalie Mansson bt Brianna Do & Tiffany Lua 3 and 1.
Charlotte Kring Lorentzen & Jacqueline Hedwall lost to Kristen Park & Mina Harigae 1 hole.

FOUR-BALL (4-2)
Silva & Ciganda bt Rah & Kono 4 and 2.

Parker & Rossler bt Burlison & Ellenbogen 2 holes.
Lorentzen & Monberg lost to White & Lendl 2 and 1.
Caroline & Jacqueline Hedwall bt Kim & Do 3 and 2.
Mansson & Watson bt Harigae & Lua 1 hole.
Goumard & Brockway lost to Hurst & Park 5 and 4.

DAY TWO
SINGLES 7-5.
Watson lost to Burlison 2 and 1.
Ciganda bt White 5 and 3.
Caroline Hedwall bt Do 5 and 3.
Brockway bt Lua 2 and 1.
Silva lost to Kono 1 hole.
Parker bt Kim 1 hole.
Jacqueline Hedwall bt Ellenbogen 1 hole.
Goumard bt Lendl 5 and 4.
Monberg lost to Rah 4 and 3.
Mansson lost to Harigae 4 and 3.
Lorentzen lost to Park 2 and 1.
Rossler bt Hurst 2 and 1.

There were originally only two Swedish players in the European team selection but an eve of the match ankle injury ruled Germany's Caroline Manson unable to play.

The rules and conditions of the Ping Junior Solheim Cup match do not cover the substituion of one player for another but the Americans sportingly agreed to Jacqueline Hedwall, twin sister of Carline who was already in the team, being drafted in to keep the teams level in numbers.

The Hedwall sisters team up for a big win in the four-ball ties.

The European team included one Scot, Sally Watson, who had the honour of playing in the No 1 singles tie today.

The Duke of York Young Champions' Trophy

ITALIAN BOY HAS THREE-STROKE LEAD WITH
ONE ROUND TO GO OVER DUNDONALD LINKS

By COLIN CALLANDER
Tournament Press Officer
Italy’s Claudio Vigano cemented his place at the top of the leaderboard when he carded a one under par 71 to open a three shot lead after the second round of The Duke of York Young Champions' Trophy tournament over the Dundonald Links in Ayrshire.
The 16 year-old Italian boys’ champion from the outskirts of Milan goes into the final 18 holes on one under par 143 and three shots ahead of Denmark’s Joachim Hansen who recorded a one under par 71 to jump up four places to second on 146.
The leading female competitor in a 48-strong field made up of national junior champions from around the world is France’s Isabelle Boineau. She recorded a second successive 74 to claim a share of third place alongside Portugal’s Bernard Frere and Germany’s Sean Einhaus on four over par 148
Current Carris Trophy champion Matt Haines from Kent heads the GB & I challenge after posting a two over par 74 to give him a 36-hole aggregate of 151 and a three shot advantage over Ireland’s Gary McGrane who slumped to a 79 for a ten over par total of 154.
Vigano started his round with a dropped shot on the treacherous 430-yard par-4 1st but then collected birdies at the third, fifth and ninth to race to the turn in two under par 34. He dropped two shots at the 430yd par-4 10th and another at the 440yd par-4 16th but then consolidated his advantage with a closing birdie on the 535yd par-5 18th.
“I played very well and I’m looking forward to playing tomorrow,” he said. “Three shots is a good lead but I know there are a lot of good players not too far behind.”
Meanwhile further down the field there was a rousing comeback from 17 year-old Latvian champion Mikus Gavars whose fine three under par 69 was no fewer than 16 shots better than the lacklustre 85 he produced the previous day.
Further sub-par rounds were recorded by Estonia’s Egert Poldma and Holland’s Darius van Driel who both posted rounds of 70 and Portugal’s Bernard Frere and Denmark’s Joachim Hansen who returned 71s.
However it was another poor day for Spain’s Emilio Cuartero who earlier this year emulated compatriots Jose-Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Pablo Martin by becoming the British boys’ open champion at Royal Porthcawl.

The long-hitting 16 year-old from near Barcelona returned an eight over par 80 which was two shots better than his opening effort but left him stranded well down the elite 48-strong field on 162.
Things were also little better for Scottish boys’ match-play champion, Paul Ferrier from Baberton, who recorded his third triple bogey of the week on the 530yd par-5 third on his way to returning a 78 that leaves him 12 shots off the lead and tied with Welsh champion Joe Vickery on 11 over par 155
“It just hasn’t been my week,” said the Scot. “I been struggling to get the ball into the hole and the 8 on the relatively straightforward par-5 third got me off to the worst possible start.
“I will just have to play for a bit of pride tomorrow,” he added.


SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
143 Claudio Vigano (Ita) 72 71.
146 Joachim Hansen (Den) 75 71.
148 Bernard Frere (Por) 77 71, Isabelle Bioneau (Fra) 74 74, Sean Einhaus (Ger) 74 74.
150 Darius van Driel (Hol) 80 70, Rachel Raastad (Nor) 77 73, Fanny Vuignier (Swi) 75 75, Vaishavi Sinha (Ind) 75 75, Johan de Beer (SA) 72 78.
151 Maaike Naafs (Hol) 79-72, Lionel Weber (Fr) 77-74, Matt Haines (Eng) 77-74, Alessia Knight (It) 75-76
153 Egert Poldma (Est) 83-70, Rashid Khan (Ind) 81-72, Dominique Jacobs (SA) 79-74, Christoffer Arvidsson (Swe) 78-75, Roberto Francioni (Swi) 77-76, Kasper Sorensen (Bel) 76-77, Guilia Molinaro (It) 73-80
154 Mikus Gavars (Lat) 85-69, Gary McGrane (Ire) 75-79
155 Paul Ferrier (Sco) 77-78, Joe Vickery (Wal) 77-78, Francois Verheyen (Bel) 78-77.

Other totals:
157 Philip Kaiser (Aut) 85 72, Klara Spilkova (Cze) 81 76, Mathieu Rivard (Can) 80 77, Martin Prihoda (Cze) 77 80.
158 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 81 77, Ossi Mikkola (Fin) 79 79, Marina Kotnik (Aut) 79 79.
159 Nicole Vandermade (Can) 77 82.
160 Valentine Gevers (Bel) 78 82.
161 Andri Oskarsson (Ice) 82 79, Tim Gornik (Slo) 79 82, Koray Varli (Tur) 79 82.
162 Emilio Cuartero (Spa) 82 80.
163 Marta Vasconcelos (Por) 81 82.
164 Holly Clyburn (Eng) 84 80.
165 Michael Kanev (Bul) 81 84.
167 Tjasa Prelog (Slovenia) 86 81.
168 Petros Venetopoulos (Gre) 91 77.
169 Elcin Ulu (Tur) 84 85.
173 Krista Puisite (Lat) 89 84.
181 Heida Gudnadottir (Ice) 95 86.
Disqualified - Are Friestad (Nor) 76 -, Anna Dahlberg-Soderstrom (Swe).

SCOTS YOUNGSTERS RISE TO OCCASION

AND BEAT IRELAND ON DUNBAR

OPENING DAY

Scotland, fielding one of their youngest-ever teams, made a great start to the women's home amateur golf internationals at Dunbar Golf Club today.
They beat Ireland 6-3 after sharing the foursomes 1 1/2-1 1/2 and taking the singles 4 1/2-1 1/2.
England, bidding to win the title for the third year in a row, beat Wales 6-3.
Scotland's line-up, average age just over 18 years, responded well to the pressure. All bar Scottish champion Jenna Wilson (Strathaven) are playing in the home internationals for the first time.
Jenna led by example by winning the top singles 3 and 2 against Irish champion Karen Delaney. Carly Booth, the 16-year-old Comrie player, followed that with a one-hole over over Danielle McVeigh.
Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder) lost by 3 and 2 to Tara Delaney, who, alongwith sister Karen had flown back from Kent State University, Ohio to play for their country this week.
Teenagers Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) and Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) showed the match-play skills that won them their county titles earlier this season. Megan got a square match against the experienced Marian Riordan while Pamela Pretswell won by 3 and 1 against Gillian O'Leary, another very experienced player at this level.
It was left to Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon), pictured above, to produce Scotland's shot of the day to win the final singles against Maura Morrin. Michelle strayed on to the first fairway with her drive off the 18th tee but she hit a glorious toweing eight iron that came to a stop only a foot for a hole ... a birdie 3 that gave her the Aberdeenshire champion a one-hole victory.
Scotland skipper Jayne Smith said:
"I am so proud of them. We have such a young team and they have been fantastic. The team spirit is great. We are taking each day as it comes but I am hoping for more of the same on Thursday."
Welsh player Tara Davies had a hole in one with a nine-iron at the 135yd 16th hole in her singles tie with Rachel Jennings. The ace squared the match which finished on level pegging.
First-day details:
SCOTLAND 6, IRELAND 3
Foursomes: J Wilson, M Thomson halved with K Delaney, T Delaney; L Murray, K MacDonald lost to D McVeigh, M Riordan 1 hole; E Ogilvy, C Booth bt M Morrin, N Kitching 3 and 1 (1 1/2-1 1/2).
Singles: Wilson bt K Delaney 3 and 2, Booth bt McVeigh 1 hole, Ogilvy lost to T Delaney 3 and 2, M Briggs halved with Riordan, P Pretswell bt G O'Leary 3 and 1, Thomson bt Morrin 1 hole (4 1/2-1 1/2).
ENGLAND 6, WALES 3
Foursomes; N Edwards, K Smith halved with S Hassan, R H Harries; R Jennings, D Montgomery bt L Hall, L Gould 5 and 4; R Bell, E Bennett lost to S Evans, T Davies 3 and 2 (1 1/2-1 1/2).
Singles: Edwards bt Hassan 2 holes, Bell bt R W Thomas 5 and 4, Bennett bt Hall 3 and 2, Smith lost to Evans 3 and 2, C Aitken halved with Davies, Jennings bt Harries 2 and 1 (4 1/2-1 1/2).

Solheim Teams

Photo of USA and Eurpoean Teams at the Solheim Cup.
(Courtesy Susan Simpson of the LGU, who is a Rules Official at the event)