STACY LEADS BY THREE IN SOUTH
AFRICA'S GOLDING INTERNATIONAL

South African Stacy Bregman, shot an up-and-down 70 in the second round to retain the lead by three shots on six-under-par 138 after the second round of the Pam Golding Ladies International at the Nelspruit Golf Club, South Africa.
She had birdies at the second, fourth, seventh, eighth and 16th but bogeyed the third, fifth and 10th.
“Overall I was comfortable with my round today. My putting was frustrating at times, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Bregman.
Her nearest rival is Sweden's Maria Boden who also had a 70 for 141.
Starting at the 10th, Maria birdied the 11th and 14th but bogeyed the 10th, 15th, 16th and 18th.
After a stern talking to herself, the Swede pulled her game together and had a bogey free front nine. She birdied the second, third, fifth and ninth.
Lying two shots behind Boden is South Africa’s Morgana Robbertze, carding 72, and Dane Lisa Holm Sorensen a 71 for their second round today.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
138 Stacy Bregman 68 70.
141 Maria Boden (Swe) 71 70.
142 Lisa Holm Sorensen (Swe) 71 71, Morgana Robbertze 70 72.
143 Johanna Westerberg (Swe) 71 72.
146 Anna Temple 71 75, Emma Lyons (Eng) 73 73, Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 74 72, Jo Clingan (Eng) 73 73.
147 Lee-Anne Pace 74 73, Tandi Cunningham (am) 73 74, Julie Berton 74 73.
148 Emma Zackrisson 74 74, Julie Tvede (Den) 73 75, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 73 75, Lill Kristin Saether 76 72, Anna Becker-Frankel 76 72, Mandy Adamson 77 71.
149 Gina Switala (am) 77 72, Florence Luscher 76 73.
150 Hanna-Leena Salonen 75 75, Kaisa Ruuttila 75 75.
151 Anne-Lise Caudal 75 76.
152 Sandra Winter (am) 75 77, Cecilie Lundgreen 78 74.
153 Margherita Rigon 79 74, Laurette Maritz 79 74, Kelly Hutcherson 75 78, Antonella Cvitan 78 75, Caroline Afonso 77 76.
154 Mercia Pretorius (am) 80 74, Rose Naliaka 76 78, Zuzana Kamasova 76 78, Maria Beautell 75 79.
155 Ana Larraneta 79 76.
156 Ashleigh Holmes (am) 75 81, Karin Borjeskog 79 77.
157 Stenna Westerlund 83 74. Crizelda Van Niekerk 76 81, Lise Botha 79 78.
158 Kim Williams (am) 79 79, Bonita Bredenhann (am) 76 82, Carmen Alonso 81 77.
159 Nora Kagonyera 78 81, Michelle de Vries 84 75, Sandra Carlborg 78 81.
160 Monja Richards 82 78.
161 Frederique Seeholzer 80 81, Kirsty Fisher 82 79.
162 Caryn Louw 80 82, Nora Angehrn 83 79.
163 Stephanie Ruiz 84 79.
164 Jillian Wyne 81 83, Sune Du Plooy (am) 79 85.
168 Esther Strous 82 86.
169 Alana Van Greuning (am) 85 84.

Ladies European Tour professionals Lien Willems (Belgium) and Maria Martin (Spain) with their Spanish playing partners, Ignacio Sitja Guetas and Sebastian J Fernandez Gonzalez during the St Valentine's Day pro-am at the Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Golf Festival.

Professionals Jenna Wilson (Strathaven) and Natasha Morgan from South Wales with their male playing partners, Simon and Trevor Taylor, in the St Valentine's Day pro-am competition at the recent Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Festival in Spain. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Galway golfers Jane Whiriskey, left, and Orla Barry with their Spanish playing partners, Ivan Garcia Martinez and Pablo Jose Tarraga Carrasco, at the St Valentine's Day competition during the recent Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Golf Festival.

Fun at the Festival: Ladies European Tour professionals Claire Coughlan and Martina Gillen with their amateur playing partners, Padraic Cantwell (left) and Gerald Charters (right) at the halfway house during the St Valentine's Day pro-am competition at Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort.

Breanne Loucks, the only GB&I player with Curtis Cup team experience, in action (picture by Tom Ward).

Spotlight on the "other half"
of GB&I Curtis Cup team

Yesterday, we put the Curtis Cup spotlight on the four Scots in skipper Mary McKenna's team of eight for the match against the Americans at the end of May.
Today, we focus on the three English players - Liz Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor), Florentyna Parker (Royal Birkdale) and Jodi Ewart (Catterick) - and one Welsh player, Breanne Loucks from Wrexham who complete the home line-up.
Florentyna Parker, 18, clinched her place when she was the halfway leader and then finished runner-up to the Spanish ace and British open amateur champion Carlota Ciganda in the Portuguese open amateur championship in February. The Royal Birkdale player, who could have had her pick of American university golf scholarships, instead left school last year to concentrate on golf generally and, specifically, a place in the Curtis Cup team for the Old Course, St Andrews.
Miss Parker lives in Germany where her father Tim is a golf club professional at Gut Walhhof Golf Club, near Hamburg.
Like Sally Watson, Florentyna was a member of the winning European Junior Solheim Cup team in Sweden last year - so she knows what it takes to beat a United States team - and she was also in the Junior Solheim Cup team in 2005.
Liz Bennett, 25, did not make her mark as a title-winning teenager but she was highly-rated enough to earn a golf scholarship to a United States college (Iowa University) and played four years on the women's circuit over there, being named as one of the leading players in her university's conference.
After graduating with a degree in economics in the States in May 2005, Liz really arrived "on the stage" when she won the English women's stroke-play title in 2006 and early in 2007 won the Hampshire county title and the ELGA South-east divison championship.
She made her GB&I debut in the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent at St Andrews Bay last year when she reached the quarter-finals of the "British" at Alwoodley, Leeds.
The clincher, if it were needed, was Liz's form in January this year on the Orange Blossom Tour in Florida where she won the "Sally" (South Atlantic Ladies Amateur championship) and reached the semi-fnal of the Jone/Doherty match-play championship the following week.
Jodi Ewart, 20, from Catterick was not selected for the 2007 Vagliano Trophy match - which, with hindsight, was perhaps a blessing in disguise for her. The Continentals won by a record margin of 15-9 and several members of the GB&I team that day have not been selected for the Curtis Cup match.
Normally, a nine-strong Vagliano Trophy team forms the backbone for the following year's Curtis Cup team selection.
Jodi Ewart, 20,won the 2007 English (closed) stroke-play title and had a great freshman year on the American women's college circuit as a student at the University of New Mexico. During the 2006-07 season, she had six top 10 finishes in the States, including a victory in the Mountain West Conference championship. She has continued in fine form in America and, prior to the winter break, was ranked in the top 20 nationwide.
Breanne Loucks, 20, from Wrexham is the only member of the 2008 GB&I Curtis Cup team who knows what it feels like to play in the Curtis Cup. She had a 100 per cent winning record through her three appearances in the Bandon Dunes, Oregon match of 2006.
She did play in the Vagliano Trophy match last year at St Andrews Bay and was Welsh women's (close) champion in 2007.
She finished joint fourth behind Ciganda, Flo Parker and Michele Thomson in this year's Portuguese women's open amateur championship.