Michele delights her Curtis Cupskipper in Dublin ... and her dad in Abu Dhabi, of course!By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Michele Thomson’s victory in the 94th Scottish women’s amateur championship final at Lossiemouth was toasted in Dublin by Curtis Cup team skipper Mary McKenna.
And a bit farther away in Abu Dhabi, Michele’s oil executive dad Graham celebrated the news of his 20-year-old daughter’s 2 and 1 victory against Jocelyn Carthew well into the night (
Graham and Michele Thomson pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, all rights reserved).
McDonald Ellon Golf Club have reacted quickly to what is a third Scottish championship win by one of its members by bestowing honorary life membership on Michele.
Maurice Moir from Ellon won the Scottish boys’ title in 1954 and Angus Moir, no relation, won the Scottish men’s amateur championship in 1984.
Now Michele has completed a club national hat-trick spread over 54 years.
She is the first Aberdeenshire born-and-bred player to win the Scottish women’s championship since Elaine Farquharson (Deeside) at Machrihanish in 1990.
Mary McKenna she was “thrilled to bits” that her team of eight who will try to take the Curtis Cup out of the grasp of the Americans over the Old Course, St Andrews from May 30 to June 1, would include the Scottish champion.
There are, of course, four young Scots in the Great Britain & Ireland team, but three of them, Krystle Caithness, Sally Watson and Carly Booth, could not play at Lossiemouth because they are at college in the United States.
“Michele’s victory will spark the other Scots girls to show what they can do in the Curtis Cup,” said Mary.
“So, I am really thrilled for Michele. She had extra pressure on her going into the Scottish championship, having made the Curtis Cup team. It will give her extra confidence for St Andrews. She deserves to be a champion because she has worked really hard over the winter and has competed well since January in places like Florida and Portugal.”
Florentyna Parker, another member of the GB&I team, lost in the final of the English women’s championship at Ganton while Michele Thomson was giving the performance of her life in the Lossiemouth sunshine.
Michele’s father Graham said he was a nervous wreck while the Lossiemouth final was being played because he was flying between Brunei and Singapore and couldn’t get the planned text messages from the course because of the ban on mobile phones being used on board aircraft.
"When the match started I was being driven from Miri in Sarawac across the border to Brunei to catch a flight to Singapore and then back to Abu Dhabi. The car journey and check-in at the airport took a couple of hours and when the plane doors closed and I was reminded to switch my phone off, for the fifth or sixth time by the way, Michele was one up playing the 11th," said Graham.
"Both my son Mark and sister Carol were sending me text messages at each hole. I was not too concerned about Michele falling behind early on as she always puts up a fight and has an uncanny ability to stay relaxed and wait for the match to turn her way, which it did.
"That said, the 2hr plane journey was torture with the not knowing what was happening at Lossiemouth. As soon as we landed and the doors opened my phone started going crazy with text messages and E-mails saying that she had won. I called her and she reminded me what I had asked her to do before the tournament started and that was 'Go win me a big cup' and she certainly did that.
"I am extremely pleased for her. I know how hard she works on her golf and over the past six months she is getting some serious payback."Over the winter, she voluntarily increased her fitness programme to four sessions in the gym per week. She felt the benefit in the early months of the year in Florida and Portugal and probably by the end of a long, hard and tiring week at Lossiemouth.
“Michele says she does not feel the extra training has improved her golf but physically and mentally she feels much stronger and able to concentrate better when coming down the home straight of a tournament.”
"Winning the Scottish was on Michele's agenda since losing in the semi-finals last year. She desperately wanted this title and I am very proud of her for achieving her goal. I am very keen to see my 'big cup' and my daughter up close, but with my travel schedule and Michele's Curtis Cup selection, this won't happen until at least the opening ceremony at St Andrews on May 29. Hopefully we will be having a double celebration on Sunday, June 1.
"With four Scots in the Curtis Cup team, and many other Scottish players pushing for international selection and playing so well at Lossie this week, Scottish Ladies Golf looks to be in great shape."
Michele, quite understandably, at the age of 20 is hard to pin down on the subject of her future. As a full-time amateur golfer, she is enjoying living in the present rather than planning for the future. Her father, who is quite happy to pay her bills, is a wee bit more forthcoming on the subject of his daughter turning professional.
“Yes, it is very much on the cards that Michele will turn professional eventually, but there is absolutely no pressure or no time set for her doing this. She is really enjoying amateur golf at the level she is now playing, representing Scotland, representing Great Britain & Ireland, trips to foreign countries and so on,” said Graham Thomson.
“She still has a number of goals to fulfil before she makes the switch, winning the Scottish title was certainly one of them. This year was all about playing in more international competitions to gain more experience and that continues to be the aim for the rest of the year.”
Back to the Scottish championship final itself. I have been reporting on the SLGA finals since the early 1970s – and I have even caddied in two of them! And I have to say I cannot remember a final packed with so many birdies – and played at a pace which used to be the norm 30 or 40 years ago.
Michele and Jocelyn between them produced 13 birdies over the 17 holes the final lasted. And they had been on the course just over three hours when it finished.
The tone was set at the first hole when both players drove the green which is close on 300yards from the ladies’ tee. Off the red tees on the Moray club’s Old Course, there are seven par-5s. None of them was out of reach to the best players in the Scottish field, although both finalists chose to lay up with their second to the 17th.
Michele, a +1 player, a seasoned international and a full-time amateur who has been playing competitively this year since the first week of January, entered the final as hot favourite to beat 30-year-old Jo Carthew, an uncapped one-handicapper who had never progressed past the second round of the national championship before and a player who works for a living.
But Carthew let the big gallery – and her more highly-rated opponent - know she wasn't just there to make up the numbers when she won the first two holes with birdies - both players drove the green at the 295yd first hole - and then halved the third with her third birdie in a row.Thomson, the longer-hitter, then rolled up her sleeves and won the next four holes with a par-birdie-birdie-birdie burst that saw her jump from two down to two up.
Carthew came back off the ropes to win the eighth with a great putt for a birdie but turned two down again when Thomson holed a 15ft birdie putt at the ninth.
Out in five-under-par 33 to Carthew's two-under 36 and two holes to the good, Thomson had by no means subdued underdog Jo. The pair of them produced nine birdies between them in a high-class outward half.
Carthew won the 10th with a birdie, lost the 11th to a birdie and then got back to one down again when Thomson had her first bogey of the day.
This was the low point, quality-wise in the match, the 13th being halved in bogeys.
Normal service was resumed with a half in birdie 4s at the long 14th before Thomson regained a two-hole lead when Carthew three-putted.
The writing was on the wall for the elegant Ladybank player then. Two down with three to play, she could only halve the 16th and 17th, leaving Thomson a worthy 2 and 1 winner.
Thomson was five under par at the finish and Carthew two under par … proof that it was a quality final with 13 birdies in all.
"I can hardly wait for the Curtis Cup to come along now at the end of the month," said Michele."The best thing I took out of this week is that I can play under pressure. I came to Lossiemouth under pressure, as a Curtis Cup pick, to do well ... and I did. In the semi-final against Laura Murray I was four down after seven holes and I trailed in others, including this final, so that gives me confidence for the Curtis Cup.
"I would like to thank my coach Neil Marr for making me able to produce the shots to win holes in pressure situations."
Labels: Amateur Ladies
