Jill Harrison's 4th Stirlingshire title -

21 years after her third success

Linlithgow’s Jill Harrison won the Stirlingshire women’s county golf championship for a fourth time - 21 years after her third success.
Jill beat Vikki Stevenson (Stirling) by one hole in the final at Linlithgow – Harrison’s home club – on another evening of bad weather.
Stevenson was one up after 11 holes but Harrison then swung the final her way with a decisive run of wins at the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th holes, which put her three up with three to play.
Stevenson was not finished yet. Playing in her second final – she was beaten in 2006 – Vikki pluckily prolonged the match by winning the 16th and 17th but the 18th was halved, leaving Harrison the winner by one hole.

+Image of Jill Harrison with the Stirlingshire championship trophy by courtesy of Anna Hunter.

Essex pair win East region foursomes

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Essex county champion Lizzie Taylor teamed up with Nicole Shaw to win the scratch prize at the inaugural EWGA East Region foursomes at Thetford, Norfolk.
The pair, who both play at West Essex, had gross scores of 75 and 76 for a 36-hole total of 151.
The handicap prize went to the Norfolk combination of Jo Ashmore (Barnham Broom) and Rebecca Heeles, 16, (Royal Norwich) who returned a gross 153, net 146.
Rebecca is a member of the EWGA Select Midland Squad while Jo was a semi-finalist in the recent English senior women’s championship at Hunstanton.
The foursomes competition was open to players from the six counties in EWGA’s East Region and attracted a good entry.
Results
Scratch
151 Lizzie Taylor & Nicole Shaw (West Essex) 75 76.
156 Bridie Quinn & Sally Shayler (South Beds/Bedfordshire)
160 Tracey Williamson & Karen Young (Royal Cromer/Eaton)
161 on c/b Sarah Smith & Chelsey Herbert (Links, Newmarket/Gog Magog).
Handicap
146 Jo Ashmore & Rebecca Heeles (Barnham Broom/Royal Norwich)
148 Sue Hosking & Jennifer Sheppard (The Norfolk)
150 Hilary Fitch & Vivien Kemp (Bury St Edmunds); Pat Bland & Liz Wallace (Royal Norwich) on c/b
Best am net:
Amy Skoulding & Amber Ratcliffe (King’s Lynn/Royal Cromer) 70.5
Best pm net: Jane Sheppard & Alison Gillings (The Norfolk) 73
Lyndsey Hewison
Press & PR Officer

A fine action image of Sammy Vass by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography (click on it to enlarge).

Sammy Vass and Kyle Godsman sign

up to join US colleges in autumn

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Two of the North's leading teenage golfers - Sammy Vass (Tain) and Kyle Godsman (Hopeman) - have accepted golf scholarships from United States universities and will start their four-year courses in the autumn.
Sammy, who will be 18 in October, is the North of Scotland girls champion and played for Scotland in the European girls team championship at Murcar Links last summer.
Sammy is heading for the University of Central Florida, based at Orlando with a roll of 48,000 students, which makes it the fifth biggest university in America. The temperature in Orlando today, by the way, was 91 degrees (partly cloudy)!
Kyle, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, winner of the North of Scotland boys' championship last month at Inverness, will enrol at the University of South Carolina-Aiken alongwith another Scottish recruit, Mark Dickson (Gullane).
Emilee Klein, the former LPGA Tour player who is now the women's head coach at Central Florida University, said:
"I'm very excited to have both Sammy Vass and Carolin Pinegger (an Austrian girl international) coming to UCF. They are both going to be huge assets to the team. They are both great guys who are also excellent golfers. Sammy has an excellent short game, a lot of desire and heart and she is somebody who is going to make a great impact on the team."
ProdreamUSA, the Glasgow-based company headed by former Walker Cup player Lorne Kelly, arranged the recruitment of Vass, Godsman and Dickson for the respective universities.

Other Scots placed by ProdreamUSA for the start of the 2009-2010 US college golf season include:

Gavin Hay to Carson-Newman University.

David Lee to Lincoln Memorial University.

Robert McCleneghan to Davis & Elkins College.

David Shields to Davis & Elkins College.

Colin Sutherland to Davis & Elkins College.

Chris McManus to Bethany College.

Frazer Ogston to Texas Wesleyan University.

Mark Thomson to Ohio Valley University.

Jordan McColl to New Mexico Junior College.

Linzi Allan to Newman University.

English/Welsh/Irish teenagers

Max Broadfield to Savannah College of Art & Design.

Jamie Chapman to Lincoln Memorial Univesity.

Christopher Davis to Western New Mexico University.

Peter Horner to Shorter College.

Alexander Irvin to Berry College.

Richard O'Donovan to Nova Southeastern University.

Harry O'Sullivan to Savannah College of Art & Design.

Sam Oliver to Davis & Elkins College.

Ben Price to Bethany College.

Thomas Rees to Post University

Daniel Richards to Davis & Elkins College.
Matthew Tweddell to Hawaii Pacific University.

Joe Viner to Ohio Valley University.

Alyssa Balding to Newman University.

Megan Birdsey to Newman University.

Anna Carling to Arkansas State University.

Abbey Gittings to Nova Southeastern University.

Rebecca McGinley to East Tennessee State Univesity.

Melissa Siviter to Belmont Abbey College.

S J Ban to Fresno City College.

Daniel Dawson to Inian Hills Community College.

Nathan Edwards to Nex Mexico Junior College.

Christopher Fletcher to Irvine Valley College.

Joe Fraser to Paris Junior College, Texas.

Tommy Jerome to Frank Phillips College.

Jonathan Levey to Frank Phillips College.

Jack Mulroy to Fresno City College.

James Nelson to Western Texas College.

Seamus Stevens to Frank Phillips College.

Christopher Wilde to Frank Phillips College.

Sean Young to Potomac State Colelge.

Holly Clyburn to Redlands Community College.

Kelly McPhail to Redlands Community College.

Lorena Ochoa (64) leads by one in

Michelob Ultra Open

FROM THE GOLFWEEK.COM WEBSITE
A week off did nothing to slow Lorena Ochoa down, and a month away from the game found Kent-born Australian Lindsey Wright in the same groove she was in before a vacation.
Ochoa picked up where she left off in winning two weeks ago in her native Mexico with eight birdies against one bogey .
Her 7-under 64 gave her a one-shot lead over Wright after the first round of the Michelob Ultra Open.
“This is only the start,” said Ochoa, a three-time runner-up in the event. “We have three more days. One at a time.”
Wright, a non-winner in five seasons, hadn’t played since finishing fourth in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the season’s first major in the first week in April, but was bogey-free on the soggy 6,315-yard River Course at Kingsmill that has received rain for several days.
Hee-Won Han, Sarah Lee and Minea Blomqvist shot 66s to share third place, Seon Hwa Lee, Na Yeon Choi and Amy Yang had 67s and 2007 champion Suzann Pettersen was among seven at 68.
In all, 45 of 144 players took advantage of the soft greens and broke par.
Other notables making a run at the leaderboard included 2005 winner Cristie Kerr, who got to 4 under but then stumbled to finish at 2 under; rookie Vicky Hurst, who got to 4 under but gave two shots back on her last four holes; and another rookie, Michelle Wie, who got to 3 under after her first 12 holes, but had two bogeys coming in to finish six shots back.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 71 (6315yd)
1. Lorena Ochoa 64
2. Lindsey Wright 65
3. Hee-Won Han 66
3. Sarah Lee 66
3. Minea Blomqvist 66
6. Seon Hwa Lee 67
6. Na Yeon Choi 67
6. Amy Yang 67
9. Hye Jung Choi 68
9. Kris Tamulis 68
9. Suzann Pettersen 68
9. Angela Stanford 68
9. In-Kyung Kim 68
9. Chella Choi 68
9. Beth Bader 68
16. Il Mi Chung 69
16. Sarah Kemp 69
16. Diana D'Alessio 69
16. Vicky Hurst 69
16. Katherine Hull 69
16. Cristie Kerr 69
16. Momoko Ueda 69
16. Song-Hee Kim 69
16. Teresa Lu 69
16. Brittany Lang 69
16. Mika Miyazato 69
16. Irene Cho 69
16. Shiho Oyama 69
16. Janice Moodie 69
30. Shanshan Feng 70
30. Anna Grzebien 70
30. Michelle Wie 70
30. Louise Friberg 70
30. Jiyai Shin 70
30. Young Kim 70
30. Meaghan Francella 70
30. Kristy McPherson 70
30. Natalie Gulbis 70
30. Sarah Jane Smith 70
30. Reilley Rankin 70
30. Katie Futcher 70
30. Becky Lucidi 70
30. Sophie Giquel 70
30. Kelli Kuehne 70
30. Allison Fouch 70
Selected scores:
46. Louise Stahle 71
46. Carin Koch 71
46. Giulia Sergas 71
46. Juli Inkster 71
46. Sandra Gal 71
46. Linda Wessberg 71
67. Wendy Doolan 72
67. Anja Monke 72
67. Brandie Burton 72
67. Silvia Cavalleri 72
67. Laura Davies 72
67. Karin Sjodin 72
85. Johanna Mundy 73
85. Morgan Pressel 73
85. Becky Morgan 73
101. Karrie Webb 74
101. Maria Hjorth 74
101. Karen Stupples 74
116. Helen Alfredsson 75
131. Stacy Lewis 77
131. Sophie Gustafson 77

Musselburgh beat Prestonfield at 19th in

Lothians inter-club double foursomes

Closest tie in the opening round of the Lothians women's inter-club double foursomes tournament at Murrayfield Golf Club last night saw Musselburgh beat Prestonfield at the 19th.
Musselburgh now play Baberton, 8 and 7 winners over Newbattle, in this evening's quarter-finals.
Also in the round of the last eight, Murrayfield play Merchants, Lothianburn meet Craigmillar Park and Turnhouse play Kingsknowe. Tee times below.
Last night's results:

FIRST ROUND
Murrayfield bt Torphin 12 and 10.
Merchants bt Broomieknowe 3 and 1.
Lothianburn bt Ratho Park 5 and 3.
Craigmillar Park bt Liberton 5 and 4.
Baberton bt Newbattle 8 and 7.
Musselburgh bt Prestonfield at 19th
Turnhouse bt Glencorse 9 and 6.
Kingsknowe bt Royal Musselburgh 9 and 7.

TODAY'S QUARTER-FINALS
4.30 & 4.36 - Murrayfield v Merchants.
4.42 & 4.48 - Lothianburn v Craigmillar Park.
4.54 & 5.00 - Musselburgh v Baberton.
5.06 & 5.12 - Turnhouse v Kingsknowe.

SATURDAY'S SEMI-FINALS
10.10 & 10.10
10.20 & 10.30

SATURDAY'S FINAL
2.00 & 2.10