RACHEL LEWIS MAKES TOP 20 IN RED ROCKS INVITATIONAL

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Welsh students Rachel Lewis (University of South Carolina-Upstate), Natasha Gobey (Toledo University) and Scotland's Jacqueline Sneddon (Grand Canyon University) from Meigle, Perthshire finished joint 19th, joint 22nd and joint 35th respectively in the weekend's Red Rocks Women's Invitational college tournament at Oakcreek Country Club, Sedona in Arizona.
Over a par-72 course of some 6,084yd, Lauren Hernandez (Nevada) won the individual honours with scores of 78 and 72 for six-over-par 150.
Rachel Lewis, pictured left playing for Wales in last year's girls' home internationals at Bangor, Northern Ireland,  totalled 160 with a pair of 80s.
Natasha Gobey had scores of 81 and 80 for 161.
Jacqueline Sneddon had rounds of 80 and 85 for 165.
A field of 102 players took part.
The team event was won by Northern Arizona (612) from Western Michigan (623). Grand Canyon (650) finished seventh of 18 while USC Update were 14th with a total of 668. 

THIS WEEK'S ROLEX WOMEN'S WORLD PRO GOLF RANKINGS

1   Yani Tseng TPE 11.46
2   Jiyai Shin SKOR 9.84
3   Na Yeon Choi SKOR 9.28
4   Suzann Pettersen NOR  9.26
5   Cristie Kerr USA 9.21
6   Ai Miyazato JPN 8.61
7   I.K. Kim SKOR 7.67
8   Michelle Wie USA 6.74
9   Sun Ju Ahn SKOR 6.59
10 Karrie Webb AUS 6.41
11 Paula Creamer USA 6.33
12 Song-Hee Kim SKOR 6.24
13 Inbee Park SKOR 5.89
14 Sakura Yokomine JPN  4.77
15 Morgan Pressel USA 4.73
16 Chie Arimura JPN 4.66
17 Mi-Jeong Jeon SKOR  4.53
18 Anna Nordqvist SWE 4.51
19 Katherine Hull AUS 4.36
20 Mika Miyazato JPN  4.1

LEADING SCOTS
29 Catriona Matthew 3.38 (up 2 places from last week).
153 Janice Moodie 0.87.
180 Vikki Laing 0.71.
237 Krystle Caithness 0.47.
358 Kylie Walker 0.17.
359 Mhairi McKay 0.17.
473 Lynn Kenny 0.07.
530 Carly Booth 0.05

ENGLISH TEENAGERS STAR AT HACIENDA DEL ALAMO FESTIVAL

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION
By LYNDSEY HEWISON
Email: lyndsey.hewison@ntlworld.com
English teenagers, led by Norfolk’s Amber Ratcliffe, staged a series of winning performances at the Hacienda del Alamo women’s and girls’ golf festival in the Murcia region of south-east Spain.
Amber, who trains with EWGA’s Select Midlands squad, was a double winner, capturing the Murcia U16 title and the 54-hole Hacienda ladies’ championship.
The Royal Cromer player was joined in the winners’ circle by England girl international Bronte Law (Bramhall), Daisy-May Kenny (Cuddington), Gabriella Cowley (West Essex) and English schools’ champion Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough).
Amber, 15, opened her account with a 10-shot win in the Murcia U16 championship, concluding the 36-hole event with a level par 72. In the Hacienda ladies’ championship she started with an immaculate four-under par 68 and went on to return a 54-hole total of one-under par, to win by four shots.
Bronte,15, scored a six-stroke win in the Murcia ladies’ championship. She produced an excellent three-under par 69 in the second round to pull away from Lucy Williams (Mid-Herts), a past English mid-amateur champion.
Daisy-May also beat par in the second round of the Murcia U18 championship, with a one-under 71. She won by the massive margin of 31 shots and had the same 36-hole gross total as Bronte: 148.

Gabriella,14, pictured right, won the Hacienda U16 girls’ title by an impressive 11 shots from her closest challenger, Alice Hewson (Berkhamsted) the English U13 champion.
Meghan, 16, broke 80 in all three rounds to win the Hacienda U18 championship by three shots from Daisy-May.

Leading final scratch scores


Murcia championship
Par 144 (2x72)
Ladies
148 Bronte Law (Bramhall) 79 69.
154 Lucy Williams (Mid Herts) 81 73.
160 Daisy Dyer (Chigwell) 80 80.

U16 girls'
150 Amber Ratcliffe (Royal Cromer) 78 72.
160 Gabriella Cowley (West Essex) (4) 76 74, Eloise Healey (Lee Park) 78 82.
161 Alice Hewson (Berkhamsted) 78 82.

U18 girls
148 Daisy-May Kenny (Cuddington) 77 71.
179 Katherine Carragher (John O'Gaunt) 96 83.

 Hacienda del Alamo championship
Par 216 (3x72)
Ladies
215 Amber Ratcliffe (Royal Cromer) 68 74 73.
219 Bronte Law (Bramhall) 73 74 72.
236 Lauren Blease (Coombe Hill) 79 74 83; Daisy Dyer (Chigwell) 78 78 80.
U16 girls
227 Gabriella Cowley (West Essex) 76 78 73.
238 Alice Hewson (Berkhamsted)78 78 82.
240 Eloise Healey (Lee Park) 81 77 82.

U18 girls
233 Meghan Maclaren (Wellingborough), pictured left, 76 78 79.
236 Daisy-May Kenny (Cuddington) 74 80 82.
251 Katherine Carragher (John O'Gaunt) 82 83 86.


Lyndsey Hewison
Press and PR Officer
EWGA 

CRISTIE, SUZANN SIGN UP TO PLAY IN HSBC LPGA BRASIL CUP

NEWS RELEASE
Leading women professional golfers Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen say they’ve signed up for the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup because women’s golf needs to build its profile in the soccer-mad country to ensure its return to the Olympics is a success.
World No 3 Pettersen and No 4 Kerr have confirmed they will join defending champion Meaghan Francella of the USA in taking part in the event at the Itanhanga Golf Club in Rio De Janeiro on May 28/29 because with golf featuring in the 2016 Rio Games, the tournament has taken on huge added significance.
Pettersen, who was part of the official delegation that successfully presented golf’s case to the IOC in Copenhagen 16 months ago, believes the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup has a vital role in growing golf’s popularity in South America before it returns to the Olympic family for the first time since 1904.
The Norwegian player said: “We’re on a mission! Clearly, Rio 2016 is going to be a landmark, but we need to lay the foundations. That’s why it’s so important to be taking part in this year’s HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup. We need sports fans in Brazil to know who we are and how good we are and we need to build their desire to see us in five years’ time.
“We need to do it because it will build a stronger future for women’s golf. For me, the Olympics is something special and it has been a dream to take part in it. Its vision and ideas are something all of us can stand behind.”
Both golfers announced their commitment at the HSBC Women’s Champions event which concluded in Singapore yesterday.
Kerr said: “This is the biggest single opportunity that women’s golf has ever had! It’s not about who wins the gold medal in five years’ time; it’s about an opportunity to grow and expand the sport more than it has ever grown before. "We, as the current stars of women’s golf, will absolutely kick ourselves if, in 10 years time, we can’t look the new young professionals coming through in the eye and say we did everything we could to make being in the Olympics a success. That’s why we need to be in Rio now!”
HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship Giles Morgan added: “Golf, and women’s golf in particular, is going to change beyond recognition. You only have to look at how women’s tennis has increased its share of the spotlight since its return in the 1988 Olympics to understand that.
“Take Russia as an example, where sport revolves around the Olympics. Do you really think it would have all the stars like Vera Zvonareva or Maria Sharapova if tennis hadn’t got back in the Olympics?
“The HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup may be a smaller scale event than a mainstream LPGA tournament, but it’s serving a very important role creating a foothold for golf in a country that doesn’t have a high-profile heritage in the sport and doing some of the groundwork for Rio 2016.
“Olympic status will give the sport a huge shot in the arm; once we get past London 2012 from a financial perspective it will represent millions of dollars for women’s golf through TV rights, sponsorship and funding from governments and National Olympic Committees. It’s going to take the sport to a much broader audience and into country’s that haven’t previously embraced golf.
“Rio will be the focus of international attention for the next five years and this has really elevated the importance of the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup – it’s great news for us as a sponsor, great news for the sport and great news for Brasil.” The HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup takes place at Itanhanga Golf Club, Rio de Janeiro on May 28 and 29. The purse is $720,000 and the field is made up of 30 players.

Border Ladies Website

Border Ladies have a new website www.borderladies.blogspot.com.  I've changed the link under the list of counties in the index on the left.
Gill