SCOTS' DAY OF WOE - ONLY VIKKI SURVIVES CUT

By COLIN FARQUHARSON  Colin@scottishgolfview.com Only Vikki Laing of the five Scots involved survived the fourth-round cut to the leading 60 and ties at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School final stage at Marrakech, Morocco. The Musselburgh player, after a 73 at the Al Maaden course for six-under-par 282, is lying joint 26th as the 66 qualifiers go forward to the final round at Al Maaden, at the end of which the top 30 and ties will gain playing rights on the 2013 Ladies European Tour. But on  a day of woe for the other Scots, Heather MacRae, Kelsey MacDonald, Pamela Feggans and Katy McNicoll all failed to beat the cut at the unusually low figure of one-under-par 287. Dunblane's MacRae, a Gleneagles staff pro, shot a 73 for 288 to miss out agonisingly by one shot after starting the tournament with a 68 and being up with the leaders. Heather had the proverbial mountain to climb after a nervous start to her fourth round which saw her bogey the second, fifth and sixth to be three over par to the turn. But, give MacRae her due, she almost pulled the fat out of the fire with a two-under inward half of 34 in which she birdied the 10th, 12th, 14th and 18th. Bogeys at the 11th and 17th meant the difference between qualifying by one and failing by one. Stirling student MacDonald, a member at Nairn Dunbar GC and still an amateur golfer, missed out by three shots on two-over-par 290 with a fourth-round 76 - by far her worst of the four days - at the Amelkis course. A double bogey 5 at the short third must have unsettled Kelsey because she went on to bogey the eighth, 10th and 12th. Even a birdie at the 11th could not repair the damage. She parred the last six holes with none of her birdie putts dropping when she needed them most. Carnoustie's Katy McNicoll finished with her best round of the competition - a three-under 69 at Amelkis but it was too little too late. She finished on 290 alongside MacDonald and Ayrshire's Feggans who signed off with a 73 at Amelkis. Feggans birdied the third and the long 18th but it was the three bogeys between these highlights  at the fourth, 15th and 16th - that sank her hopes. Sixteen-year-old Charley Hull (Woburn), still an amateur, and rookie pro Holly Clyburn from Cleethorpes - two members of the winning GB and I team in the Curtis Cup match at Nairn last June - qualified for the final round. Now they have to fight their way into the finishing top 30 But Curtis Cup team-mates Amy Boulden from Wales and Kelly Tidy from Lancashire did not. Boulden has retained her amateur status but English amateur champion Tidy turned pro before the Q School. Thailand teenage amateur Ariya Jutanugarn leads the field with a brilliant tally of 21-under-par 267, having scored eight-under-64 at Amelkis and seven-under 65 at Al Maaden in her last two rounds. Ariya, whose sister Moriya (a former R and A Junior Open champion), was joint winner of the recent LPGA Tour Q School, leads by three from England amateur Emily Taylor (Royal Lytham and St Annes) who had a 67 at Amelkis for 270. LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR FINAL QUALIFYING SCHOOL Marrakech, Morocco LEADING FOURTH-ROUND SCORES +66 players with totals of 287 and better qualified for the final round. 267 Ariya Jutanugarn (Thai) (am) 68 70 64 65 270 Emily Taylor (Eng) (am) 69 66 68 67 272 Bonita Bredenhann (Nam) 71 70 64 67 274 Camilla Lennarth (Swe) 70 65 73 66 275 Nikki Campbell (Aus) 66 71 69 69 SELECTED SCORES 280 Charley Hull (Eng) (am) 69 70 70 71 (T19) 281 Charlotte Ellis (Eng) 73 67 70 71 (T23) 282 Vikki Laing (Sco) 69 73 67 73 (T26) 285 Holly Clyburn (Eng) 70 70 70 75 (T38) 286 Cheyenne Woods (US) 71 68 74 73, Eleanor Givens (Eng) 73 67 71 75, Danielle McVeigh (Ire) 74 66 76 70 (T46) 287 Eleanor Pilgrim (Wal) 74 73 69 71 (T58) MISSED THE CUT 288 Amy Boulden (Wal) (am) 72 72 72 72, Heather MacRae (Sco) 68 76 71 73 (T67). 289 Charlotte Wild (Eng) 73 73 73 70, Hannah Ralph (Eng) 70 72 77 70 (T77) 290 Kelsey MacDonald (Sco) (am) 71 72 71 76, Katy McNicoll (Sco) 75 71 75 69, Kiran Matharu (Eng) 74 71 76 69, Pamela Feggans (Sco) 72 70 75 73  (T84) 291 Lucy Davies (Eng) 72 70 76 73 (T92) 292 Charlie Douglass (Eng) 74 74 75 69 (T101) 294 Kirsty S Taylor (Eng) 80 67 72 75 (T106) 298 Kelly Tidy (Eng) 78 72 76 72 (T126) 303 Rhian Wyn Thomas (Wal) 77 75 74 77 (T136) 309 Lucy Williams (Eng) 80 71 80 78 (140th)