SALLY WATSON AND THREE OF US CURTIS CUP TEAM ARE BEATEN IN US PUBLIC LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA

Neshanic Station, New Jersey – All three USA Curtis Cup players were dispatched in Thursday morning’s second-round matches at Neshanic Valley Golf Course in the 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. 

And Scotland's Sally Watson, pictured, who played for GB and I in the 2008 and 2010 Curtis Cup matches, was also eliminated. Next stop for Stanford University student Sally is Carnoustie and next week's British women's open amateur championship.

Sixteenth-hole heroics highlighted a second-round match between Alice Jeong, 17, of Gardena, Calif., and 2012 USA Curtis Cup player Lisa McCloskey, 20, of Houston, Texas.
Both eagled the short par-4, which was set at 259 yards. Jeong knocked in a 15-foot putt from the fringe for a 2. From the tee, McCloskey, the stroke-play qualifying medalist (leading qualifier), nearly holed out her 3-wood shot and then tapped in a 2-footer for a matching eagle. But it was too late. Jeong won the match on the next hole, 2 and 1.
When Emily Tubert , the 2010 WAPL champion, lost to 2008 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Doris Chen, 2 and 1, and Tiffany Lua, 21, of Rowland Heights, Calif., was ousted by Brittany Altomare, 21, of Shrewsbury, Mass., 3 and 2, all three USA Curtis Cup players went to the sidelines

Sally Watson, 20, was defeated by 2011 WAPL semi-finalist Annie Park, 3 and 1.

McCloskey was desolate after her defeat. “I had really good looks on the second nine and even on the first nine,” she said. “I should have made everything. I just couldn’t get my putter going.”
When Jeong birdied the 12th and 13th holes to go 3 up, McCloskey missed makeable birdie putts.
“If I just made those two putts, I felt like I had a chance to come back, but I missed those and I was pretty upset,” said McCloskey, who fired a 7-under-par 137 for 36 holes in qualifying. She has one college course to complete for a degree from the University of Southern California and will try to qualify for the LPGA Tour in the fall. She has filed an entry to play the U.S. Women's Amateur in August at The Country Club in Cleveland, but is still unsure if she'll compete.
Jeong is a relative newcomer to USGA national championships. She played in the 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior but missed the cut for match play. She faces Allyssa Ferrell, 20, of Edgerton, Wis., in a third-round match this afternoon. Ferrell won her second-round match in 19 holes over Dana Finkelstein.
Park, 17, of Levittown, N.Y., roared through the final holes of her match against Watson. Watson was 1 up after the 12th hole when Park made five straight birdies to win four holes on the way in. She closed out the match, 3 and 1, with a birdie-2 on the 17th.
Park’s success has mostly come in junior golf. She was an all-American on the American Junior Golf Association circuit in 2008 and 2009. She will play Altomare in the third round.
Allisen Corpuz of Honolulu, Hawaii, was one of four 14-year-olds who qualified for match play. She is now the only one remaining. Corpuz defeated Chieh Peng, 18, of Chinese Taipei, in the second round, 3 and 2. She faces Kim Kaufman, 20, of Clark, S.D., in the third round.
Rhonda Glenn is a manager of communications for the USGA. E-mail her at rglenn@usga.org. 

JANET MELVILLE IMPRESSIVE WINNER OF ENGLISH SENIOR WOMEN'S STROKE-PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

                                                 NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLAND GOLF
Nottinghamshire’s Janet Melville birdied her way to an impressive three-shot victory in the English senior women’s stroke play championship at Shifnal, Shropshire.  
She saved her best golf of the week to the last, returning the low score of the tournament with her final round of level par 72 – and playing the back nine in three-under. Janet’s superb homeward half  leapfrogged her over the 36-hole leader, Sue Dye of Cheshire, and secured her the trophy for the second time.  She finished three ahead of Sue and six clear of third-placed Lindsey Shaw of Derbyshire. She adds the title to her impressive collection, which includes three British ladies’ championships: the open, the strokeplay and the matchplay.
Janet, who previously won this title in 2008, said: “This one is very special. The steward and stewardess at Shifnal, Nick and Ann Peters, are both good friends and I came here for a practice round with their son, Ed, which was very helpful.” 
Janet and Ann Peters first met when they were fellow competitors in an English girls’ championship.
At the start of today’s third and final round – played mostly in a persistent drizzle -  Sue Dye held a two shot lead over both Janet and Lindsey.
Janet’s golf has been in good shape all season – she won the Midlands seniors’ championship a couple of weeks ago with a sub-par score – but, by her own account, she started nervily as she set about catching Sue. 
However, by the turn, Janet was just one shot behind and she caught her rival on the 11th, where her approach to the green finished within 3ft of the hole to set up her first birdie of the day.
The two, who were playing together in the final group, stayed on level terms over the next three holes. Janet broke the deadlock on the 15th with another birdie: “I was lucky, because I hit a tree with my tee shot but it came out and then I hit a really, really good shot into the green and holed the putt.”
A solid par four on the difficult, uphill 16th moved her further ahead, when Sue bogeyed the hole after catching a tree on her second shot.
Janet extended her lead to three shots with another birdie on the challenging par three 17th. Both players hit fine shots into the lower level of the green, where the pin was situated, but it was Janet’s ball which dropped into the cup for two. “I was just trying to get it close so it was a bonus!”
She sealed the title with a par on the last, with a very good up-and-down from a greenside bunker.
Sue, meanwhile, was not disappointed with her first English senior outing of the year. The former champion said: “I missed three birdie chances, all from inside 10ft, but Janet just played so well.”
Sue, from Delamere Forest, paired up with Gillian Mellor of Prestbury, to win the county team trophy for Cheshire. Gill Snelson of Branston, Staffordshire, won the over-65 trophy. 
+Picture of Janet Melville with the trophy reproduced by kind permission of England Golf.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3X72) CSS 74 74 76
224 Janet Melville (Sherwood Forest) 76 76 72
227 Sue Dye (Delamere Forest) 76 74 77
230 Lindsey Shaw (Chevin) 78 74 78
235 Amanda Mayne (Saltford) 74 80 81
236 Barbara Laird (Sandiway)  81 77 78, Christine Watson (Beaconsfield) 82 75 79, Katherine Russell (Royal Ashdown Forest), 78 78 80
237 Lulu Housman (Highgate) 83 75 79, Jackie Barraclough (East Bierley) 77 77 83 0 238 Felicity Christine (Woking Ladies') 77 81 80, Carolyn Kirk (Ganton) 76 81 81
239 Jo Rumsey (Rochford Hundred) 82 77 80, Gillian Mellor (Prestbury) 79 76 84
240 Barbara Woodham (Cobtree Manor Park) 76 81 83
241 Roz Adams (Addington Court Ladies') 77 84 80, Caron Harrison (Sherwood Forest) 74 86 81, Carol Cass (Broadstone) 80 80 81
243 Amanda Ryan (Caldy) 80 81 82, Caroline Berry (Bromborough) 81 79 83, Ruth Lindley (Hartlepool) 77 82 84

CURTIS CUP PLAYERS IN ENGLAND TEAM FOR EURO GIRLS' CHAMPIONSHIP

NEWS RELEASE FROM ENGLAND GOLF
Two of GB and I’s victorious Curtis Cup golfers are among the six players selected to represent England Golf in the European girls' team championship at St Leon-Rot Golf Club, Germany, from 10-14 July. Charley Hull (Woburn) and Bronte Law (Bramhall) will be joined by Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak), Elizabeth Mallett (Sutton Coldfield Ladies’), Emily Taylor (Hillside), and Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough).
Four of the players were members of the England team which won the silver medal at last year’s championship: Georgia Hall, Bronte Law, Elizabeth Mallett and Emily Taylor.
The players:
Charley Hull, 16, is the fifth ranked amateur in the world and the reigning English stroke-play champion. She and Bronte Law, 17, were members of the GB and I team which won the Curtis Cup earlier this month, for the first time in 16 years. Bronte was runner-up in the French lady junior championship earlier this season.
Georgia Hall, 16, was runner-up in the English amateur championship at Royal Birkdale in May; Elizabeth Mallett, 17, is a past English girls’ champion; Emily Taylor, 17, is the Irish strokeplay champion; and Meghan MacLaren, 18, won the U18 trophy at the French lady junior championship.
Georgia, Charley and Bronte were all members of England’s winning team at the 2011 ladies’ Home Internationals, while Georgia, Bronte, Emily, Elizabeth and Meghan were in the successful team at the girls’ Home Internationals. Lyndsey Hewison
 Press Officer
England Golf

The Scotland squad for the European girls' team championship is:

Lesley Atkins (Gullane Ladies)
Jessica Meek (Carnoustie Ladies)
Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies)
Rachel Walker (Dumfries and County)
Lauren Whyte (St Regulus)
Clara Young (North Berwick)

TWO-ROUND JUNIOR COMPETITION AT STRATHAVEN ON JULY 3

FROM ROBERT JAMIESON

Strathaven Golf Club

I was wondering if you would be willing to mention a junior competition that is being held at Strathaven next month.

We are holding the Ferguson Cup, a junior competition, on Tuesday, July 3 at Strathaven Golf Club.  It is a 36 hole tournament with a maximum handicap of 18.

The course is in excellent condition and would also give any of the players coming down to play in the Scottish Under-16 boys' championship two more rounds on the course.

The entry is £8 and the entries can be downloaded from the Strathaven Golf Club Website or if they want more details to phone the club on 01357 520421.

LESLEY NICHOLSON JOINS CLUBGOLF TEAM AS EAST MANAGER

                         LESLEY NICHOLSON ................... IMAGE BY ROB EYTON-JONES OF CLUBGOLF

 

ClubGolf, Scotland’s junior national development programme, welcomes former Scottish international and Ladies European Tour competitor, Lesley Nicholson, as its new East Regional Manager. 

An Active Schools Coordinator since she stopped playing full time in 2004, Nicholson brings extensive sports development skills and firsthand experience of ClubGolf’s schools programme.

“In my Active Schools role I've seen a huge number of children coming through ClubGolf in primary schools, getting the opportunities that before were never there in school,” said the  Musselburgh based ex Curtis Cup player.

ClubGolf’s remit goes far beyond introducing every Primary 5 child to golf.  Nicholson, Captain of the Scottish team that won the Women’s Home Internationals for the first time in 19 years in 2010, has seen ClubGolf hit its target of building a large pool of well coached youngsters from which more talented players will emerge. 

“Clara Young (North Berwick) is a classic case of someone from a golfing family coming all the way through the ClubGolf pathway from P5 spurred on to what she's doing today, which is representing GB& I and Scotland.  I'm sure she'll go on to bigger things,” she continued.

“And ClubGolf is making an impact right across the board. I have seen plenty of children from non golfing families who would never have had the opportunity before, that are getting involved in golf at clubs as a result of the schools game.  That's a massive positive for golf in Scotland, being able to reach thousands of kids each year that don't come from golfing families.”

ClubGolf has an extensive programme in the East of Scotland, the region managed previously by Laura Rushby.   Over 50 clubs in the Lothians and Scottish Borders now offer structured coaching through ClubGolf.  This term more than 80 percent of the region’s Primary 5 population, some 6000 children, will receive ClubGolf coaching.

Earlier this year the East region took a clean sweep of RBS Awards, Turnhouse Golf Club’s Iain Holt the winning volunteer and nearby Dundas Parks Golf Club the best junior club.

“The partnerships that Laura has worked really hard to make have made a massive improvement in increasing the numbers and the awareness,” said Nicholson.

“From personal experiences of ClubGolf in the East on the girls side, we have a really strong core group of girls who are really committed and consistently coming along to coaching and medals.  Some of them already are playing county level. 

“Looking at the results through we have a really good crop of youngsters, both boys and girls, which we will improve on and help get them to fulfil their potential.

Ironically, Nicholson has until now never worked in golf full time.  Having now finished her roles as Scottish Team Captain and East Lothian Ladies County Golf Association Junior Convenor she is relishing the opportunity to devote all her energy to ClubGolf.

“Golf has been my passion for my whole life, and after finishing the East Lothian and Scottish duties I can commit to ClubGolf.  It’s very exciting to be involved with my chosen sport and hopefully I can make an impression.

“I will work hard with the clubs that are already on board as well as trying to get more clubs to commit to being involved with the program as well, more PGA professionals on board and help more children make the transition from schools to the clubs.”

Welcoming Nicholson, ClubGolf Manager Jackie Davidson said:  “We are delighted to have someone with Lesley’s knowledge and expertise in golf joining the ClubGolf team.

“Her work experience with Active schools and already established enthusiasm for the programme will stand Lesley in good stead.  I have complete confidence in her ability to build on ClubGolf’s progress in the East of Scotland.”

   

by Rob Eyton-Jones