BRITISH AMATEUR CHAMPION STEPHANIE MEADOW ADDS TO NORTHERN IRELAND SUCCESS STORY

Curtis Cup team heroine at Nairn at the beginning of the month, Stephanie Meadow chalked up another success story on a Scottish links today (Saturday). The 20-year-old from Jordanstown, Northern Ireland - a student at the University of Alabama - won the British women's open amateur golf championship at Carnousie by beating Spanish 18-year-old Rocio Sanchez Lobato from Marbella and the University of Georgia by 4 and 3 in under three hours. Stephanie, who has lived with her parents in the States since she was 15, thus adds another victory to the Northern Ireland golfing bandwagon. And Royal Portrush Golf Club can claim to have both the British amateur championship winners on their membership roll - Alan Dunbar won the men's title at Royal Troon the week before last.  The last Northern Irish player to win the British women's amateur title was Maureen Madill at Nairn in 1979. The last player from Ireland to be British women's open amateur champion was Lilian Behan from The Curragh in 1985.  The 20-year-old from Jordanstown, a student at the University of Alabama and No 20 in the World Amateur Rankings, was three up after only six holes against her 19-year-old Spanish opponent, Rocio Sanchez Lobato from Marbella and the University of Georgia, ranked No 193. Both players started a shade nervously and took three shots apiece to reach the putting surface at the first hole. But Meadow rammed home her 8ft putt to win the hole with a par 4. She doubled her lead with another par at the second and after a half in birdies at the third, Meadow surged three up with a birdie 3 at the fourth. The Spanish girl got on the scoreboard at the fifth, winning that hole to cut her deficit to two. Meadown was bunkered off the tee at the fifth. But the confident Meadow, with her dad Robert as her caddie, was not to be denited. She won both the sixth and seventh with par figures to be four up on the eighth tee. Lobato was almost out of bounds off the tee at the sixth and completely mishit her third. Lobato was not ready to throw in the towel, however. She hit back with a birdie 2 at the short eighth to be three down. The ninth was halved in pars, leaving Meadow in the strong position of three up at leathe turn. After a half at the 10th, Meadow went four up with her third birdie of the round at the 11th. Again her Spanish opponent countered with a winning birdie, at the 12th to pull Stephanie back again to a three-hole lead. Meadow birdied the short 13th, almost holing her tee shot with an eight-iron, to be four up with five to play. A half in birdie 4s followed by a half in par 4s and it was all over - Stephanie Meadow was British champion. "I'm having a fantastic time of my life. In America we (Alabama University) won the women's national title - then I came over to help GB and I win back the Curtis Cup - and now this," said Stephanie. "I couldn't have done it without my mum and dad moving everything, including me, to America in 2006. I've had so many good coaches, including Hank Hainey. "I started this tournament slowly and had to go to the 22nd to survive in one of the earlier rounds but I felt I got better and better as the week wore on. "Carnoustie's championship links take a bit of getting used to but I felt that in the final I really got to grips with it. I was about three or four under par and you cannot ask for more than that in the final of a championship like this." One bonus of her Carnoustie win is that she gets a place in the Ricoh Women's British Open championship at Hoylake in September. Results: SEMI-FINALS Rocio Sanchez Lobato (Spain) bt Perrine Delacour (France) 2 holes. Stephanie Meadow (Royal Portrush) bt Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak) 3 and 2. FINAL (18 holes) Meadow bt Lobato 4 and 3.

STEPHANIE MEADOW GETS OFF TO FLIER IN CARNOUSTIE FINAL

 Rocio Sanchez Lobato, LGU president and starter Jill Edwards, and Stephanie Meadow before this afternoon's final at Carnoustie. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

LATER NEWS: Meadow three up at the turn

Stephanie Meadow, bidding to add yet another triumph to the Northern Ireland golf bandwaggon, got off to a flier in the British women's open amateur championship final at Carnoustie where, for the first time this week, it was dry, sunny and almost warm in the afternoon for the 18-hole final.
Meadow, 20-year-old from Royal Portrush via the University of Alabama, won three of the first four holes against her opponent, surprise finalist, Rocio Sanchez Lobato from Marbella and the University of Georgia.
Stephanie, ranked No 20 in the world to Lobato's 193rd rating, won the first by holing an 8ft putt for a par 4 after both had taken three shots to make the putting surface.
 A par at the second was good enough to put Meadow two up and after a half at the third, she birdied the fourth to be three up.
The Spanish girl got her game going belatedly and won the fifth to be two down on the sixth tee.
 Lobato lost the sixth after almost driving out of bounds and duffing her third shot.
That put Meadown three up and she increased her lead to four at the seventh with a par 4.
The Spanish girl won the short eighth with a birdie 2 but halved the ninth to be three down at the turn.
The 10th was also halved.

IT'S STEPHANIE MEADOW v ROCIO SANCHEZ LOBATO FOR BRITISH WOMEN'S TITLE

 On the first tee at Carnoustie before this morning's second semi-final (left to right) Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak), LGU president and championship starter Jill Edwards, and Stephanie Meadow (Royal Portrush). Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency

This afternoon's 109th British women's open amateur championship final will be contested by Northern Ireland's 20-year-old Curtis Cup player Stephanie Meadow from Jordanstown and the University of Alabama, and 19-year-old Spanish "dark horse" - she's actually blonde! - Rocio Sanchez Lobato from Marbella and the University of Georgia.
In this morning's semi-finals, Lobato scored an upset win over France's Perrine Delacour by two holes while Meadow ended the bid by 16-year-old Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak GC, Dorset) to replace Lauren Taylor (Woburn), last year's title winner at Royal Portrush, as the youngest ever winner of this prestigious championship.
Meadow, never behind after winning the first hole with a bogey 5, won by 3 and 2.
Sanchez Lobato, ranked No 193 in the world to Delacour's No 25 beat the 18 year old winner of the 2009 British girls championship by two holes, clinching the victory with an 8ft birdie putt on the last green.
Meadow is ranked No 20 in the world so will start favourite this afternoon to become the first Northern Ireland player to win this title since Maureen Madill at Nairn in 1979. The last Irish player to be British women's open amateur champion was Lilian Behan from The Curragh in 1985.

CATRIONA INSIDE TOP TEN AT WALLMART NW ARKANSAS

Catriona Matthew is lying T9 with a two-under-par 71 in the first round of the LPGA Tour's Wallmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers in Arkansas.
The North Berwick player is four behnd leader Verionica Felibert.
Becky Morgan is the next best Brit on 70 (T19) with Jodi Ewart in danger of missing the cut after a 73 for T76 position.
Janice Moodie is even farther back afer a 74 for T98

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES ON THE LPGA TOUR WEBSITE

CLICK HERE

SYMETRA TOUR (formerly Futures Tour) SCOREBOARD

First round scores in the Symetra Tour's
$110,000 Island Resort Championship
at the 6286-yard, par 36-36 - 72 Sweetgrass Golf Club,
Harris, Mich. (a-denotes amateur):

1    Aimee Neff (Carmel, Ind.)                               35-35 - 70
     Courtney Massey (Gold Coast, Australia)                 34-36 - 70
     Laura Martin (West Chester, Ohio)                       35-35 - 70
     Michelle Shin (Cape Coral, Fla.)                        34-36 - 70

5    Emma Jandel (Dayton, Ohio)                              36-35 - 71
     Allison Hanna (Portland, Ore.)                          36-35 - 71
     Laura Kueny (Whitehall, Mich.)                          36-35 - 71
     Victoria Elizabeth (Dayton, Ohio)                       36-35 - 71

9    Natalie Sheary (West Hartford, Conn.)                   35-37 - 72
     Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia)                         34-38 - 72
     Jaclyn Sweeney (Bradenton, Fla.)                        35-37 - 72
     Courtney Mahon (Lee's Summit, Mo.)                      36-36 - 72
     Nicole Jeray (Berwyn, Ill.)                             36-36 - 72
     Tzu-Chi Lin (Chinese Taipei)                            37-35 - 72
     Therese Koelbaek (Holte, Denmark)                       35-37 - 72
     Mitsuki Katahira (Tokyo, Japan)                         36-36 - 72
     Birdie Kim (Seoul, South Korea)                         39-33 - 72
     Jasi Acharya (Columbus, Mont.)                          37-35 - 72

19   Rhea Nair (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)                 36-37 - 73
     Lisa Meldrum (Montreal, Quebec)                         37-36 - 73
     P.K. Kongkraphan (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand)          36-37 - 73
     Leah Wigger (Louisville, Ky.)                           38-35 - 73
     Jenny Suh (Fairfax, Va.)                                37-36 - 73
     Melissa Eaton-Jackson (Port Shepstone, S. Africa)       33-40 - 73
     Rachel Connor (Manchester, England)                     37-36 - 73
     Hannah Jun (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.)                   39-34 - 73
     Julia Boland (Tamworth, NSW, Australia)                 37-36 - 73
     Jackie Barenborg (Vero Beach, Fla.)                     37-36 - 73
     Alice H. Kim (Walnut, Calif.)                           37-36 - 73

30   Macarena Silva (Santiago, Chile)                        37-37 - 74
     Carling Coffing (Middletown, Ohio)                      36-38 - 74
     Alexandra Braga (Pleasanton, Calif.)                    36-38 - 74
     Hanna Kang (Seoul, South Korea)                         39-35 - 74
     Kimberly Kim (Hilo, Hawaii)                             36-38 - 74
     Jessi Gebhardt (Bellingham, Wash.)                      35-39 - 74
     Cathryn Bristow (Auckland, New Zealand)                 37-37 - 74
     Angela Buzminski (Oshawa, Ontario)                      37-37 - 74
     Jamie Hullett (Mesquite, Texas)                         35-39 - 74
     Ginger Howard (Bradenton, Fla.)                         39-35 - 74
     Gloriana Soto (San Jose, Costa Rica)                    36-38 - 74
     Paula Hurtado (Medellin, Colombia)                      38-36 - 74
     Amy Eneroth (Spokane, Wash.)                            40-34 - 74

43   Alexandra Casi (East Palestine, Ohio)                   39-36 - 75
     Ashley Tait (Littleton, Colo.)                          38-37 - 75
     Danielle Mills (Pointe-Claire, Quebec)                  38-37 - 75
     Marissa Steen (West Chester, Ohio)                      37-38 - 75
     Tracy Stanford (Midland, Texas)                         41-34 - 75
     Nicole Smith (Riverside, Calif.)                        39-36 - 75
     Emma De Groot (Coffs Harbour, Australia)                37-38 - 75
     Sue Kim (Langley, British Columbia)                     36-39 - 75
     Martina Gavier (Cordoba, Argentina)                     40-35 - 75
     Mi Hyang Lee (Incheon, South Korea)                     38-37 - 75
     Alejandra Llaneza (Mexico City, Mexico)                 39-36 - 75
     Stacey Miller (Bloomington, Ill.)                       38-37 - 75
     Lauren Doughtie (Suffolk, Va.)                          38-37 - 75
     Blair O'Neal (Scottsdale, Ariz.)                        37-38 - 75
     Kristin Ingram (Pasadena, Calif.)                       38-37 - 75
     Shasta Averyhardt (Flint, Mich.)                        39-36 - 75
     Annie Miles (Dublin, Ohio)                              37-38 - 75
     Tara Goedeken (Dodge City, Kan.)                        37-38 - 75

61   Kelly Jacques (Longmont, Colo.)                         37-39 - 76
     Inhong Lim (Melbourne, Australia)                       41-35 - 76
     Carly Werwie (Kenosha, Wis.)                            36-40 - 76
     Thidapa Suwannapura (Bangkok, Thailand)                 39-37 - 76
     Jean Chua (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)                      40-36 - 76
     Sara Maude Juneau (Quebec, Canada)                      39-37 - 76
     Kristie Smith (Perth, Australia)                        39-37 - 76
     Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Jersey, Channel Islands UK)      39-37 - 76
     Kendall Wright (Orlando, Fla.)                          38-38 - 76
     Seul-Ki Park (Northbrook, Ill.)                         38-38 - 76
     Kristin Walla (Aspen, Colo.)                            38-38 - 76
     Laura Bavaird (Grosse Ile, Mich.)                       37-39 - 76
     Katie Kempter (Albuquerque, N.M.)                       39-37 - 76
     Hye-Joo Han (Seoul, South Korea)                        38-38 - 76

75   Nina Rodriguez (San Jose, Calif.)                       43-34 - 77
     Maiya Tanaka (San Diego, Calif.)                        38-39 - 77
     Maria Laura Elvira (Buenos Aires, Argentina)            36-41 - 77
     Megan McChrystal (Stuart, Fla.)                         42-35 - 77
     Laura Crawford (Lancaster, S.C.)                        36-41 - 77
     Sara Brown (Tucson, Ariz.)                              39-38 - 77
     Tiffany Tavee (Tempe, Ariz.)                            40-37 - 77
     Dolores White (Lakeland, Fla.)                          38-39 - 77
     Rachel Ingram (Benton, Tenn.)                           36-41 - 77
     Selanee Henderson (Temecula, Calif.)                    39-38 - 77
     Whitney Neuhauser (Charlottesville, Va.)                37-40 - 77
     Jenny Kim (La Quinta, Calif.)                           37-40 - 77
     Sara Hurwitch (Union, Ky.)                              40-37 - 77

88   Marina Choi (Los Angeles, Calif.)                       41-37 - 78
     Jessica Carafiello (Coral Springs, Fla.)                40-38 - 78
     Brittany Kelly (Fishers, Ind.)                          41-37 - 78
     Christina Jones (Jensen Beach, Fla.)                    39-39 - 78
     Carrie Riordan (Spring Valley, Ill.)                    38-40 - 78
     Victoria Alimonda Lovelady (Sao Paulo, Brazil)          38-40 - 78
     Alexandria Buelow (Palm City, Fla.)                     41-37 - 78
     Victoria Park (Chungjoo, South Korea)                   41-37 - 78
     Jessica Speechley (Perth, Australia)                    38-40 - 78
     Paz Echeverria (Santiago, Chile)                        38-40 - 78
     Saehee Son (Seoul, South Korea)                         40-38 - 78
     Britney Hamilton (Lake Orion, Mich.)                    36-42 - 78
     Ulrika Van-Niekerk (Cape Town, South Africa)            41-37 - 78
     Ki-Shui Liao (Windermere, Fla.)                         38-40 - 78
     Joanna Coe (Mays Landing, N.J.)                         41-37 - 78
     Dawn Shockley (Estes Park, Colo.)                       37-41 - 78

104  Brittany Benvenuto (Langhorne, Pa.)                     38-41 - 79
     Taylor Collins (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)                   40-39 - 79
     Erika Malik (Hinsdale, Ill.)                            40-39 - 79
     Juliana Murcia Ortiz (Bogota, Colombia)                 39-40 - 79
     Joy Trotter (Chino Hills, Calif.)                       41-38 - 79
     Yu-Ling Hsieh (Chinese Taipei)                          39-40 - 79
     Calle Nielson (Nashville, Tenn.)                        39-40 - 79
     Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash.)                           40-39 - 79
     Stacey Bieber (Winnipeg, Manitoba)                      42-37 - 79
     Rachael Schmidt (Elk River, Minn.)                      37-42 - 79

114  Susan Martin (Norcross, Ga.)                            38-42 - 80
     Kirby Dreher (Fort St. John, B.C.)                      41-39 - 80
     Britney Choy (Wahiawa, Hawaii)                          39-41 - 80
     Stefanie Kenoyer (Lighthouse Point, Fla.)               38-42 - 80
     Lili Alvarez (Durango, Mexico)                          41-39 - 80
     Erica Moston (Belmont, Calif.)                          39-41 - 80
     Fiona Puyo (Epernay, France)                            39-41 - 80
     Elise Swartout (Ann Arbor, Mich.)                       42-38 - 80
     Peiyun Chien (Pingtung, Taiwan)                         37-43 - 80

123  Molly Aronsson (Shelburne, Vt.)                         39-42 - 81
     Mary Narzisi (Omaha, Neb.)                              45-36 - 81
     Abby Bools (Hickory, N.C.)                              40-41 - 81
     Daniela Iacobelli (Viera, Fla.)                         39-42 - 81
     Brittany Johnston (Akron, Ohio)                         40-41 - 81
     Valentine Derrey (Paris, France)                        40-41 - 81
     Allison Duncan (Indianapolis, Ind.)                     42-39 - 81
     Kristin Vincent (Burlington, N.C.)                      42-39 - 81
     Renee Skidmore (Everett, Wash.)                         40-41 - 81
     Jennifer Hong (Granger, Ind.)                           40-41 - 81

133  Sarah Brown (Whitehall, Pa.)                            40-42 - 82
     Cara Freeman (Chandler, Arizona)                        41-41 - 82
     Andy Jun (Asuncion, Paraguay)                           40-42 - 82

136  Jae Oh (Jeju, South Korea)                              42-41 - 83
     Jessy Tang (Daytona Beach, Fla.)                        42-41 - 83
     Rebecca Samuelsson (Gothenburg, Sweden)                 40-43 - 83

139  Susan Nam (Edmonton, Alberta)                           44-40 - 84
     Mayule Tomimbang (Kissimmee, Fla.)                      40-44 - 84

141  Carley Saint-Onge (a) (Marquette, Mich.)                40-45 - 85

142  Rebecca Durham (St. Simons Island, Ga.)                 41-45 - 86

 ------------------
Erika Ilagan (Cypress, Calif.)                          WD
Angel Sze (San Marino, Calif.)                          WD