MEGHAN MACLAREN SCORES THIRD WIN OF FRESHMAN YEAR IN AMERICA

    MEGHAN MACLAREN, challenging for Vagliano Trophy team place at Chantilly in June        Image by courtesy of Leaderboard Photography

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
With the bulk of last year's victorious Curtis Cup team having turned professional, a lot of places are up for grabs in the GB and I nine-strong line-up for the Vagliano Trophy match against the holders, the Continent of Europe, at Chantilly Golf Club, near Paris at the end of June.
If the selectors are following events on the US college scene, then young Meghan MacLaren, a freshman student at Florida International University, must have forced herself into the reckoning by scoring a third win of the 2012-2013 college season.
The latest came today at the end of the three-day Sun Belt Conference Championship at the quaintly named Muscle Schoals, Alabama.
Meghan, a member at Wellingborough Golf Club, shot 71-68-73 for a four-under-par total of 212 over a 6203yd course with a par of 72.
She won by two strokes from Olivia Love (Middle Tennessee) (72-70-72) with Kirsten Golightly (South Alabama) third on 216 (74-73-69.
Then came Meghan's Florida International team-mate Sophie Godley, also a freshman, from Notts with rounds of 78, 69 and 71 for 218.
Alison Knowles (Louisiana-Monroe), another impressive freshman, from Mexborough, South Yorkshire, finished T6 on 221 with scores of 73-74-74.
Also on 221 was Abigail Laker (Arkansas State), a freshman from Oxfordshire, with scores of 75-77-69.
Melissa Sivert (Georgia State) finishes T23 on 230 (77-80-73).
Welsh international Anna Carling (Arkansas State) from Vale of Glamorgan shot 84-72-78 for a T32 finish on 234.
Georgina Mundy (North Texas), a freshman from Southampton, was also on the 234 mark with scores of 76, 84 and 74.  
And, finally, Katie Reid (Arkansas-Little Rock, from Dundee, finished T42 in a field of 55 competitors. She scored 81-78-77 for 236.
Florida University also won the team title which means they qualiy for the next stage of the road to the NCAA championship finals - the "Regionals" in May.         

        ALISON KNOWLES .. won by three shots

FRESHMAN ALISON SCORES FIRST WIN 
Alison Knowles (Louisiana-Monroe), a freshman from Mexborough, South Yorkshire, scored her first win at the Samford University Women's Intercollegiate tournament at Hoover Country Club, Alabama on April 8/9.
Over a par-72 course of 6271yd, Alison had rounds of 72-76-75 for a total of 223 and a three-stroke victory over a field of 59 players.l
Louisiana-Monroe and Samford tied for the team title at the head of a field of 11 teams.  

                        STEPH PEARETH

WIN NUMBER 2 FOR STEPH PEARETH

Steph Peareth from Durham, a third-year student at Concord University, West Virginia, was a third English-born winner on the US women's circuit this month.
Stephen headed a field of 95 players at the NC4K Collegiate Classic at Cumberland Trail Golf Club, Pataskala, Ohio on April 7/8.
She had rounds of 82-70 for 152 over a par-72 course of 5956yd.
As you will have gathered from the scoring, the weather was awful for the first round.
It was Stephen's second US win. The first was during the 2011-12 college season when she was a student at Pfeiffer University.    

Other good performances by English students in the States earlier this month:
Elizabeth Haydock (Old Dominion), a junior from Birmingham, finished second with scores of 77-73-70 for four-over 220 in the UNCW SeaHawk Classic at River Landing CC, Wallace, North Carolina. She finished two shots behind winner Fanny Cnops (UNCG (74-72-72 for 218).
Kimberley Bradbury (also Old Dominion and a junior from Buxton) and Melissa Siviter (Georgia State), a junior from the West Midlands, tied for 13th place in this event on the 230 mark. Kimberley scored 79-74-74, Melissa 76-78-76.
Charlotte Hindmoor, a third Old Dominion student (freshman from Darlington), finished T34 in a field of 74 with scores of 79-78-79.
Old Dominion (917) won the team title ahead of Georgia State (919) in a field of 14 teams.     

ALSO:
Jessica Bradley (Lynn University), a sophomore from North Devon, finished seventh in a field of 64 at the Bash at the Beach women's college competition over the LPGA International Legends course at Daytona Beach.
Jessica scored 81-75 for 156, finishing seven shots behind the winner, Patrizia Trevisan (Bethune-Cookman) (76-73 for 149.  

AND: 
Hayley Davis (Baylor), a sophomore from Dorset, came second in the Rebel Intercollegiate over the Ole Miss University course at Oxford, Mississippi.
Hayley scored 67-69-73 for seven-under-par 209 over a par-73 course of 6313 but was pipped by one shot by Jessica Alexander (Coastal Carolina) (70-67-71 for 208).
Other Brits in this field:
Gemma Bradbury from Aberdeen (junior at Tulane University) and Lauren Taylor from Rugby (freshman at Baylor) finished T28 on 224, Gemma with 80-73-71 and Lauren with 76-75-73.
Sian Evans (East Tennessee State), a junior from Gillingham finished T65 in the field of 96 players with scores of 81-75-76 for 232.

FINALLY:
Abby Gittings (Nova Southeastern), a senior from Warwickshire, finished eighth in a field of 80 at the Hoya Women's Invitational at the Members Club, Beallsville in Maryland.
Over a par-72 course of 6125yd, Abby scored three rounds of 76 for 228 - 13 behind the winner, Harin Lee (St John's) (73-33-69 for 215).
Rachel Lewis, a team-mate of Abby Gitting, finished T29 on 233 with rounds of 79, 78 and 76.