KRAFT NABISCO - FIRST WOMEN'S PRO MAJOR OF THE SEASON

CATRIONA MATTHEW FIGHTS BACK TO

SALVAGE A PAR 72 FROM FOUR-OVER

Scotland's Catriona Matthew, starting at the 10th in the Kraft Nabisco, the first lady pro major of 2014, was two over par after 10 holes which was a bit of a recovery from four over par after only five holes.
She had a double bogey 6 at the 13th and another double bogey 6 at the 15th on the Mission Hills Country Club course at Rancho Mirage, California.

Then Matthew, pictured, started to claw back the shots she had dropped. 
The North Berwick player birdied the short 17th and then birdied the long 18th to cover her first nine holes in two-over 38.
The former Ricoh Women's British Open champion then covered her second nine holes (the outward half on the course) in two under par 34 with no bogeys and birdies at the fourth and seventh.
Catriona covered her last 11 holes in four under par - great stuff from Lady Braveheart!

The Scot will start the second round in tied 21st place.
Charley Hull had an opening round of one-over-par 73, seven behind the leader Chinese amateur Shanshan Feng with a six-under-par 66.
Some big names are quite well behind that super score - Stacy Lewis and Lydia Ko, like Charley Hull, on 73.
Yorkshire's Jodi Ewart Shadoff is T70 after a 76.
Kent-born Australian Lindsey Wright had a nightmare start of 80 and Spain's Beatriz Recari fared even worse. She had an 81.


FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 72. Players from USA unless stated
66 Shanshan Feng (China) (am)
67 Se Ri Pak (S Korea), Michelle Wie
68 Angel Yin (am), Amy Yang (S Korea)
69 Jennifer Rosales (Philippines), Cristie Kerr, Jiyai Shin (S Korea)

70 Tiffany Joh, Haeji Kang (S Korea), So Yeon Ryu (S Korea), Chella Choi (S Korea), Morgan Pressel.

SELECTED SCORES
71 Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), Caroline Hedwall (Sweden) (T14)
72 Catriona Matthew (Scotland), Azahara Munoz (Spain), Paula Creamer, Sandra Gal (Germany) (T21)
73 Caroline Masson (Germany), Jessica Korda, Stacy Lewis, Lydia Ko (NZ), Charley Hull (England), Pernilla Lindberg (Sweden), Karrie Webb (Australia), Carlota Ciganda (Spain), Lexi Thompson (T29)
76 Jodi Ewart Shadoff (England) (T70).
80 Lindsey Wright (Australia)
81 Beatriz Recari (Spain)

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ANOTHER BIG NAME FOR PAUL LAWRIE GC CIRCUIT OPENING EVENT 2014

CARLY BOOTH TO MAKE DEBUT ON 

LADIES TARTAN TOUR AT FAIRMONT

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Carly Booth is the latest star name to enter the Paul Lawrie Ladies' Tartan Tour 36-hole season-opener over the Torrance Course at Fairmont St Andrews on April 14-15.
The 21-year-old, who is now based at Marbella, Spain, will come down from the family
home in the Perthshire hills at Comrie, to play alongside the likes of past Solheim Cup
players Trish Johnson and Becky Brewerton.
Carly said: "I live at Marbella nowadays. I was planning to be home to spend some time with my family for a couple weeks before going to spend 10 days in Miami, practising with my boyfriend (Tano Goya, a pro golfer from Argentina).
"His coach is based there at Doral. So the Paul Lawrie Ladies Tartan Tour  event worked in quite nicely with my schedule.
"I've been working with a new coach, Luke Ringrose, who is based in London so it will be a good event to see how the swing changes are progressing before my next LET event in Turkey.
"I'm looking forward to playing at the Fairmont, I enjoy the course and will be nice to get back on the links.
"My goals are just to keep working hard on all aspects of my game, making some changes for the better so I can find my winning form again."
Carly's form has dipped since she followed up success on the Ladies European Tour's developmental circuit, LETAS, with two wins in 2012 - the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Ladies Open at Archerfield and the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open.
So her form at Fairmont St Andrews will be a pointer to whether Carly is on the road back
to the top.
Carly, Michele Thomson and Sally Watson, three of the four Scots in the 2008 Curtis Cup match at St Andrews, will be meeting up again. The fourth, Krystle (Caithness) Faulkner has retired from competitive golf.
Other former Curtis Cup players in the field are Vikki Laing, Heather Stirling, Kiran Matharu and Amy Boulden as well as Johnson and Brewerton.
Scottish-based stalwarts Pamela Feggans, Katy McNicoll, Kelsey MacDonald, Laura Murray, Heather MacRae and Vikki Laing will also be in a field of more than 30 players contesting a £6,000 event with a first prize of £2,500.
Alyson McKechin (Elderslie), who defends her Scottish women's amateur championship at Prestwick Golf in May, is one of the low-handicap amateurs in the field. Under the Rules of Amateur status she cannot win a prize voucher with a value in excess of £500.    
+Tour Director Nicola Melville will accept late entries for the Fairmont St Andrews event, especially if she is left with an "odd" two-ball in the draw.
PGA members only can enter online through the PGA in Scotland website.
Non-PGA members and amateurs have to phone their entries to the PGA in Scotland HQ at Gleneagles.
Telephone number is:  01764 661840