END OF AN ERA FOR FORMER TOP AMATEUR AND TOUR PRO

MURIEL THOMSON, MORE THAN 24 

YEARS AS PORTLETHEN CLUB PRO,

 TO RETIRE AT END OF YEAR


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Muriel Thomson, one of Scotland's leading golfers, first as an amateur and then a tournament professional, through the 1970s and 80s, is to retire at the end of December as Portlethen Golf Club's first and only professional since April 1990.

"It has been an amazing journey and it only seems like yesterday that the local paper was writing about me playing in the Scottish girls championships! I played cackhanded in those days," recalled Muriel, one of triplet daughters of the late "Chapper" Thomson, also a Murcar Links member and one of the founding administrators of the Scottish PGA's Tartan Tour.
"How fortunate I have been to be able to earn my living through doing what I enjoy the most. I have been very blessed to have been able to do that.
"I am now looking forward to spending my days out on my bicycle, tramping the hills (she has done all the Munros!), pottering about in my garden and growing my own veg, spending more time with the poor children in India, seeing friends and family and perhaps getting in the odd game of golf too."
Muriel, who worked in a bank until she turned pro in 1979 at the age of 24, had a stellar amateur golf career, winning the North of Scotland women's championship in 1973 and 74, and the Helen Holm Scottish women's open stroke-play in 1975 and 1976.
A Scotland amateur international from 1974-78, she played for Great Britain and  Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe in 1977 and then the Curtis Cup match in the United States the following year when she also
played in the world women's amateur team championship in Fiji.
Thomson, winner of the tour's order of merit in 1980 and 1983, won nine tournaments between 1979 and 1989 on the WPGA circuit, the forerunner of the present Ladies European Tour.
Had there been a Solheim Cup match in those days, she would have been a regular selection for the Europe team.
Muriel decided in the autumn of 1989 that she was "tired of living out of a suitcase." She had been playing competitive golf since her early teens and enough was enough.
She did not play in another tournament after the Women's British Open of 1989.
"The constant travelling as a tournament golfer eventually wore me down. My only
regret is that I did not make the decision to quit the playing side 18 months earlier as I no longer enjoyed tournament golf.
"I shall always be grateful to Portlethen Golf Club, a new club then, for giving me the chance to move my golf career in a different direction and rekindle my enthusiasm for the game through teaching it and running the club pro's shop as a business."

                           FLASHBACK TO APRIL 1990 .. Muriel's appointment as Portlethen 
                              Golf Club's first professional. Picture by Cal Carson Golf Agency

MERE GOLF CLUB MEMBER IN FINAL USA COLLEGE YEAR

HARRY HULME FROM MANCHESTER 

RUNNER-UP IN MASSACHUSETTS

Harry Hulme from Manchester and a member of Mere Golf Club, now a final-year student at Massachusetts-Lowell University, finished second in this week's NEIGA Championship Division 1 tournament at The Captain's Course, Port Brewster, Massachusetts.
Hulme, pictured, had rounds of 73 and 74 for 147 - one shot behind the winner, Matt Hills (Central Connecticut State) who had scores of 74 and 72.
Another English player on the Massachusetts-Lowell roster, second-year student Jonathan Burgin from Hampshire, finished 29th in a field of 35 players. He had rounds of 81 and 80 for 161.
Fairfield (601) won the team title ahead of Massachusetts-Lowell (607) in a field of six teams.

FRESHMAN FROM EAST SUSSEX

WICKS A WINNER FOR MIDLAND 

COLLEGE, TEXAS

David Wicks from East Sussex, a freshman student at Midland College, Texas, has scored his first tournament victory in America.
He shot a pair of 67s for 134 to win by two shots in the West Texas-New Mexico Championship at Gaines County golf course, Seminole.
Wicks won by two shots.
Midland also won the team event with a total of 567, eight shots ahead of runners-up Western Texas.
+Before he left for the States, David Wicks, a member at Sedlescombe Golf Club, won the Sussex men's county championship. He is picture above with the trophy.

US MEN'S COLLEGTE GOLF NEWS

TOP TEN FINISH BY GRANT FORREST

Former Scottish amateur champion Grant Forrest, in his final year as a student at San Diego

University, California, finished T7 in a field of 108 players at the Bill Cullum Invitational at Wood Ranch Golf Club, Simi Valley in California.
Forrest, pictured, had rounds of 69, 69 and 73 for a five-under-par total of 211 over the par-72 , 6819yd course.
The North Berwick player finished eight shots behind the winner by one, Jon Rahm (Arizona State (67-67-69 for 13-under 203).
Southern California (833) won the team title by 11 strokes. San Diego (868) finished seventh in a field of 20 teams.

NEWS OF ANOTHER WIN FOR ENGLISH STUDENT ON US COLLEGE CIRCUIT

JESSICA BRADLEY FROM DEVON 

SCORES FIFTH WIN IN USA

FROM THE LYNN UNIVERSITY WEBSITE

St. Augustine, Florida – There is little slowing down Jessica Bradley as the senior Lynn University women's golfer collected her 17^th consecutive top-10 finish and fifth US college tournament victory after taking first place individually at the Flagler Fall Slam.  
The Fighting Knights finished second out of 15 teams to end their fall season with three consecutive top-three finishes.
Bradley has now finished in the top-10 of a tournament a program-best 29 times in her career while her five medallist honours is also a school record.
The Bishops Nympton, North Devon, England, native shot a second-round, one-over par 73 at the Marsh Creek Country Club for a 145 total, just enough to hold off challenger Patricia Schmidt (146) of Armstrong State over a par-72 course of 6,062yd.
Lynn (606) held a four-shot lead heading into the final round, and even improved by two strokes from the previous day, but host Flagler (601) posted a tournament-low 293 to pick up the win.  Seminole State (614) held a firm grasp on third place with Armstrong (616) and Barry (624) rounding out the top-five.
The Fighting Knights concluded the fall season with one tournament victory, one runner-up finish and two top-five finishes. 
 They open their championship season on Sunday, February 8, 2015 at the World Golf Invitational in St. Augustine, Florida 

SOPHIE MAKES TOP SIX AT SAVANNAH

Sophie Olley, a final-year student from Leeds at Embry Riddle University, Florida, finished sixth in a field of 87 players at the NAIA Women's Preview tournament over 36 holes at Savannah Quarters Country Club, Pooler in Georgia.
Sophie, pictured above, scored 72-78 for 150 over a par-72 course of 6,010yd.
She finished 12 shots behind the winner by six, Elsa Westin (Northwood) (66-72 for six-under 138).

The other Brit on the Embry Riddle women's roster, Hannah Robb, pictured left, a third-year student from St Michael's Fife, finished T36 on 165 (80-85)
Northwood (605) won the team title in a tight finish with SCAD Savannah (606) with Indiana Tech (634) third and Embry Riddle (638) fourth in a field of 16 teams.

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR Q SCHOOL PRE-QUALIFYING

GEMMA TEES OFF WITH A SIX-OVER 78

Glasgow's Gemma Webster shot a six-over-par 78 to be lying T25 at the end of the first day's play in the Ladies' European Tour Q School pre-qualifier A over the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam course at Rabat.
Yet to be announced is the precise number of players who will go forward to the Final Q School.
Last year it was 18.
English-born, reared in Germany Olivia Cowan, playing as an amateur, leads the field by two shots with a three-under-par 69.
In second place is US-born Sophia Popov who lists Germany as her home country. Confused? So are we!
Sophia, who played on the US college circuit, had a 71.
Former British women's open amateur stroke play champion Sarah-Jone Boyd from the south-west of England is sharing third place on 72.

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

LPGA TAIWAN CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

INBEE AND SHANSHAN SHARE LEAD

 ON EIGHT-UNDER 64

FROM GOLF CHANNEL DIGITAL

China's Shanshan Feng and Inbee Park matched 8-under 64s to take the first-round lead in the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship, at the Miramar Golf Country Club in Taipei, Taiwan.
Amateur Ssu-Chi Cheng shot a 66 and was in a four-way tie for third.
Stacy Lewis was three shots back after a 67, one shot ahead of Michelle Wie.
So Yeon Ryu, the 2011 U.S. Women's Open winner, was on 59 watch after getting to 9 under par with eight birdies and an eagle against one bogey through 12 holes. 
But she parred the next four holes and bogeyed the par-3 17th. On the par-5 18th, she hit her tee shot into a hazard to the left of the fairway and missed  a 5-footer for bogey, falling two shots off the lead with a 66.
Laura Davies had a 71 to be sharing 35th place.
Yorkshire's Jodi Ewart Shadoff is in joint 45th place after a 72.

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

VERY WINDY CONDITIONS AT KINGSBARNS

GULLANE JUNIORS WIN SCOTLAND 

FINAL AND TRIP TO SPAIN IN MARCH

NEWS RELEASE

FROM DAVE WARREN

Well done to the Gullane Juniors who won the Junior Team Golf Scotland Final at a windy Kingsbarns. 
Their combined score was 392 and they won by six strokes.
 The Team now proceed to the Final of the Junior Home Nations Cup in Spain in March 2015. 
 The following report has been received from Martin Black, Junior Convener:

On their fourth visit to the national finals in seven years, Gullane Juniors finally came out on top at the Scottish Finals of Junior Team Golf, played at a windswept Kingbarns. 
The other finalists were from Turnhouse, Eastwood and Haggs Castle. The youngsters had to overcome challenging conditions, winds gusting over the immaculate links.
With the gale increasing though the day and the pins set in fiendish positions it was clear that anything approaching par golf was impossible. 
The Gullane Team showed their years of learning the game in breezy seaside conditions hadn’t been wasted and carded the best three gross scores of 78.
This is Gullane’s first win in the most sought after team title in Junior golf and the team will go on to represent Scotland against the other Home Nations Champions in Spain next March. 
Gullane Juniors are already holders of the East Lothian Team scratch stroke-play title and are the East Lothian Junior Golf League Champions for 2014.
Conveners Martin Black and Gail Chalmers have built a strong team with over 15 of the section playing during the season for the Junior team. 
The Gullane Team at Kingsbarns fielded both low and high handicap players and unusually comprised two sets of brothers, the Ladbrookes and the Chalmers. 
Also in the team was Joanne Free, who represented Scotland in the Junior Home Internationals this year and the winner of the Scottish Girls Champions of Champions. 
Joanne posted one of the best scores and was matched in her 78 by Andrew Ni, who has represented the Lothians at County Junior level.
Captain Oliver Ladbrooke, a graduate of Clubgolf, was not to be outdone, and carded the day's third 78 which also yielded the best net with a 73.
 In his last season as a junior, Oliver achieved all the objectives in his captaincy role and now looks forward to packing his golf bag for a final junior team match in Andalucía in March 2015.