LORENA OCHOA INVITATIONAL

CATRIONA MATTHEW HAS PAR 72 

DOWN MEXICO WAY

Catriona Matthew was one of the early finishers in the first round of this week's LPGA tournament, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational at a new venue - Mexico City.
The North Berwick player matched the par of 72 which had her in T19 position in a select field of 36 players, with most of them still to finish at the time of writing.
The Scot birdied the long second, bogeyed the fourth, 10th and 13th before getting back on track with birdies at the short 14th and 15th.
Christina Kim was the leader in the clubhouse with a seven-under 65.

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Norway's Suzann Pettersen had a 71 to be T13.

WEST VETS AGM -- MARION STEWART IS THE NEW WEST VETS CAPTAIN

Past, Present and Future Captains -- Anna, Marion and June

CAROL FELL REPORTS:
Over 55 ladies attended the AGM of the West Division's SLVGA which was held at Ralston GC this afternoon - Thursday, November 13th.
Reports were given by all the conveners and West Vets Secretary Morag Key read out reports from Alex Glennie and May Hughes 

Dorothy Horsefield retires from the committee and Mary Wylie is the new committee member for 2015.

Liz Hale, Anna Telfer and Marion Stewart - West Vets Team Trophy Winners at Blairgowrie

Captain Anna Telfer gave an excellent report on the years events which included many of the successes over the season --  One being -- West Vets win the Team Trophy at Blairgowrie

She then  presented Marion Stewart her badge of office as the new West Vets captain.
June Lockhart is the new Vice Captain

Some of the Main Trophy Prizewinners

Sally Coster (President of SVLGA) then presented the prizes to this year's winners.

West Vets Champion  Lorraine Campbell  gave the vote of thanks.

Mrs ROMETTY FOLLOWS CONDOLEESSA RICE, DARLA MOORE

IBM CHIEF EXEC GINNI BECOMES 

THIRD FEMALE MEMBER AT AUGUSTA

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FROM GOLF DIGEST.COM

By SAM WEINMAN

IBM chief executive Virginia (Ginni) Rometty has joined Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore as the third female member at Augusta National, the long-time home of the Masters, multiple sources have confirmed. 

Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang is also among the handful of new members

Rice, the former United States Secretary of State, and Moore, a finance executive, were invited to be Augusta's first female members in 2012.

Two Augusta National members said Rometty (pictured right) was seen hitting balls at the range last Friday at the club.

“She has a nice swing,” one member said. “She’s obviously got a big job so she doesn’t play much, but if she got to play, she’d be a pretty good golfer.”

Rometty was observed being congratulated by other members and seemed "a little nervous” in front of club chairman Billy Payne.

Calls to representatives at Augusta National were not returned. With the exception of its landmark announcement of Rice and Moore joining as members, the club has not commented on club memberships.

Ed Barbini, an IBM spokesman, would not confirm Rometty's membership at Augusta.

"We don't talk about Mrs Rometty's private memberships," Barbini said. "That's between her and any private organization."

In recent years, NFL legend Lynn Swann and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have been seen wearing green jackets at the club during the Masters, but neither have discussed their memberships publicly.

Prior to Rice and Moore's inclusion at Augusta, Rometty had been identified as a candidate to break the club's gender barrier, given her role at IBM, a long-time corporate sponsor of the Masters. 

Previous IBM chief executives have been members at the club, but despite ongoing public pressure, the club did not immediately extend an invitation to Rometty when she became the computer behemoth's first female CEO in 2012. 

That year, during the Masters, Rometty was seen entertaining clients at the club, but did not answer questions from the media about a membership.

Rometty is said to be an occasional golfer. She maintains a 35.4 handicap index out of the Golf Club of Purchase, near IBM's headquarters in Armonk, New York State, and Shadow Wood Country Club in Florida. 

 Her last posted score was a 116 in July 2013.

 WHAT DO LETTERS IBM STAND FOR?
The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with headquarters in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.
The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR) through a merger of three companies: the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Computing Scale Company
CTR adopted the name International Business Machines in 1924. Securities analysts nicknamed IBM Big Blue in recognition of IBM's common use of blue in products, packaging, and logo.
In 2012, Fortune ranked IBM the No. 2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees (435,000 worldwide), the No. 4 largest in terms of market capitalization, the No. 9 most profitable, and the No. 19 largest firm in terms of revenue.
Globally, the company was ranked the No. 31 largest in terms of revenue by Forbes for 2011.as of 2013, has held the record for most patents generated by a company for 20 consecutive years.^[

LORRAINE DAW LEADS MGR LADIES' RANKINGS

MyGolfRanking, Scotland Ladies, 2014/45

1 Lorraine Daw (Blairmore and Strone) 1143 pts

2 Linda Dalrymple (Cupar) 1121

3 Gwen Lambie (Blairgowrie) 1113

4 Amanda Brown (Niddry Castle) 1110

5 Karen Marshall (Baberton) 1097

6 Shona Croy (Orkney) 1093

7 Jane Whiteford (Leven GS) 1089

8 Jacqueline Sneddon (Alyth) 1086

T9 Lorna Bennett (Leven GS), Susan Madeiros (Crail), Katie Wright (Stranraer)1075

12 Elaine Thom (Port Bannatyne) 1071

13 Lynn McDonald (Strathtay) 1067

14 Lindsay Thear (Prestonfield) 1061

T15 Edith Mathieson (Aigas), Pam Turner (Canmore), Pamela Watson (Kirkcudbright) 1025

18 Florence Kay (Windyhill) 1000,

19 Patricia Bryce-Maynard (Spey Bay) 988,

T20 Doreen Ferguson (Blairmore and Strone) , Rebecca MacDonald (St Boswells) 983.

MyGolfRanking Scotland Clubs, Week 2014/45

1 Mortonhall 960 pts

2 Dunfermline 947

3 Carluke 893

4 Kingsknowe 892

5 St Andrews GC 889

6 Falkirk Tryst 884

7 Blairgowrie 870

8 Dunnikier Park 869

9 Montrose Mercantile 863

10 Alyth 859

+MEN'S RANKINGS CAN BE VIEWED ON www.scottishgolfview.com 

SCOT CHASING TABLE LEADER AMY BOULDEN

SALLY WATSON ... "a nice opportunity"

     

SALLY WATSON'S CHINA DEBUT IN BID 

TO BE  ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Edinburgh-born Sally Watson will be looking to take advantage of Amy Boulden’s absence over the next fortnight in China in order to overtake her in the race to be named the Ladies European Tour’s Rookie of the Year.  

The 23-year-old from Elie is visiting China for the first time having received invitations to play in both the Sanya Ladies Open and Xiamen Open, whereas Boulden’s exemption category from last year’s qualifying school doesn’t allow her to participate.

“I’m very excited. It’s a place I learned a lot about through my international relations major (at Stanford University, California) so it’s exciting to be here for the first time and experience the culture and have some good Chinese food,” Watson said.

With four tournaments remaining on the 2014 Ladies European Tour schedule, Watson is currently 11,296.54 euros behind Boulden on the order of merit, which means that the Scot needs to finish either fifth in Sanya, or fourth in Xiamen, to leapfrog the Welshwoman. Otherwise two tenth place finishes would see her earn 11,000 euros and almost get the job done.

“It’s definitely a nice opportunity but it’s always nice to have Amy in a tournament. You want that competition and she’s definitely pushed me to continue to work hard at my game and try and get better and that’s a good thing,” said Watson.

 “But it’s an opportunity for me and hopefully I can capitalise on that this week.

“I’ve been very lucky to get some invitations to the final events of the season. I was hoping my good finish at tour school last year would have helped me get in but obviously it wasn’t quite enough.

“I tried to write a nice letter and to say how important it was to me to have the opportunity to come and play in China for the first time. I did learn a lot about it in school so I was looking forward to the opportunity to come here and I’m very grateful for the invitations and hopefully I can make the most of them.”

Whilst studying International Relations at Stanford University, under the guidance of her academic advisor, the former US Secretary of State Professor Condoleezza Rice, Watson learned about “China’s growing importance in the world.” 

Therefore she was excited to follow the APEC Summit earlier this week in Beijing, attended by US President Barack Obama.

Now she has turned her focus fully to competing in the Sanya Ladies Open, taking place over three rounds at Yalong Bay Golf Club in tropical Hainan from Friday, where she will be looking to improve on her season best ties for third place in the Allianz Ladies Slovak Open and Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open respectively.

After 16 events played this year, Watson has racked up four top ten finishes and is lying in 26^th position on the order of merit, whereas Boulden is sitting in 22^nd place after 13 events.

“I think the rookie class is very strong this year and you only get one chance to win the rookie of the year prize in your professional career, so it would be a nice Christmas present,” Watson added. 

“If not, I’ve had a great year and really enjoyed myself and so I’ll take that all forward into next year.”

No matter what her results are in China, she will have another two chances to regain pole position in the rookie race: at the Hero Women’s Indian Open and the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, where the leading rookie will be named on December 13.