Connie Jaffrey and Chloe Weir T40 finish in

Big 12 Women's Championship

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Kilwinning's Connie Jaffrey, pictured, coming up to the end of her second year as a student at Kansas State University, tied for 40th place with team-mate and freshman Chloe Weir from Belfast in this past week's Big 12 Women's Championship at Dominion Country Club, San Antonio in Texas.
Connie, a former Scottish U18 girls champion and beaten finalist in a Scottish women's amateur championship final, had rounds of 74, 74 and 80 (two birdies, one double bogey and eight bogeys in halves of 42-38) for a 12-over-par total of 228 over par-72 course of 6,263yd.
Chloe Weir hit the same aggregate with scores of 75, 79 and 74.
St Andrews' St Regulus Club member Lauren Whyte, a second-year student at Baylor University, Texas, finished last of 45 with rounds of 79, 79 and 77 for 235.
The runaway winner - by six strokes - was Kenzie Niesen (Oklahoma State) with scores of 71,70 and 66 for nine-under 207.
Oklahoma State (856) also won the team title from Texas (867) and Texas Christian (873).
Baylor (885) finished sixth and Kansas State (887) seventh of the nine participating teams.
+Just a reminder that Connie Jaffrey, in January 2015, played for the Great Britain and Ireland team of five in the Astor Trophy tournament at Grange Golf Club, Adelaide in Australia. She was ranked in the world's top 100 then.

HEATHER JUST OUTSIDE TOP 10 FINISH
Heather Munro from Monifieth, a second year student at Elon University, North Carolina, finished T13 in the CAA women's championship at St James Plantaion Reserve Club, Southport in North Carolina.
Heather had rounds of 80, 79 and 80 for a total of 239 - 21 shots more than the winner, Andrea Slane of Delaware University, who also won the team title. Elon finished fifth as a team.

Labels: Student golf

DUNBARTONSHIRE and ARGYLL COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Lorna McClymont, only 15, beats Claire

Hargan 4 and 3 in final at Milngavie

New champion Lorna McClymont, flanked by (left) county captain Karen Maxwell and (right) county president Enid Young. Picture by Lorraine Campbell.

Host club member Lorna McClymont, the No 7 qualifier, won the Dunbartonshire and Argyll women's county championship for the first time today at Milngavie Golf Club.
Lorna is only 15 years old and one of the youngester ever to win the D and A title.The youngest, at the age of 14, was Jill Meldrum in 2007. Jill now a physio in Glasgow and has changed her surname by marrying Jonathan Farrell last year.
In the final, Lorna won by 5 and 4 against former Scotland international Claire Hargan (Regulus), who was six times champion of Midlothian between 2003 and 2009
Hargan beat top seed Jillian Farrell (Cardross) by 5 and 4 in the morning semi-finals when McClymont won at the 19th against Lorraine Campbell (Cardross).
Lorna was fast out of the blocks with a birdie at the first hole.
Claire won the second, then Lorna won the third and McClymont was four up at the turn.
That became a five-hole lead when Lorna won the 10th. Hargan won the 12th but it was too little too late. After halving 13, won the 14th with a birdie to regain a five-hole lead and claim her first county championship
In the semi-final against Farrell, Hargan won the 10th and 12th before holing a long putt on 13 to go three up.

The 14th was halved and Claire managed to sink a putt on 15 for a 4 to win by 4 and 3.

In the other semi-final Lorna McClymont played steadily but Lorraine Campbell will be rueing a few early putts missed which saw her fall to three down at the turn.
Lorraine was still three down after 14 before she rallied to win two holes and then birdied the last hole to square the match and take it down the 19th.
McClymont won at the 19th with a 4 after Lorraine was bunkered.

The Bronze championship final was a closely fought affair between Mandy Allen (Milngavie) and Rae Strang (Cardross). Rae triumphed by two holes.

RESULTS

CHAMPIONSHIP

SEMI-FINALS

Claire Hargan (St Regulus) bt Jillian Farrell (Cardross) 4 and 3.

Lorna McClymont (Milngavie) bt Lorraine Campbell (Cardross) 19th

FINAL

McClymont bt Hargan 5 and 4

BRONZE CHAMPIONSHIP

FINAL

Rae Strang (Cardross) bt Mandy Allen (Milngavie) 2 holes.

Labels: County News

Aussies tied fifth in Queen Sirikit Cup in South Korea

Karis Davidson battles on in tough conditions

by Mark Hayes

Karis Davidson tees off on Jeju Island.

Australia is handy after day one of the Queen Sirikit Cup, but the hometown South Korean horse might have already bolted.
Spearheaded by Hannah Green’s one-over-par 73 in wet and windy conditions on Jeju Island, Australia recorded a six-over-par total to sit tied fifth on 150 after the first of three rounds.
But led by Australian Amateur Championship quarter-finalist Hyun-kyung Park’s superb 69, the South Korean team skipped well clear of the field at four under par, based on the best two of three individual scores for each team.
Young Gold Coast duo Karis Davidson (77) and Robyn Choi (83) were gallant, but found the extremely testing conditions at Ora Country Club tough going.
Green, 19, of Perth, W Australia had been four under early in her round before conditions deteriorated and she, just as her teammates did before her, took a double-bogey on the 13th to a tough pin position.
Innerleithen-born Davidson, 17, who a fortnight ago won the Australian Junior Championship, really knuckled down to finish her round strongly and keep the team in the hunt.
“They were difficult conditions for all players today,” Australian coach Virginia Irwin said after the round.
“The Aussie girls were grinding hard to bring in a score for the team and they’re already looking forward to competing hard again in round two.”
New Zealand, on the back of Munchin Keh’s 71, and China, primarily through Du Mohan’s 71, share second in the team category at 145. Those two and South Korea’s Hye-jin Choi share second place on the individual leaderboard.
The Philippines is outright fourth on 147, with Taiwan and Australia next best at 150.
Play continues tomorrow before the final round on Friday

Labels: Amateur Ladies

LANARKSHIRE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Top seed Susan Wood beats Alyson

Hendry in final at Hamilton

CHAMPION AGAIN ... Susan Wood with the Lanarkshire championship

Picture by Jean Macintyre.

Drumpellier's Susan Wood, the top seed, won the Lanarkshire women's county championship for a second time at Hamilton Golf Club today.

Susan, previously champion in 2008, won by 4 and 3 in the final against home club player Alyson Hendry.

Alyson, title-winner in 1987, 1990 and 91, had never lost in a county final until this one.

Wood went one up with a par at the third and was still one up at the turn, the sixth being halved in birdie 4s.

Henry birdie the par-5 11th to square the match but was bunkered at both the 12th and 13th, losing them both to go two down.

Wood went three up with a par at the 14th and was conceded the 15th and a 4 and 3 victory

In the morning semi-finals, Wood beat defending champion Lesley Lloyd (Hayston) by 2 and 1 while Hendry beat Kirstin Brown (Strathaven) 3 and 2

In a close all-Hamilton bronze championship final, Heather Stewart bt Elizabeth Nelson 3 and 2.

LANARKSHIRE WOMEN'S COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Hamilton Golf Club

SCRATCH

SEMI-FINALS

S Wood (Drumpellier) bt L Lloyd (Hayston) 2 and 1.

A Hendry (Hamilton) bt K Brown (Strathaven) 3 and 2.

FINAL

Wood bt Hendry 4 and 3.

BRONZE CHAMPIONSHIP

FINAL

H Stewart (Hamilton) bt E Nelson (Hamilton) 3 and 2

Labels: County News

Aussie-Scot Karis Davidson is primed for

Queen Sirikit challenge in South Korea

by Mark Hayes

Karis Davidson (left), Hannah Green, Robyn Choi and team manager Matt Cutler at the opening ceremony on Jeju Island.

It might be golf's equivalent of trying to beat Walter Lindrum on his home billiards table.
Australia's women's team -- Hannah Green, Karis Davidson and Robyn Choi -- are at Ora Country Club on South Korea's Jeju Island this week for the Queen Sirikit Cup.
Beating the South Korean women in any golf competition is a tall order -- they have won eight of past nine Sirikit trophies -- at the best of times; doing so at the course on which they train and compete is a monumental challenge.
But for Green, a focal point of the combined Asian team's recent win in the Hankins Trophy, a lesson she learnt in Portugal, will come in handy.
“They are great players and we'll have to play really well to beat them at home,” Green said from South Korea yesterday.
“But people think they're robots and they're not. I saw them make mistakes -- they make them, too.
“Maybe not as many as us, but they do make them,” she said with a giggle.
“I expect us to go really well this week and be right up there with them.”
Green, of Mt Lawley Golf Club in Perth, along with Gold Coast duo Davidson (Sanctuary Cove) and Choi (Royal Pines), have shared the lion's share of amateur events around Australia in the past year and coach Virginia Irwin says they've arrived on Jeju in good form and full of the confidence those victories should generate.
More importantly, Irwin said, is that they've already bonded wonderfully as a team for the prestigious event which has this year dropped its “invitational” status to be a fully-fledged Asia-Pacific Golf Federation sanctioned event in its 38th staging.
The competition begins today and is played over three rounds with an individual prize and the best two of the three scores counting to each country's team total.
“The girls have done all the right things to be selected to be here and watching them train here now, they're all playing well at the right time,” Irwin said.
“The camaraderie among them is great ... they are helping each other out, playing their roles, giving each other great feedback and that creates a really comfortable environment -- and that's when you play your best golf.
“I think it's going to be hard to beat the South Korean team this week, they're such a dominant force. But the way things are going, I'm very hopeful we can be very competitive.”
Australia -- through Minjee Lee, Su Oh and Grace Lennon in 2013 -- is the only team to defeat the South Koreans in the past nine years of Sirikit battle.
“And that absolutely is important to us ... the girls all know that it can be done, that we've done it. If they play smart and hole their putts, we can definitely compete.”
Innerleithen-born Davidson, fresh from her Australian Junior Championship triumph in Tasmania a fortnight ago, took nine holes off a practice round yesterday “just to relax a little”, but rejoined her teammates as they completed their round and said she was feeling good again after a “bit of a rest”.
That left first-time Australian representative Choi and Green to battle it out for the honour of raising the Australian flag at last night's opening ceremony.
And it took a chip-off after a tight battle for Green to finally subdue Choi's spirited challenge.
“It's been great already,” said Choi, whose family's South Korean heritage is helping all team members with ordering from local menus.
“I'm nervous a little; I just really want to do something for the team. But it's such an honour to play for Australia and be here ... I can't wait to get going.”