Par for the Ladies

If you are still (like me).... looking for that elusive present for your golfing chum.  read this review of Par for the Ladies, the extraordinary story of the women who golfed at North Berwick on the Madill website and consider buying the book.

It is published by Stanton Press info@stantonpress.com
or you can buy in in Waterstones.

New PING Mixed Event for Scottish Club Golfers Offers Gleneagles Finale

Euan McIntosh and Beth Allen (Photo Courtesy of Kenny Smith)

An exciting mixed team competition for Scottish club golfers is to tee off next season, with Solheim Cup venue, The Gleneagles Hotel, to act as host for the showpiece finale.

The PING Scottish Mixed Championship is to be a unique new addition to the domestic handicap amateur calendar in 2017, as Scottish Golf brings male and female golfers together in a fun-filled format for all ages and abilities to add further value to club membership.

The innovative new event sees PING become sponsors of Scottish Golf for the first time, with the leading golf brand’s investment providing a welcome boost to the governing body’s partnership portfolio.

American Beth Allen, the Scots-based new Ladies European Tour No 1, and Scottish Golf Men’s Order of Merit winner Euan McIntosh were on hand at Gleneagles today to help launch the event, along with Scottish Golf chief executive Blane Dodds.

The free-to-enter competition will be open to all golf club members in Scotland holding an official handicap, from juniors to seniors. Golfers can compete in a mixed event at local club level (stableford format), with the top 40 club pairings nationwide going forward to the Grand Final over the superb Queen’s Course at Gleneagles.

The event sees a fitting partnership between Scottish Golf, Gleneagles and PING, given the manufacturer was founded by Karsten Solheim, who helped create the biggest team event in ladies’ golf.

Beatson Cancer Charity is the official charity partner for the competition, with Beatson also charity partner for the forthcoming Scottish Golf Awards at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange on 24 February.

The PING Scottish Mixed Championship will see qualifying take place at club level (either using an existing mixed event in the club’s calendar or introducing a new event) from April through to the end of July.

Scottish Golf’s online leaderboard will show the top 40 mixed stableford scores nationwide, with 80 golfers then coming together to contest the Grand Final over the idyllic James Braid-designed Queen’s on Monday 18 September 2017.

Blane Dodds said: “We’re pleased to launch this new mixed event for club golfers in 2017, one which adds further value to club membership and offers the chance to compete at a world-class venue for the final.

“We are delighted to be working with PING for the first time and it’s great to have such a strong global golf brand supporting grass roots golf in Scotland. The environment remains challenging for attracting investment from sponsorship, but these partnerships illustrate our continued determination to grow the game and enhance the golfing experience for club members.”

John Clark, PING Europe Managing Director, added: “We’re delighted to be supporting this new mixed event which will bring together both female and male golfers from around Scotland in a competitive, yet fun format at one of the UK’s most iconic venues.”

Beth Allen said: “It’s great that Scottish Golf, PING and Gleneagles are doing this event for club golfers in the build up to the Solheim Cup. It would obviously be great for me to represent the United States of America here in 2019 and I’m sure the players who qualify for the final of the PING Scottish Mixed Championship will have an amazing experience at Gleneagles.”

With the Perthshire property staging the Solheim Cup – only five years after hosting The Ryder Cup – and the inaugural European Golf Team Championships in 2018, the new PING Scottish Mixed Championship adds to Gleneagles’ illustrious event history across the amateur and professional game.

Event information will be issued by Scottish Golf to all affiliated clubs early next year, who are encouraged to add the event to their club calendar.

Fw: Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Stage starts on Saturday

Future stars all set for Lalla Aïcha Tour School Final Stage in Morocco
 
30 full LET cards (+ ties) on the line this week

MARRAKECH – 15 December 2016: The Ladies European Tour will hold the Final Stage of Lalla Aïcha Tour School for 2017 in Marrakech from Saturday, December 17 through to Wednesday, December 21.

Morocco is hosting the competition for the fifth consecutive year and the Final Stage is played over five rounds of 18 holes. The field of 115 players is split in two groups and will alternate over the first four rounds between Amelkis Golf Club and Samanah Country Club. There will be a cut to the top 60 and ties after the fourth round and the final round will be contested at Samanah Country Club.

Players who finish in the top 30 and ties will earn Ladies European Tour Membership in category 8 for 2017, while those that finish from positions 31st to 60th and ties after the cut will earn Membership in Category 9b.

The Final Stage follows four Pre- Qualifying tournaments that have run over the last month, in Morocco, Colombia and Cambodia. A total of 75 players advanced from Pre-Qualifying to join 19 amateurs and the current LET Members looking to retain their membership at the Final Stage.

The field of 115 players features players representing 31 countries. France has the most representatives with 19, followed by England with 17 and Spain with 13. Sweden has eight players, while India has seven competitors in the field. 

THE ADITI EFFECT
Last year, there were two Indian players in the field: Aditi Ashok and Neha Tripathi. Aditi went on to win the Final Stage by three strokes with a five-round total score of 337, 23-under-par, which included a third round of 62 and became the first Indian player to win on the LET at the age of 17. Aditi was recently crowned as the LET’s Rookie of the Year for 2016 following a sensational season which included back-to-back tournament victories at the Hero Women’s Indian Open and Qatar Ladies Open. She finished second on the LET Order of Merit in the year that she also represented India in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as a Rookie.
This year, Neha Tripathi has returned and will compete as part of the field along with compatriots Gaurika Bishnoi, Amandeep Drall, Vani Kapoor, Sharmila Nicollet, Anisha Padukone and Saaniya Sharma as part of the largest Indian contingent ever to play in a tournament on the LET outside India, demonstrating golf’s growth in popularity in the country.

Anisha is expected to attract attention as she is part of a famous family: her sister, Deepika, is one of the most popular and highly paid actresses in India, while her father, Prakash, was the 1979 All England badminton champion and the first major sports star in India.

A GAME FOR ALL AGES

Youth is served well at Lalla Aïcha Tour School for 2017 as there are 19 teenagers in the field, but there are also 24 players born in the 1980s or earlier. The youngest player is 16-year-old Madelene Stavnar from Norway, who was born on 9th December 2000. The most senior player is 40-year-old Sophie Sandolo, born on 20th July 1976.

MADELENE SAGSTROM TARGETING SOLHEIM CUP PICK
Madelene Sagstrom from Sweden dominated the Pre-Qualifying B tournament, which concluded on Sunday at Royal Golf Anfa Mohammedia in Morocco.
The 24-year-old from Inkoping fired rounds of 66, 66, 72 and 67 for a total of 17-under-par 271, ending 11 strokes ahead of Céline Boutier from France.

Having won three tournaments and topped the Symetra Tour Ranking, Sagstrom already has her LPGA card and is targeting LET Membership in order to qualify for a Solheim Cup pick from European Captain Annika Sörenstam.

Speaking about last week, the 24-year-old from Inkoping said: “I just wanted to test my game to the limit to see how well I could play and I think I played my best 72-hole tournament ever, so it was a really good week. I was able to play as freely as I could. My goal this week is exactly the same. I really like the Samanah course. I haven’t played the Amelkis yet, but I really like this one. I like the layout and I think it fits my game really well. The greens are really tough, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a lot about course management and I’ve got my brother on the bag so my goal is to make him learn as much as possible too.”

THE ASIAN CONNECTION
The LET held four tournaments in China in 2016, as well as The Queens presented by Kowa, in Japan.  It is no secret that the young Chinese players have been steadily improving since the LET first held a tournament in the country in 2008. Yan Liu, 18, is one of the young guns to watch, having won Pre-Qualifier C, at Angkor Golf Resort in Cambodia last month, with a massive 14 stroke margin of victory! She is joined at the Final Stage by compatriot Rong Ji, as well as Ji Eun-Jung from South Korea and Hana Wakimoto from Japan. 

Entry List

Fw: Quarter-Final stage for Maria Dunne

PRESS RELEASE from Sarah Crowe, ILGU

100th Usha All India Ladies Amateur Golf Championship
Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi, India
13-18th December 2016

Quarter-Final stage for Skerries star at Indian Amateur ChampionshipQ

16 December 2016
Maria Dunne (Skerries) saw off Malaysian golfer Geraldine Wong in round two of the Indian Ladies Amateur Golf Championship with a 2&1 win. Dunne also beat Thai golfer Siripatsorn Patchana 2&1 in the first round of match play and will face Sifat Alag of India in the Quarter-Final today.

Match Play
R3 Quarter-Finals: 8:17am GMT - Friday 16 December
Maria Dunne Vs Sifat Alag
R2 - Friday 16 December
Maria Dunne beat Geraldine Wong 2&1
R1- Thursday 15 December
Maria Dunne beat Siripatsorn Patchana 2&1
Seher Atwal beat Gemma Clews