FRANCES MILLAR TOPS THE SCOTTISH SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Carnoustie Caledonia’s Frances Millar shot a very impressive two over par 76 in the second round of the Scottish Senior Women’s Open Championship to come out on top in qualifying at Blairgowrie. Millar’s round, the lowest of the tournament, saw four birdies at the second, fifth, 10th and 11th to make her top qualifier into the matchplay stages at the Perthshire venue. 

 First round leader Wendy Nicholson (Baberton) struggled on what was a drier day at Blairgowrie and had two double bogeys on her card, finishing on an 83 and in tied for third. 

Senior Women’s Amateur Tain’s Mary Smith and The St Rule Club’s Fiona De Vries joined Millar with the only scores sub 80 on the day. 
Defending champion Sheena Wood scored an 82 to see herself safely through to the matchplay stages in eighth place. 

 Other notable qualifiers include Blairgowrie’s own Heather Anderson, who tied at the top with Millar on 11 over, Royal Dornoch’s Alison Bartlett, the Ladies Golf Club Troon’s Donna Jackson and Anne Ryan, also from Tain. 
The top 16 gross and top 16 nett players will move onto the matchplay stages at Blairgowrie Rosemount.

LEADING SECOND-ROUND SCORES
par 148 (2x74) SSS 74 CSS 77
159 F Millar (Carnoustie Caledonia) 83 76, H Anderson (Blairgowrie) 79 80.
160 M Smith (Tain) 81 79, A Bartlett (Royal Dornoch) 78 82, W Nicholson (Baberton) 77 83.
162 F De Vries (St Rule) 83 79, A Baker (Crail GS) 82 80, S Wood (Aberdeen Ladies) 80 82.
163 D Jackson (Troon Ladies) 80 83, G Kyle (East Renfrewshire) 84 80.
164 A Macgregor (Ladybank) 84 80.
166 A Ryan (Tain) 85 81, L McKinlay (Dunnikier Park) 82 84

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

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East Division Inter County Matches Day 3 - MIDLOTHIAN RETAIN THE TROPHY

Midlothian retain the trophy . They played excellent golf to beat Stirling and Clackmannan 7-2 .
Third place goes to Fife who beat East Lothian by 5 .5 -3.5 .
We wish Midlothian good luck in the Scottish Finals at Glenbervie in September .

Thanks go to Anna Hunter for the report and all the results


EAST DIVISION INTER-COUNTY MATCHES 2017
Wednesday, 28TH JUNE

STIRLING AND CLACKMANNAN v MIDLOTHIAN

FOURSOMES
Mhairi Hall &Louise MacGregor lost to Gabrielle MacDonald &Alison McBride 2&1
Linda Allan & Margo Gardner lost to Louise Fraser & Hannah Darling 6&4
Laura Bissett &Alison Davidson lost to Karen Marshall & Kate McIntosh 1 up

SINGLES
Mhairi Hall​ lost to Louise Fraser 3&2
Louise MacGregor lost to Kate McIntosh 2 up
Jennifer Allan lost to Karen Marshall 5&4
Margo Gardner lost to Karen Ferguson-Snedden 5&4
Fiona Wait bt Alison McBride 1 up
Alison Davidson bt Gabrielle MacDonald 2&1

Total:
Stirling & Clackmannan 2 Midlothian 7

FIFE v East Lothian

FOURSOMES
Elaine Moffat &Anna McKay bt Jill McNicoll& Lesley Atkins 2up
Jo Mackie & Evanna Hynd lost to Hazel Saunders &Mary-Lou Watkins 1 up
Karin Sharp &Brogan Clark bt Lauren Lee & Alyssa Balding 2 up

SINGLES
Elaine Moffat bt Lesley Atkins 3&2
Jo Mackie bt Stacey Cameron 7&6
Anna McKay bt Alyssa Balding 6&4
Brogan Clark halved against Pam Hall
Evanna Hynd lost to Lauren Lee 1 up
Karin Sharp lost to Jill McNicoll 4&2

Totals:
Fife 5.5 East Lothian 3.5

Frances and Heather share lead at Blairgowrie


Frances Millar (Carnoustie Caledonia) and Heather Anderson (Blairgowrie) are sharing the lead on 159 after two rounds of the Scottish senior women's open amateur championship over the Rosemount course at Blairgowrie.
Frances has had rounds of 83 and 76, Heather 79 and 80.
First-round leader Wendy Nicholson (Baberton) dropped down to a share of third place on 160 with rounds of 77 and 83.
On the same mark are Highland challengers, May Smith (Tain) (81-79) and Alison Bartlett (Royal Dornoch) 78-82.

LEADING SECOND-ROUND SCORES
par 148 (2x74) SSS 74 CSS 77
159 F Millar (Carnoustie Caledonia) 83 76, H Anderson (Blairgowrie) 79 80.
160 M Smith (Tain) 81 79, A Bartlett (Royal Dornoch) 78 82, W Nicholson (Baberton) 77 83.
162 F De Vries (St Rule) 83 79, A Baker (Crail GS) 82 80, S Wood (Aberdeen Ladies) 80 82.
163 D Jackson (Troon Ladies) 80 83, G Kyle (East Renfrewshire) 84 80.
164 A Macgregor (Ladybank) 84 80.
166 A Ryan (Tain) 85 81, L McKinlay (Dunnikier Park) 82 84

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

Reasons to be cheerful for GB and I teams in Vagliano and Junior Vagliano matches in Italy

COLIN FARQUHARSON REPORTS

FROM BOGOGNO GOLF CLUB,

NEAR MILAN, ITALY

Can Great Britain and Ireland turn the tide of victories by the Continent of Europe in the 2017 Vagliano Trophy match at this splendid, two-course golf resort, a 30min drive northwest of Milan?

Team Europe are bidding for a sixth straight win (2007-2009-2011-2013-2015-2018) in this biennial two-day match between the best female amateur golfers in Europe as a whole.

On the face of it, the answer must be NO. The Continent has 40 players in the top 60 of the World Women Amateur Rankings while GB and I has but three in the top 60 - No 1 Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell, Ireland), No 13 Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies) and No. 37 Alice Hewson (Berkhamsted).

But GB and I's performance in getting within 1.5pt of winning the 2015 match at Malone GC, Belfast was their closest since they last won the match in 2005, by a 13-11 match at Chantilly GC, France.

Since then, of course, GB and I have scored a marvellous win over the United States in the 2016 at Dunlaoghaire GC, near Dublin.

 "We are quietly confident of victory. Both Elaine and I (pictured left) have been impressed by the  high standard of our members' play in practice," said GB and I team manager Helen Hewlett who, when her surname was Dobson, beat Elaine Farquharson-Black in the 1989 British women's amateur championship at Royal Liverpool and who teamed up with Elaine to win the world women's better-ball foursomes a year or two later.

It was the last time that tournament was played so Aberdeen solicitor Elaine and Helen can claim to be undefeated world champions!

"As far as the world amateur rankings are concerned, I don't pay too much attention to them because they are based on a two-year cycle and don't represent current form," said Mrs Farquharson-Black."

GB and I have yet to win the Junior Vagliano Trophy match for 16s, but this is only the fourth staging on the biennial event and Ireland's Claire Coughlan-Ryan has retained the captaincy of the GB and I team that lost the 2011 match by 8pt, the 2013 match by 10pt and the 2015 match by 3pt.

"We are closing the gap and this could be the year of our first win," said Claire.

Scotland's Gillian Roy is the team manager.

This area of Italy has had more than its fair share of thunder, lightning and rain over the past week and the players were called in from practice this afternoon when the thunder started rumbling and the rain falling.

"We have been assured that there will be no lightning on Friday and Saturday, the days of the matches," a member of the European Golf Association organising committee told me.

"Rain, yes ... but definitely not lightning," she said.

At least the latest downpour has cleared the view of the mountains on the horizon, the border with Switzerland. Bogogno, a superb golf resort with two 18-hole courses and a clubhouse big enough to double as the Italian Houses of Parliament.

Bogogno - pronounce it bogoynyo, same as Bologna is pronounced Bolonya.

Skipper Elaine Farquharson-Black with Alice Hewson on the practice putting green before rain and the danger of lightning halted play at Bogogno today.

Just in case you were looking for the 10th tee, they made it very easy to find, even from the wrong side of the numbering!

 

All pictures by Cal Carson Golf Agency



LYDIA BOUNCES BACK IN STYLE TO SEAL DOMINANT WIN AT KEDLESTON PARK

Lydia Hall put her injury problems behind her to claim a stunning victory in the fourth round of the WPGA One Day Series at Kedleston Park Golf Club. The Welsh player missed the previous round due to a back problem suffered during a hectic schedule. But Bridgend-born Hall bounced back in style to win by eight shots at the Derbyshire course to seal her third One Day Series victory of the year. The Ladies European Tour player carded a superb 10 under par round of 64 and no-one else could get close. Alison Nicholas, of Staffordshire's Beau Desert Golf Club, was in second place with a two under par round of 72. The result strengthened Hall's grip on the WPGA Order of Merit and the Hensol Golf Academy player plans to compete in the remaining rounds of the competition. Hall admitted she was driven by the frustration of missing the third round in Essex and felt her final score could have been even better. "I was scheduled to play the event at Three Rivers Golf Club, but the day prior to that I had the 36-hole US Open qualifier and I was away for a week before that so I played something like 11 rounds in nine days," she explained. "Sometimes I get a lower back and hip issue and it was taken to its limits. So unfortunately I had to withdraw. 'But it was my day at Kedleston Park, the main difference between my previous scores and this was my putting which was strong.  If I can get a day when my putting is going well, I can shoot well. Anyone would take 10 under par, but being a perfectionist and a professional I should've birded the first hole." Hall also made an eagle at the 13th hole but her grip on the event was in no doubt by then after a front nine of 31. "I was super happy and couldn't complain after that. Now I'm looking forward to the next one, but I have a European Tour event in Thailand before that," she added. "I'm committed to all seven of the One Day Series events, it was just disappointing not to play at Three Rivers. The injury was fine, no issues and there shouldn't be any problems going forwards if it's managed well." WPGA ONE DAY SERIES (4) at Kedleston Park Golf Club, Monday, June 26, 2017 Results Pos.    Score        Name                    Represents 1 64 (-10) Lydia Hall Hensol Golf Academy 2 72 (-2) Alison Nicholas   Beau Desert Golf Club 3 73 (-1) Sarah Smith Saffron Walden Golf Club Sian James   Wentworth Club 5 75 (+1) Kym Larratt Kibworth Golf Club Jessica Heap   Ashridge Golf Club Sarah Walton   Kington Golf Club Ali Gray Ormskirk Golf Club View full results from the Kedleston Park Golf Club WPGA One Day Series event: https://pgagbi.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgagbi17/event/pgagbi17290/contest/5/leaderboard.htm For further information please contact the PGA Media Department on 01675 470 333 or email media@pga.org.uk Visit www.PGA.info for the latest information and scores throughout the season from the WPGA One Day Series and all PGA tournaments, discover more via www.facebook.com/thepga or follow us @ThePGA