Championships - Girls' British Open Amateur Championship 2008
« Back to news indexNews for this championship
13.08.2008
International Curler Eve Muirhead on top form at Monifieth
STROKE PLAY PRIZES presented by Lady Captain Pamela WicksteadEngland have four players through to the last 16 but, unfortunately for them, two of them will meet in the third round.
Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale), beaten finalist 12 months ago and the No 6 seed this year, plays Ellie Robinson (Middlesbrough Brass Castle) on Thursday morning for a place in the quarter-finals.
Other English players to make progress were Sarah Tyson from the Redlibbets club, Sevenoaks in Kent, and Alexandra Peters (Notts Ladies).
Sarah followed up her morning win over Scottish Under-21 champion Kelsey MacDonald by beating Carolin Pinegger (Austria) 4 and 2. She now plays Sophia Popov from Germany.
Alexandra, who is in the top half of the draw and is the No 8 seed, faces Louise Larsson from Sweden.
BEST UNDER 14
Daisy Nielsen, Denmark
BEST UNDER 16 - Todd Bowl
Emelie Alonso, Spain
BEST FIRST 18 HOLES
Laetitia Beck - 68, Israel
BEST SECOND 18 HOLES
Kelsey MacDonald - 71, Nairn Dunbar
LEADING QUALIFIER - Lady Heathcote-Amory Memorial Medal
Laura Gonzalez-Escallon - 143, Belgium
BIH from Anna Fernandez de Mesa
TEAM AWARD
Spain
Ana Fernandez de Mesa
Anna Arrese
Elisa Folch
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a day Perthshire 18-year-old Eve Muirhead has had as the match-play stages in the British girls' open amateur championship over a Monifieth Links course reduced to 16 holes because the Ashludie Burn burst its banks and made the sixth and seven holes inaccessible because of flood water.
Eve is a Scotland international curler who is on the short leet to curl for Great Britain in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She has never played for Scotland at any level as a golfer ... but the fact that she reduced her handicap from four to two = winning the Highland Women's Open and breaking her own course record at Pitlochry - between the time she sent of her entry to the British girls event and Monday, the first qualifying round, indicated that she was coming into the championship in very good form.
It showed in her first-round tie this morning when she shot five birdies in claiming the notable scalp of the English WOMEN'S title-holder, 17-year-old Hannah Barwood from Knowle, Bristol.
Eve won by 2 and 1 after birdieing the ninth, 12th and 13th, holing putts of 15, euight and 10 feet - on her way to a 2 and 1 victory over a very good player who won five out of six matches in England's winning performance in last week's girls' home internationals.
That was great for Miss Muirhead ... but the best had still to come!
Eve had an almost unbelievable second-round win to be the only Scottish player in the last 16, following the morning demise of No 3 seed and Scottish Under-21 champion Kelsey MacDonald, Sammy Vass and Rachael Watton.
Eve, 48th of the 64 match-play qualifiers, came back from five down after five holes to beat Chloe Leurquin from Belgium, the 17th qualifier, by one hole.
Five down in a "normal" round is a precarious position but over a course shortened to 16 holes it ranks almost as a "mission impossible" situation.
In effect, Eve, was five down with only 11 holes to make up the leeway ... which she did in memorable style to win by one hole.
"I didn't hit the ball well at all over the first five holes," said Eve later. "But my caddie (Scotland international golfer) Rosanne Niven) kept me going and the walk we had from the fifth green to the eighth tee round the unplayable holes gave me time to gather my thoughts and calm down."
Eve's amazing fightback started with a birdie at the eighth to be four down.
Having had five birdies in her morning win, she continued to produce them at will in the second round.
Another birdie at the 10th cut the deficit to three before she lost the 11th to a birdie to go back to four down.
A par at the 12th was good enough to reduce her opponent's lead to three. The Belgian girl was bunkered at the 14th and took three putts at the 15th - and suddenly Eve was only one down with three holes to play.
The 16th and 17th were halved as the tension mounted, if not with the players, certainly among the fair-sized gallery.
Both players were on the green at the long 18th in three. Both left their approach putts short of the hole. But, with no sign of nerves, Eve drew on her experience of curling in the international arena to calmly roll in her 6ft putt for a par 5.
Leurquin then faced a four-footer for a half .. and she missed. Eve had won and entered the last 16 of the British championship. Not bad for an 18-year-old who says she divides her sporting time between curling in the winter and golf in the summer.
"The only golf coaching I've ever had was with the Perth & Kinross county team squad. No, I wouldn't consider going to an American university even if they did make me an offer. I've left school and I aim to be a full-time curler until the 2010 Winter Olympics with the help of the Scottish Institute of Sport," said Eve.
She now plays the No 1 seed Laura Gonzalez-Escallon from the Royal Waterloo club, Belgium. Laura cruised to a couple of 4 and 3 wins today.
Fourteen-year-old Alexandra Peters, the Nottinghamshire Ladies champion, beat Welsh girl international Natasha Gobey by 6 and 5 and then scored a 2 and 1 win over the highly-rated Italian girl, Alessia Knight.
Alex, the No 8 seed, now plays Louise Larsson (Sweden).
Ellis Keenan (Sunningdale), who has had some good open tournament wins this summer, was forced to retire with a left-foot injury after 11 holes of her second-round tie with the 16-year-old Israeli women's champion, Laetitia Beck.
Scottish Under-21 champion Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), the No 3 qualifier this year and the No 2 seed last year, bowed out in the first round. She was beaten 3 and 2 by Sarah Tyson from the Reblibbets club at Sevenoaks, Kent.
Sarah took part in the 6.15am play-off for the last two places and came through it was a par-4 at the first.
"I hit a rescue club off the first tee and put it out of bounds," said Kelsey ruefully. "I didn't play as well as I have been playing lately but Sarah Tyson played very steadily and deserved to win."
Tyson was four up after 11 holes and, with the round reduced to 16 holes, there was never much danger of her being overhauled.
Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale), who reached the final last year, beating Kelsey MacDonald along the way at Southerndown, got her bid to go one better this week off to a sound start. The No 6 seed,Kelly won by 2 and 1 against Germany's Marie Tschida.
Apart from Eve Muirhead's success, it was a bad morning for the Scots with their three other qualifiers, Kelsey MacDonald, Sammy Vass (Tain) and Rachael Watton (Mortonhall) all making a quit exit.
Sammy, the No 52 qualifier after an eagle 3 at the last in the second round, was beaten 5 and 4 by the No 13 qualifier, Anais Maggetti (Switzerland).
"I won the first with a birdie and then lost the second and third," said Sammy who lost a ball off the 10th tee to go three down and then lost the 11th to a birdie.
Edinburgh's Rachael Watton (Mortonhall) lost by 3 and 1 to Austria's Carolin Pinegger.Rachel slumped to three down after only four holes. She did put the wheels on a fightback by winning the eighth, 12th, 13th and 15th but she lost the 10th and the 14th to a birdie before Carolin finished her with another birdie at the 17th.
Giuilia Molinaro (Italy) beat Daisy Nielsen (Denmark), a member of the European team for next month's Junior Ryder Cup match in Kentucky. Giulia won by 2 and 1 and now plays England girls international Rachel Connor, daughter of the Scots-born professional at Manchester Golf Club.
Do you have comments or questions about the LGU?
LGU legal disclaimer | Privacy statement | Copyright © 2008 - Ladies' Golf Union
Ladies' Golf Union, The Scores, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AT
Tel: 01334 475811, Fax: 01334 472818