Germany's Aline Krauter wins the 117th Women's Amateur Championship

Germany’s Aline Krauter held her nerve to claim the biggest title of her career after winning the 117th Women’s Amateur Championship at West Lancashire.

The 20-year-old fought back from three down after the opening four holes to defeat Englishwoman Annabell Fuller, 18, by one-hole in a dramatic 18-hole final. It continued feel good success for German golf after Sophia Popov’s AIG Women’s Open triumph last weekend.

On links land along the River Mersey, Krauter – ranked 71st on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) – emerged victorious from an international field of almost 100 players at the renowned venue.

Exciting chances

Krauter can now look forward to exciting opportunities, with exemptions into the AIG Women’s Open and, traditionally, the US Women’s Open, The Evian Championship and Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship.

She joins a roll of honour that includes former Women’s Amateur victors including Anna Nordqvist (2008), Georgia Hall (2013), Céline Boutier (2015), Leona Maguire (2017) and her German countrywoman, Leonie Harm (2018).

Krauter said, “It’s my biggest win, 100 per cent. I won the German Girls in 2016 and then I’ve played decently in some college tournaments in the US but not been close in one.

“I felt under control out there. I’m not sure what did the trick, but I was quite unphased on the course which I think helped me in the wind and the conditions. It was so fun to play in the final.

Breezy conditions

In her semi-final, Krauter who had beaten Scotland's Hannah Darling in the first round lost the opening hole to defending champion Emily Toy (who had beaten Scotland's Chloe Goadby in the 2nd round at the 20th hole ) but then reeled off three birdies in four holes to lead two up after six. Toy, who was seeking to become the first player to retain the title since Louise Stahle in 2005, again showed the battling instincts which have typified her week to level at the turn. They exchanged holes at the 11th and 13th, before Krauter secured match-winning birdies at the 15thand 16th to win 2&1.

Despite the sunshine, the breezy conditions remained a challenge and Fuller certainly adjusted to the conditions as she raced to a three-up lead after five holes against fellow 18-year-old Emilie Alba Paltrinieri, the 2016 Girls’ Amateur champion. 

Paltrinieri clawed a hole back at the 6th but Fuller then reeled off four holes in a row, helped by back-to-back birdies at the 7th and 8th, to go six up after 10 holes. Paltrinieri arrowed an approach to three feet at the short 12th to keep her hopes alive, but Fuller ended proceedings with a half at the 14th to seal a 5&4 success.

It represented another notable success for Fuller after defeating another Italian player, the world number five Alessia Nobilio, in the quarter-finals.

Final scores from the final can be found here.

Read the full report  From the R&A Website 

The championship, which was safely played as a closed-door event this week due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is contested next year at Kilmarnock (Barassie) in Ayrshire, Scotland from 8 – 12 June.

LIVE SCORING FROM THE LADIES BRITISH SENIOR OPEN FROM CRAIL

The Championship shall consist of 54 holes stroke play. 

One round of 18 holes shall be played on each of the first two days. The groups and starting times for the second round shall be determined by the scores on the first day, players with the lowest scores starting last. 

The players returning the 40 lowest scores, and any tying for 40th place, over the first 36 holes shall qualify for the final 18 holes on the third day. 

For the final 18 holes, the pairings and starting times shall be determined by the qualifying scores, players with the lowest scores starting last. 

  CLICK HERE FOR LIVE SCORING FROM THE R&A

British Open: Georgia Hall wins first major title

England's Georgia Hall won her first major title with a two-shot victory at the Women's British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

The 22-year-old is only the third British winner since the event became a major championship in 2001.

Trailing Pornanong Phatlum by a shot overnight, Hall moved clear of the Thai with two holes remaining, and held her nerve to secure victory.

Hall finished on 17 under, having picked up five shots on the final day

Her bogey on the last hole was her first of the round, and she dropped just three shots in the whole tournament.

Phatlum was her nearest challenger, with Korean Ryu So-yeon third another two shots adrift.

To read more go to the CLICK HERE

FINAL TOP THREE
Par 288 (4x72)
271 Georgia Hall (England) 67 68 69 67
273 Pornanong Phatlum (Thailand) 67 67 69 70
275 So Yeon Ryu (South Korea) 69 69 67 70

CLICK HERE for all the final scores

GEORGIA KEEPS HOME HOPES HIGH

England’s Georgia Hall birdied the last hole under pressure at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club on Saturday evening and heads into the final round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open just one stroke behind Pornanong Phatlum from Thailand.

Both players produced third rounds of 69 in calm and sunny conditions to finish on 13 and 12-under-par respectively after 54 holes and will play together for a second consecutive day in the final pairing on Sunday. Hall, who played with the eventual winner In-Kyung Kim in the final group last year at Kingsbarns, where she tied for third, will draw on that experience and home advantage on Sunday. 
She said: “I’m really excited to go out in the last group again and see what happens. I can’t believe how many people were out there today supporting me, it felt like hundreds and hundreds of people, cheering my name and wanting me to do well.” 

Hall saved her best for last when she played an aggressive five-iron from the first cut on the left side of the fairway up beyond the flag on 18, the ball rolling 10 feet past the pin before she rolled in the putt in front of a delighted gallery.

To read more go to the Ladies European Tour Website

Venue: Royal Lytham and St Annes

Overnight leaders
203 (-13) Pornanong Phatlum (Thai) 67 67 69
204 Georgia Hall (Eng) 67 68 69.
205 So-Yeon Ryu (SKor) 69 69 67

213 Catriona Matthew (Scotland) 70, 71,72

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES  CLICK HERE

CATRIONA MATTHEW IS TIED IN 15TH PLACE AS THAILANDS PHATLUM TAKES THE 36 HOLE LEAD

Georgia Hall

Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum produced a major turnaround in form to lead the field after the second round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The diminutive 28-year-old from Bangkok had made just one cut in eight previous starts in the championship but that did not stop her firing a second successive 67 to take a one-shot lead at the halfway stage on ten under-par 134.

What made her performance all-the more-impressive was that the Thai golfer played all 36-holes without dropping a single shot on what is widely regarded as one of the most demanding courses on the GB & I links circuit.

Home challenge still strong

The only other player in the field to play the first 36-holes without a blemish is 2017 Ladies European Tour No. 1, Georgia Hall, who was tied for third place 12 months ago at Kingsbarns and is challenging again after adding a 68 to her opening 67.

The 22-year-old from Bournemouth began the round with eight straight pars before posting her first red number with a birdie on the ninth. She made further advances at the 13th, 15th and 16th and will go into the weekend with the support of the home crowd behind her as she bids to become the first British champion since Catriona Matthew at Lytham in 2009 who finished on 3 under par and tied in 15th place

Hole-in-one again

For the second day in row there was a hole-in-one on the ninth which resulted in title sponsors Ricoh handing out a £2,000 bonus as part of its drive to raise funds for raise funds of Alzheimer’s Research UK.

On the first day it was England’s Florentyna Parker who posted the magic number and 24-hours later it was the turn of Canada’s Brooke Henderson whose ace with a 9-iron helped her post a 70 and finish alongside Parker, America’s Mina Harigae, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom on five under par 139.

The cut fell was at one over par 145 and among the players to miss out were Charley Hull, Karrie Webb, Laura Davies, Inbee Park and Mel Reid and Kylie Walker

The Asia-Pacific champion Atthaya Thitikul carded rounds of 73 and 71 to be the only amateur to make the cut and is guaranteed the Smyth Salver awarded to the leading amateur provided she completes the next two rounds.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT 
CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE SCORES

MINJEE LEE LEADS THE BRITISH OPEN ON DAY 1

Australian star Minjee Lee, pictured above, took advantage of the glorious weather conditions at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club, Lancashire this afternoon to shoot a sizzling seven-under-par 65 to lead after the first round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open.

Lee is one stroke clear of Japan’s Mamiko Higa, with England’s Georgia Hall tied for third place only two shots from the lead

The 2009 Champion Catriona Matthew finished on 1under par 71 to be tied in 28th place. Kylie Henry had 2 disaster holes to drop 5 shots in her round of 78. 

Click Here to see scores

Florentyna Parker had a hole in one which has earned £2,000 for Alzheimers Research UK (plus a further £60 for her 6 birdies), a charity she has supported since her Grandmother’s diagnosis with the disease

CHECK OUT THE BIRDIES -- LIVE SCORING FROM THE LADIES BRITISH OPEN

Ricoh Women's British Open - Scores for Round 1 only - Livescoring is on Royal Lytham & St Annes - Par 72 - 2nd - 5th August 2018   CLICK HERE

Charitable donations to follow birdies, eagles and hole-in-ones For every birdie, eagle and hole-in-one hit by competitors at this year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open, Ricoh Europe will donate money to fund life changing research into Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. 

 The print and technology specialist will donate £10 per birdie, £20 for every eagle and £2,000 for a hole-in-one to Alzheimer’s Research, the UK’s leading dementia research charity. 

PAST CHAMPIONS  -- A couple of Scottish Ricoh Events (Photographs) taken in Scotland -- 2011 (Carnoustie)  Yani Tseng and 2013 (St Andrews)   Stacey Lewis 

Catriona Matthew eyeing return to ‘special’ Lytham

By Martin Dempster (The ScotsmanNewspaper)

The 2009 Scottish Girls Team with Catriona Matthew at Lytham

By Martin Dempster

Winning a first major is enough to get you giddy. To achieve that feat 11 weeks after giving birth is positively head-spinning stuff. “It was a bit of blur that whole week,” admitted Catriona Matthew as she reflected on achieving that very feat nine years ago in the Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham, where the event returns next week.

“At the time, I just got on with it. It was 11 weeks after (second child) Sophie was born. But you just did what was required, feeding and all that. It all passed in a blur. You look back and think ‘that was quite amazing’.”

The week before Matthew and her husband, Graeme, had escaped a hotel fire during the Evian Masters in France. “That was my first week back after giving birth,” she added. “I just went to the Open with no expectations and no pressure on myself. It’s hard to do that every week, though. That was almost a one-off.”

The 48-year-old has recorded three top-10 finishes in the event since then but has been waiting patiently for this one to come around. “I’ve never been back to Lytham. Amazing to think the British has never been back either,” she said. 

“Graeme is going to caddie again and come out of retirement. It will be great. Any time you get to go back to a course where you’ve had success is special. The fact is was my first major makes it even more special.”

From the RLCGA Centenary Book - Click to enlarge.

THE 147TH OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE HAS A RECORD ATTENDANCE

Francesco Molinari of Italy with the Claret Jug after winning the 147th Open Championship alongside Sam Locke of Scotland, winner of the Silver Medal, awarded to highest placed amateur at Carnoustie Golf Club today in Carnoustie, Scotland.

Molinari produced a bogey-free round under the most extreme pressure to end on eight-under, two strokes clear of the field, and become the first Italian to win a major golf title, 23 years after Costantino Rocca went so close at St Andrews click here to read more and HERE for all the results

A record-breaking crowd of 172,000 attended The 147^th Open at Carnoustie this week.

This year’s attendance surpassed the 157,000 total set at Carnoustie in 1999. A key aim of The R and A, which organises The Open, is to attract a younger audience to the Championship and more than 20,000 spectators under the age of 25 attended the event at the renowned Scottish venue. Under-16’s gain free admission under The R and A’s longstanding Kids go Free initiative. 

More than 4000 spectators took advantage of free accommodation for young people and a low-cost rate for adults at The Open Camping Village, with Friday and Saturday night full to capacity. 

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R and A, said, “We have enjoyed a thrilling and memorable week of golf and Carnoustie’s world famous links has shown why it is revered by fans and players all over the world as one of our sport’s great championship venues. 

“We would like to thank every single person who has visited Carnoustie over the last eight days for generating a very special atmosphere that has been enjoyed by the players and the millions of TV viewers watching The Open around the world.” 

The 148th Open will take place at Royal Portrush from 14-21 July 2019 when golf’s original championship returns to Northern Ireland for the first time since it was played on the only occasion there in 1951. It is set to be the largest ever sporting event staged on the island of Ireland.

LIVE LEADERBOARD FROM THE 2018 BRITISH OPEN AND KARYN DALLAS IS PROVIDING FREE LESSONS

LIVE LEADERBOARD FROM THE OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE

Free downloads -- Alternatively download the Open App on your iphone by CLICKING  HERE to go to the ap store

or on your android phone go to the Google Playstore to download

Karyn Dallas - Team manager of the Scottish Girls at the European Team Championships is enjoying spending time at this year's The Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links where she is providing free lessons to the public at the Swingzone. See more -- CLICK HERE

COLIN FARQUHARSON RECEIVES A LIFETIME AWARD

Many congratulations go to Colin Farquarson who received a lifetime award today from the Association of Golf Writers of which he has been a member since 1974.

He is pictured above with his very proud daughter Elaine Farquharson-Black (Captain of the Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup Teams in 2016/ 2018)  and wife Ethel.

Colin has been editor and supplier of much news to Kirkwood Golf over the years.
He still is an editor of the Scottish Golf View Website  and at the age of 80 is still writing golf reports every day.

West of Scotland's Alyson & Rachael Lead at Royal Ashdown Forest

From the LGU Website
Two teenage Scots, Renfrewshire's Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) - pictured left  and Germany-based Lanarkshire's Rachael Taylor, (pictured right) were the only two players in the first half of the field of 113 to match the testing par of 72 over the Royal Ashdown Forest course, East Sussex in the first round of the Ladies British Open amateur championship today.

There was no wind to speak of and there is not a single bunker anywhere under an old forest conservation act so the only explanation for the general level of high scoring was that the woodland/heathland course, a royal hunting forest in ancient times, is an extremely testing lay-out on which to score well.
Bogeys, double bogeys and higher were common. Birdies were rare and eagles an endangered species.
Royal Ashdown Forest has been used by the R&A as an Open championship qualifying venue – and today the competitors in this LGU tournament could see why for themselves.
This south-east of England course, where there is less rainfall than most other parts of the country, has not staged many tournaments for female amateur golfers, outwith local members, in recent years and that lack of familiarity in particular with the hard greens that required pitch and run shots "a la" links golf but were not nearly as fast as links greens for putting was a problem that most of the contestants failed to solve on the first day.
As defending champion Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), remarked after a returning a four-over-par 76: “I think it’s going to be a high-scoring tournament.” Which could turn out to be the understatement of the season.
Playing partner and fellow Curtis Cup player Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) looked set to prove all the pundits wrong when she cruised to the turn in two-under-par 34 wit birdies at the fifth and eighth and not a suggestion of a bogey.
But Royal Ashdown Forest bit back – hard – on the 16-year-old Irish player after the turn. Leona required 41 shots (five over par) to get home, starting with a double bogey 6 and ended the back nin with a double bogey 7 at 17 and bogey 5 at the last for a 75.
Incidentally, Pamela Pretswell birdied the 17th where Leona had the 7 so where’s the logic of that?
Leona’s twin Lisa had a 77 which included a double bogey 6 at the 10th. Also on 77 is another highly promising 16-year-old, Bronte Law (Bramhall). Bronte had a double bogey 6 at the 15th in halves of 38 and 40.
Curtis Cup and Vagliano Trophy team player Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) later joined Leona Maguire on the 75 mark.
Britain’s youngest ever women’s open amateur champion, 16-year-old Lauren Taylor (Woburn), pulling her own clubs, had the same score as Pamela Pretswell, a 76. The only 6 on Lauren had on her card was at the 17th.
Alyson  a member of the Scotland team in the girls’ home internationals the week before last, had birdies at the second, 12th, 16th and 18th in halves of 37 (one over par) and 35 (one under). She bogeyed the first, seventh, 11th and 17th.
Rachael Taylor, whose Airdrie-born father is a golf professional in Germany, had halves of 34 and 38 with birdies at the third, eighth and 17th. She did not drop a shot until the 10th – where she dropped two with a 6, followed by a bogey at the 11th, then covered the last seven holes in one-under par.
Welsh teenager Amy Boulden (Llandudno Maesdu) and two other youngsters, England girl cap Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough) and Belgium’s Laurence Herman, are tucked in behind the Scots. Boulden’s 73 was so steady – 15 pars, one birdie, two bogeys – she could have been playing a different course from those who shot in the high 70s and 80s.
Amy started with a bogey and had her only other dropped shot at the 10th. The Astor Trophy and Vagliano Trophy team player birdied the 17th in halves of 37 and 36.

Scots Scores -- Round 1:

Rachael Taylor (Am Reichswald) 72 - Lanarkshire
Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) 72 - Renfrewshire
Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) 74 - Lanarkshire
Gillian Monteith (Portpatrick Dunskey) 78
Hannah Mccook (Grantown on Spey) 78
Rachael Watton (Mortonhall) 80
Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies') 81
Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) 81
Laura Murray (Alford) 82
Lesley Atkins(Gullane Ladies) 82
Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm) 83 - Renfrewshire
Katie Reid (Monifieth) 88