Beaten in the final of the Midlothian county championship on Sunday, Craigielaw's Jane Turner found her best form in the worst kind of conditions today for the first of two qualifying stroke-play qualifying rounds at the 98th Scottish women's (closed) amateur championship at its second most northerly venue in nigh on 100 years.
The 22-year-old from Penicuik and a student at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen outstripped the field not with a very low sub-par round - a two-over-par 75 was good enough to hoist her two shots clear of the field as only five players broke 80 in at times a gale-force northwestery blowing in over the Dornoch Firth played havoc with the scoring at Tain Golf Club's Old Tom Morris-designed links lay-out in Rosshire, a 40min drive north of Inverness.
It was not only very, very windy today at Tain, it was also very, very cold. It was sunny most of the day and looked a lovely day through the glass from INSIDE the clubhouse but in reality the temperature outside never rose to double figures.
Underlining just how cold it was, there were two separate showers of hailstones at different times of the day. And this is mid-May?
As players came in, chilled to the bone, after their ordeals, the clubhouse was awash with horror stories of players' experiences in what 2010 champion Kelsey MacDonald and others described as "absolutely brutal.weather for golf."
Turner (75), MacDonald (77), Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) (78), Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) (79) and Alford's Laura Murray (79) fill the first five places overnight on a day when every player deserved a medal.It was not only very, very windy today at Tain, it was also very, very cold. It was sunny most of the day and looked a lovely day through the glass from INSIDE the clubhouse but in reality the temperature outside never rose to double figures.
Underlining just how cold it was, there were two separate showers of hailstones at different times of the day. And this is mid-May?
As players came in, chilled to the bone, after their ordeals, the clubhouse was awash with horror stories of players' experiences in what 2010 champion Kelsey MacDonald and others described as "absolutely brutal.weather for golf."
If the same high velocity wind hangs around for another blow tomorrow, then the qualifying score to figure among the 32 for the match-play stages will be around 178, i.e. a pair of 89s.
"The trouble with the wind," said Kelsey MacDonald, whose 77 has her tucked in behind Turner in second place in the chase for 32 places in the match-play draw, "was that it was mostly blowing across the fairways and that made it very difficult to get pars and very easy to get bogeys, double bogeys and even higher figures."
Indeed 10s and 11s at single holes became commonplace as the wild wind maintained its tempo and coldness to the bitter end.
One player took 56 shots (21 over par) for the first nine holes after starting with a 10. Another said she was seven over par after only three holes.
Even an experienced and still very good player such as six times Angus champion Mary Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) marked up a 10 at the par-5 11th and finished with 103
So how did Jane Turner succeed when so many others failed?"Holing a 20ft putt across the first green for a birdie certainly helped my attitude. I wasn't going to let the wind beat me. I drove it well and into the right places," she said.
"You could say my course management was good but mainly I just played really steady golf, making mistakes as was to be expected, but making the best of it and getting on with it," added the 22-year-old Scotland international who graduates this summer and already has a job waiting for her with an Edinburgh firm of graphic designers (a job that guarantees her time off for golf!)
"I got my second birdie at the long 13th but the icing on the cake for me - and the hole that really gave me a two-shot lead over playing partner Kelsey = was the 17th. It's a par 4, even though it is only 208yd
"Today it was one of the few holes directly into the wind - and I hit it really well with my driver, through to the back edge of the green. And I holed the putt from about 30 feet for an eagle 2!"
"The trouble with the wind," said Kelsey MAC, whose 77 has her tucked in behind Turner in second place in the chase for 32 places in the match-play draw, "was that it was mostly blowing across the fairways and that made it very difficult to get pars and very easy to get bogeys, double bogeys and even higher figures."
Indeed 10s and 11s at single holes became commnplace as the wild wind maintained its strength and coldness to the bitter end.
One player took 56 shots (21 over par) for the first nine holes and another said she was seven over par after only three holes. became common place as the wind maintained its tempo to the bitter end.
Even an experienced and still very good player such as six times Angus champion Mary Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) marked up a 10 at one hole early in her inward half and finished with 103.
Mary must have had a premonition about her round because she admitted in the clubhouse beforehand that she was a little bit reluctant to go out.
Her teenager daughter Ailsa, Angus women's champion for the fourth year in a row at the weekend, did very well to salvage a 79 considering she was five over par after only four holes, having had a double bogey 7 at the fourth and bogeys at the first three holes.
Out in 41, she matched the par of 38 for the inward journey and was the first player in the field to break 80 - at 3pm!
"It wasn't in the least bit enjoyable but the fact that there is another qualifying round tomorrow kept me going."
New Northern Counties champion Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey) had the best outward half of 36 (one over par) but had three double bogey 6s, including the 17th and 18th, in an inward 44 (six over par).
"It was a cross wind all the way until we got to the last two holes - which were directly into the wind. They cost me four shots," said Hannah.
"It was such a struggle from start to finish."
Big-hitting Laura Murray was going well when she turned in one-over 37 but she slipped to 42 shots for the inward half, bogeying the 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th. She had only one birdie all day - a 2 at the short fifth.
Peterculter's Rachel Polson, just back from her first year at Florida Tech, finished with an 84 which really did not do her justice/
Out in 38, she had a triple bogey 8 at the long 11th and dropped six shots to par from the 14th to the 17th, including a double bogey 5 at the short 16th.
Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm), beaten finalist last year, was five over par on the fourth tee, having started double bogey 6, bogey 5, double bogey 6 but she had picked up two birdies by the turn which she reached in a respectable 40 and got another three birdies- at the 13th, 15th and 17th - over an inward half of 38.
Without having check every card, I would say that Eilidh had more birdies than any other player in the field on a day when they were an endangered species.
Sister Megan, Scottish champion three years ago, also came home in 38 but the damage had been done to her card with 43 for the outward nine.
ALL THE SCORES FROM THE WIND-LASHED FIRST DAY OF THE 98th SCOTTISH WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
SCOTTISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR (closed) CHAMPIONSHIP
Tain Golf Club, Ross-shire
FIRST ROUND
Par 73 (35-38). Yardage 5,955
75 Jane Turner (Craigielaw).
77 Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar).
78 Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm).
79 Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies), Laura Murray (Alford)..
80 Martine Pow (Selkirk), Louise Fraser (Kingsknowe), Hannah McCook (Grantown on Spey)..
81 Rachael Walker (Dumfries and Galloway), Cara Gruber (Royal Dornoch), Clara Young (North Berwick), Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm).
82 Linsey Stevenson (Elie and Earlsferry Ladies).
83 Claire Hargan (Cardross), Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe), Elaine Cuthill (Lanark), Samantha Munro (Aberdour), Eilidh Watson (Muckhart)
84 Karen Marshall (Baberton), Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe), Rachel Polson (Peterculter).
85 Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe), Sammy Vass (Tain)
86 Sheena Wood (Aberdeen Ladies), Alyson McKechin (Elderslie), Alison Bartlett (Royal Dornoch).
87 Mhairi McKay (West Kilbride)
88 Jordana Graham (Southerness), Fiona Liddell (Schloss Vorholz), Anne Ryan (Tain), Lynne Terry (Cruden Bay), Dawn Young (North Berwick).
89 Susan Wood (Drumpellier), Jenny Potter (Cathkin Braes), Carol Whyte (Windyhill)..
91 Katie Reid (Monifieth), Lauren Whyte (St Regulus), Jacqueline Sneddon (Alyth), Claire Riddell (Royal Dornoch).
92 Nichola Ferguson (Milngavie), Eleanor Tunn (Reay), Mary Smith (Tain), Linda Urquhart (Banchory), Claire Ross (Tain).
93 Kirsten Blackwood (Glencorse), Nicola Taylor (Dunnikier Park), Denise Cowan (Ranfurly Castle).
94 Hannah Scott (Broomieknowe).
95 Heather Munro (Monifieth), Lorraine Morrow (Eastwood)
96 Ashley Alston (Royal Montrose).
97 Jemma Chalmers (Monifieth).
98 Sheena McDonald (Buchanan Castle).
99 Linda Bain (Lochend), Eileen Gillespie (Lochend), Fiona Macdonald (Royal Dornoch).
100 Susan MacVicar (Gairloch).
102 Margot Barr (Gairloch).
103 Mary Summers (Carnoustie Ladies).
104 Lynne Fraser (Fortrose and Rosemarkie).
105 Lindsay Mathie (Windyhill). 110 Molly Stewart (Murcar Links). 111 Ruth McIntyre (Windyhill)
125 Jackie McDonald (Ranfurly Castle).
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WEDNESDAY'S TEE TIMES
09.00 Anne Laing (Vale of Leven) (past champions event) and Jackie Macdonald.
09.10 Ruth McIntyre, Molly Stewart and Pamela Moscati.
09.20 Lindsay Mathie, Lynne Fraser and Mary Summers.
09.30 Margot Barr, Susan MacVicar and Fiona Macdonald
09.40 Linda Bain, Eileen Gillespie and Sheena McDonald
09.50 Jemma Chalmers, Ashley Ann Alston and Heather Munro
10.00 Lorraine Morrow, Hannah Scott and Nicola Taylor.
10.10 Denise Cowan, Kirsten Blackwood and Mary Smith.
10.20 Claire Ross, Linda Urquhart and Nichola Ferguson.
10.30 STARTER'S TIME
10.40 Eleanor Tunn, Jacqueline Sneddon and Claire Riddell.
10.50 Katie Reid, Lauren Whyte and Carol Whyte.
11.00 Susan Wood, Jenny Potter and Anne Ryan.
11.10 Dawn Young, Fiona Liddell and Jordana Graham.
11.20 Lynne Terry, Mhairi McKay and Sheena Wood.
11.30 Alyson McKechin, Alison Bartlett and Sammy Vass.
11.40 Kate McIntosh, Rachel Polson and Karen Marshall.
11.50 Wendy Nicholson, Claire Hargan and Eilidh Watson
12.00 Elaine Cuthill, Samantha Munro and Linsey Stevenson.
12.10 Cara Gruber, Clara Young and Megan Briggs.
12.20 Rachel Walker, Hannah McCook and Martine Pow
12.30 Louise Fraser, Laura Murray and Ailsa Summers.
12.40 Eilidh Briggs, Kelsey MacDonald and Jane Turner.
