PROVISIONAL GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND SQUAD FOR 2018 CURTIS CUP ANNOUNCED - CONNIE JAFFREY IS IN THE SQUAD

14 December 2017, St Andrews, Scotland:

An initial Great Britain and Ireland squad of 14 players has been announced by The R&A ahead of next year’s Curtis Cup match being played at Quaker Ridge, New York.
The 40th Curtis Cup match will be played from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 June 2018 with GB&I attempting to retain the historic trophy after an 11½-8½ win over the United States at Dun Laoghaire in Ireland last year.
Elaine Farquharson-Black, who will captain GB&I in the Curtis Cup for the second time, said, “We have identified a talented group of golfers, including three members of the winning 2016 Curtis Cup team. Each player in the squad is in contention for selection to the team and we will be monitoring their performances and results closely over the coming months.
“We will also be closely following the performances of other players not named in this squad who still have the opportunity to play their way into our thinking before the final team selection is made in April.”
Leona Maguire, who is currently the number one woman golfer in the WORLD AMATEUR GOLF RANKING™, leads a group from Ireland which also includes Paula Grant, a former R&A Foundation scholar, Olivia Mehaffey, a 2016 team member, and Annabel Wilson. Maguire won the 2017 Ladies British Amateur Championship at Pyle & Kenfig, while Mehaffey had wins at the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play Championship and Welsh Ladies Open Stroke Play Championship in 2016.
Lily May Humphreys, who won the Girls British Open Amateur Championship at Enville earlier this year, features in a strong English contingent of eight players. Alice Hewson is in contention to make her second Curtis Cup appearance after playing in the winning GB&I side in 2016 and Sophie Lamb, who finished as leading amateur at the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns to win the Smyth Salver, is also included.
Scotland’s Shannon McWilliam and Connie Jaffrey make up the squad. A former Scottish Ladies Order of Merit winner in 2015, McWilliam finished runner-up in both the Helen Holm Championship and the Scottish Girls Open Championship this year. Jaffrey attends Kansas State University and has won three times in US collegiate golf, while also triumphing in the 2017 Scottish Ladies Amateur Championship.
The GB&I squad:
Emma Allen (20, Meon Valley, England)
Connie Jaffrey (21, Troon Ladies, Scotland)
Lianna Bailey (21, Kirby Muxloe, England)
Sophie Lamb (20, Clitheroe, England)
India Clyburn (21, Woodhall Spa, England)
Leona Maguire (23, Slieve Russell, Ireland)
Annabell Fuller (15, Roehampton, England)
Shannon McWilliam (18, Aboyne, Scotland)
Paula Grant (24, Lisburn, Ireland)
Olivia Mehaffey (20, Royal County Down Ladies, Ireland)
Alice Hewson (20, Berkhamsted, England)
Isobel Wardle (17, Prestbury, England)
Lily May Humphreys (15, Stoke by Nayland, England)
Annabel Wilson (16, Lurgan, Ireland)

The final eight player GB&I team will be announced on 26 April 2018 and will include the two golfers who are placed highest in the WORLD AMATEUR GOLF RANKING™ on 25 April 2018. In addition, a further six players will be selected by The R&A Women’s Selection Committee. Up to four non-travelling reserves will also be announced.

SCOTTISH GOLF AGM -- SAVE THE DATE

The Board of Scottish Golf is pleased to announce the date of the 2018 Scottish Golf Annual General Meeting.
The meeting will be held on Sunday 4 March 2018.
We would encourage you to save the date with confirmed venue and timings to follow early in 2018.

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Pamela Pretswell Asher would like to see more events on the Ladies European Tour

By Martin Dempster -

West of Scotland's Pamela Pretswell Asher believes the Ladies European Tour has hit its lowest ebb at a time when the circuit boasts its strongest pool of talent in the last five years.

The 2017 campaign concludes on a high note this week with the Omega Dubai Ladies Classic involving a star-studded field at the Emirates Golf Club. But the fact it is just the 14th event on the schedule shows what a tough year it has been for players like Pretswell Asher who are trying to make a living on the LET.

Five tournaments went by the wayside this year, leading to the departure of the circuit’s CEO, Ivan Khodabakhsh, in August.

During the Solheim Cup in Des Moines, LPGA commissioner Mike Whan revealed that he had instigated talks with Keith Pelley, chief executive of the men’s European Tour, to see what could be done to help the LET. However, it emerged recently that the LET has declined the offer of assistance for the time being after being encouraged by the potential for a healthier 2018 schedule. “No chance,” replied Pretswell Asher, who was on the LET committee before resigning earlier this year, to being asked if there was a possibility of as many as 24 events being on that list, which is expected to be unveiled at this week’s event in the UAE.
“I think you’d be looking at 18 events next year and, for me, that would probably be a good schedule. “I think there is genuine interest, but whether that can be put in place for 2018, who knows. Even getting a couple back would be a start. But I think it will be 2019 before we really see a difference, so patience is the key.”

Speaking at an Aberdeen Standard Investments golf clinic in Edinburgh, the Scot added: “For me, the sad thing is that talent on the LET at the moment is the strongest it has been in the last five years. That’s the thing that frustrates me the most. “We have so many good players but they don’t have anywhere to play and don’t have to go to America if you don’t want to. But, at the moment, the only option is to go to the States. Georgia Hall, for instance, has to be there to progress her game after doing remarkably well to get into the Solheim Cup team this year from so few starts on the LET.”

Pretswell Asher has been the leading Scot on the circuit for the past two years but heads into this week’s event behind Michele Thomson on this I season’s money-list after the Aberdonian finished second in last month’s Indian Open. Due to bad smog, 
Pretswell Asher withdrew from that event but, after recording a top-15 finish in the following week’s Sanya Ladies Open in China, she is looking to end her season on a high in a field that is headed by Ricoh Women’s British Open champion In-Kyung Kim. “Michele had a great week in India but, if I can have a good week in Dubai, we’ll see where it leaves me at the end of the year,” said the former Curtis Cup player, who also has US Solheim Cup duo Angel Yin and Brittany Lincicome as her rivals this week. “This is a tournament I really enjoy, it’s the best one after the Scottish Open and it is one of the biggest on the schedule.
I’ve been pretty happy with my game. I just haven’t seen the results I would have wanted, though I had a good week in China. In fact, that was the best golf I’ve played for a long time. “My aim this week is to get 
a good finish to what has 
been a frustrating season. I think next year the schedule is looking better, though I don’t think it could be much worse, to be fair. “There were various reasons I came off the committee. It [a threadbare schedule] is not ideal because, at the end of the day, it is everyone’s job. It is the same for everyone, but I’m someone who likes to get a bit of momentum. “I like to get a few tournaments to get into the season and then get a run to get some rhythm going. This year, I had a couple of good results in April yet my next tournament was July – our biggest month – and by that time I’d lost any momentum I had. “It was disappointing not being able to take advantage of having both the Scottish Open and British Open on home soil.”

Fresh from her card success at the LPGA Qualifying School, Gemma Dryburgh also lines up in the Dubai event, as do Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew, Kelsey MacDonald, Vikki Laing, Kylie Henry and Carly Booth.

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