Scottish Championship at Craigielaw

Wind down for the chat





The first tee at Craigielaw Golf Club during the Scottish Women's Championship last week rarely looked as peaceful as in this picture. (Wind back up to see the picture) But the glorious scenery certainly did. The whole unblemished week was a most unusual occurrence for this championship which is normally dogged by some cruel element of the weather, be it rain or wind or cold or all three although professional shops usually do quite well! A delightful week therefore which produced some wonderful golf although unfortunately not quite so sparkling in the final game when Kelsey MacDonald of Nairn Dunbar beat Louise Kenney of Pitreavie by 5 and 4. However this final was watched by numerous vets from around the country some having travelled a fair distance for the privilege, some even coming from as far as Gullane(and sporting some jolly fine hats too!) Gillian's was actually sent from across the Atlantic with very strict instructions that she would be obliged to wear it when she joined the Rules Committee for the US Women's Open at Oakmont, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in early July. (Just kidding Gill. It's a great hat and a very great honour. Congratulations.) So we are now wondering what Sue's excuse is, but we'll definitely drift past No-hat Moira without saying a word.

This is without doubt now a younger Scottish golfer's competition. The webmaster might be wrong but were there 21 qualifiers under 21 years of age, out of 32 in the matchplay stage of the competition? From a fairly modest entry this year of just under 70, out of which were ten vets, there were however, two Golden Oldies (whoops, not really allowed to say that although it's almost how it feels in this increasingly young field)- two Golden Oldies who qualified for the matchplay stage - Noreen Fenton of Dunbar and Sheila Cuthbertson of Peebles. Fiona de Vries, an honorary member of Baberton would also have qualified but had to withdraw from the matchplay due to pressures of work (either that or perhaps she did not wish to be referred to as a G.O.) Unfortunately neither of these ladies survived to the second round, Noreen being beaten 2 and 1 in a tight game by Susan Jackson of Ladybank whereas Sheila, met an avalanche of birdies by the talented Midlothian junior, Rachel Watton.

The course was lengthened to over 6000 yards for this competition which was definitely an advantage to the longer hitter. So often our ladies would require accurate long irons or woods against the wedges of their longer-hitting opponents, which of course, had much more chance of stopping on the greens. However it is to the credit of the vets that they showed they could still hold their own by securing a hole with an accurate short game and throughout, keeping to their own game in the relentless face of the bigger ball. It is possibly unlikely that a huge increase in numbers of vets/seniors will be entering this competition in the future - unless of course to a very popular venue - where the length of a drive, or really the lack in length of a drive, so influences the outcome.

A great week. Many congratulations to Craigielaw on the wonderful condition of their course.