Championships - Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship 2009
« Back to news indexNews for this championship
12.06.2009
Birthday girl Laura is only British player left in last four at Harlech.
STOP PRESSLast year's British Amateur Champion, Sweden's Anna Nordquist is currently leading the McDonald LPGA Championship in USA. Ann turned pro last year and couldn`t defend her title here at Harlech.
Laura Collin celebrated her 22nd birthday in great golfing style by reaching the semi-finals of the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship over the Royal St David’s Golf Club links at Harlech in Northwest Wales this afternoon.
Bedfordshire-born Laura is the only uncapped player in Saturday morning’s last four.
Through descent of her Scottish father and caddie Alistair, Laura is qualified to play for Scotland but has played two or three times in the English close championship but she is not, so far, a member of any England squad.
In the morning's third round , Laura squeezed through at the 20th against Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell) before, in the quarter-finals, ending the great championship debut run of 14-year-old twin Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell).
Collin beat Leona by 5 and 3 with three under par figures after winning the first two holes with a bogey 5 and a par 4. It was Miss Maguire’s weakest start in any of her match-play ties. Previously, she had established a big lead on the outward holes. Leona had to wait until the eighth hole for her first success of the quarter-final, winning it with a par 5 but she dropped back to two down when Collin had a birdie 2 at the short ninth.
The John O’Gaunt club member doubled her lead to four holes with a par at the 10th and a birdie 2 at the 11th.
There was no way back for young Leona. She was unable to win any more holes – the 13th was halved in birdie 4s – and Laura, the 12th qualifier, sealed her notable win at the 15th with her fourth birdie in a seven-hole stretch from the ninth
“I didn’t think I would get nearly as far as the semi-finals,” said Laura whose Eyemouth-born dad, a Scotland boy international in his younger days, not only caddies for her but has given her a bit of coaching.
“I’ve been to several professional coaches over the past few years,” said Laura, a +1 player who finished in the top of the English stroke-play last year.
.“But I had got to the point last year when my head was stuffed full of golf theory and too many thoughts were running through my mind when I was on a golf course.
“I decided to forget everything I had ever been told and just to play every shot as it came. and that has worked wonders for me over the past few months. My dad helps me a bit but I’ve not been to a pro coach for some time.”
Laura will now play the No 1 seed, Carlota Ciganda from Pamplona, Spain, who did not defend the title after winning it at Alwoodley in 2007. Carlota, a 19-year-old student at Arizona State University, the current European champion and the backmarker with +5 of a handicap in the Harlech field, won her quarter-final by 3 and 2 against Hannah Barwood (Knowle), the 18-year-old English women’s champion of 2008.
Carlota was two under par in her morning g win by 3 and 2 over Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down) and four under par in chalking up victory by a similar margin over Hannah.who won the first hole but did not taste success again until she produced an eagle 3 at the 15th to cut her deficit from four to three holes.
A half in 4s at the 16th ended the contest in the Spanish ace’s favour. She has now won 10 ties in a row, including her title-winning run in 2007 at Alwoodley.
The second semi-final will feature 20-year-old German-born Caroline Masson, a student at Oklahoma State University and ranked No 26 on the US college circuit, against Azahara Munoz from Malaga, Spain, the No 2 seed.
Playing in her last Ladies' British Open Championship before she turns professional after the US Women’s Open next month, Azahara, the 2004 British girls champion, was two down after five holes against Rhian Wyn Thomas, the 20-year-old scratch Welsh international from Vale of Glamorgan but fought back over the closing holes to win the 13th, 15th and `16tth for a 2 and 1 win with roughly level par figures.
. The No 30 qualifier, Caroline beat Nathalie Mansson (Sweden), a student at Tennessee University, by 3 and 2 with three-under-par figures. Caroline took a stranglehold on the outcome of their quarter-final by winning the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth holes to be four up after six holes.
Do you have comments or questions about the LGU?
LGU legal disclaimer | Privacy statement | Copyright © 2012 - Ladies' Golf Union
Ladies' Golf Union, The Scores, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AT
Tel: 01334 475811, Fax: 01334 472818