Championships - Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship 2008
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Roseanne Niven faces up to the big task ahead as she takes on Anna Nordqvist in the last four at North Berwick.
14.06.2008
Scot Niven reaches the last four
18.30pmROSANNE NIVEN KEEPS THE SCOTTISH FLAG FLYING
IN SEMI-FINALS OF BRITISH AT NORTH BERWICK
Roseanne Niven from Crieff, a 19-year-old student at the University of California-Berkeley, gained the biggest and best win of her golfing career in the evening sunshine at North Berwick.
She beat the Spanish ace, 20-year-old Azahara Munoz, winner a couple of weeks ago of the major American college golf title, the NCAA women's championship. at the 20th hole to reach the Sunday morning semi-finals of the British women's open amateur golf championship.
Niven's opponent is Anna Nordqvist, the 6ft 1in Swedish player and American college player at Arizona State University. Anna has reached the finals of the past two British championships.
No British player has won the title for six years and the tournament has been dominated by Continental players since England's Rebecca Hudson won the championship at Ashburnham in 2002.
The first semi-final (8.30) on Sunday morning will feature the brilliant 19-year-old Hedwall twins from Barseback, Sweden - top seed Caroline and Jacqueline. "We've only played each other once in match-play before and Caroline won - but I'm going to beat her this time," said Jacqueline.
In the morning quarter-finals, Roseanne, a former Scottish girls match-play champion, had ousted fellow Scot Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) by 2 and 1 after winning the first four holes.
Niven should have had little chance in the quarter-finals against Munoz, who won the British girls title at Lanark in 2004 and is ranked well about Roseanne in the American college circuit ratings. But Roseanne played the match of her life. She went two down early but her head didn't go down and she cut the lead to one with a birdie 4 at the long eighth.
Niven's purple patch that gave her the confidence to put Munoz under severe pressure started at the 12th where the Scot squared the match with a par. The Spaniard bounced back into a one-hole lead by winning the 13th but Roseanne was not to be denied.
She won the 14th and 15th to lead for the first time in the epic encounter which was followed by the biggest gallery since Carly Booth made her exit on Friday afternoon. Azahara was not done with yet either. She squared the tie by winning the 16th and the ding-dong struggle continued to sway one way, then the other. Niven won the 17th to be one up but her Spanish opponent got a pitch and putt birdie, holing from 7ft, for a birdie 3 at the last to square the contest. Before the players reached the first tee second time round, the LGU officials sounded the klaxon to pull all the remaining matches off the course due to a warning of lightning in the area.
It was another 45 minutes before the Niven v Munoz tie could resume as the circling thunder clouds moved on. The 19th was halved after Niven played a splendid approach to 5ft but could not hole the putt. But a famous Scottish victory was only delayed. At the 20th, Rosie, as she is known by her friends, sank at 15ft putt for a birdie to be the only British player in the last four.
Niven's semi-final opponent, Anna Nordqvist won her quarter-final by 4 and 2 against the No 2 seed, Maria Hernandez from the bull-run Spanish city of Pampolona and another leading US college circuit player from Purdue University. Maria had been five under par in her third-round win but Anna, the No 7 qualifier, is well used to the pressure-cooker tension of the closing stages of the "British" and she kept a tight rein on this match, going one up after seven and three up after 14.
The Hedwall twins are making their debut in the championship but they are from the upper bracket of Continental female amateur golf. Both played in the winning European Junior Solheim Cup team last year and Caroline's handicap of +5.4 makes her one of the highest-rated amateurs in the world, not just Europe.
But Caroline admitted she was made to work hard by French-Canadian Maude-Aimee Leblanc before securing a two-hole win in the first quarter-final to finish. The 6ft Quebec player went one up when Caroline three-putted the 15th but then Maude-Aimee seemed to crack under pressure.
She lost the 16th, 17th and 18th to hand the "older by 45min" Hedwall twin victory on a plate. The Canadian four-putted the 17th to go one down for the first time since the seventh and then made a mess of the last hole, driving over the green and then foolishly trying to putt up the slope to the plateau green. The ball rolled back to her and her second attempt was far too strong. She conceded the hole and victory to Caroline Hedwall who had played only two shots.
Jacqueline Hedwall's tie against Valentine Derrey from Paris was the last to finish after the lightning-warm play suspension. Jacqueline won it by two holes after seemingly heading for a big win at a much earlier time.
The French girl, beaten finalist in the British girls at Lanark in 2004, was four down after 10 holes but then won the 12th, 13th and 15 to cut her deficit to one. A series of nervy halves, with Jacqueline Hedwall holing vital knee-knocking 5ft putts at the 17th and 18th for a one-hole win.
13.00pm
Swedish twin sisters Caroline Hedwall and Jacqueline are through to the last eight of the Ladies British open amateur championship at North Berwick.
The 19-year-olds from Barseback are both in the top half of the draw and should they both win their quarter-final ties this afternoon they would meet in Sunday morning's first semi-final.
The only British player in the last eight is 19-year-old Roseanne Niven from Crieff. She beat Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) by 2 and 1 in the Battle of the Scots which drew the biggest gallery of the morning.
Caroline Hedwall, the top seed, has been playing up to and beyond her +5.4 handicap. She was two under par this morning in eliminating GB&I Curtis Cup team player, Jodi Ewart from Catterick.
Caroline won by 4 and 2 after Jodi had made a game of it on the outward half and was only one down on the eighth tee.
But by the 14th, the Swede, who is bound for Oklahoma State University in the autumn, had stretched her lead to a commanding four holes.
Jacqueline Hedwall, the No 29 qualifier, had to go to the 20th to get the better of Canadian Kira Meixner, the 13th qualifier. It was the tightest of contests with never more than a hole in it either way. Meixner had a one-hole advantage after 14 holes but they were level again by the 273yd 18th where both players, downwind, drove through the back of the plateau green.
Hedwall used a lob wedge to recover to five or six feet but Meixner elected to try to putt from about 20 yards away. Her putt lost its momentum before it got to the top of the slope around the green and rolled back to her.
But the Canadian kept her cool and putted again, this time close enough to salvage a par 4. It was over to Hedwall then to hole her putt for victory but she missed - and off they went into extra holes before Jacqueline triumphed at the 20th.
She plays French girl Valentine Derrey, who lost to Azahara Munoz in the British girls' final at Lanark in 2004. Valentine beat compatriot Isabelle Boineau by 4 and 3 after being two up on the eighth tee and four up after 14.
Caroline Hedwall's victory put her through to a quarter-final match against tall French Canadian Maude-Aimee Leblanc who KO'd the last surviving GB&I Curtis Cup team player, Breanne Loucks from Wrexham.
Maude-Aimee, conqueror of Carly Booth in the previous round, was three up after nine on Loucks before the 10th was halved in birdie 2s.
The Canadian-born Welsh girl then came storming back into the match by winning the 11th with a bidie, the 12th with a birdie and the 13th with a par - all square.
Three nail-biting halves followed before Leblanc holed a crucial 20ft putt for a birdie 3 to go one up at the 17th. Loucks never looked like winning the last and so went down by one hole to Leblanc who was roughly level par for the round.
The best figures of the third round were produced by American college circuit player Maria Hernandez from Spain. The Purdue University student, the No 2 qualifier, was five under par in beating Germany's Caroline Masson, No 1 in the European Golf Association female amateur rankings.
Hernandez was two up after seven and four up after 14 in winning by 5 and 3.
Maria now plays Sweden's Anna Nordqvist, beaten in the 2006 and 2007 finals of this championship and a winner of the British girls championship before that. Six-footer Anna was a couple under par in winning by 4 and 3 against the surprise packet of the championship, 20-year-old Hannah Ralph from Cowdray Park, Sussex.
Nordqvist lost the third to a birdie but won the fourth, fifth and eighth to surge two up. Hannah had to produce birdies to win holes - and she did that at the ninth and the 12th but that still left her two down after 12.
Nordqvist took a stranglehold on the match against a plucky opponent by winning the 13th and 15th.
Roseanne Niven from Crieff and a student at the University of California won the first four holes against fellow Scot Pamela Pretswell and was five up at the turn, having birdied the third and the ninth. Pamela rallied after the turn to win the 10th, 14th (with a birdie) and the 15th but Roseanne stopped the slide with halves at the 16th and 17th for a 2 and 1 win.
The winning Scot now plays Spain's Azahara Munoz, an Arizona State University student who won the top female title on the US college circuit - the NCAA championship - a couple of weeks ago and won the British girls title at Lanark in 2004.
Munoz was three under par in winning by two holes against yet another US college player, Stefanie Endstrasser from Austria and the University of Southern California. Munoz birdied the seventh, 10th and 12th to build up a two-hole lead after 12 holes. Endstrasser won back the 14th with a birdie but promptly lost the 15th to a par to go back to two down. The Austrian kept her hopes alive by winning the 17th to be one down on the 18th tee. Munoz won the last.
8.30am
Crieff's Roseanne Niven and Pamela Pretswell make it through to the last 16 and keep Scottish hopes of a winner alive.
Unfortunately they will play each other!
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