Championships - Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship 2010
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22.06.2010
Molinaro takes the lead at Ganton
The last player to finish in a field of 144, just before 8pm, Italy’s Giulia Molinaro, split the logjam at the top of the leaderboard in the Ladies British open amateur championship first qualifying round at sunny Ganton Golf Club, Yorkshire.A very long – play started at 6.30am – and very hot day ended with the 19-year-old Arizona State University student from Venice shooting a three-under-par 70.
She leads by two shots from three players on the 72 mark.
“I holed some good putts out there,” said Giulia who had birdies at the fifth (20ft), the sixth, the eighth (30ft), the ninth, the 14th (20ft) and the 15th in halves of 35 (two under par) and 35 (one under).
“I liked the course. It was difficult but not too difficult. The only bogeys I had were three putts on the second, a visit to a bunker at the fourth and at the 17th where I took a six-iron instead of a seven iron and went over the back of the green and couldn’t get up and down,”
The three players who were “relegated” to joint second almost on locking-up time were Taylore Karle from Arizona, Scottish Curtis Cup player Sally Watson and Canadian Sue Kim.
Stanford University, California student Sally felt that taking a “good rest” for a few days after the Curtis Cup had paid off. She did not had the drained, slightly exhausted feeling that team-mates such as Lisa and Leona Maguire and Danielle McVeigh were experiencing.
Watson took four holes to get into her stride at Ganton. She bogeyed the second and fourth before notching birdies at the fifth, seventh, 10th, 13th and 15th. She did add to her bogey count with a bad tee shot for a 5 at the par-4 12th and a 4 at the short third where she missed the green in halves of 37 and 35.
Sue Kim, out in 38, had birdies at the 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th. It wasn’t quite a purple patch because she ran up a double bogey 6 at the 11th in her inward 34.
Karle from Scottsdale, a Curtis Cup first reserve for the United States in 2008, was the first to beat par in what looked like perfect scoring conditions – but the course lived up to its reputation of being a tough, testing lay-out on which straight driving is rewarded. And there was a bit of a wind to keep the players thinking.
Then two players in the same group in the second half of the field, Curtis Cup Scot Sally Watson, 18, and Canadian Sue Kim, 19, both matched Taylore’s 72.
“I was first alternate for the United States for the match over the Old Course, St Andrews in 2008 and I thought I had a chance of being selected for this year’s match – but I didn’t get a mention,” said the 19-year-old, originally from Texas and now a student at Pepperdine University, Malibu in California.
Karle came over for this championship in 2008 at North Berwick but was beaten in the first round of the match-play after being the third best qualifier.
The American bogeyed the first two holes at Ganton but settled to birdie the fourth and eighth before dropping a shot at the ninth to be out in level par 37.
She got back on the birdie trail at the 11th and 15th and looked to be set for a two-stroke clubhouse lead until she bogeyed the short 17th and came home in one-under 35 for a 72.
“It’s more difficult out there than you might think on such a lovely day. There is actually a breeze which is quite strong at some holes,” said Karle. “But I putted well – I had 28 putts, which always helps.”
Championship debutante Daniela Holmqvist, a 22-year-old from Stockholm, is another player from the US college circuit. She first represented Tulane University, New Orleans and is now a student at the University of California-Berkeley.
Daniela said she owed her par-matching round of 73 to a new driver she has acquired.
“It’s an awesome club. My three birdies today were all at par-5 holes. I’m hitting it a long way off the tee. I only had to use a six-iron for my second at the 15th (460yd).””
She had bogeys at the short 10th, where her tee shot rolled over the back of the green and she took three shots to get down, the 12th where she was bunkered and the 16th.
At these last two holes, Daniela used her three-wood instead of her driver!
Holmqvist, who has won a tournament on the Swedish domestic pro circuit, had halves of 35 (two under par) and 38 (two over par).
Emma Sheffield, 22, from the Newark Club, Notts had held the early lead for a short time with a one-over-par 74, covering the last five holes in three under par for an inward 34.
Prior to that the lead had been shared on 75 by Curtis Cup player Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), Nikki Foster (Pleasington) and Canadians Jennifer Kirby and Sara Juneau.
There was nothing to suggest in Emma Sheffield’s early figures that she would come through to set the lunchtime clubhouse target.
She bogeyed the first, second and fifth holes to be out in 40, three over the card and dropped another shot at the long 13th. Then she got her first birdie at the 14th and followed that with an eagle 3 at the 460yd 15th before parring the last three holes.
Glasgow University student Pamela Pretswell, who has made the last 16 of this championship for the past two years, was in six bunkers in halves of 36 (one under par) and 39 (three over).
“I actually hit the ball quite well and I was surprised I finished up in so many bunkers.I was in two different bunkers at the long 13th which cost me a double bogey 7,” said Pamela who admitted she was still on a high from playing in the recent Curtis Cup match in America.
“It was fantastic experience over there and I probably have not come down from it yet to feel tired and drained.”
Pretswell had birdied at the long sixth and ninth, getting home in two shots at both and then finished strongly with a 20ft putt for a birdie 3 at the 16th and a 15ft putt for a birdie 2 at the 17th.
She dropped shots with bunkered visits at the seventh and 10th and then ran up a 7 at the 13th where she was in two bunkers and finished up in sand again to mark up a bogey 6 at the 15th.
Pretswell’s sixth and last bunker was with her approach to the last hole.
Danielle McVeigh, a GBandI Curtis Cup team-mate of Pretswell at the Essex County Club match, was still smiling after a disappointing first round of 84. She took 45 shots to the turn, including a quadruple bogey 9 at the sixth where she lost two balls.
Six-footer Danielle said: “I just hit too many loose shots. I wasn’t quite focused on the outward half. I hadn’t hit a ball since my return from America and I found it hard to concentrate and, for a spell, to make the change over from the Curtis Cup match conditions to the pitch-and-run shots needed for a course like Ganton.
“But I’m not too upset. I actually enjoyed playing on such a nice day although there is a bit of a wind out there that is adding shots to players’ scores.”
Playing in the same threesome as McVeigh, Emma (Duggleby) Brown, a “local “ in this part of Yorkshire, was going well with 36 to the turn but she had a triple bogey and two doubles in an inward 44 for a round of 80. Emma won this title in 1984.
Roseanne Niven (Crieff), semi-finalist in this championship in 2008 when she also won the Ladies British open amateur stroke-play title, had a 91 (47-44) which left her needing something special in Wednesday’s second round to be among the 64 players to qualify for the match-play stages.
This year, for the first time, there will be no play-off for the last few places in the match-play draw. A card countback will be used to reduce the number of qualifiers to the required figure of 64.
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