SHORT GAME:ALEXIS THOMPSON, the 13-year-old wonder kid of US girls golf won the final of the Jones-Doherty womens amateur matchplay championship at Coral Ridge Country Club, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when she beat Scotland's Kelsey McDonald 5 and 4 in the decider.
Thompson, who beat Ireland’s Rachael Cassidy from The Island GC, in the second round, will be 14 on February 10th, also won the previous week’s South Atlantic Women’s amateur championship at Oceanside Country Club, Ormond Beach – the second event in the Orange Blossom tour of Florida. MacDonald finished third in that event with Cassidy 20th.
McDonald, an 18-year-old first year sports student at Stirling University, played brilliant golf to reach the final, including a 3 and 2 semi-final win over Meghan Bolger, twice winner of the US womens mid-amateur title and a member of the winning American Curtis Cup team at St Andrews last May.
However, there was no beating Thompson, who cruised to victory, winning her final four matches by at least a four-hole margin.
Thompson, the number one in the Golfweek/Titleist junior rankings, was also runner-up at the Dixie Amateur earlier this year.
Carolyn Creekmore beat Anna Schultz, 2 and 1, to win the senior flight. Creekmore won the 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, while Schultz won in 2007.
Courses for qualifiers announced
A FORMER British Open Championship course and Ryder Cup venue are among an impressive line-up of courses staging regional qualifiers for the 2009 Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship. And the eight-strong list also includes a new Irish venue as The Heritage in Killenard Co Laois – a course which has previously staged the Seve Trophy – will play host to the Irish professionals on Wednesday, May 6th.
Hadley Wood kickstarts the race for qualifiers on April 30th with ultimately 156 competitors set to make it through to June’s final at Dundonald Links. Last year’s final venue and Britains first Ryder Cup course, Moortown, brings the curtain down on the qualifiers on Monday, June 1st. In addition to a €82,000 prize fund, qualifiers will also have the chance to earn a place on the 2009 Britain and Ireland PGA Cup team which will take on America in September at The Carrick at Loch Lomond.
Lavelle best at Portmarnock
MICHAEL LAVELLE from The K Club shot a best of the day three-under-par 69 to be a comfortable winner of the Waterford Crystal/Right Price Tiles-sponsored Links Pro-Am at the Portmarnock Hotel and Links last week.
Lavelle’s 69 gave him a two-shots winning margin over Royal Dublin’s John Hutchinson with Dave Heary from Clontraf third on 73. Ronan Flood, caddy to Padraig Harrington, took time off from his world tours to shoot a 74 for fourth place with Niall Goudling from neighbouring club Portmarnock next on 75. Colum Abernethy from Dún Laoghaire, who won the nett at the corresponding outing last year, took the honours in the gross with a one-under-par 71 to edge out Beaverstown’s Garry Cullen by one shot with Dundalk professional Leslie Walker third on 74. Jim Carvill from Warrenpoint and Eamonn Brady from Clontarf also shot 74s with John McHenry on 75.
Lavelle also brought in the winning team with partners Daragh Curran from St Anne’s and Chris Kelly from The K Club with an eight under-par 64. Joey Purcell from Portmarnock won the over 50s gross with a 79 and Peter Rogers from Dundak the nett with a 77. The next outing of the society is the President’s, Des Smyth, day at Royal Dublin on February 28th.
Watson wins Leadbetter Challenge by one shot
CURTIS CUP teenager Sally Watson, from the Earlsferry Golf Club, Fife, won the The Leadbetter Challenge’s girls’ tournament at IMG Academies Golf Country Club’s course, Sarasota Bay, Bradenton, Florida, over the weekend.
Watson, a 17-year-old student at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, Bradenton, shot rounds of 72 and 71 for a one-under-par total of 143.
The Scot, who will enrol at Stanford University – Tiger Woods’ old stamping ground in California – in the autumn, has had very little competitive action since a major knee operation days after she played in the Curtis Cup at St Andrews last May.
Watson won in the end by one shot from the talented Israeli player, Laetitia Beck, who is also a student at a golf academy in Florida, and Irene Jung from Nova Scotia, Canada.
Out in 33 to Watson and Jung’s 37 apiece, Beck dropped a shot at the 12th but birdied the 13th to have a clear lead until she bogeyed the 15th and double-bogeyed the 16th.
Beck birdied the last for a 69 and a total of 144 but it was too late to catch Watson. The Scot’s two-under-par inward half of 34 was decisive in the final analysis.
SCOTLAND'S CatrionaMatthew fired a final-round three-under-par 69 to claim a five-stroke victory at the inaugural HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup at Itanhanga GC in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sunday.
With the victory, Matthew took home the €75,000 first prize and her first unofficial win on the LPGA Tour. The 39-year-old has two official victories on the LPGA Tour at the 2001 Cup Noodles Hawaiian Women’s Open and most recently at the 2004 Wendy’s Championship for Children. “This comes as a bit of a surprise having not played in a month,” said Matthew, who is expecting her second child in May.
Week left in Turnberry sale
FOR those spectators who don’t want to miss a shot at Turnberry, there are only seven days left to purchase season tickets for the British Open Championship at the discounted price of €190.
Entry with a season ticket works out at a cost of € 24 per day and represents a saving of over 50 per cent on a standard daily ticket.
The Ailsa Course promises to provide enthralling competition this summer.
Pádraig Harrington will attempt to become the first man to lift The Claret Jug in three consecutive years since Peter Thomson achieved the feat in 1954, 1955 and 1956.
Death of former president of ILGU
WOMEN’S golf has been saddened by news of the death of Maureen McLeod, past president of the Irish Ladies Golf Union.
She was a native of Belfast and a member of Malone Golf Club and made an immense contribution to women’s golf.
A splendid ambassador for the game during her presidency of the union in 1989 and 1990, she also served on the ILGU council from 1981 to 1983.
THERE may have beenjust six pairs in the competition at the weekend in Edmonstown women's fourball event, but Carmel Burke Daly had double reason to celebrate.
Not only did she win, but she also began the new year in fine fashion by securing a hole in one.
In partnership with Nora McGarry (20), Burke Daly – playing off a handicap of 18 – won the nine-hole event with 22 points, but also aced the first par three on the course, the third, measuring 124 yards and played over a couple of sand traps.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)