Fearless crop of teenagers can shine at Craigielaw

IT MAY have been diluted by the absence of Sally Watson and Pamela Pretswell, the two Scots in the Great Britain & Ireland side for next month's Curtis Cup, but this week's Scottish Ladies' (Close) Amateur Championship at Craigielaw promises to be a fascinating contest between some experienced campaigners and an exciting crop of youngsters.

In fairness to Watson and Pretswell, it is right to point out they have good reason for being absent. Watson, the sole survivor from the last Curtis Cup at St Andrews, is currently representing Stanford University in the season-ending NCAA Women's Championships in North Carolina, while Pretswell, the leading qualifier at Southerness 12 months ago, is sitting an important exam closer to home, at Glasgow University.

Nairn Dunbar's Kelsey MacDonald, the first reserve for the Curtis Cup, and Pitreavie's Louise Kenney, who was bitterly disappointed after being overlooked completely by the selectors for the biennial match, are the backmarkers in the field off plus two, closely followed by a quartet of players on plus one.

They include Jane Turner, a semi-finalist last year and playing on her home course this time around, though she spends most of her time these days up in Aberdeen, where she is coming to the end of year two of a graphic design course at Robert Gordons University.

Kenney reached the final last year, losing to Kilmacolm's Megan Briggs, who is back to defend her title in a field that includes three other past champions in Anne Laing, a double winner from Vale of Leven, Elaine Moffat of St Regulus and Selkirk's Martine Pow, who denied Laing in her bid for a title hat-trick in 2006, having also fallen at the final hurdle the previous year.

While experience can count for a lot in an event where players first have to pass a stroke-play qualifying test before showing they also have match-play mettle, MacDonald, last year's Scottish Ladies' Junior Open Stroke Play champion, spearheads a group of teenagers who appear fearless on a golf course.

Chief among them are the ever-improving Rachael Watton of Mortonhall and Gabrielle MacDonald, who rubber-stamped her potential when winning the Scottish Junior Masters at Gleneagles last year and, unlike clubmate Turner, has managed to play plenty golf at Craigielaw in the build up to the event.

The field also includes Claire-Marie Carlton, the former Renfrewshire women's champion who is engaged to European Tour player Callum Macaulay, while there will no doubt be some family competition between Mary Summers of Carnoustie Ladies and her teenage daughter, Ailsa, in the 36-hole qualifying today and tomorrow.