GB&I snub is motivation for finalists at Craigielaw

MacDonald, only considered good enough to be first reserve for the biennial clash with the Americans next month, beat Laura Murray by 2 and 1 in a scintillating semi-final – the pair had 12 birdies between them in 14 holes – while Kenney, who was snubbed completely by the selectors, reached her second successive final after eventually shaking off Clare-Marie Carlton at the 22nd.

On a scorching day in East Lothian – seasoned campaigners say this has been the best Scottish Championship in terms of weather for many a year – MacDonald, 19, who had been three-under in beating Mortonhall teenager Rachael Watton in the morning, made a flying start. She won the first with a birdie-3, the short third with a par and then, to go three up, the fourth with another birdie.

Murray, the No 2 seed, got in on the act by winning the sixth with a 2 only to see her opponent claim both the seventh, with her fourth birdie of the round, and the eighth and. Having gone out in 31, four-under-par, MacDonald found herself with a four-hole cushion.

Yet, after a few holes on the back nine, the match had a different complexion. Murray, a member of the Paul Lawrie Foundation, dug deep to win the tenth, where a par 3 proved good enough, the 11th, which she birdied, and the 14th, again with a birdie, to cut the deficit to just one. However, MacDonald, a Stirling University student who lives across the road from the first tee at her home club Nairn Dunbar, stemmed the tide by winning the 15th – her first success since the eighth – and halves at the next two holes brought an end to a tie that ranked alongside the best encounters in this event over the past 40 years.

"It was silly golf," was MacDonald's youthful take on it all.

In the other semi-final, Kenney and Carlton, the 23-year-old who is engaged to Scottish professional Callum Macaulay, sparked into life after the turn.

Kenney, a last-green winner against defending champion Megan Briggs in the morning, birdied both the 11th and 12th – two par-5s – to go three up only for Carlton, conquerer of leading qualifier Martine Pow in her quarter-final, to respond with her own brace of birdies at the next two holes to get back within touching distance again.

In an incredible turnaround, Carlton won the 16th and 17th as well to get her nose in front for the first time only to lose the last and then let a chance slip when she three-putted from long distance at the 19th.

Two holes later, Carlton chipped in and Kenney followed her in from 20 feet before it was all over at the 22nd, where Kenney went through with a par-5.

Both the finalists are coached by Spencer Henderson – a "dream come true for him", according to Kenney, a 27-year-old Fifer.