Golf: Jane Turner fires six birdies to rescue round

CRAIGIELAW'S Jane Turner was staring at an early exit when she started double bogey 6, double-bogey 6 to be four over par after only two holes of her second qualifying round of the British women's open amateur golf championship at Ganton in Yorkshire.

But the Scotland cap rescued the situation with six birdies, including four from the 14th to the 17th in a grandstand finish that carried her through to the match-play stages.

She finished with a two-over-par 75 which was eight shots better than her disappointing opening score on Tuesday.

Turner's opponent in the first round of the match-play is one of the rising Spanish stars, No.6 seed Anna Arresse.

The other Scots in the match-play draw are Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder), Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), Sally Watson (Elie and Earlsferry) and Laura Murray (Alford).

• BOOSTED by his success in Open regional qualifying at Musselburgh on Monday, John Gallagher made his best start of the season on the PGA EuroPro Tour with a five-under-par 67 in the first round of the Galgorm Castle Northern Ireland Open.

The Swanston New star, who bagged seven birdies, finished a low-scoring opening day just four shots behind the leader, Englishman James Hepworth.

Two other Lothians players who came through regional qualifying at the start of the week also broke par, Marriott Dalmahoy's Mark Kerr with a 70 and Lee Harper of Archerfield Links with a 71.

Craigielaw's Shaun McAllister and Zack Saltman of Archerfield Links both shot 73s.

• WEST LINTON'S Gareth Wright produced a stunning performance at Dunbar to win the second event on the Tartan Tour's Sprint to St Andrews Series. The former Welsh international stormed round the Open Championship qualifying course in seven-under 64 to claim the 1,000 top prize by three shots.