Wind the winner as players toil in Kintyre

THE white horses galloping in off the Atlantic Ocean may have made for a pretty picture but, up on dry land, the test in the second and final qualifying round in the 97th Scottish Women's Amateur Championship was described by many of the competitors as "brutal".

As the wind gusted around 20mph for most of the day, when the Kintyre coast was also hit by the occasional squally shower, the best score was a five-over-par 77, posted by one of the rising stars, Rachael Watton, and a more seasoned campaigner, Noreen Fenton.

"It was a four-club wind out there," declared Laura Murray after signing for an 84. "If not more," insisted Watton, who revealed she'd taken a 2-iron, which she normally hits 185 yards, at the 159-yard 16th yet still came up a fair bit short.

For defending champion Kelsey MacDonald, who ground out a 78 to lead the 32 qualifiers for the match-play stage on 150, the biggest problem came on the greens. "Due to it being so windy I tried to take less time over putts but it didn't work as I ended up rushing them," she said.

The last time the Nairn Dunbar player was top seed - at Lossiemouth three years ago - she lost in the first round to Sammy Vass. "You've got to beat everyone to win so being top seed again doesn't bother me," she insisted ahead of today's opening clash with Elaine Cuthill.

Watton, a quarter-finalist 12 months ago, and Lauren Whyte were both on 151, the Fife teenager overcoming the nerves she felt on the first tee in the company of MacDonald and Megan Briggs to post a respectable 79, covering the extremely tough back nine in two-over.

Overnight leader Briggs covered the same stretch in 42, dropping shots at the last five holes, but the 2009 winner still qualified comfortably, as did her younger sister Eilidh. Thankfully, the pair missed each other in the seeded draw, although they could meet in the semi-finals.

Murray meets former champion Elaine Moffat in her opening match, while Louise Kenney, is up against Wendy Nicholson.

Kenney qualified despite having reason to curse one of those heavy showers. "Just as I was about to tee off at the 17th, the rain started again and I hooked my drive out of bounds and took a double-bogey," she declared.