West Kilbride’s Louise Duncan put a disqualification at the St Rule Trophy behind her by leading the qualifiers going into the matchplay stages of the Scottihs Women’s Amateur Championship at Gullane.
Duncan signed for a wrong score at St Andrews after inadvertently marking her card wrongly but she stormed over the No 2 course in the second qualifying round with a 65 including an eagle two at the last.
The Scottish international had earlier posted a 73 on the No 1 course where the round of 16 takes place on Saturday.
‘I wanted to show folk I’m playing well at the moment’
📊 | The Match Play Draw is set for this year's #SGWomensAm at @GullaneGolfClub.
Catch up on all the action from Day 1 as Louise Duncan topped qualifying 👇
— Scottish Golf (@ScottishGolf) June 4, 2021
A semi-finalist in 2019, Duncan has high hopes of going a round further and banished the disappointment of St Andrews quickly.
“I played well at the St Rule, it’s just unfortunate that I marked my scorecard wrong,” she said. “It was just one of those things which, hopefully, I will never do again.
“I was pretty determined today because I just wanted to show folk that I’m playing well at the moment.
“I’m looking forward to the weekend,” she added. “In the match play, I’ll probably try to be a wee bit more aggressive off the tee on No. 1 and just try to make as many birdies as I can. That should win more holes than not.”
Shannon McWilliam qualifies second, Hannah Darling through
Aboyne’s Scotland international and former Curtis Cup player Shannon McWilliam finished as second qualifier, with the international squad player from Auchterarder Penelope Brown.
St Andrews’ St Regulus Club has four players in the matchplay stages led by Ellen Caton, with 2019 runner-up Chloe Goadby and Gillian Paton also qualifying. Dunfermline Jennifer Saxton is also in the matchplay stages.
Championship favourite Hannah Darling, fresh from her St Rule Trophy triumph, toiled to a one-over 74 in the first qualifying round on No 1 and was outside the cut at the start of the second 18.
However the 17-year-old made it with plenty to spare after a four-under 69 in the afternoon. Aboyne’s Carmen Griffiths is also into the Matchplay but 2015 champion Clara Young, runner-up to Darloing in the St Rule, only just made it on the mark on countback, Blairgowrie’s Megan Ashley one of the two unfortunate players to miss out by that measure.
Fulford’s Thornton leads the St Andrew Links Trophy
Day 1 of the 2021 Links Trophy ends with
Charlie Thornton topping the leaderboard at -6.
And we may be blowing our own trumpet here, but just how good does the Jubilee Course look!
We'll be on the Old Course tomorrow for round 2.#LinksTrophy pic.twitter.com/VdCa1MjJwh— St Andrews Links (@TheHomeofGolf) June 4, 2021
Yorkshire’s Charlie Thornton produced an outstanding 66 on the Jubilee Course to set the pace in the St Andrews Links Trophy, the premier amateur strokeplay event for men in Europe.
The 23-year old from Fulford has a one-stroke advantage over three players, fellow Englishmen George Griffiths and Matthew Hibbs, and Ireland’s Richard Knightly.
Thornton, a member of the England international squad, had seven birdies in all on what’s often regarded as the toughest test on the Links, dropping only one shot at the short ninth hole.
Griffiths, out of the Lingdale club in Leicestershire, had a hole-in-one at the shjort 17th to push him up into a share of second place on five-under.
Easton again best placed Scot
The best placed Scot is Irvine’s Stuart Easton, two shots back after a four-under 67, with current Scottish Amateur matchplay champion George Burns also on that mark.
Easton, the best placed home player in the Scottish Men’s Open at Southerness last week, built his score on a five-under outward half of 31. Burns, of the Crail Golfing Society, was seven-under with four to play but dropped three shots in successive holes from the 15th.
Scotland international squad member Rory Franssen of Auchterarder had a three-under 69 to be in a share of eight place. The field play Saturday’s second round on the Old Course.