Aboyne golfer triumphs at Scottish Women’s Amateur
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The 2023 Scottish Women’s Amateur Champion is Carmen Griffiths (Aboyne), after three days filled with upsets and surprise eliminations.
In a final stunning head-to-head, Carmen Griffiths pipped Rachael Livingstone 6&5 to the title.
Griffiths’ last major win in Scotland was at the Scottish Girls’ Am in 2021, since when she has won the Dutch International Junior Open (2022) and had some success in Collegiate events in the USA.
Her two stroke play rounds were slow and steady, but two double bogeys (on the 15th in R1 and the 12th in R2) didn’t give a clue as to the form she would find in the match play rounds, gaining confidence as the tournament heated up.
Runner-up to the trophy is Rachael Livingstone (Baberton Golf Club) whose tournament run was also a story of improvement, after carding 76 (+5) and 75 (+4) in the first and second rounds stroke play.
Tournament favourite Lorna McClymont broke her run of consecutive championship wins, when – despite an excellent -3 result (69 and 71) and a total of 8 birdies across the first day – she was knocked out after Round 1 of the match play by Megan Docherty.
Docherty went on to fight the good fight to Round 3, but was beaten 7&6 by an on-form Griffiths.
In another tournament upset, defending champion Cameron Nielsen was knocked out in the first match play round by Katy Alexander (4&3), despite climbing 7 spots on the leaderboard in Round 2 stroke play by carding an excellent 72 (+1).
The Clark Rosebowl was contested in the final by Eilidh Henderson and Freya Russell (Royal Troon), Henderson clinching a home win for Ladybank Golf Club, 2&1 in the end.
Conditions couldn’t have been better at Ladybank, bright sunshine flooding the stunning Fife course. Scottish Golf would like to extend its warmest thanks to Ladybank for hosting the Scottish Women’s Amateur in 2023.
Commenting on her win, Griffiths who studies at the University of Louisville said: "It feels amazing to be Scottish Champion, I didn’t really expect it, coming back and not having played on home soil for almost a year since last summer, so it’s really nice to get the win.
"Eagling to win against Jennifer Saxton [R2 match play], is the toughest match I’ve had in a while.
"Today I had some big wins and yesterday was a bit closer ... the toughest thing was being patient with Jen, when I won was the only time I was up in the game, I was dying most of the time but I brought it back on the last few holes. "I think after the game with Jen I brought a lot of confidence from it, we’ve been playing for the last few years in County stuff together so we know each other quite well and to be here was a big confidence booster for me."
Asked about the adjustment from stroke play to match play, she continued: The adjustment is different… in stroke play every shot counts … in match play you’re playing the person rather than the golf course and you can be 4 or 5 under and only be 1 or 2 up, so it’s a big adjustment.
Commenting on her preparations for the tournament, she said: "For me to get to this point today was a lot of hours… a lot of hours in the gym, a lot of hours practising, and being able to trust my game I think was a big one, and building confidence coming in.
"It feels great to come back and win on home soil, I won the Scottish Girls’ a few years ago so it’s nice to come back and win the Women’s now and it’s great to be home."
Encouraging other female golfers to compete at high level, she added: "Just keep working hard, trust your game and don’t be scared on the golf course, I feel like if you play fearless then everything will work out.
Eilidh Henderson, Clark Rosebowl Champion for 2023 said: "It feels great to have won today, especially being a member at Ladybank, I felt so comfortable playing this week and it was really nice to have lots of members out supporting, so I’m really happy with myself.
"A key highlight would be in yesterday afternoon’s match play round I went 4 under through 3 holes so got off to a really good start and then was able to win 6&5, probably my lowest score round Ladybank.
"For me, the stroke play didn’t really go to plan and it was unfortunate to miss out on the top 16 but I don’t feel I changed too much with the match play, I was just more comfortable off the tee shots knowing that the stroke play didn’t really matter and it was just a one-on-one … I played a lot better there."
