ST RULE TROPHY LEADER MELISSA

HOT ON TRAIL OF ANOTHER

TITLE IN SCOTLAND

Derby girl Melissa Reid, pictured right, likes her golfing trips to Scotland. In April she came up to Troon to win the Helen Holm Scottish women’s open amateur stroke-play title for the second year in a row.
Today, the Curtis Cup player from Chevin Golf Club shot a six-under-par 69 over the St Andrews New Course to open up a two-stroke lead at the end of the first day in the 54-hole St Rule Trophy, one of the leading women’s amateur stroke-play tournaments in the country.
Her closest rival as the international field moves into two rounds over the Old Course on Sunday is Germany’s Stephanie Doering (71) with Ireland’s Deirdrie Smith (Co Louth) in third place on 72.
Defending champion Krystle Caithness (St Regulus), who was in the same Great Britain team as Melissa Reid that won the Commonwealth tournament in South Africa two or three weeks ago, did not have a good day over one of her home links.
Krystle had a three-over-par 78 which means she is nine shots adrift of the front-running Melissa already.

FIRST ROUND LEADERS (Par 75, CSS 75)
69 M Reid (Chevin).
71 S Doering (Ger).
72 D Smith (Co Louth).
73 B Mullins-Lane (Harefield Place), D Karlsson (Swe), E Ogilvy (Auchterarder), H Brockway (Yeovil).
74 K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), C Booth (Comrie), K Smith (Waterlooville), N Edwards (Ganton).
75 P Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), D Montgomery (Lambourne).
76 N Holleder (Ger), R Bell (Ganton), R Jennings (Izaak Walton), N Podmore (High Leigh Park), Sara Bishop (Cochrane Castle).
77 L Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor), P Halbig (Ger), K Combes (Aus), E Bennett (Aus), C-M Carlton (Stirling Univ), L Murray (Alford), R Flood (Aus), E Givens (Blackwell), S Kirchmayr (Ger), T Delaney (Carlow), K Walker (Buchanan Castle), D Becker (Ger), J Dotten (Can), L Ball (Matfen Hall), B Loucks (Wrexham).
78 J Hodge (Knowle), S Hassan (Vale of Glamoran), M Riordan (Tipperary), H MacRae (Dunblane New), J Wilson (Strathaven), C Lee (West Lancs), K Caithness (St Regulus), J Carthew (Ladybank), S Evans (Vale of Llangollen), C Gruber (Royal Dornoch), T Davies (Holyhead), E Lyons (West Surrey).
79 M Gunhildrud (Nor), K Brotherton (Tulliallan), V Sternebeck (Ger), R Niven (Crieff).
80 R Livingstone (Musselburgh), J Turner (Mortonhall), T Karlsson (Swe), R Watson (Elie & Earlsferry), A Scott (Consett), S Keating (Aus), S Watson (Elie & Earlsferry).
81 C Choi (Aus).
82 T Hoffmneister (Ger), K Hillas (Hor).]
83 L Kenney (Pitreavie).
84 A Ramsay (Kirriemuir), B Arthur (Aus), J Nicolson (Wrexham), E Moffat (St Regulus), A Bushby (Strathmore).
86 K Harper (Inverness), S Ovadia (US), T Von Ruben (SAfr).
87 M Briggs (Kilmacolm).
88 M Thomson (McDonald Ellon).
91 E Cuthill (Lanark).
Withdrew : T McDonnell (Ennis).