Kelsey first-round leader

at Powfoot with a 70 (-4)

+We regret that we are unable to give you the second-round scores because they have not been posted on the SLGA website.

Kelsey MacDonald (pictured left by Cal Carson Golf Agency, all rights reserved) made the early running in the Scottish Under-21 girls' open stroke-play championship which began today at Powfoot golf course on the shores of the Solway Firth.
The Nairn Dunbar teenager, beaten in last week's Scottish Under-18 girls' match-play final by Carly Booth, again showed her aptitude for stroke-play - she was leading qualifier at Alyth last week and at Lossiemouth in the Scottish women's amateur championship - with a fine round of four-under-par 70. The CSS for this the first of three rounds over two days was 73.
But Kelsey's score by no means put her well clear of the field.
Rachael Livingstone (Musselburgh Old) had a 71 and so too had Scottish universities champion Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle).
Dunbar's Emma Fairnie was on her own in fourth place on 72, one shot ahead of Eve Muirhead (Pitlochry).
Curtis Cup player Krystle Caithness (St Regulus), winner of the stroke-play title two years ago and the favourite at Powfoot in the absence of Carly Booth, defending the European Young Masters title at Chantilly, France from Thursday to Saturday, had a 74.
Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon), the other Curtis Cup player in the good-class field, also had a 74.
Also on the 74 mark was 16-year-old Annabel Niven, a trophy winner in the recent R&A Junior Open at Hesketh, Lancashire. Annabel outscored sister Roseanne in the first round. Roseanne had a 76.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 74. CSS 73
70 K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar).
71 P Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), R Livingstone (Musselburgh Old).
72 E Fairnie (Dunbar).
73 E Muirhead (Pitlochry),
74 K Caithness (St Regulus), M Thomson (McDonald Ellon), A Niven (Crieff).
75 J Turner (Craigielaw), E Sandak (Concorn Sydney), E MacKay (Nairn Dunbar).
76 M Briggs (Kilmacolm), R Niven (Crieff), H Owers-Bradley (Wollaton Park), R Watton (Mortonhall), F Blair (Monifieth).
77 H Clyburn (Woodhall Spa), L Murray (Alford), R Wilson (Monifieth), J Sneddon (Alyth), J Linklater (Largs), I Craigie (Torwoodlee), J Meldrum (Dullatur).
78 R McQueen (Troon Ladies), G Arnott (Kilbirnie Place), A Ingram (Fort William).
79 K McNicoll (Carnoustie Ladies), G Monteith (Portpatrick Dunskey), S Vass (Tain), R McIntyre (Eden), L MacGregor (Falkirk), A Wilton (Ladybank).