Sentimental journey to Scotland for Barbara Vazana

Pictured above is Barbara Vazana at home in Israel. In the background is a painting by her husband "of Aberdeen as seen from his studio when we lived there from 1980 to 1986" and on the right a Cal Carson Golf Agency image of Laetitia Beck, the teenage Israeli women's champion, whom Barbara chaperoned on their trip to Monifieth for the recent British girls' championship.
Sixteen-year- old Laetitia studies at the IMG David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida and spends a lot of her holiday time competing in international competitions. She misses her home in Israel but golf is number one for her.

She is very highly regarded in Israel for her prowess, being named as one the outstanding "Sportswomen of the Decade" by the Ministry of Sport.
Barbara lived in Scotland for 20 years of which 13 were spent in Letham Grange, where she moved from Aberdeen just before Henry Cotton opened the championship course there in the summer of 1986.

In 1999 she returned to her home in Israel. When it became known that the 2008 British girls' open championship was to be played at Monifieth, the Israel Golfing Association asked Barbara to accompany Laetitia.

She was, of course, delighted to return to Angus where she was involved in county golf during those years.

"I have a dream that golf will one day become a popular sport in Israel," said Barbara. "At the moment we just have one proper available course of nine holes as our only 18-hole course at Caesarea is undergoing a complete revamping - to a design by Pete Dye – so they just made a temporary nine-hole par-3 course! More has to be done to bring the game to our young," she sighed, then smiled as she added "and older ones too!"
Laetitia, whose sister Liora also made the trip to Monifieth, will be returning to Scotland in September for The Duke of York Young Champions' Trophy tournament at Dundonald Links.

At Monifieth, Miss Beck was one of the leading qualifiers for the match-play stages but lost to the eventual champion and No 1 seed, Belgium's Laura Gonzalez-Escallon, in the semi-finals.