Kelsey MacDonald in action for Scotland at last September's women's home internationals at Irvine Golf Club. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency. Click on it to enlarge.

Kelsey misses Scottish universities' championship

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at Lossie for Paris trip to play in French U-21s

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar & Stirling University), Scottish Under-21 champion for the past two years, is not in the field for next week’s Scottish universities women’s championship over the Moray Golf Club Old and New Courses at Lossiemouth.
She has accepted an invitation from the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association to fly to Paris on Monday and take part in the French Under-21 girls open amateur championship at St Cloud from April 1 to 5.

Kelsey is a member of the GB&I Curtis Cup preliminary squad and a good performance in what is always a top-class field for the "French," will impress the Ladies Golf Union selectors more than doing well in the Scottish universities championship.
In Kelsey’s absence, the player with the lowest handicap in the Lossiemouth field for the women’s university title is Scotland international team-mate Jane Turner (Craigielaw & Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen) who plays off +2.
But a third member of the Scotland team will be playing at Lossiemouth – Scottish champion Megan Briggs, who is a student at Strathclyde University. Megan has a rating of +1.
Another strong contender would be Gemma Bradbury, a one-handicapper who was a member of the title-winning Wales team at the women’s home internationals at Irvine Golf Club last September. Teenager Gemma, a member at Cottrell Park Golf Club, Cardiff, is now a a student at St Andrews University.
Last year’s Scottish universities women’s champion was Laura Murray (Alford and Robert Gordon University). She has since left university.
Draw for the first two rounds over the Moray Old Course on Sunday, March 28 and the New Course on Monday, March 29 is (players’ handicaps in brackets):
1.0 and 3.22: Felicity Lloyd-Jones (St Andrews) (9), Nicola Robinson (Edinburgh) (10), Eleanor Pike (St Andrews (10).
1.07 and 3.15: Eilidh Mackay (Stirling) (7), Alison McGarity (Strathclyde) (5), Ashley Smith (St Andrews) (6).
1.15 and 3.07: Jennifer Linklater (St Andrews) (6), Gillian Arnott (Strathclyde) (5), Isla Craigie (Edinburgh) (5).
1.22 and 3.0: Jordana Graham (Stirling) (4), Dorothea Bouck-Standen (Strathclyde) (4), Mikela Nordblad (St Andrews) (5).
1.30 and 2.52: Megan Jones (St Andrews) (3), Rachel Cassidy (Stirling) (2), Emma Fairnie (Edinburgh) (1).
1.37 and 2.45: Megan Briggs (Strathclyde) (+1), Rebecca Wilson (Stirling) (2), Ailsa Theunis (St Andrews) (3).
1.45 and 2.37: Jane Turner (Robert Gordon Univ) (+2), Gemma Bradbury (St Andrews) (1), Susan Jackson (Edinburgh) (1).

+Leading eight plus ties qualify to play on Tuesday afternoon.