Scottish Match Play Foursomes 2010 - Round 1 Draw

FROM THE SCOTTISH LADIES GOLFING ASSOCIATION WEBSITE
This year 71 clubs have entered for the Scottish women's match-play foursomes.
Where possible, early rounds will be drawn on a regional basis with the first-named team having home advantage.
The semi-finals and final will be played at Douglas Park Golf Club on Sunday, August 29.

The Round 1 draw has been made as below with ties to be played by Sunday, April 18:

Cruden Bay v Newburgh on Ythan
Largs v Ladies' Golf Club Troon
Minto v Lauder
Murrayshall v Dunblane
Thornhill v Crichton
Uphall v Lothianburn
Whitemoss v King James VI

The remaining clubs have received a bye into Round 2 and will receive further information regarding Round 2 ties in due course.

Lesley Nicholson home internationals leader for third year in a row

SLGA name international team

captains for 2010

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY SCOTTISH LADIES GOLFING ASSOCIATION
Lesley Nicholson is hoping to make it third time lucky when she captains Scotland at the Women’s Home Internationals at Whitchurch, Cardiff in September.
Scotland finished third when Nicholson was a rookie captain at the Home Internationals in 2008 and, last year, the side narrowly lost out to Wales in a final day showdown for the title at Irvine Golf Club.
This year, Nicholson, a former Ladies’ European Tour professional, has also been appointed captain for the European women's team championship at La Manga,i Spain in July.
The Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association has named the full list of Captains for the 2010 season and the Baberton pair of Karen Marshall and Pamela Williamson have also been handed double roles.
Marshall has been named captain of the Scottish team for both the girls’ home internationals (Bangor, Northern Ireland in August) and the girls’ European championship (Aalborg, Denmark, in July), while Pamela is in charge for September’s European senior team championship (Berlin) and the senior home internationals (Sheringham).
Elaine Cuthill (Lanark) has been appointed captain of the Scottish side for the SLGA Under-16 championship, a tournament that marks the start of the domestic season at Strathmore in April.
Nicholson is looking forward to the challenges ahead. “We came very, very close to lifting the trophy at the Home Internationals last year and I think we have a great chance to do well in all competitions this year,” she said.
“We have lost Kylie Walker and Carly Booth to the professional ranks, but there are so many new players coming through. There is a lot of golf to be played before the teams are picked and the SLGA coach, Kevin Craggs, makes sure everyone is extremely focused.
The amateur side of the game has come on by leaps and bounds in Scotland in recent years and this is going to be a very exciting year.”

SLGA Championships:

Changes in 2010


FROM THE SLGA WEBSITE
The SLGA has announced the following changes to its 2010 Championships:

Girls’ (Close) Championship
The 36-hole qualifying stroke play for the Scottish Girls’ (Close) Championship at Eyemouth Golf Club will now be held over two days (July 13 & 14) with the final of the match play stages on the morning of Saturday, July 17.

Junior Open Stroke Play Championship
This 54-hole championship at Dunfermline Golf Club will now be played over three days from July 21-23.

Scottish Match Play Foursomes
The conditions for this competition have been revised with the handicap limit for the team dropped. Each club may enter a team of 2 or 3 players with individual handicaps of 35 or less.

SLGA Medal Regional Finals
The winners of the SLGA Silver and Bronze Medals at each club will be eligible to play in a Regional Final of their choice. Entries will be limited to 60 silver and 60 bronze players at each venue and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Entry forms will be sent to clubs with the annual mailing and the closing date for all the Regional Finals is Monday, April 26. In the event of a venue being oversubscribed players will be allocated their second choice.
Two silver and two bronze players from each of the six venues will qualify for the Grand Final at Crieff on Sunday, September 5.

'Changes will enhance quality of our events'
- Fiona Cowan (championship director)
Commenting on these changes, Fiona Cowan, Championship Director of the SLGA, said:
“These changes have been made in response to feedback from players. We believe that they will enhance the quality of our events and result in increased participation”

Full conditions for all SLGA Championships and other competitions are contained in the SLGA handbook. Entry forms will be available on the SLGA website from the beginning of February.

SLGA and SGU aim to amalgamate by end of 2011

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Following Sunday’s (January 24) Scottish Golf Union annual general meeting, the Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association and the Scottish Golf Union confirmed that they were formally considering an amalgamation, having been working increasingly closely together over recent years.
The men’s and ladies’ amateur golf governing bodies in Scotland already have a shared strategy, joint committees and shared staff in the form of Performance and Development Managers, as well as being partners on the national junior programme, clubgolf.
There is also a reciprocal arrangement whereby the respective Chairmen of the SLGA and SGU attend the Board meetings of each organisation. Given the increased level of co-operation, both Boards have agreed that amalgamation is the next logical step and jointly they have appointed Donald Turner as independent chair to lead a new working group.
Turner will oversee the consideration of all measures necessary to achieve amalgamation and will make recommendations to the respective organisations.Turner has a strong business and golf background, having been on the UK National Executive with accountants Ernst & Young and is the current captain of Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club on the Isle of Arran.
SGU Chairman, Douglas Connon, speaking at the AGM, said:“We are delighted that someone of Donald Turner’s skills and experience will assist us in this important process and are committed to ensuring we manage what is a significant proposed change as smoothly as possible.”
Connon’s counterpart at the SLGA, Shona Malcolm added:
“There has been invaluable progress in Scottish golf as a result of the two governing bodies working more closely together and it is now sensible to formalise this by amalgamating. This will undoubtedly bring even more benefits to Scottish golf and our member clubs.”
The new working group will be established over the next few weeks and consultation meetings will take place throughout the year with the aim of agreeing the necessary changes to achieve amalgamation by the end of 2011.

SLGA Board members for 2010

Back Row L to R: Winifred McCallum, Fiona Cowan, Sandy Bushby, Helen Cuthbertson, Janet Wake, Dawn Butchart, Lorna Bennett 

Front Row: Lynne Terry, Douglas Connon (SGU Chairman in attendance), Shona Malcolm (SLGA Chairman), Emma Wilson (President), Beth Paterson.

Record attendance at SLGA annual general meeting

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH LADIES’ GOLFING ASSOCIATION
A record turn-out of 168 lady golfers attended the SLGA’s annual general meeting in Perth on Saturday.The meeting heard from Chairman Shona Malcolm that 2009 had been a memorable year for Scottish Ladies’ Golf, what with Catriona Matthew’s victory in the Ricoh Women’s British Open, the Senior Home International Team beating all three opponents on its way to a first- time win, and three Scots representing GB&I in the Vagliano Trophy match.
Catriona was elected as a Vice-President of the SLGA, and the Chairman was delighted to advise the meeting that the Open Champion would be demonstrating her support of Scottish ladies’ golf by attending the current squad’s forthcoming warm weather training in Spain.

The new President, former Chairman Emma Wilson, was elected and paid warm tribute to retiring President Ethel Jack, while the meeting also approved the appointment of new Board members Dawn Butchart, Sandy Bushby and Lorna Bennett (pictured right). Proposals for the restructuring and modernisation of the Ladies’ Golf Union were agreed, and revised Rules and Regulations of the SLGA adopted.
The Chairman updated the meeting on the amalgamation discussions with the Scottish Golf Union, stressing that there was much to be considered and the members would be kept informed of the progress of these talks.
Finance Director Lynne Terry reported the concerning trend of falling lady membership numbers in golf clubs, and emphasised the SLGA’s ongoing determined efforts to raise interest and club participation in the ladies’ and girls’ game.
The full report of the Board is available under the SLGA AGM 2010 Agenda link on the website www.slga.co.uk.