FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON
CURTAINS FOR CLAIRE IN FLORIDA
Oregon-based Aberdonian Claire Hunter failed to survive the third-round
cut in the United States Futures Tour Qualifying School at Lakeland, Florida
on Thursday.
It was the second big blow to Claire's career as a professional golfer
within a week. Last Saturday she finished last of the final-day qualifiers
at the Ladies European Tour Final Qualifying School at Grenoble, France,
which meant she would have few tournament opportunities on this side of
the Atlantic in 2003.
Now, with America's two main female pro circuits, the LPGA and the Futures
Tour, out of bounds, you might say, for the 24-year-old Scot, who has
spent the last six years in America, the only options would appear to
be go back to her job on the administration and coaching staff of the
University of Oregon women's golf team at Eugene, where she lives, or
to play on the women's mini-tours in California and the Mid-West, which
don't offer much prize money to compensate for the expense of playing
on them.
Ironically, Claire had her best round of the three days at Lakeland, a
79, for a 54-hole tally of 244 (28 over par). Undoubtedly suffering from
jet lag - she did not fly in to Orlando until Monday, the day before the
Futures eliminator started, Claire's opening rounds had been 83 and 82.
A total of 104 four players (from a starting field of 300) with scores
of 237 or better qualified for the final round at the end of which only
the top 38 and ties will gain full playing rights for next year's Futures
Tour, which had 19 events this past season, worth around threequarters
of a million dollars. The big attraction is the fact that the top three
money-winners at the end of each season on the Futures circuit automatically
gain players' cards for the following year on the lucrative LPGA Tour.
Scottish women's amateur champion Heather Stirling from Bridge of Allan
slipped back to joint eighth place with a 79 for 224 even though a clear
day with only a slight breeze and temperatures in the low 70s represented
a big improvement from the wind and rain of the second day when Heather
had battle through it for a 73. Her first-day score was a 72.
England amateur Rebecca Prout from Sussex is the No 2 United Kingdom player
on the scoreboard going into the final day after a 78 for joint 13th place
on 225.
British women's open amateur champion Rebecca Hudson from Wheatley, Doncaster
performed well below her capabilities with a 79 for 230. The Curtis Cup
star, now under a professional contract to I M G, is in joint 38th place
and, if she is still being troubled by the neck injury that handicapped
her in the final round at Grenoble last Saturday, Rebecca will have an
uphill task to gain a place on the 2003 Futures Tour. She had already
failed to survive the eliminating process of the LPGA Qualifying School,
which means one of the world's leading female amateur golfers is off to
a miserable start to her tour pro career.
Linzi Morton, Scottish title-winner at Carnoustie two years ago, kept
her hopes alive with a 75 for 232 to be tied for 54th place. Linzi's earlier
scores were 78 and 79 so if she can maintain that third-round margin of
improvement at the last time of asking, the Tulliallan lass might well
make it into the "magic circle" of the leading 38.
Kirsty Fisher from Lancashire beat the third-round cut with absolutely
nothing to spare after an 80 for 237. She was one of eight players tieing
for 97th place. Kirsty needs a spectacular return to form to improve by
some 60 places over the final 18 holes.
Apart from Claire Hunter, U K players who failed to survive were former
England cap Katie Tebbet from Mountsorrel and Jo Clingan (Gloucester),
both on 238, Fiona Watson (Dumfries) on 242 and Vanessa Bell (Ipswich)
on 262.
Futures Tour veteran Lisette Lee from Louisanna toiled for a 78 to achieve
a two-over 218, good enough to maintain her lead by one shot from Soo
Young Moon or Korea who had a 73.
"The greens were very hard and extremely fast," said Lee. "Playing on
three different courses over the three days makes it tougher to adjust
and play consistently. I'm disappointed but not too concerned. The fourth
and final round is another ball game."
The final round will be played over The Club course at Eaglebrooke, easily
the longest of three at Lakeland, measuring 6,320yd with a par of 72.
THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD
(Players from U S unless stated)
218 Lisette Lee 71 69 78.
219 Soo Young Moon (Kor) 71 75 73.
220 Caroline Goasgune (a) (Fra) 69 76 75, Kathy Choi 72 72 76.
221 Lesley Henderson 77 76 68.
222 Aree Song Wongluekiet (a) (Thai) 72 76 74.
223 Marie-Josee Rouleau (Can) 77 75 71.
224 Young Jo (Kor) 78 75 71, Samantha Fox 79 73 72, Tara Bateman 72 77
75, Heather Stirling (a) (Sco) 72 73 79, Carmen Hajjar (Aus) 74 71 79.
225 Heather Angell 74 74 77, Leigh Turner (a) 74 79 72, Marcela Leon (Mex)
77 73 75, Salimah Mussani (Can) 75 75 75, Rebecca Prout (a) (Eng) 76 71
78.
226 Marina Marselli (Ita) 72 78 76, Corina Kelepouris (Can) 70 78 78,
Kristy McPherson (a) 73 79 74, Nahoko Hirao (Jap) 76 74 76, Niina Laitinen
(Fin) 70 76 80, Kathi Poppmeier (Aut) 74 77 75.
227 Allie Blomquist 75 75 77, Meredith Duncan 77 77 73, Yumiko Hasegawa
(Jap) 77 76 74, Nobuyo Nagai 73 79 75, Natali Aber 73 80 74.
Other last-round qualifiers included:
230 Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 76 75 79.
232 Linzi Morton (Sco) 78 79 75.
237 Kirsty Fisher (Eng) 79 78 80.
FAILED TO QUALIFY FOR FINAL ROUND
238 Katie Tebbet (Eng) 80 81 77, Jo Clingan (Eng) 78 82 78.
242 Fiona Watson (Dumfries) 80 77 85.
244 Claire Hunter (Sco) 83 82 79.
262 Vanessa Bell (Eng) 88 87 87.
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