ALTHOUGH seven out of 10 of the last European Solheim Cup team
equalled or bettered the par of 72 in the first round of the Skoda
Women's Scottish Open Golf Championship yesterday at Dalmahoy, all their
accumulated experience was upstaged with cheerful impudence by a
21-year-old Spanish golfer playing in only her sixth professional
tournament.
Estefania Knuth's 67, five under the par of the 6202-yard East course,
gave her a one-stroke lead over Sweden's Lotte Neumann, Karen Lunn, the
Australian holder of the British Open title, and a Dane Karina Orum.
Among those on 69 were Dale Reid, the leading Scot, Laura Davies and
Florence Descampe.
Helen Alfredsson was on 70, and Alison Nicholas and Catrin Nilsmark,
both on 72, a stroke ahead of Trish Johnson. However, Pamela Wright and
Kitrina Douglas, on 74 and 77 respectively, seemed in more danger of
losing touch with the front-runners. Monifieth's Katheryn Marshall, on
71 after an eagle 3 at the ninth, gave supported to Reid's challenge.
Knuth, whose German father accounts for her name and the blonde hair
unusual for an Iberian, had a successful amateur career, including
membership of Spain's team which won the 1992 world championship in
Vancouver. She left university in Barcelona in mid-stream for the
peripatetic life of the Tour.
Already Knuth has encountered peaks and troughs -- in her last two
events finishing eighth and seventeenth, but being disqualified in
Ireland after having played the wrong ball and driven off the next tee
before she realised her mistake. Still, an average of #2000 a tournament
represents a fair rate of return for one so new to this level.
As dull, humid, and still conditions gave way to bright weather, Knuth
prospered. Two over after five, she had birdies at five of the next
seven holes, and after having paused for breath, Knuth pitched close for
three more birdies in the last five.
The rewarding longevity of Reid's career is in striking contrast --
aged 35 with a record 21 European victories since 1980, the last three
years ago. A damaged left thumb, operated on last December, and a
fragile putting stroke both withstood the test.
They had to. Reid had four bunker shots over the opening three holes,
where she was already two over par, and would have been three but for a
15-foot putt for a bogey 6 at the first. But she played the remaining
holes in five under, an inward 33 smudged only by a bogey at the
seventeenth after a bunkered tee-shot.
Neumann, like her compatriot Alfredsson a winner on both sides of the
Atlantic this season, came home in 32, three successive birdies from the
turn happening so quickly she was back in contention almost before she
knew it. Neumann, incidentally, has discarded the No.2 and No.3-irons in
favour of a Nos.3, 5, and 7-woods.
Lunn, the winner of last year's order of merit who defends the British
title next week, has run into sufficiently impressive form recently to
encourage Davies, an inveterate punter, to back her with #50 at 16-1, a
price now six points shorter.
Orum, at 27 in only her second season on the Tour, finished 118th in
her first tournament of 1993 and joint runner-up in her last, hit ''not
a lot of good shots, but a lot of good putts,'' perhaps because she was
breaking in a new set of irons. Having been twice in the first 10
already this year, Orum is to be reckoned with.
The more so must be Davies, whose powerful and accurate tee-shots laid
the foundation of her score. She rounded off her 69 with a 263-yard
driver ''off the deck'' at the 307-yard last and pitched to eight feet.
Not all was as plain sailing, though. Sweden's Katarina Michols took
13 at the short seventh -- including four shots in a bunker and two
penalty shots when one recovery rebounded on to her -- to be out in 50.
She retired three holes later. Caroline Hall totted up a nine at the
twelfth, where she took five in a greenside bunker -- ''taking my time
with the last three shots.''
Leading scores
(* denotes amateur)
67 -- E Knuth (Spain).
68 -- K Orum (Denmark), L Neumann (Sweden), K Lunn (Australia).
69 -- F Descampe (Belgium), C Hjalmarsson (Sweden), D Reid, L Davies,
S Waugh (Australia), W Doolan (Australia).
70 -- L Hackney, H Alfredsson (Sweden), F Dassu (Italy), P
Grice-Whittaker, L Maritz-Atkins (S Africa).
71 -- C Hall, S Hodge, P Meunier (France), C Dibnah (Australia), J
Geddes (USA), K Marshall, C Figg-Currier (USA), S Gautrey (Australia).
72 -- L Lambert (Australia), A Nicholas, L Fairclough, C Nilsmark
(Sweden), E Orley (Switerland), J Morley, H Dobson, X Wunsch (Spain), A
Radford, M Burstrom (Sweden), M Hageman (Holland), J Furby, R Hast, M de
Boer (Holland), J Mills (Australia), F Fehlauer (Germany), K Espinasse
(France), K Cayce (USA), S Robinson, D Dowling, K Cornelius (USA), K
Pearce (Australia).
Other scores included:
73 -- T Johnson, M-L de Lorenzi (France), H Wadsworth, A Shapcott, T
Craik. D Patterson (USA), E-J Smith.
74 -- P Rizzo (USA), P Wright, J Forbes.
76 -- D Barnard, E Farquharson-Black, J Soulsby.
77 -- K Douglas, *V Melvin, J Kinloch.
78 -- K Davies, *A Rose.
79 -- C Panton-Lewis, B New.
81 -- G Stewart.
83 -- *F McKay.
TOP TEE-OFF TIMES
11.40 -- Patricia Meunier, Mardi Lunn, Karina Orum. 11.50 -- Lisa
Hackney, Loraine Lambert, Kitrina Douglas. 12.0 -- Corinne Dibnah, Trish
Johnson, Marie Laure de Lorenzi. 12.10 -- Alison Nicholas, Lora
Fairclough, Florence Descampe. 12.20 -- Jane Geddes, Catrin Nilsmark,
Helen Wodsworth. 12.30 -- Evelyn Orley, Patti Rizzo, Sandrine Mendiburu.
12.40 -- Lotte Neumann, Karin Hjalmarsson, Kathryn Marshall. 12.50 --
Dale Reid, Helen Alfredsson, Laura Davies. 1.0 -- Joanne Morley, Karen
Lunn, Pamela Wright. 1.10 -- Krystal Parker, Julie Forbes, Cindy
Figg-Currier. 1.20 -- Estefania Knuth, Allison Shapcott, Susan Moon.
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