Victories don’t get much more emphatic than the one Carmen Griffiths managed in carrying off the Scottish Women’s Amateur at Ladybank yesterday.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play qualifier / 4 rounds of matchplay
The Aboyne player won her semi-final aginst Blairgowrie’s Megan Docherty 7&6 before seeing off Rachael Livingstone (Baberton) 6&5 to claim the title for the first time.
The 19-year-old, who has just finished her second year at Louisville, was pleased with her consistency after struggling in the collegiate ranks since Christmas. Some time off the course and prep with coach Andrew Locke proved just the tonic.
“I took a lot of confidence from my performances in Fall but struggled in the spring,” said the 2021 Scottish Girls champion.
“It is very easy to get burned out over there, practising 3 or 4 hours per day– sometimes more at the weekends – plus there is all the travelling we have to do.
“I just wanted to take some time out when I got back and focus on working with my coach and getting some confidence.”
The move certainly worked as Griffiths, the reigning Dutch International champion, qualified for the knockout stages in third and then just maintained her form to finish line.
“I played really steadily all week,” added the champion.
“And it was really nice to get some big wins when it really mattered althought be fair I played pretty much the same in the first two rounds on Saturday.”
In the final a par at the first and a birdie at the next was enough to put her two up and that really settled her down.
“That really helped me relax and I just played really steady stuff thereafter.”
Griffiths reached the turn four up and then hold a 30-footer on the 10th to extend her lead and also also took the 11th where a par was enough to put her on the brink.
A halve at 12 made it dormie and she saw it out at the 13th where a par was enough to get the job done.
Earlier in the day she finished a hole earlier, again getting up early – she was three up thru six against Livingstone – and reached the final in style, taking the 12th with a par.