FORMAT 54-hole stroke play
Dreams certainly came true on the Old Course at St Andrews for Scotland’s Jen Saxton yesterday as the 25-year-old bounced back from the hammer blow of a quadruple bogey at the 11th to win the St Rule Trophy by three shots.
The Dunfermline player’s previous best golf victory had been the Perth & Kinross county title (in 2018) and last year she was 23rd reserve for the event won by Hannah Darling. As someone who works full-time she doesn’t get much time to practice.
But despite never having experienced the rarified air of challenging in a national event, the plus three golfer recovered from the shock of a seven at the par three 11th to play the remaining seven holes in five under. That amazing run included an eagle at the Road Hole as she finished well clear of Scottish Amateur champion Chloe Goadby (St Regulus Ladies) and GB&I Curtis Cup squad member Beth Coulter (Kirkistown).
The former University of Stirling student has been working for Shot Scope since graduating four years ago and just recently compiled a 40-page document on how to play The Old Course using the data supplied by the shot-tracking GPS device. Very handy!
She also had critical help on the bag in the form of old student pal Colin Edgar, who last week won the St Andrews club title and he could not hide his emotions after it was all-but confirmed that his long-time friend was about to make a “massive” breakthrough victory.
“I never look at the scoreboard and after I hit my second into 18, Colin asked me if I wanted to know the scores,” said Saxton, who reached the last eight of the Scottish Amateur last year.
“I was thinking I might need the putt to win it but then I could see his eyes were welling up and he said ‘you’re leading by a few, just enjoy the moment up there on the green’.
“That set me off then and as we were walking up towards the green there were tears running down both of our faces.”
“I was thinking ‘I’ve still got to putt here’. I guess because it was such an up and down round it made it all the more emotional.”
Saxton also paid tribute to her Shot Scope boss Gavin Dear, the former Walker Cup player who helped Scotland win the Eisenhower Trophy in 2008.
She added: “He has been my coach and mentor and we recently spent ten days in the USA on business. With seven stops there was a lot of time to chat about my game and his advice really helped me a lot this week.”
Saxton started the final day one behind Heswall’s Lucy Jamieson and fellow Scot Katy Alexander (Blairgowrie) and made a brilliant start with three birdies in her opening five holes.
Unfortunately for Alexander her challenge quickly faltered but the English player also opened with three early birdies to stay ahead.
However the Cheshire champion struggled around the turn to drop back into the pack while Saxton gave a host of players a chance with her seven at 11 as she found sand with her tee shot, left one in, thinned her next almost into the sea, chipped on for four and then three putted.
“With all the wind there was hardly any sand in the bunker so I was a bit unlucky.
“But the main thing is two years ago I would probably have finished with a couple more sevens. It might sound odd but I care less now. I am still very competitive but I knew I couldn’t have done much more on that hole. I was annoyed but not as annoyed as the old Jen would have been.”
A huge turning point came at the next (12th) when it looks like she was odds-on to drop at least one more shot after thinning her second through the green.
However She did well to get her third to eight feet and then made the morale-boosting putt.
She got back to five under at the par five 13th thanks to another good up and down and then almost holed her approach at 15.
“My sister Rebecca and her boyfriend started watching us at 15 and that is the first time she has ever come to see me play.
“So the first shot she watched me hit almost went in for eagle. I don’t know how it stayed out to be honest.”
At 16 she started her drive up the right, skirting with out of bound danger, but it drew back into the fairway perfectly and from 50 yards chipped to ten feet before rolling it in.
“Colin (Edgar) was so important on the greens. As a member he knows them so well and was lining them all up for me. It made such a massive difference.”
At 17 she went over the ‘l’ in ‘hotel to give herself a good line in and made it count, again not before her caddy intervened.
“I was going to hit an eight iron and Colin explained 9 was going to be enough. I wasn’t sure but he was spot on. My ball bounced just in front of the green and rolled up to 10 feet.”
Again she drained it to get back ahead of Coulter, who bogeyed two of the last three holes in posting six under just up ahead.
“After 17 I knew I might be back in it and my hand was shaking as I tried to put the ball on the tee. Thankfully it is the widest fairway i golf!”
She left herself 110 yards to the pin on 18 and stuck a wedge to 15 feet before getting down in two to finish on nine under par after a closing 72 (-4).
The first two rounds were played on the New Course with Alexander and American Josie Baker leading the way with five under par 70s. Jamieson posted that same score in the afternoon to grab a share of the lead while Saxton opened with rounds of 74 (-1) and 71 (-4).