Thomson lays down the law in her pursuit of Gleneagles gold
IT wasn’t quite Dixon of Dock Green, more Thomson of the 18th green. And with ropey references like that, Michele Thomson may have been tempted to reprise her role as a policewoman, barge into the media centre and make an arrest for a breach of newspaper introductions.
Thomson, who spent a couple of years plodding the beat before rekindling her passion for golf, certainly laid down the law on the PGA Centenary course at Gleneagles yesterday as the Scot conjured a fine birdie under the gun on the last hole to ensure that she and playing partner, Meghan MacLaren, progressed to the semi- finals of the inaugural European Golf Team Championships.
The British women’s pairing, with two round- robin wins behind them, just needed to halve their match with the Finnish duo of Ursula Wikstrom and Noora Komulainen to top their group. That was easier said than done, of course. A keenly contested fourball tussle, which was tighter than the Celtic FC board and produced seven birdies among all players between the ninth and 14th holes, could have swung either way. When Komulainen dinked her pitch to within a couple of feet on the 18th, Thomson had to muster something equally as impressive under pressure. The Aberdonian responded with nerveless conviction. Her own pi t ch was del ight f u l ly executed to 18 inches from the hole. It got a robust nod of approval from a watching Paul Lawrie too.
The tap- in to secure the required half point may have been short but the consequences were sizeable.
“That’s the biggest putt of my career,” said Thomson, a former Scottish Women’s Amateur champion and Curtis Cup player. “The pitch was probably one of the best of my career too.”
Having made it to the last four, Thomson and MacLaren are guaranteed at least £ 13,500. If they win on Sunday, they would each pocket almost £ 90,000. Given that Thomson has made around £ 4500 on the Ladies European Tour this season, a winning medal would be, well, worth its weight in gold.
“We have the chance of a medal,” added Thomson. “This, the competition, is what I missed.
You don’t get many chances to win a gold medal in the police force.”