Play Better Golf

With Niall McGill

Perth and Kinross County player Katy Alexander was crowned Clark Rosebowl winner at the Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship.

The Blairgowrie member’s performance at Gullane in East Lothian is the latest success in a growing list of achievements.

Having finished on level-par after two stroke-play rounds, Katy narrowly missed out on qualifying for the main matchplay event.

That meant she dropped into the consolation tournament where a familiar face would later await in the showdown final - Megan Ashley, who also plays at Blairgowrie.

Katy had defeated Megan Docherty of Bishopbriggs in the semi-final, while Megan got the better of Shrewsbury’s Isla McDonald-O’Brien.

In a fantastic final, Katy recovered from one down at the turn to eventually take the trophy thanks to a 3&2 victory.

“In the qualifying rounds I played quite well,” Katy told the Perthshire Advertiser. “I shot one-under in the morning and one-over in the afternoon to give me a total of level par.

“In the morning I was able to hole a few good putts for birdie which was great.

“But I didn’t think that my level par would have been enough to advance me into the main match-play because the standard of players in the field was high. I knew I would have had to have a below par total to advance.

“My game was feeling okay heading into the match-play. I really enjoy playing the matchplay format as each hole is a new start and a chance to go up or recover from a defeat on a previous hole.

“And I enjoy playing with Megan, but it’s hard playing against someone who is a friend. Every time we have played it has always been a close match which could go either way.

“I was happy with my back nine performance. I had three birdies which is always very helpful in match-play and it allowed me to turn the game around.

“It was great that two Perth and Kinross players were in the final. When Megan and I saw the draw we both noticed that if we won all our matches we would meet in the final. It was great that it became a reality.”

Both Katy and Megan will be pulling on the colours of