Scholarship delight for golf star Kirsten
Perthshire golfer Kirsten Miller will move across the pond next year after teeing-up an exciting scholarship in Iowa.
The Perth Academy student, a member of Strathmore Golf Centre, was recently delighted to commit to joining Mount Mercy University.
Forever-improving five-handicapper Miller is sure the switch Stateside will help hoist her game to the next level.
“I’d been speaking to a few different schools before Mount Mercy University came onto my radar,” the 17-year-old told the PA this week.
“One of my friends had passed on my details to the head golf coach and soon after that we arranged a call to discuss the university and golf team further.
“I got along really well with her and everything she was telling me about the academic programmes available and the performance of the team really stuck out to me.
“I’m thinking of studying psychology with hopefully getting into sports psychology. Mount Mercy University offer a Sport, Health and Exercise Psychology minor to complement the Psychology major, so that stood out to me too.”
Miller added: “Most of the top amateur golfers in the world take up the opportunity to play collegiate golf so being able to train and play with some amazing girls will really motivate me to keep improving.
“I’ll have access to practice facilities all day everyday and the chance to play some challenging courses all over the US which will highlight what I’ve got to work on to boost my performance.”
Miller is reflecting on an impressive season out on the course and is now targeting chopping her handicap even further before embarking on the special scholarship adventure.
“2021 has by far been my best season,” she smiled. “My results in competitions have improved after a lot of work in the winter months.
“In the majority of national competitions I’ve had top-10 finishes and in the Scottish Girls’ Amateur Championship I qualified for the last 16 of the matchplay stages, where I unfortunately lost to the eventual winner.
“The improvements from the winter meant that my handicap was low enough to enter the Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship for the first time.
“After playing two rounds of qualifying I didn’t make the cut for this event but getting to play against the top women in the country definitely gave me a positive experience and a goal for next season.
“Between now and heading out to university I am aiming to get my handicap down to scratch.
“I’m also hoping to get more consistent scores in competition by working on course management with my coach Karyn Dallas. This will hopefully, in turn, lead to me qualifying for bigger events and potentially even winning a national tournament.”
The hard work will also continue at Strathmore, the east Perthshire course that has greatly helped Miller with her rise through the golfing ranks.
She said: “Strathmore has been really supportive for my development in the game. Iain Butchart, the junior convenor, is always around to help out with whatever I or any of the other juniors need some support with.
“Everyone at the club is really supportive of the juniors and willing to pass on their knowledge.”
Gents Medal Final and Extra Medal (L), October 23 – Division 1 - D J Anderson (9) 71, S White (4) 71, M Bell (3) 71. Division 2 - CJ Stewart (13) 72, M Addison (16) 72, J Whyte (16) 72. Division 3 - R Bidwell (23) 71, J Robb (19) 78, R Whyte (19) 78.
Mixed Sunday Medal (R), October 24 – Division 1 - T Mason (7) 70, P Gellatly (6) 72, G McLay (+2) 72. Division 2 - MJ McKay (12) 74, F Scott (17) 75, J Nicoll (15) 77. Division 3 - C Macleod (20) 69.
CRAIGIE HILL
Summer League,Wednesday, October 20 - Division 1 - Tony Stewart 71 (10) 61, Warwick Smith 72 (7) 65, Rob Crockart 76 (10) 66, Ian Wilson 77 (9) 68. Division 2 - Forbes Smith 84 (25) 59, Gordon Scott 82 (19) 63, Jim Gray 91 (23) 68, David Jack 81 (12) 69.
Summer League, Thursday, October 21 - Division 1 - Paul Matonti 73 (9) 64, Ronnie Marr 76 (10) 66, Ken Scotland 80 (12) 68, Ian Wilson 79 (9) 70. Division 2 - Gordon Scott 86 (18) 68, John Rice 89 (18) 71, Crawford Conochie 92 (21) 71, George Black 95 (21) 74. Final round of 72 hole trophies (scratch and handicap), Saturday, October 23 - Division 1 - Kevin Kilbane 74 (8) 66, Allan Fraser 69 (2) 67, Paul Russell 79 (11) 68, Ian Wilson 77 (9) 68. Division 2 - John Rice 83 (18) 65, Laurie Deuchars 91 (22) 69, George Black 92 (21) 71, Alistair Layland 88 (14) 74.
Texas Scramble Final Fling, Sunday, October 24 - An inauspicious start was followed by beautiful weather conditions for the club’s final game of the summer season and the greens were immaculate.
There was a great turnout with 69 players including 18 visitors playing a Texas
Scramble format. It was a particularly special day for Jock Buchan who had a hole-in-one at the eighth and was rewarded with a bottle of his favourite tipple.
Members Paul Matonti, Bill Miller, Charlie McDonald and Andy Bell were the winning team with a score of 51.7. Runners-up were the team of Steven Young, Gary Malcolm, Ben McGuiness and visitor Ross McDonald on 53.2 while third went to Tony Stewart, Dave Abercrombie, Dave Bruce and Stuart Wallace on 53.4. In fourth place were the team of Terry Devaney, Andy Mackie, John Cleisham and Paul Freeman on 53.8. MURRAYSHALL
Winter League, Wednesday, October 20 - Division 1 - A Duncan 38pts. Division 2 - R Reid 39pts, A Anderson 37pts, D Forgan 32pts. Division 3 - H Cooper 47pts, C Little 45pts, J Stewart 45pts.
Winter League, Saturday, October 23 - Division 1 - S Rae 43pts, M Roberts 40pts, D Yurdakol 39pts. Division 2 - G Halkerston 44pts, A Anderson 43pts, C Couper 43pts. Division 3 - B Murray 40pts, A Thomson 40pts, A Ferguson 36pts.