Screen is in the frame as only player to break par

Blustery conditions in East Lothian took their toll on the opening day of the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at North Berwick where English teenager Hannah Screen was the only player to break par.

An impressive twounder-par 71 gave the 17-year-old from Berkhamsted a two-shot lead from a group of four players which included the defending champion, Sophie Lamb.

“Today was just very steady,” Screen said after a round which included four birdies. “The key was that I never got into any serious trouble. I did drop a shot at the short fourth – in fact I saved a bogey with a good putt.”

Her birdies came at the third, 11th, 12th and finished her round with a great up and down at the shortish par four 18th.

Lamb, who triumphed at Knock in Northern Ireland last year, also finished the round in style by driving the green at the 273-yard 18th and making a twoputt birdie.

“It was a tough day, very blowy,” said the 19-yearold from Clitheroe. “It was lovely when you turned at the ninth and played the back nine with the wind at your back.”

Her other two birdies came at the short fourth, where she hit a great tee shot, and at the 16th courtesy of a long putt. She bogeyed the 6th, 7th and 17th.

Ireland’s Paula Grant and the English pair of Cara Gainer and Gemma Clews were tied with Lamb in joint second place on level par.

Shannon Mcwilliam led the Scottish challenge with a one-over-par 74.

Having just left Aboyne Academy in Aberdeenshire, the 18-year-old is taking a year out to play golf and her sights are set firmly on a place in the Great Britain and Ireland team for next year’s Curtis Cup at Quaker Ridge in the United States.

Mcwilliam’s solitary birdie came at the eighth where she holed a monster putt. But she was disappointed to miss a fivefoot putt for a three at the last that would have tied playing partner Lamb.