I would very much like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and very successful 2009!

Merry Christmas (hope Santa's good too!)

GOOD LUCK CARLY

Perth and Kinross Team member Curtis will be one of only only two British and Irish entrants for the Arizona Silver Belle junior women's golf tournament next week.

The Arizona Silver Belle Tournament will be played from December 28 to 30 over the Arizona State University's Karsten course at Tempe. It will be over three stroke-play rounds and is open to female amateur competitors from ages 13 to 23 years. All Golfers must walk and carry their own bags which is no great problem to Carly but in America, where very few golfers actually walk between shots, such an instruction might not go down well!

We wish Carly the very best of luck next week, will try to keep you up to date! (Picture courtesy of CalCarson)

WINTER COACHING

The 2008/2009 P&K Senior squad have been announced they are Squad A, Alexandra Bushby (Strathmore), Carly Booth (Comrie), Eve Muirhead (Pitlochry), Annabel Niven (Crieff), Roseanne Niven (Crieff) (USA), Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder), Jacqueline Snedoon (Alyth) (USA) and Laura Walker (Muckhart). Squad B is Laura Campbell (Pitlochry), Gwen Lambie (Dunkled), Jillian Milne (Criagiehill), Fiona Ramsay (Crieff), Sal Shepherd (Blairgowrie), Catherine Williams (Dunblane), Jane Yellowlees (Murrayshall)

As you can see we have a tremendous wealth of talent in our squads. P&K are in a fantastic position in that we had 20 girls with a handicap of 6 or less hoping for a place, but unfortunatley the places are limited and as you can imagine it is a major headache for the selectors. and one which It was a very difficult decision to select the sdqua and a great bunch of girls who are all out to do the very best they can for P&K.

Our coaching sessions will take place over the winter and Shona Leighton our match secretary is in the process of arranging practice matches against other counties and perhaps against Scratch League teams! So if you have a Gents of Ladies Scratch Team who would like to offer a practice match with the girls please contact Shona or myself and we would be delighted to arrange a date!

We have had one coaching session at Gleneagles already on what was a rather cold day, however the girls concentrated on the long game and coaches Andrew and John gave the girls a talk on the psychological side of the game.

Below are a few photos of the girls in action!

Our winter coaching has started in earnest for our Juniors, with our Elite Squad going along to Gleneagles on Sunday and enjoying some short game coaching and some tips on how to prepare themselves for play both in terms of your game and your metal attitude. Very interesting!

The Elite squads for this year are:

Group 1. Emily Aird (Strathmore), Megan Aird (Strathmore), Ailie Burnett (Dunkeld), Erin Millar (Pitlochry), Nicola robertson (Dunblane) and Eilidh Watson (Muckhart)

Group 2. Laura Aitken (Killin), Caitlin Bartrop (Whitemoss), Claire Gadsby (Muthill), Hannah Robb (Strathmore), Kathry Robertson (Auchterarder), Siobhan Teague (Auchterarder)

A huge thank you also go to Senior Squad girls Emily Ogilvy and Laura Walker who came along on Sunday to offer support and encouragement to all our girls. They were great.

I will post photos of the juniors soon, I completely forgot on Sunday!!

OUR ROSEANNE TOP BRIT IN THE EUROPEAN GA

Huge congratulation go to Squad member Roseanne Niven who has been ranked 8th in top 20 for 2008 by European Golf Association. Scotland had two players - Roseanne Niven and Kylie Walker - in the top 20 of the final 2008 European Golf Association female amateur rankings for the year. Roseanne was not only the highest ranking Scot but also the highest ranking Brit. Fantastic Roseanne!

2008 was a phenomenal year for Roseanne. It saw her win the British women's open amateur stroke-play championship and she was the only British or Irish player to reach the last four of the British women's open amateur championship at North Berwick. We at P&K are very proud of all she has achieved. Well done Roseanne.

Two Spanish players were placed 1st and 2nd they were Carola Ciganda and Maria Hernandez with Sweden's Anna Nordqvist placed third.

The top 20 European Golf Association female amateur rankings for 2008 are:

1 CARLOTA CIGANDA (Spain) 267.50pt.

2 MARIA HERNANDEZ (Spain) 242.50.

3 ANNA NORDQVIST (Sweden) 205.00.

4 CHRISTEL BOELJON (Netherlands) 182.60.

5 CAROLINE MASSON (Germany) 180.50.

6 BARBARA GENUINI ( France) 180.00.

7 CAROLINE HEDWALL (Sweden) 168.00.

8 ROSEANNE NIVEN (Scotland) 153.17.

9 AZAHARA MUNOZ (Spain) 150.00.

10 STEPHANIE KIRCHMAYR (Germany) 148.50.

11 THERESE KOELBACK (Denmark) 135.00.

12 VALENTINE DERREY (France) 127.50.

13 BREANNE LOUCKS (Wales) 125.50.

14 TARA DELANEY (Ireland) 122.50.

15 BENEDICTE TOUMPSIN (Belgium) 121.50.

16 JACQUELINE HEDWALL (Sweden) 116.63.

17 KYLIE WALKER (Scotland) 114.63.

18 SAHRA HASSAN (Wales) 114.40.

19 CAROLINE WESTRUP (Sweden) 110.00

20 PIA HALBIG (Germany) 108.75.

CARLY TAKES THE TELEGRAPH TITLE

First of all I apologise for being so late in posting the fantastic news that team member Carly Booth regained her Daily Telegraph Junior Championship Title in the oppressive heat of Abu Dhabi. With temperatures over 30 degrees she beat the par of 72 in all three rounds, leading by two shots after 18 holes and by six after two rounds. She scored 70, 68 and 70.

A clearly delighted Carly stated “It feels good. I’m really pleased and it’s been a hard week but I played well. I had a big lead and knew it was there for the taking but you never know until the last pin. I creamed a three-wood approach into the 18th and I knew for sure then. I took a deep breath and knew it was done – I did what I came to do.The National Course is very open and wide here in Abu Dhabi. It is also quite short and I have a good long game so it’s been perfect for me – I’m really happy,”

And so you should be Carly, well done you!!

The rest of the girls scores were as follows:

208: Carly Booth (Comrie) 70 68 70.

214: Alex Peters (Notts Ladies) 72 72 70.

218: Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) 75 71 72, Hannah Barwood (Knowle) 73 71 70.

222: Gina Brown (Mere) 76 73 73, Heidi Baek (Felixstowe Ferry) 73 72 77, Katherine O'Connor (Tadmarton Heath) 71 74 77.227 Nikki Dunn (Harrogate) 75 75 77.

243: Rachael McQueen (Troon Ladies) 83 79 81.