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Natalie Booth to play on Ladies
European Tour
04 November 2004
Hampshire’s Natalie Booth
is leaving amateur ranks to follow her dream of playing
on the Ladies European Tour.
The 21-year-old from New Milton
is grabbing the chance she won at the Tour’s
qualifying school at Riva dei Tessali in Southern
Italy.
Natalie finished 42nd to earn a
conditional card for the 2005 season and she said:
“I’ve definitely decided to take it.”
She expects to get starts in at
least 10 tournaments and she added: “I’ve
always wanted to be a professional and get my Tour
card – that’s every golfer’s dream.”
However, Natalie waited until late
summer before deciding to go to Tour school. She had
been at university in the USA and returned home in
January, planning to spend a couple of years on the
amateur circuit.
After a good season, which took
her to 19th on the ELGA order of merit, she was encouraged
to try for her card by her brother, Lee, a golf professional,
and a friend on the Challenge Tour.
“I worked really hard preparing
for it – and it was fun, it was just fantastic
and I really enjoyed it,” said Natalie, a member
of Highcliffe Castle Golf Club.
She added: “I didn’t
know what to expect. I went into it with an open mind
and went for the experience more than anything, and
to see what level I was at. I didn’t put any
pressure on myself but I knew I had been playing well
all year, that I had worked hard and that I had a
good enough game to shoot good scores on any course.”
Before going to America Natalie
was a member of ELGA’s Elite Under 21 squad
and represented England in the French U21 championship.
She won the Hampshire championship when she was 18
and was the 2003 south-east champion.
Natalie Booth misses out on full
Tour card
04 November 2004 Day 4
Hampshire amateur Natalie Booth
has missed out by two shots on a full player’s
card for the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour.
The 21-year-old from Brokenhurst
Manor slipped down the leaderboard to finish 42nd
at the end of the Tour’s four-day qualifying
school at Riva dei Tessali in southern Italy.
The top 30 players and ties – a total of 36
players - won full cards for the 2005 season. Natalie
had a four-round total of 301, 13 over par, and was
just two shots away from joining them, but instead
has been awarded conditional playing privileges.
She had been tied 30th at
the start of the final round but fell away with a
five-over par 77. The qualifying school was won by
Miriam Nagl from Germany on three-under par. Other
qualifiers included Mianne Bagger from Denmark who
made history as the first transsexual woman to earn
a berth on the Tour.
Hampshire’s Natalie Booth
makes cut at Tour school
02 November 2004 Day 3
Hampshire’s Natalie Booth
is on course to win a full player’s card for
next season on the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour.
The 21-year-old from Brokenhurst
Manor made the third round cut with three shots to
spare at the Tour’s qualifying school at Riva
dei Tessali in southern Italy.
Now, Natalie must finish in the
top 30 in tomorrow’s final round to win full
playing rights for the 2005 season. Otherwise, she
will receive conditional privileges.
Natalie qualified for the final
day in a tie for 30th place when she added a third
round 74, two over par, to her earlier scores of 78,
72. It gave her an eight-over par total, comfortably
inside the cut, which fell at 11-over par and left
52 players to contest the last round.
There was disappointment for English
Curtis Cup players Fame More (Chesterfield) and Shelley
McKevitt (Reading) who both missed the cut by two
shots.
Three players share the qualifying
school lead on two under par 214. They are the Welsh
Curtis Cup player Anna Highgate; Miriam Nagl from
Germany and Lisa Holm Sorensen from Denmark.
Natalie Booth leads English challenge
at Tour School
01 November 2004 Day 2
Hampshire’s Natalie Booth
leads the English challenge after Monday’s second
round of the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour School
at Riva dei Tessali in Italy.
The 21-year-old from Brokenhurst
Manor added a level par 72 to her opening 78 for a
share of 27th place.
Natalie, whose brother Lee is a
teaching professional, returned from university in
the USA earlier this year and played her way to 19th
on the ELGA order of merit. Her recent high finishes
included 10th place in the Greek championship.
Among the other leading English
contenders for a place on Tour is Rebecca Prout of
Surrey. She was a prominent amateur before turning
professional a couple of years ago and has been playing
on the US Futures Tour. This is her first attempt
to join the LET and she has carded a pair of 76s to
lie in joint 39th place.
Curtis Cup players Fame More (Chesterfield)
and Shelley McKevitt (Reading) have made a slow start
to the event. Fame is tied 49th after rounds of 77,
76; while Shelley must move up the leaderboard to
survive the third round cut. Her scores of 78, 77
put her in a share of 67th place.
The 90-strong field will be
cut to the top 50 players and ties after Tuesday’s
third round. The top 30 players and ties after Wednesday’s
final round will earn full playing rights for the
Tour’s 2005 season. Those who make the cut but
finish outside the top 30 will receive conditional
playing privileges.
Curtis
Cup players start at Tour school
01 November 2004 Day 1
English Curtis Cup players Fame
More and Shelley McKevitt made a slow start in their
bid to win places on the Robe di Kappa Ladies European
Tour.
Fame, the English mid-amateur champion,
returned a five over par 77 in
first round of the LET qualifying school at Riva dei
Tessali GC in Southern Italy. The Chesterfield player
shares 49th place.
Shelley, the 2003 British strokeplay
champion from Reading, is one shot further back, tied
for 65th place.
Both players came through pre-qualifying
to join the 90-strong field at Q-school. Now their
first target is to be among the top 50 players and
ties who will survive the cut after the third round.
Then, they’ll aim for a place in the top 30
on the final day to win a full exemption to the Tour’s
2005 season. Players who make the cut but finish outside
the top 30 will earn conditional playing rights.
The first-round pace at Q-school
was set by the transsexual Mianne Bagger from Denmark
and Welsh Curtis Cup player Anna Highgate who both
returned two-under par 70.
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