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Saturday, August 25, 2007


VIKKI LAING'S GOOD START TO GETTYSBURG
CHAMPIONSHIP - A TWO-UNDER-PAR 70

Musselburgh exile Vikki Laing was lying joint fourth in a field of 142 afer the first round the latest 54-hole tournament on the US Futures Tour, the Gettysburg ChAmpionship.
The Scot shot a two-under-par round of 70 over the 6,425yd The Links at Gettysburg course in Pennsylvania after reaching the turn in three-under 33, the joint best of the day, on a course playing long after three inches of rain earlier in the week.
With the fairways still saturated, lift-clean-and-place playing conditions were in operation.
Vikki Laing’s round featured three consecutive birdies on holes 3, 4 and 5, and on the back nine, one birdie and two three-putt bogeys. The pair of three-putts was partly due to misjudging the pace of the greens - they were surprisingly fast - and partly due to a lot of activity on wet greens for the last few days.
“The greens are speeding up as it dries out and they are in awesome shape,” said Laing, still seeking her first professional win since she left the amateur ranks after four seasons on the American women's college circuit as a student at the University of California-Berkeley. “They are receptive, but there are a lot of pitch marks out there.”
Vikki, pictured above on the 18th green of the Old Course, St Andrews, is three shots behind joint leaderes Violeta Retamoza from Mexico and Taylor Leon from Texas on 67.
Natasha Morgan, the South Wales amateur who has been spending her summer holidays from Lynn University at Boca Raton, Florida playing the No 2 US women's pro circuit, had a 74 to be in joint 35th place.
Not so good prospects of surviving the 36-hole cut for the two other Brits on the tour - Brenda McLarnon from Belfast and Polly Willett from London, both former US college students.
Brenda had a 79 for joint 114th place and Polly an 85 for joint 139th place.

LEADING SCORES
Par 72 (36-36). 6,425yd
67 Violeta Retamoza (Mex) 33-34, Taylor Leon (US) 35-32.
68 Seo-Jae Lee (SKor) 35-33.
70 Vikki Laing (Sco) 33-37, Marcela Leon (Mex) 36-34, Charlotte Campbell (US) 36-34.
Other scores:
74 Natasha Morgan (Wal) (am) 35-39 (jt 35th).
79 Brenda McLarnon (NIr) 41-38 (jt 114th).
85 Polly Willett (Eng) 42-43 (jt 139th).

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