Auld Reekie or the Costa del Sol?
As a cold wind whistled down Princes Street yesterday, you could forgive Carly Booth for thinking of warmer climes as she continued to grin and bear a photo shoot on the rooftop balcony of Aberdeen Asset Management's Edinburgh offices.
Having relocated to Marbella at the start of the year to live with her boyfriend and European Tour professional, Tano Goya, the Perthshire woman must have found the meteorological May madness that is scunnering the population of Scotland something of a shock to the system.
Back on home soil to promote the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open, the event she won last year to open her account on the women's European Tour, Booth reflected warmly on that triumph. "It will always be a special memory," she said. "At home, with all my family there? It was the perfect first victory." The 20-year-old has yet to set the heather on fire in 2013 but, having spent the early part of the season bouncing around events in Australia, China and South Africa, she is hoping a sustained period of competition in Europe can kick-start her campaign.
Following that maiden tour win at Archerfield Links in East Lothian, Booth went on to claim the Swiss Open a month later as she finished fifth on the European order of merit. This season, the former Curtis Cup player has managed to make just two cuts in seven events and languishes in 101st on the money list, but she is not about to press the panic button. "It's been a slow start to the season," she added. "After last year, I really wanted to get off to a great start but that has hasn't happened. We've been everywhere so far this year. It's been a bit off and on but now it's more week after week in Europe and that will help me build some rhythm. My goals have not changed. I just want to keep winning but I know I need to stay patient."
Booth's celebrated compatriot, Catriona Matthew, knows a thing or two about winning and the 43-year-old from North Berwick, who captured the Ladies Scottish Open in 2011, is confident the rising star will continue on her upward trajectory.
"The best piece of advice I can give Carly is just to enjoy it and enjoy the title defences that she will be making this year," said Matthew, the former Women's British Open champion who is targeting a seventh Solheim Cup appearance this season. "She has proved she is a very good player and she just has to trust in herself that her game will come round. You don't win two tournaments and lose your game. It's early days yet and sometimes it can be tough to get some momentum going."
Matthew and Booth will be the big draws at the Scottish event, which has secured a two-year sponsorship extension with Aberdeen Asset Management and has also found a new slot in the schedule. Instead of the early May date it had in 2012, the 54-hole Pro-Am affair, which will boast a purse of £183,000, will now take place from August 30 to September 1. And the main reason for the change? Why, the Scottish weather of course. "Last year it was unbelievably cold and people were wrapped up as if it was the middle of winter," said Douglas Connon, the head of corporate events with Aberdeen Asset Management. "The general feeling now among green keepers, as at today, is that courses in Scotland are four weeks behind where they should be. Given that, holding something in May in Scotland is maybe a risk."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article