It may have arrived too late in terms of Curtis Cup selection but Hannah McCook’s win in the Welsh Ladies Open Strokeplay Championship at the weekend bolstered the current sense of quiet optimism in the Scottish women’s amateur scene.
Following hard on the heels of Shannon McWilliam’s call-up to that GB&I Curtis Cup team for the biennial encounter with the USA in New York next month and the impressive victory by Hannah Darling in the R&A’s inaugural Girls Under-16 Championship recently, McCook’s play-off victory at Aberdovey on Sunday completed another encouraging weekend for the Scots.
With West Kilbride youngster, Louise Duncan, also winning the Fairhaven Trophy on the same day it was quite a notable double whammy for the girls’ game north of the border.
“Hard work and perseverance is paying off and there’s a lot more to come from this group,” said the Scottish national girls and women’s coach, David Patrick.
McCook, the Grantown golfer who has not let type-1 diabetes hinder her ability to compete at the top level of the amateur game, has won back-to-back order of merit crowns in Scotland but was eager to make the breakthrough on the wider golfing front.
Sunday’s success over Curtis Cup team member Sophie Lamb gave her that overdue victory as she joined the likes of Laura Davies and her celebrated compatriot, Catriona Matthew, on the Welsh Open’s roll of honour.
“Wining the order of merit has been great but I wanted an individual title,” said McCook, who was one of three Scots in the top-five as she became the first Scottish winner of the Welsh title since Kilmacolm’s Eilidh Briggs claimed the honours in 2014.
“I was leading the Helen Holm Open recently after the first round but did not follow that through, so this was crucial. This has come a week too late if I was in the picture at all for the Curtis Cup team but this is a step up.”
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