Double-header for Murcar Links

The PGA in Scotland are promoting a mixed gender double-header at Murcar Links Golf Club, just north of Aberdeen, on Thursday, April 2.

The Ladies Tartan Tour tees off there with a two-day, 36-hole event, the £5,000 Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Ladies Open.

The ladies will be followed off the tee by a PGA in Scotland 18-hole competition for senior PGA Members, aged 45 and over. The small field for that includes former Ryder Cup star Ronan Rafferty, past PGA Championship winner, Andrew Oldcorn, and one-time British boys champion Lee Vannet.

Laura Murray won the corresponding event on the Ladies Tartan Tour event at Murcar last year but she faces stiff opposition in her title defence.

Having failed to make the cut on her Ladies European Tour in Morocco last week, the PLGC player will be seeking to recapture the consistent form that made her one of the leading players during the North-East Golfers' Alliance season.

But she faces fierce competition for the £2,500 first prize from a strong field of 26 players, who include past Solheim Cup players Trish Johnson, above, a winner on her debut on the Ladies Tartan Tour last season, and Becky Brewerton.

Curtis Cup player Annabel Dimmock (Wentworth), who turned pro during the winter, is looking forward to following up her successes as an amateur in Scotland last year. She won the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open amateur title at Troon and played for Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup match at Blairgowrie.

One of her partners in the first round at Murcar will be former Scottish women's amateur champion Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) who will be making her debut as a pro.