KELSEY MacDonald marked her final few months as an amateur by winning a prestigious event in Florida to add to her collection of Scottish junior and senior successes.
Part of the Stirling University women’s golf team that has been taking in events on the Orange Blossom Winter Tour over the past three weeks, the 22-year-old took the Jones Doherty Matchplay Championship, which took place at the Coral Ridge Country Club.
MacDonald, who has plans now to turn professional, was looking to make up for the disappointment she suffered at the same event in 2009 having lost in the final.
After leading the qualifiers into the matchplay element with the best score of 69, MacDonald — the number one seed — finished up by defeating 13-year-old Mika Liu, from Beverly Hills, California, who was the number three seed, 3 and 2 in the final.
The final was played in constant rain, a condition not unusual for the Nairn golfer, although the slow pace appeared not to her liking in the early stages.
MacDonald, in her final year as a student at Stirling University, was two down after five holes and still two behind following seven, before eventually getting herself into this contest.
A winning birdie on the eighth hole was the start of a turnaround that saw her begin the inward half at all square.
Another birdie won the 10th hole and two follow up par figures put the Nairn Dunbar member three ahead as Liu struggled to curtail her opponents momentum.
MacDonald lost the 14th hole to a bogey figure, but quickly stormed back with birdie at the next hole to go three up once more.
Liu simply had no answer and with holes running out she conceded at the 16th hole after MacDonald managed to produce a par three that was enough to clinch the prize.
"Having come so close before, it’s just brilliant to make amends," said MacDonald. "To be number one seed and to win like that is pretty awesome."
MacDonald’s victory at this event certainly augurs well for her future.
The only other Scot to have won the Jones Doherty Challenge Cup was Catriona Lambert in 1992. Now Catriona Matthew, she went onto become Scotland’s most successful professional on the women’s European Tour — a target MacDonald will now aim to follow.
