A Scottish women's amateur golf championship, which has been a daily nightmare for Curtis Cup and national selectors, has produced two unexpected players to contest this morning's 18-hole final over the North Berwick links.
Two three handicappers - Elaine Moffat (St Regulus) and Eastwood's Caroline Agnew - went through after the penultimate day of the championship continued to produce even more form upsets.
Short-hitting Moffat, a 30-year-old, Slough-born Edinburgh computer expert who was brought up in St Andrews, exceeded her ''wildest dreams'' by winning her semi-final 3 and 2 against 18-year-old Golspie girl Pam Mackay.
Mackay, in the morning, had knocked out Scottish cap Claire Hargan (Dundee University) by 2 and 1. Hargan had looked a certainty to come through after the surprise first-morning exit of leading qualifier Hilary Monaghan (Longniddry).
Caroline Agnew, a 22-year-old Glasgow University law graduate, has been too busy with her studies to follow up her Scottish girls match-play and stroke-play title wins of 1993 and 1994.
However, yesterday Agnew claimed the notable scalp of former champion and past Curtis Cup player Elaine Farquharson-Black (Deeside) by one hole.
Then Agnew followed that up with a 3 and 2 win over the 17-year-old promising Musselburgh player Vikki Laing, who had been expected to go on to win the title after beating defending champion Alison Rose (Stirling).
When Agnew got to four up at the twelfth, it was only a question of time before the strangely uninspired Laing became yet another big-name casualty. Results:
Quarter-finals - P Mackay (Golspie) beat C Hargan (Dundee University) 2 and 1. E Moffat (St Regulus) beat K Marshall (Baberton) 2 and 1. V Laing (Musselburgh) beat J Smith (Gullane) 6 and 4. C Agnew (Eastwood) beat E Farquharson-Black (Deeside) 1 hole.
Semi-finals - Moffat beat Mackay 3 and 2. Agnew beat Laing 3 and 2.
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