qJanice Moodie received an early morning telephone call yesterday with the news that she wanted: a place in the $1.3m McDonald's LPGA Championship at Wilmington in Delaware.

The 24-year-old, who heads the US Rookie of the Year standings with more than $58,000, had arrived at the DuPont Country Club for the women's second major of the season on Sunday as the first reserve. It had been a long, anxious wait, and she could not even get out to practise because the course was closed due to severe flooding after almost a fortnight of continuous rain.

However, the arrival of sunshine yesterday morning co-incided with Moodie's turn of fortune when American Mitzi Edge was forced to pull out due to back spasms.

Catriona Matthew, who is the leading Scot at No.42 on the money list, with more than $64,000, and Kathryn Marshall, the Solheim Cup player who has been struggling all season, are the other Scots in the line-up.

qFormer Curtis Cup player Elaine Farquharson-Black of Deeside and Scottish internationalist Valerie Melvin, from Clydebank, share the top spot in the 1998 Dunfermline Building Society Scottish Ladies Golfing Association Order of Merit.

The next counting event is the Scottish Ladies Amateur Championship at North Berwick next week. Standings:

1, Elaine Farquharson-Black (Deeside) 540 points; 2, Valerie Melvin (Clydebank & District) 540; 3, Sharon McMaster (Dunbar) 440; 4, Hilary Monaghan (Heriot Watt University) 340 5, Alison Rose (Stirling) 180.