Jane Turner
Scotland’s Jane Turner returns to the Bossey Ladies Championship in good mood, to defend the title she won twelve months ago, at Golf de Bossey, near Geneva in Switzerland.
The 29-year-old Penicuik resident is enjoying a solid season, with a top ten finish at the Jabra Ladies Open and a further four top 30 placings. Turner feels she is in stellar form coming into this week.
“I’m feeling good. It’s a golf course I really love, I’ve obviously got good memories from last year and towards the end of the last tournament, I started picking up my game and playing well, so I’m looking forward to the tournament starting on Wednesday,” said Turner.
“Putting well is what’s important. I know that’s what got me my scores last year, when I shot six under par in the first round. I had really, really good putts, so if I can have that again this year I think we’re up for a good week.”
A strong field is assembled for the second edition, with England’s Meghan Maclaren one of the players to watch after winning a bronze medal, alongside Michele Thomson of Scotland, at last week’s European Championships at Gleneagles, in Scotland.
MacLaren has been combining her schedule this season on both the Ladies European Tour and Symetra Tour in the United States. The 24-year-old from Northamptonshire, is sponsored by Pitch & Play, who are also the promoters of the Bossey Ladies Championship and the Lavaux Ladies Championship, played earlier this year at Golf de Lavaux, near Lausanne.
MacLaren topped last season’s LETAS Order of Merit and went on to win the Women’s NSW Open in February, an event co-sanctioned between the ALPG and the Ladies European Tour, played at Coff’s Harbour in Australia.
By MacLaren’s own admission the last few months have been a bit of a struggle on the Symetra Tour, but her performance at the European Championships will give her some confidence for the rest of the season.
“I’m glad I went out and did it for a couple of months (Symetra Tour) but it is pretty challenging because you’re putting yourself in an entirely new environment and once you get on a run of results that you’re not particularly happy with, it can be quite difficult to get out of that because you don’t have time at home around the people that you know. Coaches and stuff like that, but just to challenge myself and to be in a new place was I think a good thing for me.”
“I did quite a lot of analysis on my own game and I’m quite like that by nature anyway. So it was really just trying to pinpoint the little things that were making a difference and I started to trust myself a little bit more. Maybe I didn’t have the best results but I felt like I was making progress. And then to be honest, I came home as I planned to, and just being around my coaches again really cleared my head a little bit. I also knew I had some events to look forward to back home and it just kind of gave me a new springboard.”
“The European Championships was amazing. I’d had a few big weeks with the Scottish and British Open. This was an entirely new event, didn’t really know what to expect but me and Michele had an amazing week, and to come away with two medals is a dream come true.”
“I’m not going to pretend I’m not tired. It’s exhausting physically and mentally but we played a lot of good golf and it’s great to be back here where I played last year. And I think I did quite well here last year so it’s just nice to be around people that I know again as well, and I know my game’s in a good place.”
“It’s great to have an event with my sponsors and get to see them because Pitch & Play have done so much for women’s golf and for me career wise. It would have been difficult to be in this position without them. So it great to be here and support them. And just to see people that I know again because Access (LETAS) was my life last year, it’s nice to return and hopefully do well.”
There are 23 past LETAS winners in the field this week and will all be players to watch in the field of 123 players, from 24 different countries.
Play gets underway on Wednesday at 8.00 from both the 1st and 10th tees. Follow live scoring at www.access.letscoring.com/leaderboard/2310/
