So much for our celebrity-obsessed culture. By all accounts, you could plonk an image of Kim Kardashian eating a poke of Granny Sookers onto the internet and you’d have great swathes of the world’s population gazing on with boggled-eyed, slack-jawed reverence. Gwladys Nocera is clearly not one to get carried away by such gushing deification, though. Here at the celeb-infused Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, the 41-year-old Frenchwoman was paired up with Hollywood heartthrob Dougray Scott in this 54-hole Pro-Am affair but Nocera could just have easily been playing alongside this correspondent for all the impact it had. “I didn’t know until the 16th hole that he was a movie star,” said Nocera with shrugging, Gallic nonchalance.
Nocera was too busy making purposeful strides up the leaderboard to take much notice of anybody else. A neatly assembled five-under 67 left the 2008 Scottish Open champion at the top of the pile, a shot ahead of Hannah Burke, Becky Morgan and Nanna Koerstz Madsen. Nocera’s day didn’t start too well with a bogey on her first hole, the 10th, but having reached the turn in level-par, the four-time Solheim Cup player produced a telling surge on her inward half and birdied all the odd holes – one, three, five, seven and nine – to dart home in 31.
Having been a relative late-comer to the professional ranks at the age of 27 back in 2002, Nocera admitted that 14 years as part of the touring circus is beginning to become wearisome. “I’ve had my time and I’ll soon be giving up,” said Nocera, who needs a high finish in Ayrshire to qualify for next week’s Women’s British Open at Woburn. “There is too much travel and I want to enjoy my life and my family.”
There’s still time for a last hurrah, of course, and an Olympic appearance next month is the one thing that’s really keeping the competitive fires burning. “I’ve played in so many majors down the years but have never really contended,” she added. “The Olympics, though, will be a once in a lifetime chance.”
Second-placed Burke, meanwhile, enjoyed another purposeful round on Scottish soil and moved into the early running with a 68. “I finished sixth in this event last year and that kick-started a good spell for me on the tour,” she reflected. “I went on to finish 17th in the Women’s British Open the following week and then won my first tour title not long after that. Hopefully another good week here can spark another good spell again.”
It was a decent day on the home front with Pamela Pretswell, Vikki Laing, Sally Watson, Kelsey MacDonald and the two-time Scottish champion Catriona Matthew all perched in the upper echelons.
Laing, the 35-year-old from Musselburgh, has been bouncing around on the Ladies European Tour for several years after a stint in the US but a reduced playing schedule this season has led to the four-times Scottish Girls’ Amateur champion seeking other avenues of income.
“I’ve had to take a part-time job in a bar in Portobello to help pay my way,” said Laing after a two-under 70. “I’ve played in only two events this year and just needed something that’s a bit flexible. But sometimes when I’m finishing work at 2am, it’s not ideal for practising.”
Matthew finished with a flourish and rolled in a 30-footer on the last for her birdie in a one-under 71 although she described the approach to the green which preceded the raking putt as “pathetic”. The recovery was emphatic.
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