MICHELE THOMSON’S motivation for success at this week’s Ladies Scottish Open is two-fold; firstly, the Aberdonian is desperate to do well on home soil. And secondly, with three spots for next week’s Women’s British Open up for grabs, Thomson would love to have booked her place at Lytham St Annes come Sunday evening.
The 30-year-old reckons a top-20 finish could be enough to secure one of the British Open spots which are available to the three highest-ranked, non-exempt Ladies European Tour finishers but considering the world-class strength of the field in Gullane, there are certainly no givens this week.
The Scot made her tournament debut last year, missing the cut by just a single shot but she is optimistic she can improve on that this year. And with Thomson a huge fan of links golf, she is confident she can be in the mix come Sunday.
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“The field is so strong so it’ll be really tough but because it’s links golf and it’s in Scotland, that makes it all the better,” she said.
“I feel that my game is as good as anybody’s there so fingers crossed I can play well. I love links golf - playing in the wind and the conditions really suits me so I feel like if I play to my ability, a spot in the British Open is 100 percent achievable.”
Thomson, along with her peers on the Ladies European Tour, have suffered from a worryingly empty schedule this year. Having such a dearth of tournaments has been, she admits, frustrating at times but with the Scot also selected to represent GB at the European Championships in August, the next few weeks could not be more exciting for the Meldrum House player.
“Everybody knows that to compete at the highest level, you need to be on a run so it has been difficult to get into competitive mode because things have been so stop-start,” she said.
“I play my best when I’ve been playing quite a bit before the tournament so it’s unfortunate that we don’t have more tournaments available to us than we do but hopefully things will get better. What’s great is that we have a run of tournaments coming up now so it’s going to be a pretty huge month, which is so exciting.”
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