It wasn’t quite Dixon of Dock Green, more Thomson of the 18th green. And with ropey references like that, Michele Thomson may have been tempted to reprise her role as a policewoman, barge into the media centre and make an arrest for a breach of newspaper introductions.
Thomson, who spent a couple of years plodding the beat before rekindling her passion for golf, certainly laid down the law on the PGA Centenary course at Gleneagles yesterday as the Scot conjured a fine birdie under the gun on the last hole to ensure that she and playing partner, Meghan MacLaren, progressed to the semi-finals of the inaugural European Golf Team Championships.
The British women’s pairing, with two round-robin wins behind them, just needed to halve their match with the Finnish duo of Ursula Wikstrom and Noora Komulainen to top their group. That was easier said than done, of course.
A keenly contested fourball tussle, which was tighter than the Celtic board and produced seven birdies among all players in a ding-dong spell between the ninth and 14th holes, could have swung either way.
When Komulainen dinked her pitch to within a couple of feet on the 18th, Thomson had to muster something equally as impressive with the pressure ramped up. The Aberdonian responded to the challenge with nerveless conviction.
Her own pitch was delightfully executed and plonked itself down barely 18 inches from the hole. It got a robust nod of approval from a watching Paul Lawrie too.
The tap-in to secure the required half point may have been short but the consequences were sizeable. “That’s the biggest putt of my career,” said Thomson, a former Scottish Women’s Amateur champion and Curtis Cup player. “The pitch was probably one of the best of my career too.”
Having made it to the last four, Thomson and MacLaren are guaranteed at least £13,500. If they win the thing on Sunday, they would each pocket almost £90,000. Given that Thomson has made around £4500 on the Ladies European Tour this season, a winning medal would be, well, worth its weight in gold.
“We have the chance of a medal,” added Thomson, who was a runner-up in the Women’s Indian Open last season during her first year back on the circuit after nearly a decade away. “This, the competition, is what I missed. You don’t get many chances to win a gold medal in the police force.”
MacLaren, a winner on the Ladies European Tour earlier this season, had suggested the other day that this particular duo were operating under the radar. “We’ve played our way out of that one now,” she said with a grin. “Michele’s pitch on the 18th was world class.”
With the three GB men’s teams all going out yesterday, it was left to girl power to keep the flag flying.
Laura Davies may be 54 but the competitive instincts refused to be dulled with age and, alongside Women’s British Open champion Georgia Hall, the GB duo maintained their 100 per cent record with a 4&2 win over Belgium to move into Sunday’s semi-finals.
“It’s a long, long golf course and the old bones suffered a bit after that,” said Davies with a grimace. That pained expression continued when she was informed that the semis and the final will be played in the foursomes format, instead of fourballs.
“I read that but that’s got to be a misprint?” she continued while looking for answers. “If it’s not, I’m going home.” She may have been joking on that front but Davies did ask for clarification and was informed that the golf needs to be finished earlier to fit in with television scheduling of Sunday’s athletics in Berlin. Bloomin’ tele eh?
Catriona Matthew and Holly Clyburn were ousted after a two-hole defeat to the Swedish pair of Cajsa Persson and Linda Wessberg while Connor Syme and Liam Johnston saw their hopes quashed by Italy’s Alessandro Tadini and Francesco Laporta.
The Scots had been two-up at the turn but lost the 11th, 14th and 15th to birdies as the Italians flipped the tie and held on up the last.
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