A girl's game SCOTTISH OPEN SCOTTISH OPEN She's insanely talented,

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Sep 23, 2007 | by Alan Campbell

AT the meal which followed Wednesday's pro-am, my neighbour was incredulous.

"You're only 15?" he spluttered at the girl on the opposite side of the table. "You're not are you really?" Had our friend witnessed Carly Booth launching a 297-yard drive down the 13th fairway some two hours earlier his jaw would have hit the floor, not just the table. Booth puts the "P" into precocious and phenomenon; a lady ahead of her years in ability and appearance.

It's four years since I first met Carly, who at the age of 11 was in no doubt she would become a greater golfer than Annika Sorenstam. There is a laugh and a blush when I remind her of this, but if maturity has taught her to be more circumspect, she has a firm conviction of where her future lies: America's LPGA Tour.

These last few days, at the De Vere Ladies Scottish Open, Booth has been given the opportunity to test how she would fare against Europe's top professionals. The teenager didn't disappoint, approaching the 17th hole of the first round on Thursday at level par in dismal conditions before finishing with a double bogey and bogey when her putter let her down.

Just 24 hours earlier I had been given the opportunity to reacquaint myself with Booth thanks to an invite from tournament backers Event Scotland to play in the pro-am.

My contribution to the team's effort came to an end at the seventh hole due to a bad back (as opposed to the usual bad golf ), but it was still a pleasure to walk round the new Carrick course, savouring the fabulous views of Loch Lomond and admiring Booth's deportment.

The two other male members of the team were hitting a long ball off the tee, but this slip of a girl was knocking it past them. John Huggan, a former Scottish internationalist and contemporary of Colin Montgomerie, vented his frustration on the 13th tee.

Huggan still plays off two, but after settling his ball on the peg he confides: "I'm working bloody hard just to outdrive a 15- year-old girl. This is not good for the ego." The golf writer's ball flew true and high downwind, but when it was Booth's turn she executed a perfect draw which suited the shape of the par-4 hole. It was obvious the two balls were going to be pretty close, and nearly 300 yards later Booth approached the one which was three paces in front.

A delighted punch of the air confirmed it was hers, and also demonstrated how little it takes to get her competitive juices flowing. But it was a rare display of emotion from the teenager who, while cordial enough, has a detatched manner which may act as a guard.

Booth, as my visit to the family farm in Perthshire four years ago revealed, has had an unconventional upbringing; one largely shaped by her largerthan-life father Wally. She is the youngest of three children, all of whom are high achievers. Eldest brother Wallace plays off plus five and last week represented Scotland in the men's home internationals, while 17-year-old Paul, who has Down's Syndrome, competes successfully at swimming and power lifting.

The farm is a revelation, and not just because it suddenly appears at the end of a dense forest track. There, former Commonweath Games wrestler Wally Booth has constructed a 15-hole golf course as the coup de grace of a complex which also includes a top quality gym and tennis and badminton courts.

It's a far remove from Booth Snr's days as a bouncer at Liverpool's Cavern Club which have left him on first name terms with the surviving Beatles. With his drive, and the facilities he has provided, it's little wonder that his children have all become champions, but it is in Carly that he envisages that edge being transferred to a world stage.

That's a lot of pressure on the girl's shoulders, but there is no reason to believe she doesn't share her father's ambitions. The current European Young Masters champion, she has been beating mature women since she was ten years old, breaking age group records all along the way.

The first and to date only real setback came last year when she moved to Florida to attend the David Leadbetter Academy. Another very talented Scottish teenager, Sally Watson, has found the experience enriching and will return there after the Scottish Open, but Booth, who is a year younger, found it deeply unsatisfactory.

"It wasn't really for me, " she says.

"Before I went Bob Torrance had advised me that I shouldn't let them change my swing, but when I got there I found it too technical.

"I lost all my confidence I was thinking too much, where before I used tostand over the ball and just hit it." The Booths are now hoping that an opportunity in Phoenix, Arizona, will be confirmed to let Carly complete her academic and golfing education there this winter. The last few months in Scotland have restored her self- esteem with the national under-18 and under21 titles now on her CV. If she needs technical advice it is supplied on the hoof by her elder brother.

With her ability and good looks Booth is as aware as her father of the substantial rewards that golf could bring. "My aim is to be a professional in the US it's a better standard and there's also more money, " she points out.