NATALIE Booth is hanging on the telephone hoping for a call from Singapore.

The 22-year-old New Milton golfer is on the reserve list for the Singapore Masters on February 3, first event of the year on the European Ladies' Tour.

Natalie came out of European Tour School last autumn with a conditional card after finishing 42nd, which means more anxious waits to see whether she'll figure in one of the tour's 20 events in 2005.

Had she improved her score by two shots at Tour School she would have made every event bar the British Open, but Natalie's confident that she'll play at least ten times through the year.

But rather than kick her heels, the Brokenhurst Manor player has already entered two events in Australia next month, including the Players Championship, and has plans to compete on the West Coast Tour in the United States round about April and May time.

"There aren't too many events in Europe in the early spring," says Natalia, so the West Coast Tour provides a good opportunity to play against some very decent opposition."

The former Hampshire champion went for her European Tour card in 2004 as a first step towards achieving her ultimate ambition - a place on the LPGA Tour in America.

That, she says, is where the money is. And that is where Natalie cut her competitive teeth.

After winning the Hampshire title at Royal Winchester in 2000, she went off to a US golfing scholarship at Mississippi State University, where she made a big impression.

Six top ten finishes lifted her to number one/two player for one of the leading college teams in the South East Conference.

"The coaching wasn't that hot, but you play a lot of matches and everyone wants to win so badly," she says. "So you learn to score, by scrambling if necessary. I came back a better player and certainly a lot more competitive.

"I made a lot of friends out there who are now playing on the LPGA Tour. It's where the big money is and it's where I want to play, but my roots are back here and would always want to be a part of the European Tour as well.

"It's important that European players support their own tour, particularly at a time when it is growing. Last year they had about 14 events; this year there's over 20."

Natalie, who was a quarter-finalist in the English Championship last year, joins former Hampshire teammate Kirsty Taylor on the European Tour.

It is Kirsty's third year on the tour after comfortably regaining her card with a top 50 slot in the order of merit.

"Last time I played against Kirsty I beat her on my way to the county title in 2000. Hopefully she might have forgotten when we meet up again," smiled Natalie, who is coached by her brother Lee.