NATALIE BOOTH agonisingly missed out on her European Ladies Tour card in southern Italy yesterday.
The former Hampshire champion from New Milton was 13 over par after four nerve-stretching rounds of Tour School, and that was just two shots away from securing 30th and last card for the 2005 Tour.
Natalie's only consolation is that she gets conditional playing rights for next year, which will get her into some European Tour events next summer.
She made certain of that by being one of the 50 players who made the three-quarter cut - something that eluded Hampshire's other hopeful, Emma Weeks.
Like her old Hampshire teammate, Emma made it through the first stage of Tour School but finished 88th at 20 over after rounds of 79 79 and 78.
Natalie, who burst on to the county scene as a member at Brokenhurst Manor but who now plays out of Highcliffe Castle, was well in contention for her card until the last day.
She began the second stage of Tour School at the Riva dei Tessali club with a 78 in difficult conditions but fought back into contention with a level par 72 on the second day.
A two-over-par 74 on Tuesday left her in a tie for 30th place going into the fourth and final round, but a five-over-par finish left her in 42nd place and just out of the qualifying places.
Now the 21-year-old, who helped Hampshire to the County Championship finals this summer, is set to join the European professional ranks, albeit on a limited basis, and she'll link up again with another old county teammate, Kirsty Taylor, who retained her playing rights for 2005 with a 50th-place finish in the order of merit.
Natalie returned from university in the USA earlier this year and played her way to 19th on the 2004 English Ladies' Association order of merit. Her recent high finishes included tenth place in the Greek Championship.
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