KIRSTY TAYLOR will be getting some vital practice in Guernsey next week before her big European professional golfing baptism in Tenerife.

Hampshire's rookie tournament professional from Overton, pictured, is taking part in a 36-hole pro-am in the Channel Islands 24 hours after playing in the 36-hole Roehampton Golf Cup.

It gets her back into competitive trim after a month-long lay- off. She hasn't played since missing the cut in the Australian Open on March 1.

Two Australian events, the ANZ Ladies Masters then the Aussie Open marked Kirsty's debut on the Evian European Ladies Tour.

It was a baptism of fire in every sense of the word and under normal circumstances two missed cuts would have left a major dent in her confidence.

But she made the very sensible decision to play on the Asian Tour in January, where she performed with commendable spirit and ability.

Taylor played four events, made money in all of them and finished second in the Indonesian Open, a superb performance which lifted her to sixth in the Asian order of merit.

"It's the best thing she's ever done," said her father Richard. "It was great character building and good for her confidence too to see she could compete against fellow professionals."

Taylor, who came out of tournament school with the 29th card last September, only has ten tournaments to make an impression after the loss, through lack of sponsorship, of the German and Portuguese Opens from the Evian Tour schedule for 2002.

Her first test comes in the Tenerife Open at the Golf Del Sur on May 2-5 followed by the Irish Open at Killarney on May 10 then the Italian Open on May 16.

She must finish in the top 90 in the order of merit to keep her card and her father believes that approaching £4,000 in prize money might see her through.

But with the European Tour diminishing, Richard Taylor recognises that his daughter might have to explore other vistas to make a living from the game including the United States.

The Big British event, the Weetabix British Open at Turnberry on August 8-11, is an obvious target for the 22-year-old Taylor who twice won the Hampshire title and was Italian, Portuguese and Canon European Under-21 champion during her days as an amateur.

But as a first-year pro, Taylor has to qualify for the right to play at Turnberry and it looks like the qualfying rounds will be played over just 18 holes at three different venues, leaving no margin for error.