Olivia Mehaffey will start as one of the favourites for the British Girls Championship that gets underway at West Kilbride this morning.

The 17-year-old Vagliano Trophy player from Royal County Down has enjoyed a brilliant season and victory in Scotland would be the icing on the cake. She has already won the Welsh and Scottish Open stroke-play titles and the Irish girls' crown and is strongly fancied to make a serious impact this week in this toughest of tests.

The 144 players complete 36 holes of stroke-play after which the leading 64 go forward to the knock-out stages culminating in the 18-hole final on Friday afternoon. Katie Ahearne from Waterford Castle and Hermitage's Ciara Casey will also be flying the Irish flag at Kilbride.