GOLF:Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire heaved big sighs of relief last night after squeezing through to the knock-out stages of the women's British Open Amateur Championship over the tough Carnoustie Links on Scotland's east coast.

Meadow, the 20-year-old Royal Portrush star who starred in the recent Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup victory over the Americans spend several hours of nail-biting before realising she had just made it.

But it was even worse for Maguire as she only survived by the skin of her teeth when the final grouping of the day came in as the rain began to fall heavily on these famous links.

She had been in the clubhouse several hours and it never looked as though her aggregate of 157 would make it but as the conditions deteriorated the scoring worsened and when Nicholas Rossler of Germany came home in 46 after going out in 38 she got through.