Lynn Kenny is an agreeable mix of modesty and confidence, of honesty and diplomacy.  The Dunblane golfer strikes the right balance to befit a role model for countless young girls in a rapidly growing sport for females across the country.  Committed, enthusiastic and determined, she is a true professional in every sense of the word.

But after five years teeing off against Europe’s elite, including the great Annika Sorenstam and Women’s Open champion and countrywoman Catriona Matthew, she is candid about her progress as a professional, having finished the 2009 season in mid-table.

“I can’t see me continuing as I am just now for much longer, because I’m not making a living, I’m just getting by,” she explains. 

“Unless I start winning some really big money, which is available, I might have to say ‘I’ve given it my all, but enough is enough’.”

But this is just a minor lapse in what is otherwise Lynn’s irrevocable optimism and belief.  She knows she is good enough to mix it with the very best, and has amply demonstrated her ability on the Tour.  So she is seeking for two things; consistency in her performance – and a couple of big results.

“I’ve got to win a tournament next season.  It will be my sixth year as a professional, and this year my target was to win three tournaments, and I didn’t really come close to that at all.

“I look around me, and I am stuck in the trap of admiring the people around me and thinking that they are better than me.  I did that as an amateur until I had my breakthrough at the Ladies’ Amateur Championship in 2000. 

“So I need to get that breakthrough moment – a few top 10 and top 5 finishes would get me back on the right path.  I’m stuck in the rut of finishing in 40th and 50th position at the moment.  It means that I am making money, but I’m not making as much as I could or should be.

“I know I have the game – I look at the other girls and I have got the same game as them – it’s just that they are producing it when it counts.  Something just isn’t falling into place for me right now.”

That ‘something’, Lynn admits, is her putting.  Put her on the tee and she will wallop the ball and her opposition all over the fairway.  But the rub of the grain on the green is where Lynn’s game is failing her.

“I didn’t make the birdie putts like I should have been doing. And now it has become psychological because I’ve been thinking about it so much.  I walk onto the green knowing I haven’t sank many putts, and I struggle to get that thought out of my head when I’m trying to hole a shot.

As an amateur I was so good on the greens.  I didn’t miss a ten-foot putt ever, and if I did I was shocked with myself.  So I’m trying to get that attitude back.   I have started to change a few things with my coach, Kevin Craggs, and it felt like I was getting back to the old days.  So it’s coming.

“Every putt is so important, it is the crunch part of the game.  We can all chip and drive on the Tour, but the people who are winning the tournaments are the people who are sinking the putts.  That’s the difference between me being in the top 10 and top 60.”

Lynn, however, is still loving life on the links.  As she told a group of eager Primary 7’s at Our Lady’s Primary School in Perth as part of the Champions in Schools role-model programme, how many people get to call pristine, lush golf courses in the Europe’s most beautiful destinations their office?  How many people get paid to play their favourite game and spend every day with their best friends?

“Mostly it’s great being a pro.  I’ve got a good bunch of friends on the Tour who I hang about with.  We’re all desperate for each other to do well – we’re a hard working group of friends. 

“The Tour itself is growing, whereas the LPGA [the American equivalent to the European Tour] is struggling.  We’ve got 27 tournaments next year, which is great in the current climate.  Then of course the Scottish Open is back – and it’s at Archerfield, my home club.  That’s a big tournament for me.”

So how do her days and weeks unfold?

“A normal week would be travelling to the venue on Monday, then a practice round on the Tuesday.  I’ll be up at 7am.  I’ll have lunches and dinner with the girls, I rarely eat alone.  Wednesdays are usually a pro-am.  Then the tournament is Thursday to Sunday.  It’s a good atmosphere.

“But I’m going to make an effort next year to see the places I go to a lot more.  I was in Rome three times and never once went into town to see everything, even though we were only five minutes from the city centre.  I guess I was worried about breaking my concentration and tiring myself out.  I need to rest up.  Maybe I’ll regret it when I’m 50!”

Lynn’s clear target for 2010 is to finish further up the field, and maybe even grab a win or two.  So if you are near Archerfield Links Golf Club in East Lothian between the 18th and 20th August 2010, keep an eye out for Lynn at the Scottish Ladies’ Open.  She might just be the one lifting the trophy.

RO
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Lynn would like to thank her sponsors - The Orion Group and Farmfoods - they have been really good to her!