Booth's rare talent continues to blossom in the Arizona desert

HER features vivid with enthusiasm, the bright light of a soft St Andrews morning sparkled on Carly Booth's cheeks.

Sitting on the clubhouse verandah overlooking the ninth green at the Duke's Course, the 15-year-old was animated in conversation as she discussed where golf will lead her next. Although a girl still lurks beneath the veneer of a young woman, the Scot seems more comfortable in her own skin.

Booth is about to become the youngest competitor in 76 years of competition later this month ever to represent Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup match against the USA over the Old Course.

She's added a layer of assurance to her make-up which was not discernible before she left Scotland to spend last winter practising in the shadow of Superstition Mountain and attending Red Mountain high school in Mesa, Arizona, where she'll return next week to finish off the academic year.

Speaking with a Valley girl accent – from Scottsdale in the north to Mesa in the south, the greater Phoenix sprawl is known as the Valley of the Sun – the Perthshire teenager has matured on and off the course. As recently as last autumn when she finished 13th among the professionals at the first staging of the Ladies Scottish Open at the Carrick, she still came across as callow.

Seven months later and the teenager is already on the cusp of knowing her own mind. The maturing of Carly Booth off the course is now apace with her development on it as a golfer rich in promise. Her coach, Mike Malaska, one of America's most respected instructors, won't put a ceiling on what the Scot capable of achieving. "If Carly maintains her love for the game, then it's unlimited where she's going in golf," he said. "At 15, she has everything in front of her."

Ever since she won the ladies championship at Dunblane golf club as a primary school pupil five years ago, Booth has been burdened by a huge weight of expectation. As recently as last weekend, an English Sunday newspaper carried a large picture of the former gymnast executing a perfect single handstand on one of the 14 greens built by her father, Wally, at the family farm.

Since the history of the game is littered with child prodigies who struggle to fulfil their potential, how, at such a tender age, has she coped with so much pressure to perform and deliver?

"You just have to block out a lot of things," she replied. "What's important is to work hard and to continue to progress as a golfer. If you look at someone such as Michelle Wie, of whom so much was expected, it's fair to say an awful lot of pressure was put on her shoulders. And, so far, it didn't work out too well for her. Hopefully, though, Michelle is on the mend.

"I don't know if she was pressured to go and compete with the men, but it was a difficult road to follow when she really hadn't won all that much in the women's amateur game, never mind competing against the professionals. I don't know why she went that way.

"I've been lucky, because my parents have been careful to guide me in the right directions. They've made sure I didn't get too far ahead of myself. My dad was a successful athlete who won a silver medal for wrestling at the Commonwealth Games. He's been involved with sport all his life and knows all about how to make it to the top. Yes, he's pushed me a lot, but he also appreciates when it's time to back off and stop. He's never asked me to do something I can't."

Now ranked the No 1 junior in Europe, Booth has begun fulfilling the promise which was evident ever since she became Britain's youngest club champion in 2003. Last summer she won the European Young Masters in France as well as securing the Scottish Under-21 and Under-18 titles. She was also part of the Scotland Under-18s team who won the Home Internationals and served notice a new generation of emerging female golfers were about to make their mark.

Instead of resting on her laurels after playing so well at the Carrick, Carly and her family accepted the help of Lyle Anderson, the American owner of Loch Lomond who also runs Superstition and Desert Mountain golf clubs in Phoenix, to develop her game in Arizona. Although a previous US sojourn at the David Leadbetter academy in Florida didn't work out, Booth is happy in the desert.

"I had a good season last summer and won quite a few tournaments," she recalled. "I felt pretty confident in my game when I went to America.

"But I knew I had that one shot which could be costly. It was a snap hook left, and though it didn't happen too often it was definitely there. So I worked with my coach, Mike Malaska, on getting rid of that one. It's gone for good and now my bad shot goes right.

"Already, I feel as if I've become a better player. I've worked on my swing with Mike, who has gradually helped me to change different parts.

"That's worked out very well and I'm now hitting the ball with far more consistency. My short game has also come on and is good right now.

"I'm going back to Phoenix on Monday to finish off school for the year. I've been there since October, and, as well as golf, I've been taking care of my education. I lived with Mike and his family for a while, but it just worked out better when I moved to stay with a couple of members who live on the course at Superstition golf club.

"My host family is super. The school I go to is about a 20-minute drive away and the practice facilities at Superstition are fantastic. It's a great place for golf – Kimberly Kim who was the youngest winner of the US Women's Amateur lives just near me.

"My intention is to finish off high school. One option after that would be to go to college in Phoenix. That's a decision which still has to be made. Right now, I don't really have an answer about what's going to happen. I'm still only 15 and we'll decide what I'm going to do after I turn 18 in 2010. That's when we'll look at what level I'm at as a golfer and if I'm ready or not (to become a professional]."

According to Malaska, she's already ready at 15 to compete in the Curtis Cup. "After watching her over the last few months, truthfully, I would have been surprised if they hadn't picked her," he said. "Her level of talent is remarkable."

For Booth, the opportunity to play in front of 8,000 spectators in St Andrews is elevating. "I'd say it's what any lady amateur wants to achieve because it's the biggest thing in amateur golf," she enthused. "I'm just so happy to have made the team, particularly when the match is being held in Scotland. The fact we're playing the Americans in St Andrews for the first time also makes it very special. There are four Scots on the team and we're playing at the Old Course. What could be better?

"The home support for us is just going to be tremendous. Yet as much as I want to play in the match, there's not a lot of point unless we win. I also want to keep on winning stroke-play tournaments and start looking towards titles like the Ladies British Amateur. Up until now there have been scheduling difficulties, but it would be great to also do well in the US Women's Amateur. Because I've been living in America, I'd like to get my name as well known there as it is here."

Booth, inevitably, has endured a lot of ribbing from her team mates over her freshly minted American twang. She's fitted in to the desert lifestyle with ease and says things are good off the course as well as on it.

"The only problem is I don't see my parents as often as I would like," she cautioned. "For example, I didn't get home at Christmas, which was tough. It's a struggle for my mum, because my brother, Wallace, is also away a lot.

"I like America, but I really want to beat them in the Curtis Cup. Most of my friends at school don't have a clue about the Curtis Cup. But the few who do, and my teachers, were really pleased for me – before they remembered I was playing for the opposition!"

Physically, Booth is getting stronger. "Carly's hands and arms are stronger than most men," volunteered Malaska. "She doesn't have a large body, but she can generate great clubhead speed. That's what it's all about – creating speed you can control." Underneath all the surface changes, however, according to Mary McKenna, the captain of the GB&I team, Booth remains the same person. "She's done remarkably well to cope with all the fuss around her, because she's been at the top of the girls' game for some time," observed the Irishwoman. "She's still part of our clan and doesn't get carried away. She's young at heart."

Five years after we first played on the course at the family home and I handed her a copy of Tom Callahan's perceptive book In Search Of Tiger, the air of detachment which Booth once used as a guard against the prying of strangers has been replaced by a teenager's cheerful self-absorption.

Carly is growing up and the game will take her as far as she wants to go.