California local golfer Kim Marshall has her sights set initially on surviving two solid qualifying rounds.

The sprawling, picturesque course at the Country Club of San Diego will be the setting as Marshall will need to get through two rounds of strokeplay before she can qualify for the all important matchplay part of the event.

Marshall figures that a two-round score of 150 will be sufficient to allow her to clear that hurdle and go on test her mettle against the best amateurs North America has to offer.

"It's going to be tough,'' Marshall admitted. "I'll go out there and play my best and hopefully do well to make it (the cut).

"I'd say that 150 would definitely get me in there and is a reasonable score to aim for.'' Marshall said that her game is rounding into form and felt optimistic at this point.

Contributing to this positive outlook is a new found putter and a changed grip, which has boosted her confidence. At least for the moment she has thrown down her Arnold Palmer model in favour of Ping Zing .

"I've never been much of a putter,'' Marshall said. "I wasn't stroking the ball well, but I think it was more of a mental thing.

"Now with the new putter and changed grip it has proven a wise decision.'' As a freshman at Wake Forest University in North Carolina last year Marshall was bothered by the fact that she was away from home for a protracted period and consequently her game suffered during the first semester.

However, following the Christmas break the talented teen had settled in and was able to play some outstanding golf and become the school's second rated golfer.

"Being away from home for so long was the hardest thing and that got to me mentally,'' explained Marshall, currently at home relaxing and enjoying the summer break. "I was just not mentally prepared at that time, but after Christmas I was all right.'' This summer Marshall has purposely avoided entering many tournaments abroad after an exhausting year of studies and competition.

Still she practices every day and plays mostly on weekends under the watchful gaze of her father and coach Eddie, who along with her mother will make the jaunt to the west coast tomorrow.

Marshall earned the right to play in the championships via a sparkling round of two-over-par-74 at a qualifying tournament in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina last week. Seven hundred competitors battled for just 150 places and Marshall was one of those successful in sewing up a spot.

This year also saw the Bermudian helping her school achieve its best ever finish in the NCAA finals, as they wound up third overall out of 13 entrants, with Marshall placing fifth individually.

Included in that squad along with Marshall were Stephanie Neill, who also qualified for the next week's US Amateur, Kim Tyrer, Tori Boysen, Nicole Dorthe and Emily Tournot.

Surprisingly, Marshall puts the 1991 US Girls Juniors, where she was the beaten finalist, ahead of this most recent achievement. "This is a close second,'' she points out.

Following the San Diego tournament it will be back to the island for another short visit before jetting back to Wake Forest for further studies ... and golf.