CLITHEROE'S Kirsty Taylor is hoping to extend her rich vein of form until the end of the season after reaching a new high of 19th place in the WPGA European Tour order of merit.

Taylor has been on a five-week roll which has earned her high-ranking finishes at home and abroad.

And her surge in form has gone hand-in-hand with a resurgence of the women's tour as a whole to leave Taylor with a bright outlook.

"The new management has come in and there has been a whole team working for us, rather than just one person trying to promote the tour," she said.

"The tour seems to be in a better state and there are good vibes for next year.

"The whole atmosphere is upbeat, whereas this time last year is was downbeat and no-one knew what was happening."

The tour's change in fortunes is reflected by Taylor's own programme. She played just eight ranking events last summer but will have almost doubled that tally by the end of the current season.

"We could just do with a few more big tournaments and getting the prize fund up at the smaller events," she added.

"If we were playing for the prize funds at the British Open, the Laura Davis Invitational and the Evian Classic all the time, we would be playing for a good living." Taylor figured prominently in those three competitions after getting her season up-and-running early on.

"I've played reasonably well all year," she said.

"I had been in Taiwan and played a couple of tournaments out there and had top-10 finishes and then I was fourth in the first European event."

That competition didn't earn ranking points but did earn Taylor a qualifying slot for the Evian Classic in France, the most lucrative event on the tour which is restricted to a top-quality 66-player field and saw Taylor come in 27th.

"Playing well there gave me a good base. I got the last spot to get in there and that kick-started my season," she added.

A top-10 finish in Germany and 14th-place in Sweden followed before Taylor, who is still coached by Jane Forrest at Clitheroe despite now living near York, went off the boil.

However, she bounced back to form in the European Open at Gleneagles, before finishing 17th at the Weetabix British Open at Woburn.

She followed that up with a best-of-the-year eighth at the Swedish Compaq Open before carding another top 20 finish at the Laura Davis Invitational at Brockett Hall and a 12th-place in the Donegal Irish Open last week. Taylor is having a breather this week before she flies out to Germany to compete in the Expo 2000 Open in Hanover.

That event is likely to be covered by Eurosport under a deal agreed by the tour's previous administrators.

The satellite company is currently paid to screen tour events.

But the BBC appears to be increasing its interest in the ladies' game and more accessible and potentially profitable coverage would provide a further tonic to the women's tour.

"Hopefully we will go on to terrestrial television," confirmed Taylor, who could play a leading role on our screens if she continues her climb through the rankings.

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