In 1972, 14-year-old Cadden made her debut for Scotland in the
Girls Home Internationals at Royal Norwich, and was runner-up in the subsequent
Girls Amateur Championship, losing 2&1 to Maureen Walker in the final. In July 1973 she won the girls 15 to 17 age group at the sixth
Junior World Golf Championships, played on the North course at
Torrey Pines. She finished on 326, a stroke ahead of
Alice Miller a future major championship winner. In 1974 she won the Scottish Girls Championship beating
Dale Reid 3&1 in the final. She also made her first appearance in the
Women's Home Internationals, Scotland winning narrowly when England lost to Ireland on the final day. In June 1975 she reached the final of the
Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, losing 3&2 to
Nancy Roth Syms on the
Old Course at St Andrews. In July she reached the final of the Scottish Girls Championship losing to
Wilma Aitken by one hole in the final. In August she won the
Girls Amateur Championship beating
Lisa Isherwood 4&3 in the final. The following week she was runner-up in the
Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship, three strokes behind
Julia Greenhalgh. During the year Cadden made her debut for Great Britain & Ireland in the
Vagliano Trophy match at
Muirfield. She also played for Scotland in the
European Ladies' Team Championship in France and both the
Girls and
Women's Home Internationals. She was the 1975 Daks Woman Golfer of the Year. The United States won the match, Cadden losing all her four matches. She had further success in girls events, winning the 1976 Scottish Girls Championship for the second time, beating Diane Mitchell in the final. She also won the Scottish Girls' Open Strokeplay Championship, a 54-hole under-21 event, which she also won in 1977. ==Personal life==