Scottish Golf View - Golf News from Scotland

2009-07-04T08:02:00.002Z

JOIN US AGAIN THIS EVENING WHEN
WE WILL HAVE NEWS FROM

+ The European men's amateur team championship final.

+ The first two rounds of the Cameron Corbett Vase SGU Order of Merit event at Haggs Castle.

+ The third round of the European Tour's French Open.

+ The third and final round of the Ladies European Tour's SAS Ladies Masters (on www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk).

+ The Hayston Golf Club pro-am.

+ And any other breaking news from the world of amateur AND professional golf.

2009-07-04T06:43:00.003Z

Tiger Woods will play Native American

charity event for buddy Begay

Tiger Woods has accepted an invitation from long-time friend Notah Begay III to play in his charity Skins Game at Turning Stone Resort next month to support Native American youth.
Woods’ agent at IMG confirmed Tiger would be playing on August 24 in the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge. The world’s No. 1 player will join Stanford University team-mate Begay, former Masters champion Mike Weir and Camilo Villegas.
A year ago, the event raised $180,000 for Begay’s foundation, which supports youth sports and wellness programs for Native Americans in New Mexico and other states.
Begay, a Navajo, is the only Native American on the US PGA Tour. He has four PGA Tour victories, none since 2000, and earned his card for this year by returning to Q-School.
He and Woods have remained close, however, and, thanks to Tiger, Begay received an exemption to the AT&T National, of which Woods is the host.
Woods had planned to play in Begay’s event a year ago until he was forced to miss the second half of the season with knee surgery.
Turning Stone Resort in upstate New York has held a Fall Series event on the PGA Tour the last two years, and its $6 million purse is larger than some regular-season events. Woods is not expected to play in the PGA Tour event, as it follows the conclusion of the FedEx Cup.
Begay’s charity event is the Monday of The Barclays in New Jersey, the start of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup.
Woods has never played The Barclays since it became part of the play-offs. Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said Woods has not decided on his schedule for the play-offs.

US PGA TOUR REPORT

2009-07-04T05:55:00.006Z

A master class

from Tiger in

how to hold a

good score

together

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Tournament host Tiger Woods held a very good round together in brilliant style during a shaky stretch in the middle and shot a four-under 66 to take a one-shot lead at the AT&T National with the lowest 36-hole score ever recorded at the Congressional Country Club. But a back-nine collapse put paid to Paul Casey's hopes of competing over the weekend.
With big crowds turning out in the Washington DC area at the start of the July 4 holiday weekend, Woods followed Thursday's six-under-par 64, his lowest opening round in two years, with a 66 on the par-70, 7,255-yard Blue Course in Bethesda, Maryland.
The five-birdie, one-bogey round took the world number one into an early second-round lead at 10 under par and he held on to it after overnight leader Anthony Kim failed to build on his course record, eight-under 62 in the first round.
The leader, though, was far from happy with his day's work.
"I didn't drive the ball as well as I did yesterday or hit my irons as crisp," Woods said.
"Either I hit it pretty close to the hole, within 10 feet, or I was missing greens. So it was a little bit of two ends today.
"It was nice to actually get a score out of it. I didn't shoot myself in the foot and had a stretch there from basically 17 through three (he started at the 10th) where I didn't really hit the ball all that well but somehow was able to get through it and keep the momentum of the round going."
Kim had got to 10 under after eight holes before three bogeys undermined his good work. A birdie at the 16th, though left him with a level-par 70 to finish two strokes behind Woods in third place, one behind Australia's Rod Pampling, who posted a 64 to move to nine under par.
Kim was happy to have remained in the hunt after surviving a tough round.
"It was a grind, possibly one of the toughest ball-striking days I've had in a long time, even with all my injuries (this year) and I feel good," Kim said. "I stayed positive and made a couple of key putts to keep me in it so it's not so bad to be third after a rough day."
“Either I hit it pretty close to the hole, within 10 feet, or I was missing greens,” Woods said. “So it was a little bit of two ends today. It was nice to actually get a score out of it.”
Woods is in the halfway pole postion at 10-under 130, breaking by one shot the previous 36-hole score at Congressional set last year by Tom Pernice Jr. and Jeff Overton. Woods has a one-shot lead over Rod Pampling, who had a 64 to boost his chances of qualifying for the Open at Turnberry.
Defending champion Anthony Kim couldn’t build on his course-record 62 from the opening round. He played in the afternoon, after Woods set the target, and caught him briefly before missing too many fairways and having to settle for a 70 that put him two behind.
Jim Furyk, adding more star power to the leaderboard, had a 67 and was alone in fourth.
Perhaps more daunting than Woods’ record 36-hole score is his record on the US PGA Tour when he has at least a share of the 36-hole lead.
He is 31-6 in US sports terms (i.e. won 31, lost six), having won the last 11 times from that spot, dating to 2004 at the Byron Nelson Championship.
While some of the birdies were pure, such as a 5-iron to within 4 feet of a tucked flag on the 13th, it was his worst golf that showed why Woods contends as often as he does.
He twice hit tee shots into the rough and couldn’t get to the green. Another tee shot went into a bunker. He missed the green at a par 3 on the 'wrong' side of the hole. From the middle of the fairway, he hit a miserable shot into a hollow of thick grass.
Despite all that, Woods played that five-hole stretch in one under par whereas a lesser golfing mortal would have been several over.
“That’s why the guy is at such a high level,” said US Open champion Lucas Glover, who played with Woods and shot 66 to join the group at 5-under 135. “When things are going bad, he can rely on his short game. He just doesn’t waste any shots. If he’s losing shots, it’s because of a bad break or a bad lie.”
There were ample opportunities to fall back.
Unable to reach the 17th green from a thick lie in the rough, Woods holed a 6-foot par putt. He pushed his 3-wood into the right rough on the 18th and had to punch under some tree branches and let the ball roll toward the green, but not too far because of water all around it. He putted from off the green 70 feet away to within 5ft and holed that for par.
The birdie came from a fairway bunker, the ball spinning back pin-high, five feet away. Then came a scary, almost magical chip from the side of a mound, which he flopped with enough spin to tap in a 2-footer. And on the third hole, having short-sided himself again, Woods pitched perfectly to a green running away from him and saved another par with a 4-foot putt.
“That’s how you keep yourself in a golf tournament,” Woods said. “I made a couple of big putts — 17, 18, good up-and-down on 2 — and it kept me going. I played well early, and it’s all about keeping your momentum.”
Woods will play in the final pairing of the third round with Pampling, a familiar face from their many morning practice rounds at the majors. Pampling was in the first group off Friday morning, ran off three birdies through five holes, and didn’t get unsettled by a lone bogey when he missed the fairway on the sixth hole, which plays as a par 4 at 516 yards.
“I just didn’t do anything wrong and kept myself out of trouble,” Pampling said.
He has two weeks left to try to qualify for Turnberry, but would need at least a runner-up finish this week to have a chance. Otherwise, he is headed for the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.
Most eyes were behind Pampling, however, with the prospects of a Woods-Kim shootout at Congressional. Kim is regarded as the most promising young American to challenge Woods, and despite a swing that deserted him midway through the round, he’s only two behind. “I hate the way I hit the ball today,” Kim said. “My swing got loose and I couldn’t find it out there. If I can stay focused and stay positive, I’ll be in good shape.”
A dozen players were separated by five shots, including US Amateur champion Danny Lee, who had a 67. Even so, it starts with a familiar name at the top.
“He can be playing great and then you really don’t have a lot of chance of beating him,” Pampling said. “And then he’s just playing so-so and he’s still right there with a chance to win coming down the last nine holes. He’s just amazing how consistent he is.”

Paul Casey had halves of 30 and 39 for 144 - two shots too many to make the cut. He had five bogeys and one birdie on his inward half.

But Glasgow's Martin Laird made the cut with scores of 70 and 71 for 141.
SECOND-ROUND LEADING TOTALS

Par 140 (2x70)

130 T Woods 64 66.

131 R Pampling 67 74.

132 A Kim 62 70.

133 J Furyk 66 67.

134 B Molder 64 7, D A Points 64 70, D Chopra 66 68.

135 S Appleby 66 69, L Glover 69 66, D Lee 68 67, R Moore 69 66, C Beckman 68 67.

Selected scores

138 J Rose 67 71 (jt 22nd).

141 M Laird 70 71 (jt 48th).

142 B Davis 70 72.

MISSED THE CUT (142 and better qualified)

144 P Casey 75 69.

Climax to European men's amateur team championship

2009-07-03T21:56:00.003Z

Wallace Booth (Comrie), back in form at just the right time for Scotland. Picture from Conwy by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography.

Scotland v England line-up in Conwy final

MORNING FOURSOMES
08:40
Gavin Dear & Glenn Campbell v Dale Whitnell & Charlie Ford.
08:50
Wallace Booth & Michael Stewart v Matt Haines & Tommy Fleetwood.

AFTERNOON SINGLES
14:00
Gavin Dear v Matt Haines
14:08
Wallace Booth v Sam Hutsby
14:16
Michael Stewart v Dale Whitnell
14:24
Ross Kellett v Tommy Fleetwood
14:32
Paul O'Hara v Luke Goddard

Team captains
Scott Knowles (Scotland)
Colin Edwards (England)

2009-07-03T21:37:00.005Z

Now, isn't that disappointing?

Tiger never plays golf for fun

Tiger Woods, the host of the $6million tournament, moved to the top of the leaderboard midway through the second round of the AT&T National with a four-under 66 at Bethesda, Maryland.

Woods, who made three birdies during a four-hole stretch, was at 10-under 130, one shot ahead of Rod Pampling, who had a 64.
Anthony Kim, the first-round leader at eight-under par, teed off in the afternoon.
During his post-round Press Conference, Tiger let it be known that he has no interest in playing golf on holiday.
"I don't play golf on my vacations," Woods told reporters. "I get away from it when I'm at home."
The winner of 14 majors said golf does not hold any interest for him in his spare time.
"I'd never, ever have a golfing vacation because it's not interesting for me to go out there and do that," said the married father of two.
Editor's note: Isn't that disappointing news. To the best player in the world, golf is his job, not a sport to enjoy.

So you want to play a shot like Tiger Woods? Try this ....

Tiger Woods first tried the shot in competition during the third round at the Memorial, choking up (going down) on the grip of his driver about 2 inches, and he pulled it off to perfection. He used it again on the eighth hole in the first round of the AT&T National.

Woods said he began working on the shot a few months ago, and the idea is to give him a range that is a little less than a full driver, and a little more than a full three-wood.The eighth hole played 341 yards on Thursday, a slightly elevated green that makes it nearly impossible to drive, but Woods wanted to take the bunkers out of play.

“A full driver I felt would get me too far down there, and a three-wood couldn’t take the bunkers out of play,” he said. “So it’s nice to have a little bit of a 'tweener.' I drop (my grip) down (the shaft) and hit just this little softy cut out there. It’s a lot further than my three-wood, but it’s nowhere near a full driver, and I can keep that in play.”

Editor's note: So, give that a try on the practice ground before you use it in the next medal competition. Of course, many years before Tiger was born, a certain John Panton was playing all sorts of improvised shots, including going down the shaft by more than two inches, to get under the wind that always blew when the Northern Open was played over links courses in April.

2009-07-03T20:08:00.002Z

Sundridge Park - only seven miles from

centre of London - to get major revamp

Sundridge Park Golf Club, just seven miles from the centre of London, has two 18-hole courses which will begin a phased renovation this autumn under the auspices of Swan Golf Designs.
The practice has recently completed the blueprints for the management of the landscape and bunker strategy on both the East and West courses, following a detailed appraisal of both laouts, and is being retained by the club as golf course architects throughout the implementation of the improvements.
Bob Walden, Sundridge Park Golf Club’s general manager, said: “We wanted to look to the future and make sure we were keeping pace with the modern game and its equipment.
“Also, like most clubs, we have criticism of bunkers from our members and we wanted to address those from a completely independent point of view.”
Sundridge has a unique setting: the venue proudly claims to be the nearest 36-hole golf club to a major metropolitan city, just seven miles from the centre of London, and is set in the grounds of the Sundridge Park Estate, designed by Humphrey Repton, considered by many to be the last great English landscape designer of the 18th century and natural successor to Capability Brown.
The courses also boast an impressive design pedigree: the West Course was laid out by Willie Park under the supervision of James Braid while Sir Guy Campbell and Major CK Hutchinson – whose work as a team has been regularly recognised, including courses ranked in the UK ’s top 100 – created the East Course.
Swan Golf Designs was selected for the work bcause the club felt the company had the right qualities to follow in such prestigious footsteps.
For more information visit www.swangolfdesigns.com.

FRENCH OPEN REPORT

2009-07-03T18:15:00.007Z

Harrington misses fifth cut in a row

... and he blames his putting

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Padraig Harrington's nightmare run of missed cuts went to five in Paris today - just as many as Tiger Woods has failed to make in his ENTIRE 13-year professional career.
With his Open hat-trick bid less than two weeks away, Harrington's fate was effectively sealed when he drove out of bounds and ran up a triple-bogey 8 at the 14th hole of his second round in the French Open Alstom at Le Golf National.
The Dubliner, who finished with a 75 for five over par, freely conceded on Wednesday that he was running out of time to get his game in good enough shape to triumph again at Turnberry.
Now he has only next week's Irish PGA championship to find a bit of competitive confidence before heading to the Ayrshire links.
Harrington, who last played four rounds of an event at the Players Championship in Florida in early May, left a tournament which at the halfway stage sees Argentina's Rafa Echenique - last week's albatross man in Munich - take over at the top from German Martin Kaymer.
It was more his putting than his 8 which troubled the three-time major winner.
"I was never comfortable on the greens all week," said Harrington, who felt his three-putt bogey at the 13th to drop to two over was the crucial mistake. "I'm hoping that's all it was. I just struggled - just putted terribly and didn't get any confidence. That's reflected in the score.
"It showed up the weakness in my putting. I've been happy with it and still am physically, but it certainly got on top of me this week and that's where the focus will be.
"You don't just click, but I have another week. The last six months the focus has been on my swing and definitely now I will be firmly focused on my previous strength - a good, sharp short game.
"I'm not worried about how hard they set up Turnberry. I will be more worried about how I am - but I can manage any challenge."
One Irishman who was celebrating making the cut was Shane Lowry who won the Irish Open in his last outing as an amateur - and had missed every cut in his fledgling pro career. Withrounds of 69 and 72 for 141 he had two shots to spare.
Marc Warren seems to be blowing hot and cold these days. This, it appears, is a hot week and he is the leading Scot on 140 (68-72). Alastair Forsyth and Paul Lawrie (141) made the cut with ease.
A pack of Scots just made it through by the skin of their teeth on 143 - Colin Montgomerie (69-74), Gary Orr (73-70) and David Drysdale who plummeted from a top-10 placing with an opening 67 to a share of 62nd place with a 76 which included an inward half of 41 (double bogey 6s at the 12th and 18th).
Three Scots were on the wrong side of the Great Divide - Richie Ramsay taking one shot too many in 71 and 73 for 144; Scott Drumond on 148 (72-76) and Stephen Gallacher drifting into the wilderness with 74 and 79 for 153.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 142 (2x71) 7,299yd
132 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 65 67
134 Steve Webster 69 65, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 66, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 62 72
135 Peter Hanson (Swe) 65 70, Richard Green (Aus) 68 67
136 Paul Waring 66 70, Lee Westwood 68 68
137 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 70, Scott Strange (Aus) 65 72, Seve Benson 70 67
138 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 71, Kenneth Ferrie 70 68
139 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 72 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 68 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 72, Danny Willett 68 71
140 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 69 71, Gareth Maybin 69 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 65 75, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 67 73, Robert Rock 70 70, Marc Warren 68 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 70, Jamie Donaldson 69 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 66, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 67 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 70
141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 74 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 70, Oliver Wilson 72 69, Graeme Storm 69 72, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 74, Shane Lowry 69 72, Paul Lawrie 67 74, Ian Poulter 72 69, Alastair Forsyth 72 69, Barry Lane 70 71, Ross McGowan 69 72
142 Damien McGrane 70 72, Benn Barham 68 74, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 67 75, John Bickerton 65 77, Paul Nilbrink (Swe) 73 69, Peter Lawrie 71 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 72, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 72, Sam Little 67 75, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 70 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 68 74, Nick Dougherty 66 76, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 73, Darren Clarke 73 69, Paul Broadhurst 73 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70, Phillip Archer 69 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 72
143 Gary Orr 73 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 70, Steven O'Hara 71 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 68 75, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 72, Pablo Martin (Spa) 71 72, Colin Montgomerie 69 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 75 68, David Horsey 72 71, David Lynn 69 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 71, Gary Lockerbie 68 75, David Drysdale 67 76, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 71, Mark Foster 69 74, Philip Golding 71 72
MISSED THE CUT
144 Richie Ramsay 71 73, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 75, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 72, Simon Wakefield 70 74, Simon Khan 71 73, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 71 73, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 73 71, Michael Hoey 71 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 71, Bradley Dredge 73 71
145 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 77, Stephen Dodd 70 75, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 77, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 74, Tano Goya (Arg) 72 73, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 70, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 75 70
146 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 75, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 76, Federico Cabrera (Arg) 70 76, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 73, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 76, Simon Dyson 73 73, Oliver Fisher 71 75
147 Graeme McDowell 72 75, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 77, Daniel Brooks 74 73, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 75, David Dixon 74 73, Richard Finch 72 75, Raul Quiros (Spa) 72 75, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 74 73, Paul McGinley 72 75, Padraig Harrington 72 75
148 Marco Ruiz (Par) 71 77, Lee Slattery 73 75, Phillip Price 74 74, Scott Drummond 72 76, Miles Tunnicliff 71 77
149 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 74 75, Taco Remkes (Ned) 70 79, Scott Arnold (Hkg) 71 78
150 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 75 75, Rhys Davies 77 73, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 76 74
151 Anton Haig (Rsa) 77 74, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 80 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 75 76, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 77, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 75 76, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 80, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 77 74
152 Mark Brown (Nzl) 79 73, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 72 80, Cedric Menut (Fra) 69 83, Gregory Havret (Fra) 77 75
153 Stephen Gallacher 74 79, Nicolas Joakimides (Fra) 79 74, Marcus Higley 81 72, Damien Perrier (Fra) 75 78, Robert Dinwiddie 74 79
154 Anthony Kang (USA) 78 76, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 76 78, Gary Murphy 74 80, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 75 79, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 82
155 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 77 78, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 76 79
156 Malcolm MacKenzie 74 82, David Frost (Rsa) 76 80
157 Alex Larrazabal (Spa) 78 79
162 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 78 84
WD: Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Marcel Siem (Ger), Anthony Wall
DQ: David Howell

Lloyd Saltman misses another cut

2009-07-03T17:10:00.006Z

Parry has stars in his eyes as he

leads Credit Suisse Challenge

By RODDY WILLIAMS, European Challenge Tour Press Officer
Yorkshireman John Parry, a team-mate of Rory McIlroy and David Horsey in the Walker Cup two years ago, moved into halfway lead in the Credit Suisse Challenge in Switzerland with a six under par 67.
Seven birdies and only one dropped shot at Wylihof Golf Club, Luterbach, took Parry to ten under par 136 and one clear of Sweden’s Bjorn Pettersson.
The 22-year-old, Harrogate-born Parry, pictured above by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography, is embarking on his first season on the Challenge Tour from where he hopes to follow his erstwhile team-mates on to the European Tour. Four of the 2007 Walker Cup team – Jonathan Caldwell, Horsey, McIlroy and Danny Willett – have made it on to the European Tour, with McIlory also making his winning breakthrough, and Parry hopes it won’t be long before is joins them.
Parry played with Horsey at Royal County Down against the United States and will have taken inspiration from his partner’s success in finishing the Challenge Tour's No 1 last year.
Currently 32nd in the Challenge Tour Rankings, Parry needs to climb into the top 20 by the end of the season to earn a place on the European Tour and is laying some solid foundations to his fledgling professional career.
The par-5s proved the key to his low second round as he birdied all five on another sweltering day in Switzerland. His round was all the more impressive in that he didn’t get a practice round after only finding out on Tuesday he was in the field.

“I just played nice and steady and took advantage of the par-5s,” he said. “I was able to either get on the greens or close enough for a chip and putt. It was good solid golf.”
Pettersson picked up five birdies without dropping a shot to lie one off the pace on nine under par, with Frenchman Julien Quesne a further shot adrift after a round of 69. American Nathan Smith, Australian Tony Carolan and Spain’s Carl Suneson lie on seven under par.

Anstruther's George Murray climbed 17 places into the top ten at the halfway stage as he trails Parry by four strokes.
Murray, the 2004 Scottish amateur champion, picked up six birdies with two dropped shots for a round of 69 and 36 hole total of 140.
That left the 26 year old Fifer in a share of seventh place going into the weekend as he looks to chase down Parry’s lead.

SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 146 (2x73)

66 players made the cut at 145 (-1)
136 J Parry (Eng) 69 67
137 B Pettersson (Swe) 69 68
138 J Quesne (Fra) 69 69
139 C Suneson (Esp) 69 70, T Carolan (Aus) 70 69, N Smith (USA) 71 68
140 R Santos (Por) 72 68, R Steiner (Aut) 70 70, G Murray (Sco) 71 69, A Gee (Eng) 73 67
141 S Jeppesen (Swe) 71 70, N Meitinger (Ger) 69 72, S Davis (Eng) 67 74, P Baker (Eng) 70 71, E Molinari (Ita) 72 69, J Colomo (Esp) 70 71, P Relecom (Bel) 71 70, J Morgan (Eng) 72 69
142 M Tullo (Chi) 73 69, F Praegant (Aut) 74 68, D Denison (Eng) 72 70, J Grillon (Fra) 72 70, N Sulzer (Sui) 70 72, A Marshall (Eng) 72 70
143 J Larsen (Nor) 74 69, J Billot (Fra) 71 72, T Cruz (Por) 68 75, A Butterfield (Eng) 73 70, G Houston (Wal) 71 72, N Maestroni (Ita) 69 74, M Wiegele (Aut) 72 71, L Kennedy (Eng) 71 72, L James (Eng) 68 75, K Sullivan (Wal) 71 72, J Sjöholm (Swe) 73 70, J Campillo (Esp) 74 69, N Lemke (Swe) 73 70, L Bond (Wal) 71 72, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 72, M Villegas (Col) 72 71, A Hansen (Den) 72 71, C Russo (Fra) 69 74, S Robinson (Eng) 67 76
144 F Colombo (Ita) 71 73, J Bjerhag (Swe) 72 72, J McLeary (Sco) 71 73, M Zions (Aus) 69 75, J Granberg (Fin) 73 71, A Mellor (Eng) 72 72, G Shaw (Nir) 74 70
145 D Wardrop (Eng) 71 74, C Moriarty (Irl) 74 71, F Fritsch (Ger) 71 74, T Whitehouse (Eng) 71 74, M Laskey (Wal) 73 72, P Purhonen (Fin) 73 72, P Kaensche (Nor) 73 72, J Clément (Sui) 73 72, C Brazillier (Fra) 75 70, R Karlberg (Swe) 75 70, S Saavedra (Arg) 75 70, C Günther (Ger) 74 71, G Woodman (Eng) 69 76, P Del Grosso (Arg) 74 71, F Calmels (Fra) 72 73, G Paddison (Nzl) 74 71

MISSED THE CUT
146 M Mills (Eng) 71 75, O Floren (Swe) 73 73, M Cort (Eng) 74 72, P Karantzias (Gre) 74 72, V Riu (Fra) 73 73, J Ruth (Eng) 73 73, L Gagli (Ita) 72 74, A Zanini (Ita) 74 72, A Grenier (Fra) 74 72, A McArthur (Sco) 72 74, P Bocian (Swe) 74 72, B Mason (Eng) 72 74, J Little (Eng) 73 73, A Bossert (Sui) 72 74, M McGeady (Irl) 74 72, J Heath (Eng) 71 75,
147 A Bernadet (Fra) 72 75, R Russell (Sco) 73 74, C Gane (Eng) 73 74, A Haindl (RSA) 74 73, I Pyman (Eng) 75 72, A Wagner (Arg) 76 71, L Westerberg (Swe) 72 75, A Högberg (Swe) 76 71, G Gresse (Bel) 78 69, S Juul (Den) 74 73, L Brovold (Nor) 74 73,
148 R Hie (Ina) 75 73, M Delpodio (Ita) 74 74, N Fox (Irl) 72 76, R Furrer (Sui) 77 71, D Ulrich (Sui) 79 69, A Roberts (Eng) 74 74, S Manley (Wal) 78 70, R Kilpatrick (Nir) 69 79, M Reale (Ita) 74 74, O Suhr (Den) 74 74, O David (Fra) 77 71, S Walker (Eng) 75 73, A Mörk (Fra) 73 75, Å Nilsson (Swe) 75 73,
149 L Saltman (Sco) 76 73, P Niederdrenk (Ger) 72 77, M Jurgensen (Den) 73 76, K Jorgensen (Den) 76 73, T Weiss (Sui) 70 79, R De Sousa (Sui) 74 75, J Boerdonk (Ned) 75 74, S Luna (Esp) 76 73, S Rojas (am) (Sui) 78 71,
150 P Gustafsson (Swe) 70 80, D Marmion (Eng) 76 74, M Rominger (Sui) 72 78, J Dusson (Fra) 76 74,
151 A Murray (Irl) 76 75, A Ahokas (Fin) 76 75, J Parron (Esp) 78 73, F Svanberg (Sui) 70 81, K Webber (Aus) 78 73, B Evans (Eng) 80 71, G Molteni (Ita) 75 76, R Wiederkehr (Sui) 75 76, S Henry (Sco) 76 75, N D'Incau (am) (Sui) 75 76,
152 T Dykes (Wal) 68 84, A Chopard (Sui) 77 75, D Froreich (Ger) 80 72, E Ramsay (Sco) 75 77, S Reale (Ita) 72 80,
153 T Schuster (Ger) 78 75, A Rocha (Bra) 78 75, M Kramer (Ger) 78 75,
154 J Schmid (Sui) 78 76, B Miarka (Ger) 78 76, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 80 74, K Benz (am) (Sui) 78 76, V Honauer (am) (Sui) 76 78,
155 C Achermann (Sui) 76 79,
156 A Bruschi (Ita) 79 77,
157 S Grant (Irl) 83 74, F Li Puma (Sui) 77 80, J Johnson (Eng) 73 84,
158 T Ferreira (RSA) 80 78,
159 J Zapata (Arg) 80 79,
164 A Joudar (Mar) 79 85,
165 T Benslimane (Mar) 80 85, M Chatelain (Sui) 83 82,
WD Z Scotland (Eng) 77 -.

2009-07-03T15:06:00.006Z

Great Scots! Through to Euro final

.... and England make it at 20th

Scotland cut high-flying Italy down to size at Conwy, North Wales today to follow up their last autumn world championship success in Australia by reaching Saturday's final of the European men's amateur team championship. Their opponents will be England who got through on the back of Luke Goddard's 20th hole win in the final singles against top seeds Norway.

It will be Scotland's first appearance in the European final since 2001 when they beat Ireland.

There was a lot expectation and pressure on the Scots coming into this championship and they have lived "dangerously," qualifying 6th of eighth for the championship flight, thanks to a brilliant second round by Comrie's Wallace Booth.

But, the closer they have got to the final, the better the Scots have played and there was a lot to like in their 4 1/2-2 1/2 trimming of Italy today.After the foursomes were shared 1-1, wins by Gavin Dear (Murrayshall), Wallace Booth and Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) wrapped up the Scots' place in the final.

Dear was two up with four to play in the lead-off singles tie against Joon Kim but lost the 15th and 17th and came through a test of nerve for a one-hole win that set the ball rolling for Scotland.

Wallace Booth coasted home by 4 and 2, leaving Scotland needing one more point to clinch overall victory. They got it from young Michael Stewart, the US college boy from Troon.
Stewart and Nino Bertasio were even steven after the turn and kept exchanging holes. Bertasop squared the match at the 14th before Stewart got his nose in front again at the 16th and clinched victory for himself and the Scots as whole by also winning the 17th.

Ross Kellett (Colville Park) was held to a square match by Andrea Pavan while Paul O'Hara, beaten 6 and 4, could hardly have been expecting the Italians to field their British amateur champion, Matteo Manassero, in the fifth and last singles slot against him - a blunder by the Italians as they needed a point from Matteo at the head of the batting order where it counted, not at No 5 where it was inconsequential.
SGU National Coach Ian Rae had every reason to be delighted with the team’s performance.
He said: “I am delighted with their win here this afternoon. We really have excelled in the match- play phase and have played better and better each day which has really been the key to our success.
“Getting into the top eight was our first objective but once it comes to match play it is man pitted against each man and we have thrived in that competitive environment. The boys have also adapted well. There was a lot of rain this morning and as a result the course is playing much longer than it has and they have taken the change in playing conditions in their stride.
"The team is in a buoyant mood and are really looking forward to tomorrow.”
England came back from 0-2 down after the foursomes to edge ahead in the singles against Norway with victories by their top three men in the batting order - Matt Haines, Sam Hutsby and Tommy Fleetwood.
But Norway clawed their way back to 3-3 overall whne Anders Kristiansen beat Dale Whitnell by two holes.
It all boiled down to the last singles which went into extra holes when Espen Kofstad and Luke Goddard came off the 18th green all square. Goddard prevailed at the 20th.
SEMI-FINALS DETAILS
SCOTLAND 4 1/2, ITALY 2 1/2
Foursomes (1-1)
Gavin Dear & Glenn Campbell lost to Niccolo Quintarelli & Nino Bertasio 3 and 2.
Wallace Booth & Michael Stewart bt Matteo Manassero & Andrea Pavan 4 and 2.
Singles (3 1/2-1 1/1).
Dear bt Joon Kim 1 hole.
Booth bt Quintarelli 4 and 3.
Stewart bt Bertasio 2 and 1.
Ross Kellett halved with Andrea Pavan.
P O'Hara lost to Matteo Manassero 6 and 4

NORWAY 3, ENGLAND 4
Foursomes (2-0)
Anders Kristiansen & Joakim Mikkelsen bt Dale Whitnell & Charlie Ford 3 and 1.
Espen Kotstad & Elias Bertheussen bt Tommy Fleetwood & Matt Haines 2 and l.
Singles
Haines bt Knut Borsheim 4 and 2.
Sam Hutsby bt Joakim Mikkelsen 2 and 1.
Fleetwood bt Arie Friestad 2 and 1.
Anders Kristiansen bt Dale Whitnell 2 holes.
Espen Kofstad lost to Luke Goddard at 20th.

2009-07-03T13:43:00.003Z

Olazabal bound for Barassie in bid to

qualify for Open championship

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY R&A
Jose Maria Olazabal is expected to line up in the field at Kilmarnock Barassie next Monday as he attempts to qualify for the 138th Open Championship along with 287 golfers hopeful of playing their way into one of the 12 Turnberry berths available at Local Final Qualifying.

Competitors will play 18 holes on both Monday and Tuesday to determine who will win a place in this year’s Open Championship - with the four places available at each of the three west coast venues: Glasgow Gailes Links, Kilmarnock (Barassie) and Western Gailes
Olazabal will undoubtedly command attention as he attempts to ensure a 22nd Open appearance. The two-time Masters winner has played in the last two Championships at Turnberry, finishing tied 38th in 1994 and tied 16th in 1986 meaning that, should he qualify, he will have the advantage of being one of the more experienced players over the Ailsa Course.
In addition, Barassie will host two former Ryder Cup competitors, Sweden’s Per-Ulrik Johansson and Phillip Price of Wales. Johansson, the first Swede to play in the biennial team event on two occasions — he was on the winning side in both 1995 and 1997 –, has played in nine Open Championships, though his last appearance was at St Andrews in 2000.
Price won the Ryder Cup with Europe in 2002 after beating Phil Mickelson in the final day singles. The Welshman has a best Open result of tied 10th at Royal St George’s in 2003 and, like Johansson, has also competed in nine previous Opens. Both would relish the chance to make it ten at Turnberry this July.
The 45-year-old Ronan Rafferty, who was a serious contender at Turnberry in 1994 having posted a 66 in the second round followed by a 65 in the third, will mount his challenge at Glasgow Gailes. Joining him in the field is 2009 Amateur runner-up, Sam Hutsby, who will be aiming to reach his first Open Championship after coming so close to earning an exemption last month.
Also competing are the winners of the last two Amateur Championships to have been held at Turnberry. Warren Bladon, winner in 1996, will tee-off at Barassie having comfortably progressed through last month’s Regional Qualifying. And Reinier Saxton, the 2008 winner, is scheduled to make his first attempt to reach a Major Championship as a professional, having only relinquished his amateur status a fortnight ago.
Local Final Qualifying takes place on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 July. Live scores and full reports will appear on Opengolf.com throughout the event.
The Open Championship will be held at Turnberry from July 16 to 19.

2009-07-03T11:22:00.002Z

Shiskine Golf Club’s seven volunteer coaches, Willie Kelso, Joe Faulkner, Gordon Stewart, Jacqui Rankin, David Henderson, Liz Kerr and Jenni Turnbull with PGA Pro Alan Martin (centre) who led the Level 1 training course). Image by courtesy of Rob Eyton-Jones.

Shiskine Golf Club making huge strides in

developing junior golf in Arran community

NEWS RELEASE BY ROB EYTON-JONES
Arran’s Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club, which last month received major investment from sportscotland to help transform its facilities, is making huge strides in developing junior golf in the community through the national junior programme, clubgolf.
clubgolf is the partnership between the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association (SLGA), the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA), the Golf Foundation and sportscotland launched in 2003 following Scotland’s successful bid to host the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Shiskine golfers had become aware the average age of its member was heading towards the late 50s. They realised that the numbers of children playing golf on the island was shrinking and they admitted more could be done to offer local youngsters a structured coaching programme.
Through the forward thinking efforts of its members, in combination with clubgolf, improvements to its clubhouse and the adoption of a clubgolf programme (Shiskine is the first clubgolf centre on Arran) will have a double impact on local juniors.
“Our club is very much involved with the community,” said the Club’s clubgolf co-ordinator, Gordon Stewart.
“We have had a good relationship with the two local primary schools and have offered their children coaching in an amateur but enthusiastic way.
“But when we looked at the whole junior structure we realised we hadn’t got a proper training programme in place.
“Then, when we found out about clubgolf and proper structured coaching we decided to invest in training to push it forwards.”
To address its challenges the Club has been working closely with Ann Lang, clubgolf’s Regional Manager for South West Scotland.
This May it made a significant step by sending seven of its members on clubgolf’s two day Level 1 coaching course, held at the local high school. All seven became qualified coaches. Having since re- approached the local primary schools, the Club has attracted over 30 children to its clubgolf coaching which is supervised by its pro, Dougie Bell.
“We run the coaching on Monday evenings, take the children out for between one and two hours and we rotate the volunteers,” said Mr Stewart. “It’s working very well and the kids love it.”
Junior developments at Shiskine are having a knock on effect locally. Impressed by its results nearby Whiting Bay GC has made contact with Ann Lang to improve its own junior coaching.
Meanwhile, work on Shiskine’s new purpose-built clubhouse is due to start soon. When complete it will provide full disabled access, improved changing rooms and showers plus a room for bowling and tennis club members. In addition, a new restaurant and function suite will be available all year round creating a fantastic facility for use by the whole community.
“It’s very obvious to us that juniors are very keen but there were no facilities for them, no junior room or TV, so we are quite excited about providing that facility,” added Mr Stewart.
With the local driving range providing the practice facility to keep the coaching going through the autumn and winter, and other plans to hold junior tournaments, local children have everything they will ever need to keep them involved and developing in the game.
Rob Eyton-Jones
e: rob@eyton-jones.co.uk
Official clubgolf website: http://www.clubgolfscotland.com/

2009-07-03T08:24:00.003Z

2009 Fife Order of Merit for the Mackay Bowl

POSITIONS AFTER 12 EVENTS

1 James White (Lundin) 480pt.
2 Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) 380pt.
3 DannySommerville (St Andrews) 220pt.
4 Colin Loveday (Scotscraig) 170pt.
5 Alex Main (Thornton) 140pt.
6 Scott Crichton (Aberdour) 125pt.
6 Alistair Hain (Ladybank) 125pt.
6 Geoff Marshall (Kirkcaldy) 125pt.
6 Colin Martin (Balbirnie Park) 125pt.
6 Lee Stewart (Canmore) 125pt.
+The next counting events are the Fife stroke-play championship at Canmore on Sunday, July 5 and the Cameron Corbett Rosebowl at Haggs Castle on Saturday-Sunday (July 4-5).

2009-07-03T07:31:00.004Z

Dollar golf course (from the club's website). The club was formed in 1906.

Dollar Golf Club fights to survive

... and they ask for your support

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY DOLLAR GOLF CLUB
Increased costs and reduced members numbers are a problem for many Scottish golf clubs but it is the smaller clubs which are likely to suffer most as the credit crunch continues to bite.
Dollar Golf Cub in Central Scotland now faces a survival struggle as a small membership struggles to meet the cost of running an 18-hole hillside village club – of which there are very many in Scotland.
But the club members have rallied round and started a “Drive to Survive” campaign which will involve a members’ levy, member donations and many other fund-raising activities.
The club hopes to raise £50,000 from assorted sources to enable it to stay open whilst plans are prepared probably to sell the clubhouse whilst creating a modest changing facility somewhere on the course to allow the club to continue in operation.
Club Captain Jerry Cant says “There are complex legal issues involved since we only own the clubhouse and rent the course but given a little time we feel we can work out a future on a lower cost base.
"It would be tragic if golf were to stop in Dollar after 120 years and our membership are determined and united in our bid to stop that happening. We hope the wider sporting community will support our efforts to keep this beautiful course open for generations to come”. Jerry continues:
“We are holding a ‘Drive to Survive’ fun-day on August 4, 2009, when we are putting on a fantastic exhibition of golf with four of Scotland’s top amateurs playing three rounds in a day. There are some brilliant prizes in the offing, and we hope to drum up a lot of support from the golfing community”.
Donations to the Drive to Survive fund can be made online at http://www.dollargolfclub.com/ (follow the ‘Funding 2009’ link), via cheque (made payable to Dollar Golf Club & sent to Dollar Golf Club, Drive to Survive, Brewlands House, Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland FK14 7EA), by BACS to Clydesdale Bank, Dollar, sort code 82-62-08 account number 00215176 or in cash.
All contributors to the Drive to Survive fund will be welcome to play a free round on the course at Dollar - the views are stunning, the greens are great and the club’s welcome to you will be heartfelt.

*For more information please contact John McMillan on 01259 742400 or email fundraising@dollargolfclub.com

Scone man 15th in this week's R&A WAGR

2009-07-03T06:55:00.003Z

Gavin Dear closing in on world

top 10 ranking target

This week’s R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings show that Murrayshall’s Gavin Dear has risen to his highest position yet – 15th – and that Mark Hillson (Craigielaw) and Banchory’s James Byrne have surged up the rankings by 77 and 44 places respectively over a one-week span.
After he had won the Craigmillar Park Open in April, the 24-year-old Dear from the Perth village of Scone said that his target was to make the top 10 of the R&A WAGR for the simple reason that it would exempt him from playing in the early stages of the European Tour Qualifying School process.
Dear. pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, is quite emphatic that he will turn professional in September, hopefully after playing for GB&I in the Walker Cup match that month at Merion Golf Club, USA.
“I’m nearly in my mid-20s. I can’t delay any longer in turning pro after this amateur season,” says Gavin.
Byrne, winner of back-to-back SGU Order of Merit events – the Tennant Cup and the East of Scotland Open, has gone up from 204 to 160 in the world rankings.
Hillson, the only Scot to make the last eight of the British amateur championship, has surged 77 places to No 178.
Byrne and Hillson have now risen in the Scottish rankings to third and fourth place behind Gavin Dear and Comrie’s Wallace Booth, displacing two men who are in the Scotland line-up at the European amateur team championship this week, Paul O’Hara (Colville Park) and Michael Stewart.
O’Hara is currently in 192nd position and Stewart is 240th.
There are 15 Scots in the top 500 of the R&A WAGR. You can argue both ways on that statistic. That’s a fairly good achievement for a country with a population of only five million.
The other side of the coin is that Scotland is the Home of Golf and we probably have more male amateur golfers percentage wise than a lot of bigger countries – and we should have twice as many in the top 500.
You pays your money …
The world’s top 15 amateurs, as calculated by R&A staffer David Moir who is so heavily involved in working out the weekly rankings, based on tournament returns from all over the world, that he had to cancel a guest appearance at the Scottish golf writers’ championship prizegiving meal at Fairmont St Andrews late Tuesday afternoon, are:
1 Nick Taylor ( Canada ) 1300.00.
2 Morgan Hoffman ( US ) 1243.08.
3 Matt Haill ( Canada ) 1235.19.
4 Sam Hutsby ( England ) 1147.89 (+3 from last week).
5 Matteo Manassero ( Italy ) 1146.15 (+3).
6 Nicol Van Wyk ( South Africa ) 1144.00 (+3).
7 Rickie Fowler (US) 1138.67 (+3).
8 Mike Van Sickle ( US ) 1116.39 (-2).
9 Stephan Gross ( Germany ) 1104.29 (-4).
10 Cameron Tringale (US) 1087.72 (+2).
11 Erik Flores (US) 1087.14 (+2).
12 Victor Dubuisson (France) 1056.86 (+4).
13 Matt Jaeger ( Australia ) 1051.25 (+1).
14 Brian Harman (US) 1051.02 (+1).
15 Gavin Dear ( Scotland ) 1047.37 (+2).

Other Scottish player rankings:
91 Wallace Booth (Comrie) 865.38 (+5).
105 Ross Kellett ( Colville Park ) 847.62 (-13).
160 James Byrne (Banchory) 791.94 (+44).
178 Mark Hillson (Craigielaw) 776.79 (+77).
192 Paul O’Hara ( Colville Park ) 769.23 (-2).
240 Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) 736.21 (-4).
249 Steven McEwan (Caprington) 731.65 (-4).
284 Scott Borrowman (Dollar) 706.25 (-4).
285 Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie) 706.25 (-10).
340 James White (Lundin) 674.60 (+8).
386 Philip McLean (Peterhead) 648.10 (+17).
421 Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie) 625.33 (+35).
423 Greg Paterson ( St Andrews New) 624.66 (+6).
426 Gordon Yates ( Hilton Park ) 622.50 (-1).

PGA EUROPRO TOUR REPORT

2009-07-02T21:41:00.003Z

Scott Jamieson wins £1,650 for

third place at Stoke by Nayland

By ANTHONY LEAVER
Tom Haylock romped to victory in The Stoke by Nayland Championship 2009, shooting a final round 65 to win by eight strokes at 16 under.
Haylock (Ground Construction Ltd) began the day tied for the lead at nine under and followed a solid level opening three holes with birdies at four, six and eight to move to 12 under. He showed no signs of nerves on the back nine either; with four more birdies seeing him shoot 65 for a comprehensive victory.
The 45/1 pre-tournament shot with Sky Bet dropped just two shots in the three rounds, both on the front nine on the opening day, and his round matches Antonio Sobrinho’s eight shot win in 2003 as the biggest margin of victory in the Tour’s history, and takes Haylock into fourth spot on the Order of Merit.
Chris Gaunt endured a topsy-turvy round that eventually saw him rather fall into second place. The Australian parred just four holes in his final round and a bogey at the last saw him finish on level par for the day, eight under for the tournament.
It appeared that had ruined Gaunt’s chances of sole possession of runners-up spot, but James Ruebotham (Welwyn Garden City GC) – who began the day tied for the lead with Haylock – never got of the traps and found himself at eight under for the tournament at the last, where he dropped a shot to finish in a five-way tie for third.
Jamie Moul (Stoke by Nayland) shot a two under 70 to join Ruebotham in third, along with Glasgow's Scott Jamieson (pictured above), Matthew Ford (Marriot Tudor Park) and Nicky Harris (Whitefield GC) who won at Stoke by Nayland last year and follows his runners-up finish at Bovey Castle with a third place in Suffolk.
Steve Surry (Cumberwell Park) was one stroke behind overnight after a blistering nine under 63 in his second round, but it was a frustrating day for the 27 year-old, who was level until dropping a shot at the eighth and a double bogey at 13 prevented him from finishing higher than tied eighth, along with Mark Kerr (Golf Fit Ltd/Bathgate GC) and Elliot Saltman (Aegon) who carded a final round of 68. Both Scots earned £850.
Kerr is hoping his strong showing will earn him a spot in the Scottish Challenge later in the month.
While unable to secure his first win in the professional ranks – a closing round of 74 left him in a tie for eighth in the EuroPro Tour event – Kerr reckoned that he could take a lot of positives from his overall performance in Suffolk.
"Unfortunately, I dropped shots at the last two holes where pars would have seen me finish in the top three but it has still been a good week on the whole for me," he said.
"It was great to be in the mix again and my finish should earn me a spot in the Challenge Tour event at Spey Valley as a top-five Scot on the EuroPro Tour Order of Merit."
Kerr finished alongside Elliot Saltman on six-under, the Archerfield Links player having stormed up the leaderboard with a closing 68, the highlight of which was an eagle-3 at the The next event on the PGA EuroPro tour is the Motocaddy Masters at The Players Club in Bristol, beginning on July 14.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
1 Tom Haylock 68-67-65-200/ £10,000
2 Chris Gaunt 71-65-72-208/ £5,000
=3 Jamie Moul 71-68-70-209/ £1,560
=3 Scott Jamieson 70-69-70-209/ £1,560
=3 Matthew Ford 68-70-71-209/ £1,560
=3 Nick Harris 68-70-71-209/ £1,560
=3 James Ruebotham 71-64-74-209/ £1,560

WHERE THE OTHER SCOTS FINISHED:
=8 Mark Kerr 68-68-74-210/ £850.00
=8 Elliot Saltman 70-72-68-210/ £850.00
=15 Paul Doherty 69-72-72-213/£500.00
=15 Lorne Kelly 68-70-75-213/£500.00
=26 Jack Doherty 71-71-74-216/ £308.75
=34 Lee Harper 69-74-74-217/ £272.50
=38 Scott Herald 73-71-74-218/ £242.50
=38 John Gallagher 72-70-76-220/£242.50
50 Duncan Stewart 75-70-77-222/ £200.00
=55 Barry Hume 73-69-82-224/ £172.50

2009-07-02T21:20:00.002Z

European Challenge Tour Scoreboard
CREDIT SUISSE CHALLENGE
Wylihof Golf Club, Luterbach, Switzerland
FIRST ROUND
Par 73
67 S Davis (Eng), S Robinson (Eng)
68 L James (Eng), T Cruz (Por), T Dykes (Wal) ,
69 R Kilpatrick (Nir) , N Meitinger (Ger) , J Quesne (Fra) , N Maestroni (Ita) , C Suneson (Esp) , B Pettersson (Swe) , G Woodman (Eng) , M Zions (Aus) , J Parry (Eng) , C Russo (Fra) ,
70 P Baker (Eng) , N Sulzer (Sui) , F Svanberg (Sui) , J Colomo (Esp) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , R Steiner (Aut) , T Carolan (Aus) , T Weiss (Sui) ,
71 M Mills (Eng) , S Jeppesen (Swe) , G Houston (Wal) , J Billot (Fra) , G Murray (Sco) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , J McLeary (Sco) , P Relecom (Bel) , F Colombo (Ita) , F Fritsch (Ger) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , D Wardrop (Eng) , N Smith (USA) , L Bond (Wal) , J Heath (Eng) , K Sullivan (Wal) , L Kennedy (Eng) ,
72 J Grillon (Fra) , F Calmels (Fra) , M Rominger (Sui) , D Denison (Eng) , A McArthur (Sco) , R Santos (Por) , J Bjerhag (Swe) , S Reale (Ita) , J Morgan (Eng) , N Fox (Irl) , P Niederdrenk (Ger) , A Bossert (Sui) , A Hansen (Den) , M Wiegele (Aut) , B Mason (Eng) , L Gagli (Ita) , A Marshall (Eng) , M Villegas (Col) , L Westerberg (Swe) , A Mellor (Eng) , A Bernadet (Fra) , E Molinari (Ita) ,
73 J Granberg (Fin) , A Mörk (Fra) , P Purhonen (Fin) , J Clément (Sui) , N Lemke (Swe) , J Ruth (Eng) , J Johnson (Eng) , V Riu (Fra) , O Floren (Swe) , M Jurgensen (Den) , M Tullo (Chi) , A Butterfield (Eng) , P Kaensche (Nor) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , A Gee (Eng) , M Laskey (Wal) , C Gane (Eng) , J Little (Eng) , R Russell (Sco) ,
74 G Shaw (Nir) , A Haindl (RSA) , J Campillo (Esp) , M Reale (Ita) , P Bocian (Swe) , P Karantzias (Gre) , G Paddison (Nzl) , A Zanini (Ita) , O Suhr (Den) , R De Sousa (Sui) , J Larsen (Nor) , L Brovold (Nor) , C Günther (Ger) , M McGeady (Irl) , M Delpodio (Ita) , A Roberts (Eng) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , M Cort (Eng) , S Juul (Den) , A Grenier (Fra) , F Praegant (Aut) , C Moriarty (Irl) ,
75 R Hie (Ina) , R Wiederkehr (Sui) , R Karlberg (Swe) , G Molteni (Ita) , J Boerdonk (Ned) , E Ramsay (Sco) , S Saavedra (Arg) , I Pyman (Eng) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , S Walker (Eng) , C Brazillier (Fra) , N D'Incau (am) (Sui) ,
76 K Jorgensen (Den) , A Ahokas (Fin) , A Wagner (Arg) , J Dusson (Fra) , A Murray (Irl) , S Luna (Esp) , D Marmion (Eng) , L Saltman (Sco) , C Achermann (Sui) , S Henry (Sco) , A Högberg (Swe) , V Honauer (am) (Sui) ,
77 O David (Fra) , R Furrer (Sui) , A Chopard (Sui) , F Li Puma (Sui) , Z Scotland (Eng) ,
78 J Schmid (Sui) , B Miarka (Ger) , A Rocha (Bra) , S Manley (Wal) , T Schuster (Ger) , J Parron (Esp) , K Webber (Aus) , G Gresse (Bel) , M Kramer (Ger) , S Rojas (am) (Sui) , K Benz (am) (Sui)
79 D Ulrich (Sui) , A Bruschi (Ita) , A Joudar (Mar)
80 J Wahlqvist (Swe) , T Ferreira (RSA) , J Burnier (Sui) , D Froreich (Ger) , J Zapata (Arg) , B Evans (Eng) , T Benslimane (Mar)
81 R Harris (Eng)
83 S Grant (Irl) , M Chatelain (Sui)

2009-07-02T21:09:00.004Z

Kim defies doctor's orders, shoots 62

FROM THE ESPN.COM WEBSITE
By JASON SOBEL
BETHESDA, Maryland As late afternoon was slowly morphing into dusk on Tuesday, one lone figure remained on the near side of the Congressional Country Club driving range, beating balls into the sky, then following his shots -- more often than not -- by slamming his club into the ground in frustration.
Exactly one year after claiming the AT&T National for his second career PGA Tour title, Anthony Kim appeared miles away from returning to his previous form, the result of myriad injuries that left the precocious 24-year-old without a top-10 finish in his past dozen appearances. The latest ailment was a left thumb issue that had multiple doctors requesting he take 4-6 weeks away from the game. The kid, known as AK, wouldn't oblige.
Anthony Kim carded a 29 on the front nine at Congressional Country Club on Thursday. He could have gone even lower but missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole.
"I can't help myself. I've got to come out here," he said on Thursday. "This has been a dream of mine to play on the PGA Tour, and I wasn't going to sit. ... I'm out here to get better. There's something that I can get better at every time I step out onto the golf course. ... I'm sure those doctors are a lot smarter than I am. But ... athletes and pros play through pain and play through injuries. There was no doubt in my mind I was going to come out here, learn something along the way and keep grinding away."
And so he continued doing just that, producing a row of divots that would make Vijay Singh proud in an effort to regain his swing and live up to his pervading confidence level. The old Anthony Kim, a self-described "lazy" golfer who would often simply roll a few putts prior to heading to the tee box at the first hole, likely would have been long gone. But the new, improved version kept working on slight mechanics that could refine his overall performance.
Two days later, the endeavour paid off, as Kim fired a blistering opening-round 8-under 62 to set the scoring record on this venerable venue.
Mission accomplished. Or maybe not. Perhaps just as impressive as his uncommonly low score on a course that has hosted three major championships (two U.S. Opens and one PGA) was the fact that, after the round, Kim hardly seemed satisfied with his game.
"Just because I shot 62 doesn't take away that bitter taste in my mouth when I'm not contending for tournaments, and that's what everyone out here works for," said Kim, who shot 67-67-69-65 in winning last year's edition of the event. "It's awful when you come out here and finish 20th and 30th and 50th. I mean, I've been lucky to finish 50th a couple times this year. I'm finally getting to that point where I feel like I'm going to be able to win every time I tee it up. It's not going to take anything crazy. It's just going to take solid golf."
Even so, there may be little room for improvement from his most recent performance. This week, Kim is employing a new stiff-shafted driver that allows him to play a left-to-right fade, which mirrors his strategy off the tee from last year as opposed to the draw he has used throughout this season.
On Thursday, he found the fairway on 10 of 14 occasions and missed only a single green in regulation en route to an eight-birdie, zero-bogey total.
For a young player hailed as the next big challenger to Tiger Woods' throne, it should be noted that some 30 minutes before the tournament host even stepped foot on the tee box, "AK" was already leaving the No. 9 green -- his final hole of the day -- with the same displeasure he displayed during that range session on Tuesday. A missed 8-foot birdie putt prevented him from going even lower -- something one of his playing partners knows Kim can do on any given day.
"He's got a lot of confidence," said Jim Furyk, who shot a sublime 66, four shots away from being low man in his own threesome. "Obviously, when he gets it going, he keeps it going. What impresses me the most? He just has no fear."
No fear. That's a perfect way to describe a guy who defies doctor's orders in favour of not only playing tournaments, but practising to the fullest extent as well. It's also the mark of a player who isn't afraid to go low and isn't afraid to admit that he can fare even better.
"I haven't solved it completely," Kim maintained. "I'm going to go have some lunch and go work on it. I'm not working on it for this week, I'm working on it for the rest of the year. And I'm building right now for the rest of the year, and it would be great to knock one off and play four great rounds. But my goals are to win major golf tournaments and be prepared to play in those.
"Right now, I'm going about it the right way. I'm starting to focus on my course management because I know at majors that's what's important. This is a major-championship type of golf course, obviously, because in two years we'll be here for the [U.S.] Open. I just know that if I'm working on the right things, it's going to pay off, whether it's tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday or next week."
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 70
62 Anthony Kim
64 D.A. Points, Tiger Woods, Bryce Molder
65 Steve Elkington (Aus)
66 Daniel Chopra (Swe), Jim Furyk, Stuart Appleby (Aus)
67 Rodney Pampling (Aus), Michael Allen, Justin Rose (Eng), Boo Weekley, Y.E. Yang (Kor)
68 Danny Lee (Nzl), Michael Letzig, Bart Bryant, Tim Petrovic, Cameron Beckman, Brandt Snedeker
69 Jeff Overton, Steve Flesch, Jeff Quinney, Lucas Glover, Joe Ogilvie, Davis Love III, Harrison Frazar, Tom Pernice Jnr., Hunter Mahan, Kevin Stadler, Sean O'Hair, Dean Wilson, Ryan Palmer, Bo Van Pelt, Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Troy Matteson, Ryan Moore
70 Nick Watney, Bill Lunde, Robert Garrigus, Matt Bettencourt, James Driscoll, John Mallinger, Chez Reavie, Vijay Singh (Fij), Marc Leishman (Aus), Martin Laird (Sco), Brian Davis (Eng), Pat Perez, Chris DiMarco, Cliff Kresge, Mark Wilson, Kevin Streelman, Peter Lonard (Aus), Ricky Barnes, George McNeill, Notah Begay III, Rocco Mediate
71 Charley Hoffman, John Senden (Aus), Matt Hill, James Nitties (Aus), Nick O'Hern (Aus), Parker McLachlin, Fred Funk, Kevin Na, Jeff Klauk, Nathan Green (Aus), Mike Weir (Can), David Mathis, Marc Turnesa, Nicholas Thompson
72 Chris Riley, Aron Price (Aus), Paul Azinger, Charles Howell III, Jason Bohn, Brad Adamonis, Scott McCarron, Jason Dufner, Eric Axley, Fred Couples, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Richard S Johnson (Swe), Jeff Maggert, Mathew Goggin (Aus), Robert Allenby (Aus), Rich Beem, Corey Pavin, Olin Browne, Johnson Wagner
73 Charles Warren, Tim Herron, Ted Purdy, Todd Hamilton, Scott Piercy, Alex Cejka (Ger), Charlie Wi (Kor), Steve Marino, Bob Estes, Paul Goydos
74 Brendon De Jonge, Chris Stroud, Billy Mayfair, Lee Janzen, Steve Lowery, Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson
75 Vaughn Taylor, Bill Haas, Paul Casey (Eng), Greg Kraft, Greg Owen (Eng)
76 J J Henry, John Merrick, Jason Day (Aus), Jason Gore
77 Brett Quigley, K J Choi (Kor)
78 Will MacKenzie
WD: Bubba Watson

FRENCH OPEN REPORT

2009-07-02T20:08:00.005Z

It ain't half hot .. Martin Kaymer

blisters way to lead with a 62

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Blistering heat and a blistered foot served only to bring out the best in young German star Martin Kaymer, pictured on right, in Paris today.
The 24-year-old began the French Open Alstom with a course record-equalling 62 to lead by three strokes at Le Golf National - 10 better than Padraig Harrington, who now has a fight on his hands to avoid a fifth successive missed cut just two weeks before his bid for an Open hat-trick at Turnberry.
So bad was Kaymer's right foot that as well as being seen by a doctor he had a hole cut in his golf shoe to allow him to play Wednesday's pro-am.
With the help of his three partners he won that by four shots with an amazing 16 under par best-ball of 55, but to be only seven worse than that on his own underlined what a massive talent he is.
Kaymer's round actually began with a bogey, but after five birdies in the next nine holes he chipped in for eagle at the long third and finished with three more birdies for an inward 30.
Harrington was paired with Ian Poulter, runner-up to him at Royal Birkdale last summer and to Swede Henrik Stenson in May's Players Championship in Florida, but they both finished down the field on one over.
Poulter, in Europe for the first time this year, went in the water twice for a triple bogey 7 on the 18th, his ninth, and had angry words with a photographer walking off the tee there.
Dougherty followed up his weekend win with a 66 and Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, without a top-10 finish since he was runner-up in this event last year, returned a 69, but major winners Jose Maria Olazabal, Angel Cabrera and John Daly all fared worse than Harrington.
Daly was already eight over when he quit with a bad back on the 17th, Olazabal had a 74 and the 75 of current Masters champion Cabrera meant he even finished five behind his 20-year-old son Federico. The youngster was even on the leaderboard early in the day at three under, but then matched Poulter's 7 on the last.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, whose 500th European Tour event began with a hook into the water, hit back for a 67 and fellow Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal, the defending champion, matched that with five birdies in the last six holes - after a triple bogey 8 on the ninth.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 71
62 Martin Kaymer (Ger)
65 Peter Hanson (Swe), Scott Strange (Aus), Rafael Echenique (Arg), John Bickerton, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
66 Paul Waring, Nick Dougherty
67 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), David Drysdale, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Paul Lawrie, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Sam Little, Thomas Levet (Fra)
68 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den), Benn Barham, Danny Willett, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Gary Lockerbie, Alexander Noren (Swe), Marc Warren, Richard Green (Aus), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Lee Westwood
69 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Anders Hansen (Den), Graeme Storm, Shane Lowry, Steve Webster, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Colin Montgomerie, Gareth Maybin, David Lynn, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Jamie Donaldson, Phillip Archer, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Mark Foster, Cedric Menut (Fra), Ross McGowan
70 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Damien McGrane, Federico Cabrera (Arg), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Kenneth Ferrie, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Simon Wakefield, Robert Rock, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Stephen Dodd, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Seve Benson, Brett Rumford (Aus), Taco Remkes (Ned), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Richard Sterne (Rsa), Barry Lane
71 James Kingston (Rsa), Peter Lawrie, Steven O'Hara, Oliver Fisher, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Pablo Martin (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Miles Tunnicliff, Michael Hoey, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Richie Ramsay, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Scott Arnold (Hkg), Simon Khan, Marco Ruiz (Par), Philip Golding
72 Oliver Wilson, Anthony Snobeck (Fra), Raul Quiros (Spa), Alastair Forsyth, Wade Ormsby (Aus), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Graeme McDowell, David Horsey, Scott Drummond, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Miguel Angel Martin (Spa), Richard Finch, Ian Poulter, Tano Goya (Arg), Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington
73 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Gary Orr, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Paul Nilbrink (Swe), Darren Clarke, Simon Dyson, Paul Broadhurst, Anthony Wall, Lee Slattery, Markus Brier (Aut), Peter O'Malley (Aus), Bradley Dredge
74 Hennie Otto (Rsa), Daniel Brooks, David Howell, Robert Dinwiddie, Phillip Price, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Gary Murphy, Stephen Gallacher, David Dixon, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Malcolm MacKenzie
75 Michael Campbell (Nzl), Damien Perrier (Fra), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Angel Cabrera (Arg), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Eduardo Romero (Arg)
76 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), David Frost (Rsa), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
77 Anton Haig (Rsa), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Rhys Davies, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Gregory Havret (Fra)
78 Anthony Kang (USA), Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Alex Larrazabal (Spa)
79 Nicolas Joakimides (Fra), Mark Brown (Nzl)
80 Martin Erlandsson (Swe)
81 Marcus Higley, Marcel Siem (Ger)
RTD: John Daly (USA)

2009-07-02T19:56:00.002Z

Top 20 finish by two Scots in

McGregor Trophy Under-16s

Liam Johnston (Dumfries & Co) finished a creditable joint 12th in a big field for the English Golf Union's McGregor Trophy Under-16s open amateur stroke-play championship at Radcliffe on Trent Golf Club today Thursday.
Johnston had four steady rounds of 70, 72, 72 and 70 for a total of 284.
The only othe Scot to survive the halfway cut, Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) also made a top-20 finish with scores of 74, 74, 71 and 71 to share 16th place on 286.
There was a five-way play-off between those who finished on 279 - two English lads, a Welshman, a Spaniard and a Belgian.
The winner was the defending champion Seb Crookall-Nixon from Workington) who beat Rhys Pughj (Vale of Glamogan), Nick Newbold (Kedleston Park), Adria Arnhaus (Spain) and Bertrand Mommaerts (Belgium).

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 280 (4x70)
279 Seb Crookall-Nixon (Workington) 66 72 73 69, Rhys Pugh (Vale of Glamorgan) 69 71 72 67, Adria Arnhaus (Spain) 69 69 66 75, Bertrand Mommaert (Belgium) 67 70 73 69, Nick Newbold (Kedleston Park) 68 70 73 68.
280 Max Orrin (North Foreland) 70 67 72 71.
282 Callum Shinkwin (Porters Park) 69 75 68 70, David Boote (Walton Heath) 70 68 67 74, Liam Harper (Lydd) 67 71 74 70.
283 Sam Edwards (Bigbury) 71 72 69 71, Curtis Griffiths (Wentworth) 70 68 73 73.
284 Liam Johnston (Dumfries & Co) 70 72 72 70, Harry Casey (Enfield) 71 71 72 70, Joe Richards (Frilford Heath) 68 763 72 71, Patrick Kelly (Woodhall Spa) 71 69 70 74.
286 Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) 70 74 71 71, Oliver Carr (Heswall) 69 72 72 73.

Crookall-Nixon wins five-way play-off to retain title

REPORT FROM ENGLISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Seb Crookall-Nixon retained the English Boys Under 16 Stroke Play Championship for the McGregor Trophy after a dramatic five-way playoff at Radcliffe-on-Trent. The quintet, Adria Arnaus from Spain, Crookall-Nixon from Cumbria, Bertrand Mommaerts from Belgium, Nick Newbold from Kedleston Park and Welshman Rhys Pugh tied on 279, one under par, after a dramatic afternoon in the sunshine when, at one stage, the title looked to be safely in Arnaus’ grasp.
Arnaus and Newbold bogeyed the first playoff hole and were eliminated and Mommaerts followed at the second extra hole, the 18th, with another five. The conclusion came on the second visit to the first where a par four was sufficient for Crookall-Nixon to edge past Pugh, who took five.
“This is a dream come true,” said the lad from Cumbria. “Even when I was seven behind I still felt I could win. I had a game plan and I stuck to it when people were hitting drivers and I was hitting irons off the tee.
“Having won before I knew I could do it again and to be only the second player to retain the title is like making history.”
Apart from Arnaus, all had chances to win in regulation but missed birdie putts on the 18th green. Arnaus, who almost went out of bounds with his approach to 18, had to get up-and-down to make the play-off.
Arnaus, 15 from Barcelona, will look back on the day and wonder how the title managed to escape from his grasp. A morning 66 put him four shots clear and he was still in control at the turn. But he started the back nine bogey-double bogey-bogey to lose that lead and with others making headway it was all to play for.
Pugh returned 67 to set the target which was systematically matched by the other four. Then came that sensational conclusion that was befitting of the Radcliffe-on-Trent club in its centenary year.

2009-07-02T19:09:00.001Z

GREENBURN PAIR

CATLIN, FERGUSON

WIN TURKEY TRIP

A bricklayer's labourer laid the foundations for Greenburn Golf Club, Fauldhouse professional Scott Catlin (pictured right) to secure an instant return to the grand final of Europe's largest pro-am at Antalya on the Turkish Riviera coastline on the Mediterranean.
Amateur Nicky Ferguson, who has a 13 handicap, cemented the duo's participation in the Virgin Atlantic PGA National Pro-Am Championship showpiece, with a flawless round that included four net birdies in their nine-under-par 61 at Lanark Golf Club today (Thursday).
Catlin, who received a cheque for £500, weighed in too, crucially with an eagle at the par four 17th - when he drove the green - to secure them a two-shot winning margin over former finalist Gordon Law and partner Mark Proudfoot of Uphall. Law's consolation award was £350.
The victory, just a week before Catlin's 35th birthday, gives him an opportunity to improve on last year's sixth place finish he achieved with Michael Carrigan - a friend of Ferguson's - over the PGA Sultan Course at Antalya Golf Club.
"The aim was get back their this year," said Catlin, who is the first of last year's 16 grand finalists to book a return.
"I'd not played with Nicky before today and he was pretty solid. We tried to play together last week but we got the tee times mixed up, so it was a case of just seeing how we went today.
"Nicky played really well, he knew what we were playing for as he's a good pal of Mike, who I played with last year. He'd told so much about it, so he knew what was at stake.
"Nicky got three birdies on the front nine and I got going on the back nine getting three birdies plus the eagle at 17, with Nicky getting another birdie.
"I knew when we reached the turn at three under we'd need to up our game and get to at least eight-under, which we more than managed."
Qualification is an amazing feat for Ferguson, who only joined the West Lothian club this year after five years of playing park golf.
"I'm really looking forward to the experience," said the 28-year-old from Cleland.
"I only joined the club this year so to qualify after just a few months of being at the club is fantastic.
"I was really please with the way I played today after getting off the first tee. I played pretty solidly, getting birdies and nett pars. I had a few putts to save par and not having any bogey was a real bonus."
This year's final, which carries a professional prize fund of £30,000, is being staged in Antalya, Turkey from December 6-10 and features 16 teams from across Great Britain and Ireland, who will enjoy an all expenses stay at the Sirene Beach & Hotel Resort.
It is the 25th staging of the tournament and the first year it has been sponsored by Virgin Atlantic, the UK's long haul specialists.

Prize-winning pros at Lanark today:
Par 70
69 Scott Catlin (Greenburn) £500.
63 Gordon Law (Uphall) £350.
64 Ian Taylor (Drumpellier), Andrew Fullen (Largs), Paul Wytrazek (Burntisland), James Stevenson (Braehead) £125 each.

SIR BOB AT CRUDEN BAY

2009-07-02T17:38:00.004Z

Sir Bob Charles, Cruden Bay Golf Club captain Dr Jim Morrison and Robbie Stewart, the Cruden Bay Golf Club head professional (image by Cal Carson Golf Agency).

Sir Bob Charles lining up a putt on Cruden Bay's 18th green ... after (right) playing his approach shot. Below (left to right) Cruden Bay professional Robbie Stewart, Jim Hardie, John Crammond and Sir Bob (images by Cal Carson Golf Agency). You can enlarge the images by clicking on them.

Sir Bob Charles takes 77

shots to navigate

uncharted Cruden

Bay - but 'I love

the course'

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Sir Bob Charles' "Tour of Discovery" of Scotland links courses continued in sweltering heat today at Cruden Bay but, by his own admission, the 73-year-old left-handed winner of the 1963 Open

at Royal Lytham did not play as well as he did at Montrose on Tuesday when the tall New Zealander beat his age by two strokes.

"I'm sorry to say I had a 77, out in 42, back in 35. The inward half, one over par, wasn't so bad but I really would like to come back and play some of the holes that tripped me up on the outward half," he said.

"But what a great natural Scottish links course. This was what golf was all about years ago, hard baked fairways, the ball runs for miles but you have to control the bounce, master the pitch and run shot and so on. I didn't play well on the outward half but I still love links golf and a course like Cruden Bay."
Sir Bob said this wasn't a kind of "Frank Sinature fairwell golf tour" ... "Anything but," he said, "More like a Tour of Discovery. There are too many links courses to play on just one trip to Scotland. I'm coming back for more."
Sir Bob and his partner, Cruden Bay club pro Robbie Stewart had a square match with two low-handicap Aberdeen amateurs, Jim Hardie and John Crammond.
Hardie is the Aberdeen businessman who spends the Scottish winters in New Zealand (where it is summer of course) and plays regularly with Sir Bob on courses near Christchurch.
"Sir Bob E-mailed me a few months ago, saying that he wanted to play a few of the Scottish links he had heard so much about but never got round to playing them, could I fix him up with tee times and partners? " said Hardie.
"Which I did. He played North Berwick in a thick haar on Tuesday, and here at Cruden Bay today in glorious sunshine. Then he's going north to play Lossiemouth, Nairn, Brora and Tain."
It's quite a punishing schedule for a 73-year-old – but Sir Bob is almost certainly the same weight as he was at the peak of his golfing ability. In these days of "rip it and grip it," Sir Bob remains a joy to watch … if any male golfer can be elegant then Sir Bob is an elegant left-hander.
"Sir Bob is different class on and off the golf course," said Jim Hardie.

2009-07-02T13:18:00.005Z

The Great Escape: Scots do a 'Houdini' to beat

Swedes from 0-2 down

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Well, I said at lunchtime that if Scotland could wriggle off the hook of a 2-0 foursomes deficit to beat Sweden, even the late great Harry Houdini would have been proud of such an escape. And the Scots did just that with a magnificent afternoon performance in the singles to win four out of five and finish up with a 4-3 scoreline in their favour at the end of the day.

Now for second seeds Italy in Friday's semi-finals!

Scoreboard:

SCOTLAND 4, SWEDEN 3
Foursomes (0-2):
Wallace Booth & Michael Stewart lost to Pontus Gad & Pontus Widegren 3 and 1.
Gavin Dear & Glenn Campbell lost to Jesper Kennegard & Henrik Norlander 4 and 3.
Singles (4-1):
Dear bt Robin Wingardh 2 and 1.
Booth bt David Lingmerth 1 hole.
Stewart lost to Kennegard 1 hole.
Ross Kellett bt Widegren 1 hole.
Paul O'Hara bt Norlander 4 and 3.

FROM THE WELSH GOLF UNION'S CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE:
Scotland bounced back from a 2-0 deficit against Sweden after the morning foursomes to grab a place in the semi-finals against Italy.
Despite the disappointments of the morning, the Scots were full of confidence in the afternoon with Wallace Booth turning his match around to win it by one hole.
To watch video interview with Ross Kellett click here
With Gavin Dear and Paul O’Hara also winning their singles, that meant everything came down to Ross Kellett (pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency) who managed to close out his victory on the 18th.
“The mood is pretty upbeat with a good win today, it was pretty special,” said Kellett.
“We knew we were playing well, our coach reminded us of a few times we had done it in the past and we knew we had to win matches – a halved match would not do us any good.
“Mine was tight and when I got the shout coming down the last that it was all riding on my match then things changed again, but obviously it was not just me – it was down to all the guys, even though I did hole the winning putt.
“We are feeling better because of the way we won, maybe one each in the morning it would have been anybody’s game, but the way we won it definitely gives us more inspiration and happiness for tomorrow.”
Scotland came into the event as world champions, after winning Eisenhower Trophy in Australia at the end of last year.
“The guys did great out in Adelaide and it is good for the team that we have two guys who did win that because we can learn from them,” said Kellett.
“We thrive on what we did, it gives us inspiration to add a European Championships to that.
“In any round now it will be a tough game - the Italians are playing well with good scores in the strokeplay and great success last week with Matteo winning the British Amateur, but if we are on our golf then we can cause an upset.”
Other results in the Championship Flight

Norway (No 1 seeds) bt Finland (No 8 seeds) 5-2.

Foursomes: Norway 2, Finland 0.

Singles: Norway 3, Finland 2.

England (No 4 seeds) bt France (No 5 seeds) 4 1/2-2 1/2

Foursomes: England 2, France 0.

Singles; England 2 1/2, France 2 1/2.

Italy (No 2 seeds) bt Germany (No 7 seeds) 5 1/2- 1 1/2

Foursomes: Italy 2, Germany 0.

Singles: Italy 3 1/2, Germany 1 1/2

FRIDAY SEMI-FINALS

Norway v England

Scotland v Italy

2009-07-02T11:11:00.001Z

Aberdeen Off the Tee Trophy boys' inter-club results:

Aberdeen City Section
Nigg Bay bt. Caledonian by 5 holes
Northern bt. Deeside by 1 hole
Hazlehead bt. Auchmill by 5 holes
Westhill lost to Portlethen by 2 holes.

West Section
Newmachar bt Kemnay by 11 holes
Alford bt Craibstone by 4 holes

North Section
Inverallochy bt Cruden Bay by 6 holes
Newburgh bt Royal Aberdeen by 5 holes.
Peterhead bt Murcar Links by 5 holes.

2009-07-02T07:44:00.003Z

New Torrance Course opens to public

at Fairmont St Andrews on July 13

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY FAIRMONT ST ANDREWS
The Fairmont St Andrews, a five-star cliff-top resort at St Andrews, the Home of Golf, announced this week it will open the exiting new Torrance Course to the public for play from Monday, July 13 onwards.
The new improvements on the Torrance Course were conducted under the direction of golf course architect Gary Stephenson. With eight holes re-designed, new tee boxes and revetted bunkers throughout, the course is set to become one of Scotland's most dramatic new courses.
It has already been named an Open qualifying venue for the 2010 Open championship (when the Old Course is the Open venue) and the popular course is set to go from strength to strength when some of the legends of golf play the Torrance course next month at the Cleveland/Srixon Scottish Senior Open.
"We are simply delighted with the progress of the Torrance Course," said Charles Head, general manager of Fairmont St Andrews. "Already being selected as the host site for two of Scotland's more prestigious events, is very telling as to the quality of experience the Torrance Course will offer our guests when it opens."
The most striking changes to the Torrance Course are the re-routing of eight holes, four from the Kittocks Course and four from the Torrance Course and the new Scottish links-style revetted bunkers.
Now, with the changes complete, the course has gained its own remarkable identity.
From the tee shot on the first hole to the final putt on the 18th green, the Torrance Course offers a truly unforgettable round of golf, complete with stunning, panoramic views of the Fairmont St Andrews hotel, the town of St Andrews and the Eden Estuary.
"The golf course is a must-play for those making their golfing pilgrimage to St Andrews. It's without a doubt among the best if you ask me and that's not easy to do in this country, " said Sam Torrance, the original course architect for The Torrance.
"The new sightlines on some of the holes have created a uniqueness and playability unmatched by any other course in the area. If I may say so, I think the new Torrance course is simply brilliant!"
The hotel has just recently completed a £17 million refurbishment project that includes the opening of the new Kittocks Course, a stunning coastal golf course with spectacular views over the Eden Estuary and sands of St Andrews.
Other upgrades recently undertaken by the resort include refurbished rooms, a new Rock and Spindle sports bar with large LCD televisions and a pool table, and a sensational brand new signature Spa, featuring Kerstin Florian products (usually found in Oscar night goodie bags").
The Fairmont St Andrews sits on 520 acres of stunning open coastline overlooking the North Sea and the historic town of St Andrews.

2009-07-02T07:15:00.003Z

Harrington looking for a confidence

boost in run-up to the Open

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE
Padraig Harrington admits he is in a race against time to have his game in good enough shape to win a third successive Open title at Turnberry later this month.
“If I’m going to play well in the Open it’s got to start now – I’m running out of time,” said Harrington on the eve of the French Open at Le Golf National on the outskirts of Paris.
The Dubliner has missed his last four halfway cuts – and five of the last six – during a nightmare run after deciding to make swing changes despite his back-to-back major wins last season.
But he added: “I’m always optimistic and I still believe I am going to be ready. But, then again, I thought I would be ready for the US Open.”
That was Harrington’s last tournament and he had two rounds of 76 at Bethpage Black to crash out by eight shots. He finished joint 137th of the 156 players.
Because of his triumphs at Carnoustie, Birkdale and Oakland Hills, Harrington still finds himself joint second favourite – behind Tiger Woods, of course – for Turnberry. But it is a demonstration of where he is at right now that he is only joint-fourth favourite for this week behind Ryder Cup team-mates Ian Poulter, runner-up to him last July, Lee Westwood and Soren Hansen.
Without a top-10 finish since January, Harrington ranks an incredible 195th out of 212 in driving accuracy on the European Tour this season.
“I’m still trying to find the magic stick that goes straight and long,” he commented. “Aren’t we all?”
Harrington has been experimenting with different drivers and gives no guarantee that the one he settles on for the opening round in France is the one he will stick with.
Three days were spent with coach Bob Torrance last week, but the work was only to bed in the changes as much as possible.
“At the US Open my backswing had totally gone off. We were not trying to change that, but I was focusing so much on my downswing. Last week we were doing a lot of covering of old stuff, putting things back in position.
“For my preparations to be spot-on I should not be tinkering with my swing. I am well capable of winning when I have not prepared properly, but it reduces the chances.”
Harrington also defends his Irish PGA title at The European Club next week before heading to Scotland and of the two tournaments he states: “It’s more important that I play well (in terms of ball-striking) rather than perform well (in terms of his results).
“I do need these two weeks to show myself some form. Having not performed very well I need a certain level of confidence going into the Open and it’s important I show signs of having control over the ball. I’d like to score well too, but other things can affect that. I don’t need the results, but I do need to play well.”
Long term, however, the 37-year-old is excited about the prospects of adding to his three majors. “I’ve never been more enthusiastic or more positive about my game going forward.
“It’s still not bedded in and I will not be going to the first tee here with it automatic, but I’m thrilled with what I see when it’s good. I’m always trying to improve and sometimes there are short-term sacrifices for long-term gains.”
Poulter, on the other hand, feels he has everything in place for his attempt to go one better than last year. Except for one thing, that is. Having based himself in Florida for the first half of the year he returned to the heat of Britain last week wishing he had had air-conditioning installed in his home.
This is his first tournament in Europe since the Volvo Masters almost eight months ago. He has not won in that time, but did have another notable second place behind Henrik Stenson at the Players Championship in May and has risen to 16th in the world.
That is only five places behind the sliding Harrington. This time last year there were 28 spots between them.