Scottish Golf View
Editor: Colin Farquharson
Webmaster: Gillian Kirkwood

Saturday, November 11, 2006

No sweat for Scots as they book La Cala places

JENNA AND HEATHER MAKE
IT THROUGH TO L E T
FINAL QUALIFYING SCHOOL

Jenna Wilson (jt 13th) and Heather MacRae (jt 35th) were among the 50 players with 72-hole totals of 10-over-par 298 or better who qualified from the Ladies European Tour preliminary qualifying eliminator at Le Fonti Golf Club, Italy today.
They go forward to join the players who were exempt from Stage 1- Lynn Kenny, for example - to make up a field of approximately 90 for the LET Final Q School at La Cala Golf Resort, Mijas on Spain’s Costa del Sol from November 22 to to 25 where there will be a cut after three rounds to the leading 50 and ties.
Jenna had rounds of 70, 72, 74 and 72 for a level par total of 288. Playing as an amateur, the Strathaven player birdied the fourth, seventh, eighth and 11th in her final round to coast through this event.
On the same mark of 288 was Irish Curtis Cup player Martina Gillen with 71, 72, 76 and 69. Martina also entered as an amateur.
Another Irish Curtis Cup player, Claire Coughlan, also playing as an amateur, qualified with a two-under-par total of 286. She scored 70, 71, 76 and 69.
Heather, pictured above right, scored 76, 74, 71 and 75 for eight over par 296. Birdies at the first, seventh and 14th were almost cancelled out by a double bogey 6 at the eighth in her final round.
France's Jade Schaeffer was the tournament winner with a 14-under-par total of 274. She had three shots to spare from Yorkshire amateur, Rachel Bell, whose 11-under-par 277 total must be the best she has ever produced in an extended stroke-play event.
There were no surprises among the non-qualifiers. The teenage English champion, Kiran Matharu, who turned professional after this summer’s Curtis Cup, made it with nothing to spare on 10-over 298. Her rounds were 72, 77, 78 and 71.
LEADING TOTALS
Par 72
274 (-14) Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 68 71 68 67.
277 (-11) Rachel Bell (am) (Eng) 73 69 69 67.
281 (-7) Louise Stahle (Swe) 70 71 69 71, Anna Rossi (am) (Ita) 69 73 69 70.
Other qualifiers included:
285 Sophie Walker (Eng) 66 75 71 73 (jt 9th).
286 Claire Coughlan (am) (Ire) 70 71 76 69 (11th).
288 Jenna Wilson (am) (Sco) 70 72 74 72, Martina Gillen (am) (Ire) 71 72 76 69 (jt 13th).
291 Felicity Johnson (Eng) 70 71 76 74 (jt 23rd).
293 Stephanie Evans (am) (Wal) 72 77 72 72 (jt 30th).
296 Heather MacRae (am) (Sco) 76 74 71 75 (jt 35th).
298 Kiran Matharu (Eng) 72 77 78 71.
+A total of 50 players with totals of 298 (+10) qualified.

European Tour Final Qualifying School Day 3


OLDCORN AND ROBERTSON BOTH
IMPROVE IN SECOND ROUND

Norwegian Eirik Tage Johansen continued to lead the day on-day off European Tour Final Qualifying School six-round tournament over the San Roque New Course on the southern end of Spain's Costa del Sol today.
As has been the format since Thursday - only half the field of 156 were in action. The other half, including Scott Henderson, Eric Ramsay, Euan Little, David Drysdale and George Murray, will complete their second rounds on Sunday.
The waterlogged Old Course should have dried out sufficiently for it to come into play for the first time on Monday when the whole field will play over the two courses at the same time.
Johansen followed up his 65 with a 71 to be on eight-under-par 136. Bearing in mind the lopsided state of the leaderboard, the Norwegian, at the moment, leads by four shots from Spaniard Carl Suneson (71-69).
The only Scots in action were two former European Tour players, Andrew Oldcorn, pictured above, and Dean Robertson. Oldcorn lost his Big League card only this past season. He shot a 70 today for 145 while Robertson, who won the Scottish professional title during a successful campaign on the Tartan Tour in 2006, improved by seven shots with a 71 for 149.

SCOREBOARD
136 (-8) Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 65 71.
140 Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 69.
141 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 70, Notah Begay (US) 72 69, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 73, Johan Skold (Swe) 71 70.
Scots scores:
145 Andrew Oldcorn 75 70.
149 Dean Robertson 78 71.

East Aberdeenshire Golf Centre First Winter Open

CAPTAIN MALCOLM ALLAN WINS ON
CARD COUNTBACK AFTER TIE ON 76

Malcolm Allan, captain of the host club, won the East Aberdeenshire Golf Centre’s first Winter Open today – on a countback.
He and M Lynch of Hazlehead tied with 76s. Victory went to Malcolm by virtue of the better inward half.
A Elmslie (McDonald Ellon) was third with a 79, also thanks to a better inward half.

Collated scoreboard

EAST ABERDEENSHRIE GOLF CENTRE

Winter Open
Leading scores:
SCRATCH
76 M Allan (East Aberdeenshire) (bih), M Lynch (Hazlehead).
79 A Elmslie (McDonald Ellon) 79 (bih).
HANDICAP
Class 1 (0 to 18)
69 J Allan (East Aberdeenshire) (12).
71 T Duff (East Aberdeenshire) (16).
72 G Thomson (East Aberdeenshire) (11).
Class 2 (19 to 28)
81 C Mew (East Aberdeenshire) (22).
84 A Stewart (East Aberdeenshire) (26).
88 A Lawrie (Oldmeldrum) (24).

Martin Gray finishes joint 11th after disappointing 75

YORKSHIREMAN BRAND WINS
FINAL SENIORS TITLE
AFTER BAHRAIN PLAY-OFF

By Steven Franklin
Press Officer, European Seniors Tour
sfranklin@europeantour.com

Former Ryder Cup player Gordon J Brand came through the field to win the Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship at Riffa Views in Bahrain today, eventually defeating Argentine Adan Sowa on the third hole of a sudden-death play-off.
The Yorkshireman fired a final round of six-under-par 66 - by two shots the lowest score of the final round - to tie with Sowa, the joint overnight leader, who closed with a 71, at five-under-par 211.
Two return trips to the 18th were halved in par before Brand secured the €63,393 (£42,365) first prize and the final title of the 2006 European Seniors Tour season with a birdie 4 at the last, after Sowa had hooked his drive into the water and failed to make the green with his third shot.
It was an impressive performance from Brand, who came from five shots back to capture his second title of the year despite losing his regular caddie, wife and former Ladies European Tour professional Lyn, to injury after two holes of the final round.
MARTIN GRAY FINISHES JOINT 11th
“To be honest I wasn’t really thinking about winning today as there were so many good players in front of me. However, when they are 50 or older, good players don’t always do what they did when they were 25, and that’s the way it turned out for some of them today,” commented Brand.
Among those who failed to make the expected charge was defending champion Des Smyth, who closed with a 73 for seventh place on 214.
One stroke off the lead playing the ninth, the Irishman had 104 yards to the pin but duffed his lob wedge into the rocks at the edge of a lake 40 yards ahead.
After a drop, Smyth made a double bogey 6 and with it went his chances of victory.
“I just stone cold duffed it. It was lying perfect and I had the exact same yardage as the previous two days. To be honest, though, I played rubbish all day,” said Smyth.
Sowa’s second placed finish, his best result to date on the European Seniors Tour, earned him a full card for 2007, as he leapt from 45th spot on the Order of Merit to 22nd thanks to a €42,262 (£28,243) cheque.
Ladybank's Martin Gray, in with a definite chance of his maiden over-50s victory after a pair of 71s, went backwards with a final round of 75 to finish joint 11th on 217.
Riffa Views, Bahrain (par 72)

Final scores and collated totals

211 Gordon J Brand (Eng ) (pictured left) 73 72 66, Adan Sowa (Arg) 69 71 71 (Brand won play-off at third hole).
212 Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 72 71 69.
213 John Bland (SAf) 71 69 73, Simon Owen (NZ) 72 72 69, Stewart Ginn (Aus)74 71 68
214 Des Smyth (Ire) 69 72 73.
215 Horacio Carbonetti (Arg) 74 70 71, Jim Rhodes (Eng) 73 70 72.
216 Jimmy Heggarty (NI) 71 75 70.
217 Denis O'Sullivan (Ire) 74 74 69, Gavan Levenson (RSA) 72 74 71, Martin Gray (Sco) 71 71 75, Gery Watine (Fra) 73 73 71, Bob Cameron (Eng) 76 72 69
218 Pete Oakley (US) 72 76 70, Bobby Lincoln (SAf) 79 71 68, Terry Gale (Aus) 74 74 70, José Rivero (Spa) 78 72 68, Mike Miller (Sco) 73 74 71
219 Bertus Smit (SAf) 73 75 71, Tony Johnstone (Zim ) 72 72 75, Guillermo Encina (Chi ) 74 70 75
220 David Good (Aus) 74 71 75, Nick Job (Eng) 75 71 74.
221 Bruce Heuchan (Can) 77 74 70, Bob Larratt (Eng) 76 70 75, Doug Johnson (US) 76 72 73
222 Angel Fernandez (Chi ) 72 76 74, Manuel Piñero (Esp ) 74 77 71, John Chillas (Sco ) 74 73 75
224 Bill Longmuir (Sco) 82 72 70, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 78 75 71
225 Juan Quiros (Spa) 78 75 72, Martin Poxon (Eng) 80 73 72
226 Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 78 75 73
227 David J Russell (Eng) 81 71 75, Abdulla Sultan (Am) (Brn) 77 74 76
230 John Mills (am) (Eng) 77 78 75
231 Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 74 74 83, Jerry Bruner (USA) 83 73 75
239 Victor Garcia (Esp) 82 76 81
240 Daij Ahmed (Am) (Brn ) 81 78 81
243 Ali Sager Al Noaimi (Am) (Brn) 82 84 77
252 Khalid Salem (am) (Brn) 85 84 83
259 Mike Massie (am) (Sco) 84 91 84
Retired during first round: Carl Mason (Eng), Sam Torrance (Sco)

Another Scottish girl prospect heading for United States

REBECCA WATSON SIGNS
UP FOR UNIVERSITY
OF TENNESSEE

University of Tennessee women’s head golf coach Judi Pavon has announced the signing of Edinburgh teenager Rebecca Watson to a Letter of Intent, which means she has committed herself to enrolling at the university next autumn.
"I'm very excited about Rebecca becoming a Lady Vol," Pavon said. "She is a very solid player with a good golf swing. She will be a great addition to our programme. Rebecca is also a very good student and well spoken young lady. We are looking forward to her presence and attitude next season."
Rebecca, pictured right, who will be 18 on March 3, is the older sister of Sally Watson, 15,
recent winner of the Daily Telegraph girls championship final at Dubai Creek and beaten finalist in this year’s British girls’ championship.
Sally is already based in the United States, having started at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Florida in August.
Both Rebecca and Sally have played for the same Scotland Under-18 girls team.
Rebecca captained the Mary Erskine School golf team for three years and helped it win the Edinburgh schools' golf tournament in 2005. In the same year, she was tied for third in the Scottish girls’ national rankings.
Rebecca was also a member of last year’s winning Scotland girls team in the annual schools international against England.In addition to her numerous accolades in Britain, Rebecca Watson travelled to Florida on three occasions for competitions and came home with two trophies.
TO MAJOR IN BUSINESS STUDIES
She is a member of the East of Scotland Institute of Sport and played basketball for East of Scotland in 2004. The South Queensferry girl plans to major in business studies at the University of Tennessee of which its main campus is at Knoxville.
Tennessee has one of the top-ranked women’s golf teams on the American college circuit.
Rebecca is the second Scottish girl golf prospect to sign up for a leading American university in the past week or two. Scottish Under-18 champion Roseanne Niven from Crieff will enroll at the University of California Berkeley in the New Year.
Counting youngsters Sally Watson and Carly Booth (Comrie), both pupils at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, there are 28 Scottish young men and women currently on golf scholarships at American universities or colleges.

Winds in China fail to blow Scot off course

MARC WARREN OUTSCORES
TIGER AGAIN TO BE IN
4th PLACE BEHIND GOOSEN

South African Retief Goosen soared in the winds at the HSBC Champions on Saturday, battling to a three-under-par 69 for a one-stroke third round lead.
The two-time Major champion pulled ahead of Korea's Yang Yong-eun, who carded the day's best of 67 at Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai while overnight leader Jyoti Randhawa of India slipped to third after a battling 72.
The roar of the Tiger was stifled by the buffeting winds that hit the Chinese metropolitan as the world No 1 left himself with a mountain to climb after a 73 pt him five shots off the pace in tied fifth place with England's Paul Casey and Italian Francesco Molinari
The smooth-swinging Goosen, who has a three-day total of 12-under-par 204, is bidding for a Chinese hat-trick at the US$5 milllion event, Asia's richest, as he successfully defended his Volkswagen Masters-China title on the Asian Tour last month.
"Whenever you're leading into the final round, it's great. I've got somebody tomorrow that I have to watch out that I don't know. Yang is obviously playing extremely well. Obviously Tiger is still in there. We know what he's capable of. Hopefully it's not as windy and cold as it was today," said Goosen, who carded five birdies against two bogeys.
Goosen, the world's No. 6, recently hired a swing coach, Gregor Jamieson, for the first time in nine years and is reaping immediate rewards. Apart from winning in China last month, he was also fourth in the Tour Championship in the US last week.
"I'm feeling quite comfortable with the course. Today was a tough day to get through. I probably thought one‑under or somewhere around there would be a good round, but to shoot three‑under is a good."
High winds threw the field off course but Marc Warren from East Kilbride, the European Tour Rookie of the Year, outscored Tiger Woods for the second time with a 70 for 207 - two ahead of Tiger. The Scot, pictured above, is in fourth place on his own, only three shots behind leader Goosen.
A day after equalling the course record of 64, Woods failed to warm the hearts of thousands of Chinese fans who braved the winds and chilly conditions. He was especially frustrated to drop two closing bogeys, the last after a wayward drive found water.
"As good as it was yesterday it was as bad as it was today. That goes from the full swing to the shorter swing with the putter. I was just struggling all day," said Woods.
"I was just trying to hang in there, trying not to be too far behind the leaders. The last two holes, I put myself on my back. I will have to shoot a great round tomorrow and hope that it's enough. Goose is a tough man to catch, he's playing solid but I've got to go out there and take care of my own business. We'll see what happens."
Leading third round scores
204 - Retief Goosen (SAf) 68-67-69.
205 - Yang Yong-eun (Kor) 66-72-67
206 - Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 65-69-72
207 - Marc Warren (Sco) 66-71-70
209 - Tiger Woods (US) 72-64-73, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72-68-69, Paul Casey (Eng) 73-68-68
210 - Padraig Harrington (Ire) 67-70-73, John Bickerton (Eng) 68-71-71, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 70-69-71, Luke Donald (Eng) 70-69-71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 76-64-70, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73-68-69.
211 - K J Choi (Kor) 68-72-71, Bradley Dredge (Wal) 71-70-70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68-74-69.
212 - Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71-67-74, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72-69-71.
213 - Michael Campbell (NZ) 66-70-77, Jim Furyk (US) 73-66-74, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 72-70-71, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 75-67-71
214 - Anton Haig (SAf) 71-71-72
215 - Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 69-70-76, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 72-69-74, Charl Schwartzel (SAf) 72-72-71, Kevin Stadler (US) 74-70-71.

++Mor details on http://www.asiantour.com/

Elizabeth Stuart finishes joint 13th in Florida


SCOT'S DAUGHTER MAKES
THE GRADE AT FUTURES
TOUR QUALIFYING

Tampa-born Elizabeth Stuart, whose father emigrated to the United States from Glasgow, finished joint 13th in the United States Futures Tour qualifying tournament at Lakeland, Florida.
Elizabeth, pictured right, had scores of 80, 68, 70 an 64 for four-over-par 292.
Londoner Polly Willett and Natasha Morgan from South Wales finished joint 82nd and 88th respectively.
Their ranking for next year’s Futures Tour will depend on how many of the field, who have qualified for the LPGA Tour Final Q School make the grade.
Polly had scores of 75, 77, 77 and 76 for a total of 305. Natasha, still an amateur golfer and a student at Lynn University, Boca Raton – a team-mate of Katy McNicoll from Carnoustie, had scores of 73, 81, 75 and 77 for 306.
The final two rounds were played over the Cleveland Heights course.
Winner of the event was 18-year-old schoolgirl and amateur player, In-Kyung Kim from Seoul, South Korea. She birdied three of the last four holes to retain the lead from playing partner, Paige MacKenzie, 23, a leading member of this year’s United States Curtis Cup team.
Kim had scores of 71, 72, 70 and 68 for seven-under-par 288.
Paige, who bogeyed two of the alst three holes, finished with 71, 74, 69 and 68 for 282.
Both Kim and Paige will be bidding to win places on the LPGA Tour at its upcoming final qualifying tournament.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Ramsay, Drysdale leading Scots on 73 at end of first round

FRIDAY BLUES FOR GEORGE
MURRAY AS TOUR
SCHOOL STUTTERS ALONG

The second half of the field completed their first rounds over the New Course at San Roque on the southern end of the Costa del Sol today and the worst-placed Scots are former Scottish amateur champion George Murray (Earlsferry Thistle) – who is still an amateur – and Dean Robertson, the former European Tour pro who has had such a fine season on the Tartan Tour this year.
Murray, pictured right, had a five-over-par 77 on another day when a cold wind was whipping in off the Mediterranean. That put him in a share of 119th place in a field of 156.
Robertson had his disappointing 78 on Thursday. Now he knows he is joint 135th.
Of the Scots who played today, David Drysdale and Eric Ramsay could feel happy with 73 a piece, which has them sharing 38th place on the scoreboard.
Scott Henderson and Euan Little both hit the 74 mark and joined former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur, who played on Thursday, in a share of 57th place.
With the waterlogged Old Course at San Roque out of competitive action until Monday, the first half of the field will undertake their second round on the New Course on Saturday, meaning a return to action for leader (with a seven-under-par 65 on Thursday) Eirik Tage Johansen (Norway) and Patrick Sjöland (Sweden), one of three players sharing second place on 68.
OLIVER FISHER'S GOOD START
The others on 68, left-handed Finn Antti Ahokas, who has turned pro since Stage 1 of the qualifying process, and teenager Walker Cup amateur star Oliver Fisher are among those who have Saturday off and will complete their first 36 holes on the New Course on Sunday.
On Monday, the field will be split between the Old and New Courses to complete round three before swapping courses to complete round four on Tuesday.
A cut to the top 70 and ties will then be made with the qualifiers battling it out for the crucial top 30 places over the final two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday.
A stop-start-stop format for the first four days of such an important competition – important in that is deciding the future of so many players – is hardly desirable but there is absolutely nothing the European Tour organisers could have done about it, short of using one of the many courses in the area as a substitute venue for San Roque Old.

COLLATED FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
San Roque New Course. Par 72

65 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor).
68 Antti Ahokas (Fin), (am) Oliver Fisher (Eng), Patrick Sjoland (Swe).
69 Warren Bennett (Eng), Luise Clavere (Spa), Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice).
Scottish scores and positions:
73 David Drysdale, Eric Ramsay (jt 38th).
74 Scott Henderson, Andrew McArthur, Euan Little (jt 57th).
75 Andrew Oldcorn (jt 77th).
77 (am) George Murray (jt 119th).
78 Dean Robertson (jt 135th).

Ladies European Tour Q School prelim eliminator

JENNA AND HEATHER SET FAIR TO
MAKE IT THROUGH TO LA CALA

Scottish women's amateur Order of Merit winner Jenna Wilson is lying joint 11th and Heather MacRae is sharing 28th place as the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School preliminary eliminator moves into its fourth and final round at Le Fonti Golf Club in Italy.
Friday's cut to the leading 65 and ties fell at 230 (those at that figure and under will contest the last round).
At the end of Saturday’s play, only the top 43 and ties will progress to the Final Q School at La Cala Resort on the Costa Del Sol later this month.
Jenna, who has retained her amateur status so far, has had rounds of 70 72 and 74 for level par 216. She had birdies today at the fourth, eighth and 14th but five bogeys – at the second, third, ninth, 11th and 17th.
Heather, also still an amateur, improved her position significantly and now has a great chance of going on to the Final Q School.
She has scored 76, 74 and 71 for five-over-par 221.Heather had birdies at the seventh, eighth, ninth and 11 with bogeys at the first, fourth and 17th in returning her best round of the week.
Jade Schaeffer (France) has gone three shots clear of the field on nine-under-par 207 with scores of 68, 71 and 68.
Next best come two-time British women’s open amateur champion Louise Stahle (Sweden), who has not had the success on the LPGA Tour this year that many expected and Yorkshire’s Rachel Bell, who is playing as an amateur.
English amateur champion Kiran Matharu, pictured above, who turned pro after the Curtis Cup, is in the danger zone – joint 57th on 227 after scores of 72, 77 and 78.
LEADING SCORES
207 (-9) Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 68 71 68.
210 (-6) Louise Stahle (Swe 70 71 69, Rachel Bell (am) (Eng) 73 68 69.
Other scores:
212 Sophie Walker (Eng) 66 75 71.
216 Jenna Wilson (am) (Sco) 70 72 74 (jt 11th).
217 Claire Coughlan (am) (Ire) 70 71 76; Felicity Johnson (Eng) 70 71 76.
219 Martina Gillen (am) (Ire) 71 72 76 (jt 22nd).
221 Heather MacRae (am) (Sco) 76 74 71 (jt 28th).
227 Kiran Matharu (Eng) 72 77 78 (jt 57th).

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News from European Seniors Tour in Bahrain

MARTIN GRAY CHASING MAIDEN
VICTORY ON OVER-55s TOUR

By STEVEN FRANKLIN
European Seniors Tour Press Officer

Scotland’s Martin Gray, pictured right, has put himself in with a good chance of his maiden seniors victory at the US$500,000 Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship at Riffa Views in Bahrain.
The professional from Ladybank Golf Club, who is about to complete his fifth season on the European Seniors Tour, fired a second consecutive 71 to move to two under par 142, two strokes behind joint leaders John Bland of South Africa and Adan Sowa of Argentina.
Bland carded a best-of-the-day 69 to move into a share of the lead with Sowa, who was round in 71.
Gray’s day started in disappointing fashion with a bogey at the first but he responded with some fine golf, going on to birdie the ninth, 12th and 18th holes, with his only aberration being a dropped shot at the 10th.
Martin, who has had three second-place finishes on the European Seniors Tour, said: “It was a tough day and the pins were in some awkward spots. I played really nicely on the front nine and probably faced about half a dozen putts under eight feet - and never made any of them. So I was a bit disappointed, but I was playing well and just tried to stay patient.
'GREAT TOURNAMENT TO WIN'
“I am now in a healthy position and this would be a great tournament to win. I have been here long enough and been second enough times to know I will not be fazed tomorrow. I played well enough today to shoot 68 quite comfortably and if I play that way and a few putts go in tomorrow, then who knows?”
In third place, on three under par, is defending champion Des Smyth of Ireland, who bogeyed the closing two holes for a level par 72.
The only other players in red figures after two blustery days in the desert are England’s Jim Rhodes and Argentine Luis Carbonetti on one under.
The other leading Scots are John Chillas and Mike Miller, who are seven shots off the pace on three over par. Sam Torrance, who has already won the Order of Merit, withdrew after nine holes of Thursday’s opening round due to a swollen index finger.

HOW THEY STAND

Second round scores and collated totals
(Par 72)

140 Adan Sowa (Arg) 69 71, John Bland (SAf) 71 69.
141 Des Smyth (Ire) 69 72 .
142 Martin Gray (Sco) 71 71.
143 Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 72 71, Jim Rhodes (Eng) 73 70
144 Simon Owen (NZ) 72 72, Horacio Carbonetti (Arg) 74 70, Guillermo Encina (Chi) 74 70, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 72 72.
145 David Good (Aus) 74 71, Gordon J Brand (Eng) 73 72, Stewart Ginn (Aus) 74 71.
146 Nick Job (Eng) 75 71, Bob Larratt (Eng) 76 70, Jimmy Heggarty (NI) 71 75, Gavan Levenson (SAf) 72 74, Gery Watine (Fra) 73 73.
147 John Chillas (Sco) 74 73, Mike Miller (Sco) 73 74.
148 Angel Fernandez (Chi) 72 76, Doug Johnson (US) 76 72, Pete Oakley (US) 72 76, Denis O'Sullivan (Ire) 74 74, Bertus Smit (SAf) 73 75, Terry Gale (Aus) 74 74, Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 74 74, Bob Cameron (Eng) 76 72.
150 José Rivero (Esp) 78 72, Bobby Lincoln (SAf) 79 71.
151 Bruce Heuchan (Can) 77 74, Manuel Piñero (Spa) 74 77, Abdulla Sultan (am) (Brn) 77 74.
152 David J Russell (Eng) 81 71.
153 Martin Poxon (Eng) 80 73, Juan Quiros (Spa) 78 75, Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 78 75, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 78 75.
154 Bill Longmuir (Sco) 82 72.
155 John Mills (am) (Eng) 77 78.
156 Jerry Bruner (US) 83 73.
158 Victor Garcia (Spa) 82 76.
159 Daij Ahmed (am) (Brn) 81 78.
166 Ali Sager Al Noaimi (am) (Brn) 82 84.
169 Khalid Salem (am) (Brn) 85 84.
175 Mike Massie (am) (Sco) 84 91.

HSBC CHAMPIONS' TOURNAMENT IN CHINA

Marc Warren digs in as Tiger Woods
shoots a record-equalling 64

European Tour Rookie of the Year Marc Warren from East Kilbride remains the leading Scot at the halfway stage of the HSBC Champions' tournament at Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai in China.
Marc is in joint fifth place on 137 with scores of 66 and 71. His first round included a lost ball!
Tiger Woods equalled the course record of 64 today to moved into a share of third place on 136.

LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
134
- Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 65 69.
135 - Retief Goosen (SAf) 68 67.
136 - Michael Campbell (NZ) 66 70, Tiger Woods (US) 72 64.
137 - Marc Warren (Sco) 66 71, Padraig Harrington (Ire) 67 70, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 67 70.
138 - Yang Yong-eun (Kor) 66 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 67.
139 - John Bickerton (Eng) 68 71, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 69 70, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 70-69, Luke Donald (Eng) 70 69, Alan Mclean (Sco) 71 68, Tadahiro Takayama (Jap) 72 67, Jim Furyk (US) 73 66.
140 - K J Choi (Kor) 68-72, Darren Fichardt (SAf) 71-69, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72-68, Anthony Wall (Eng) 73-67, Warren Abery (SAf) 74-66, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 76-64.
141 - Bradley Dredge (Wal) 71-70, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72-69, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 72-69, Paul Casey (Eng) 73-68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73-68, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 73-68
142 - Johan Edfors (Swe) 68-74, Anton Haig (SAf) 71-71, Camilo Villegas (Col) 71-71, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 72-70, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 74-68, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 75-67
143 - Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 68-75, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 72-71
144 - Chris Dimarco (US) 70-74, Charl Schwartzel (SAf) 72-72, Kevin Stadler (USA) 74-70, Mark Pilkington (Wal) 74 70.
145 Stephen Dodd (Wal) 72-73, David Howell (Eng) 73-72, Jean Van De Velde (Fra) 74-71.

Key role in future of Scottish amateur golf

TORQUIL McINROY IS clubgolf's
NEW PROJECT MANAGER
clubgolf, Scotland’s National Junior Golf Strategy, has appointed a project manager to keep the strategy on par for targets set through to 2009.
Torquil McInroy, pictured right, has been appointed in the new role for the organisation to undertake what will be an exciting and diverse developmental remit.
He will be responsible for managing the ongoing delivery of clubgolf including continuing to expand the current network of clubs, schools and volunteer coaches involved across the country. The appointment marks a new era for clubgolf, with partners working ever closer together as part of the ‘One Plan for Golf’, aiding the delivery of a key goal - growing the game.
clubgolf is a partnership between the Scottish Golf Union, Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association, Professional Golfers’ Association, Golf Foundation and sportscotland. Its main aim is to ensure every child within Scotland has the opportunity to play golf by the age of nine, and remain involved in the sport at whatever level they choose.
Leading a team of 12 personnel currently working to implement the Scottish Executive supported programme, McInroy will utilise his wealth of experience in project management combined with a long standing knowledge of golf.
Commenting on his new role, Torquil said, “I am delighted to have this opportunity to contribute to the sport. Golf has been a lifelong passion for me and I am sure I will find my new role very rewarding.
“I am joining at a very exciting time for Scottish golf when the profile and value of the sport to Scotland has never been in sharper focus. This season has produced a stream of notable successes and I look forward to developing opportunities at grass roots level, which I am confident will lead to more Scots playing the game and competing on the world stage in the future.”
HIGHEST CALIBRE RECRUIT
SGU Chief Executive Hamish Grey said of the appointment, “Torquil will be playing a key role in the future of our sport and I am delighted with his appointment. We received more than 60 applications for the post, which has resulted in us recruiting someone of the highest calibre.
“Torquil’s background provides a combination of strong project and people management skills along with a good understanding of golf which augurs well for him leading the programme in this new role and collectively achieving the targets we have set through to 2009.”
McInroy, who hails from East Lothian is a Business Studies graduate from Napier University, was an IT Project Manager with National Australia Group where he managed a team responsible for developing and supporting retail banking systems for leading high street banks.
He is the immediate past Captain of North Berwick Golf Club, and in that role he led a bid for his club to host the 2012 Curtis Cup, resulting in North Berwick’s current inclusion in a final shortlist of three.

Press Release from Ladies Golf Union

CURTIS CUP CONFIRMED AS THREE-DAY
EVENT FROM 2008 AT ST ANDREWS

The Ladies’ Golf Union has confirmed that the 2008 Curtis Cup will change to a three-day format when Great Britain and Ireland meet the United States over the Old Course, St Andrews from May 30 to June 1.
“I realise that there was a brief statement to this effect in August,” said Pam Chugg, Chairman of the LGU. “However, at that time there were a number of key stakeholders in the match who had still to be contacted to ensure that they could accommodate the extra day. Now that they have come back to us, we are delighted to confirm that the match in St Andrews will be played over three days.”
The Curtis Cup was donated by the sisters Harriet and Margaret Curtis in 1927 and is inscribed: “to stimulate friendly rivalry among the women golfers of many lands.” However largely due to financial reasons, the first official match was not played until 1932 at Wentworth where the US beat GB&I 5½ - 3½. In those days the matches consisted of 3 foursomes and six singles and each was played over 36 holes.
In 1964, the format was changed to 18 hole matches with three foursomes and six singles on each of the two days. That format has now been expanded to be three foursomes and three fourballs on each of the first two days followed by eight singles on the final day. The match will now be decided over 20 points.
SKIPPER ENTHUSIASTIC
Mary McKenna, captain of GB&I for the 2008 match was enthusiastic in support of the changes and said: “I am looking forward to the new format for the Curtis Cup in 2008 as it will set a new challenge for both teams. At this level of ladies’ golf, fourball matches are rarely played and that series plus the expansion of the singles to eight matches, where all players will be given the opportunity to play on the last day, will surely make for a most exciting contest.”
Alan McGregor, general manager of St Andrews Links Trust, said, “We are very much looking forward to staging the Curtis Cup at the Home of Golf for the first time. The new format will make for a thrilling tournament and I am sure the Old Course will provide a suitable challenge. There is a long tradition of women’s golf here at St Andrews Links and staging such a prestigious tournament will reinforce that even further.”
After St Andrews, the next Curtis Cup match will be played at Essex County Club, Manchester-by- the-Sea, Massachusetts from June 11 to 13, 2010.
+Next year's Vagliano Trophy match between GB&I and the Continent of Europe at Fairmont St Andrews Bay on July 27-28 will retain its traditional two-day format.

Florida Pro Tour Winter Series Event 2

PAUL CURRY EARNS $2,176 FOR JT NINTH

Englishman Paul Curry finished joint ninth and earned $2176 at the second event on the NGA Professional Tour Winter Series at LPGA International Champions' Course, Daytona Beach in Florida.
Banchory pair Paul Cormack and Mark Barnard, who are over there to play in the first six events up to mid-December, failed to survive the 36-hole cut.
Curry had scores of 71, 71 and 70 for a four-under-par tally of 212.
First prize of $12,000 went to American Ted Potter with 67, 74 and 64 for 11 under par 205. He won a play-off with compatriot John Kimbell who also shot 205 with scores of 71, 65 and 69. Kimbell collected the $6,000 runner-up prize.
Third-placed John Koskinen picked up $5,000 for a 208 total, made of 69, 67 and 72.
Next week's event (November 14 to 16) is at Stonegate at Solvita, Pionciana in Florida.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Scot fails to survive in Futures Tour Qualifying event

PAMELA FEGGANS MISSES CUT

Ayr-born 24-year-old Pamela Feggans failed to beat the third-round cut in the United States Futures Tour Qualifying Stage 1 eliminator at Lakeland, Florida.
Pamela had scores of 75, 80 and 77 over the Huntington Hills and Schalamar courses for a total of 232 – three strokes over the limit to contest the fourth and final round.
Brenda McLarnon from Belfast also failed with 77, 79 and 75 for 231.
Still in their pitching, but needing a significant improvement over the final 18 holes, are Londoner Polly Willett and Welsh girl Natasha Morgan who is a student at Lynn University, Boca Raton in Floriday.
They are sharing 84th place on 229. Polly has scored 75, 77 and 77; Natasha, entered as a amateur, has shot 73, 81 and 75.
Elizabeth Stuart, whose father emigrated from Scotland to Tampa, Florida, is in 12th place on 218 with scores of 80, 68 and 70.
A South Korean amateur, In-Kyung Kim leads the field on three-under-par 213 with scores of 71, 72 and 70.
Joint second are Noon Huachai (am) from Thailand, Paige MacKenzie (US) and Marceloa Leon (Mexico) on 214.

Ladies European Tour Pre-Qualifying Eliminator


JENNA STAYS IN THE HUNT WITH
MIXED BAG OF FIGURES IN ITALY

Jenna Wilson, pictured right, had a card spattered with an eagle, four birdies, one double bogey and three single bogeys as she stayed in the hunt with a par-matching 72 for a 36-hole tally of two-under-par 142 in the Ladies European Tour Pre-Qualifying School eliminator at Golf Club Le Fonti in Italy today.
The Scottish amateur international from Strathaven – she has not relinquished her amateur status yet – is in joint 10 position behind the three joint leaders on five-under 139: two French girls, Jade Schaeffer and amateur Melody Bourdy and Czech amateur Zuzana Masinova.
Jenna’s eagle came at the seventh after she had birdied the first but run up a double bogey at the third and dropped another shot at the fifth. A birdie at the eight got her to the turn in one-under-par 34.
She moved to two under the card with a birdie at the 14th but finished weakly with bogeys at the 15th and 18th for a 72, two shots more than her opening round.
NEAR BORDER LINE
Curtis Cup reserve Heather MacRae from Dunblane is sharing 47th place on six-over-par 150 after following up a 76 with a 74. Heather birdied the third, 11th and 14th but dropped shots at regular intervals – fourth, sixth, 13th, 16th and 18th for two halves of 37.
The projected cut figure, trimming the field from 95 to 65 after Friday’s third round, is eight under par so Heather has not got much slack to come and go with.
Irish Curtis Cup player Claire Coughlan from Cork, deciding to have a go at last to win a tour pro card, can feel happy so far with her progress. She is one of six players sharing fourth place on 141. Claire, still an amateur, is on the same mark as England’s Sophie Walker, Felicity Johnson and Rachel Bell.
The leading 43 players and ties after four rounds will go forward to join the exempt players in the Final Q School at La Cala Golf Resort, near Marbella on the Costa del Sol from November 22 to 25.
+Cara Gruber from Royal Dornoch is not attending the LET Q School this year. She explained to Scottishgolfview.com:
“I decided against it this year. It wasn’t exactly my best season and I have other things to focus on these days … trying to get through my exams for becoming a financial adviser and moving into my own house in a couple of weeks as well. I might be back at the Tour School next year ….Never say never!”

LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
139 (-5) Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 68 71, (am) Zuzana Masinova (Czech Rep) 71 68, (am) Melody Bourdy (Fra) 67 72.
141 Sophie Walker (Eng) 66 75, Sara Nicholson (NZ) 74 67 (am) Claire Coughlan (Ire) 70 71, Felicity Johnson(Eng0 70 71, (am) Rachel Bell (Eng) 73 68, Louise Stahle (Swe) 70 71.
142 (am) Jenna Wilson (Sco) 70 72, (am) Anna Rossi (ita) 69 73, Wendy Burger (Aus) 71 71.
Other scores:
143 (am) M Gillen (ire) 71 72 (jt 13th).
149 K Matharu (Eng) 72 77 (jt 42nd).
150 H MacRae (Sco) 76 74 (jt 47th).

First the rain, then the wild winds at San Roque


McARTHUR TOP SCOT AS EUROPEAN TOUR
FINAL Q SCHOOL GETS UNDER WAY

The weather-hit European Tour Final Qualifying School got underway over one course instead of two at San Roque on the southern Costa del Sol today.
The Old Course is unplayable at the moment because it is flooded. That means only half the field of 150-odd were in action today over the New Course.
The revised programme will take eight days to play the six rounds of the tournament. It is hoped that the Old Course will have dried out sufficiently to be able for play there on Saturday.
Over the New Course, rookie Norwegian pro Eirik Tage Johansen shot a brilliant bogey-free round of seven-under-par 65 in very cool, windy conditions.
He established a three-shot lead from fellow Scandinavian, Sweden's Patrick Sjoland.
Of the Scots who were in action today, former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur (pictured above) did best with a 74 to be sharing 26th place.
Andrew Oldcorn had a 75 to be joint 34th.
Dean Robertson, who has had such a great season on the Tartan Tour, did not carry over that kind of form to San Roque. He had an uninspired 78 to be joint 67th of the field of 78.
The players who played today will have Friday off as those who were not in action today, including Scott Henderson, play over the New Course.

"Dufftown loon" laid to rest in his home town


BIG TURN-OUT FOR DR GEORGE
GORMLEY FUNERAL SERVICE

By COLIN FARQUHARSON (Colin@scottishgolfview.com)
There was a big turn-out this afternoon for the funeral and burial of Dr George Gormley at Mortlach Parish Church, Dufftown – reputed to be one of the oldest places of Christian worship in Scotland, having been founded in 566.
Dr George was a “Dufftown loon” born and bred. Born in June 1936, he was educated in Duffown, leaving only to study medicine at Aberdeen University. After his graduation, he went to Lossiemouth, ostensibly only for six months to gain general practice experience. It had been his original intention to return to Aberdeen to gain qualifications as an eye surgeon – but he liked Lossiemouth and its people so much that he stayed there the rest of his life.
As a young man he had played football for Dufftown and Rothes in the Highland League – as an amateur.
But the move to Lossiemouth brought the game of golf into George’s life in a big way. He became a member of Moray Golf Club in the 1960s and later captain of the club and then president of the North District of the Scottish Golf Union before achieving the prime position in Scottish amateur golf of President of the Scottish Golf Union.
He was very interested in the Scout movement … became a Justice of the Peace and was also an independent councillor for a Lossiemouth ward on the Moray Council.
Described as more than a doctor – more like a minster – George was an honourable gentleman, well liked in every walk of life.
All the interests of Dr Gormley’s life over its 70-year span were represented in the congregation at his funeral service which was conducted by Rev J S Skinner.
Gordon McInnes, the current President of the Scottish Golf Union, drove up with his wife from Glasgow to attend the service. The vice-president, David Moir, an R&A staff official, made the journey up to Dufftown from Fife.

Past president Graeme Ewart, a good friend of Dr Gormley, drove up from Edinburgh. The North-east District were represented by secretary George McIntosh and Gordon Murray, a member of the SGU executive committee from Aberdeen.
The North District of the SGU and Moray Golf Club were also very well represented.
The congregation were invited to have tea with the Gormley family at Moray Golf Club after the burial in the Mortlach Church cemetery

Jenna Wilson is No 1 in women's stroke average


MICHELE THOMSON WINS P&W
GIRLS’ RANKING TITLE FOR 2006

Ellon teenager Michele Thomson, now on a golf scholarship at Jacksonville State University, Alabama, has won the Paull & Williamsons girls’ rankings title for 2006.
Before she left for the United States, Miss Thomson, pictured right, won the North of Scotland women’s championship for the second year in a row and also the Scottish schoolgirls’ title.
She finished with a stroke average of 1.78 for nine designated events.
Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) finished third with 2.22.
The P&W women’s rankings title was won by Jenna Wilson (Strathaven) with a stroke average of 3.60 under CSS in 10 tournaments. Jenna was runner-up to Clare Queen last year. Louise Kenney (Pitreavie) was runner-up with -1.10.
Players had to play in a minium of 10 designed events for the women’s rankings and nine for the girls’ rankings. Krystle Caithness (St Regulus), who won the girls’ title last year and was Scottish Under-21 champion this year, Carly Booth (Comrie), who gained Junior Ryder Cup honours during the season, and Scottish Under-18 champion Roseanne Niven (Crieff) did not play in enough events to gain a P&W ranking.
Leading final rankings:
WOMEN – 1 Jenna Wilson (Strathaven), 2 Louise Kenney (Pitreavie), 3 Heather MacRae (Dunblane), 4 Anne Laing (Vale of Leven), 5 Fiona Lockhart (St Regulus), 6 Sara Bishop (Windyhill), 7 Cara Gruber (Royal Dornoch), 8 Jocelyn Carthew (Ladybank), 9 Claire Hargan (Mortonhall), 10 Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder).
GIRLS – 1 Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon), 2 Jane Turner (Mortonhall), 3 Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), 4 Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm), 5 Emma Fairnie (Dunbar), 6 Rachael Livingstone (Musselburgh Old), 7 Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), 8 Laura Murray (Alford), 9 Rebecca Wilson (Monifieth), 10 Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm).

HSBC CHAMPIONS TOURNAMENT IN CHINA

MARC WARREN ONLY ONE SHOT OFF
THE PACE WITH A 66

HSBC CHAMPIONS TOURNAMENT,
Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 72
65 Jyoti Randhawa (IND)
66 - Michael Campbell (NZL), Yang Yong-eun (KOR), Marc Warren (SCO)
67 - Padraig Harrington (Ire), Chawalit Plaphol (THA)
68 - Retief Goosen (SAf), K J Choi (KOR), Johan Edfors (SWE), John Bickerton (ENG), Alejandro Canizares (Spa)
69 - Peter O'Malley (AUS), Colin Montgomerie (SCO), Chris Dimarco (US)
70 - Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Luke Donald (ENG), Scott Strange (AUS)
71 - Bradley Dredge (WAL), Shiv Kapur (IND), Darren Fichardt (RSA), Anton Haig (RSA), Camilo Villegas (COL), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Alan Mclean (SCO), Wang Ter-chang (TPE), Markus Brier (AUT)
72 - Gaurav Ghei (IND), Nick O'Hern (AUS), Ian Poulter (ENG), Tiger Woods (US), Zhang Lian-wei (CHN), Steven Bowditch (AUS), Charl Schwartzel (SAf), Tadahiro Takayama (JPN), Stephen Dodd (WAL), Chinarat Phadungsil (THA), Francesco Molinari (ITA)
73 - David Howell (ENG), Paul Casey (ENG), Anthony Wall (ENG), Robert Karlsson (SWE), Jim Furyk (US), Gregory Bourdy (FRA)
74 - Mardan Mamat (SIN), Kevin Stadler (US), Mark Pilkington (WAL), Adam Bland (AUS), Cesar Monasterio (ARG), Chris Rodgers (ENG), Jean Van De Velde (FRA), Warren Abery (RSA)

Des Smyth left on his own when playing partners retire

TORRANCE ,MASON HIT BY
INJURIES DURING FINAL
SENIORS' TOURNAMENT

By STEVEN FRANKLIN (sfranklin@europeantour.com)
Press Officer, European Seniors Tour


Defending champion Des Smyth took a share of the lead on day one of the Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship in Bahrain after playing half of his round on his own, following the withdrawal of BOTH his playing partners, Sam Torrance and Carl Mason, through injury.
Englishman Mason lasted just two holes before a back problem forced him off the course at Riffa Views, while European Seniors Tour Order of Merit winner Torrance quit after nine due to a swollen index finger.
This meant that the feature group on day one of the US$500,000 championship, the final event of the European Seniors Tour season, comprised Smyth and a marker in the shape of Colin Ferguson, the Scottish-born professional at Riffa Views.
“It was incredible - that’s never happened to me before,” commented Irishman Smyth, who birdied the last hole for a three-under-par 69 and a share of the lead with Adan Sowa of Argentina.
“It was looking like it would be a really lonely round but then the local pro joined me and we had a nice chit-chat. As it turned out I ended up thanking him as I pulled things around on the back nine.”
Smyth made his score with three birdies over the closing five holes to move two clear of three players sharing second place - Scotland's Martin Gray, John Bland of South Africa and Northern Ireland’s Jimmy Heggarty, who all returned 71s in difficult, windy conditions.
Torrance (pictured above), who was three over par for his nine holes, said: “The bonus is that I have already won the Order of Merit. It would have been pretty depressing to walk in and leave people out on the course that had a chance of beating me to the title.
“Still, it was very disappointing to have to quit, but I have had this pain for a few weeks. I thought it was arthritis but I have just been told by the nurse here that it might be gout, as I have had it in my toes as well. I hope it is gout as that would be much easier to cure.”
Mason, meanwhile, will lose his second place position on the Order of Merit if former Ryder Cup player José Rivero manages to finish first or second in Bahrain. The Spaniard has much to do, though, after starting with a six over par 78.
Mason was one of the pre-tournament favourites following a brilliant run of form that had seen him win three of the previous four events, but with a fourth win of the season now out of the question he was left reflecting on his run of bad luck at Riffa Views.
At the same venue last year, a series of unfortunate events conspired to prevent him from winning his third European Seniors Tour Order of Merit. Firstly his caddie failed to turn up and then his problem back flared up again, leaving the way open for Torrance to secure the 2005 Order of Merit in comfortable fashion.
“I am thinking that I am fated at this place,” rued Mason, a winner of 13 titles on the European Seniors Tour and a two-time winner on The European Tour.
“I am obviously sorely disappointed to withdraw, but it won’t change my life. If it had cost me the Order of Merit I would be really down, but it hasn’t and thankfully I have had a good season. It’s just a damn shame it had to finish like this.”

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES

RIFFA VIEWS, BAHRAIN (Par 72)

69 Des Smyth (Ire), Adan Sowa (Arg)
71 Jimmy Heggarty (NI), John Bland (SAf), Martin Gray (Sco).
72 Luis Carbonetti (Arg), Angel Fernandez (Chi), Gavan Levenson (SAf), Pete Oakley (US), Simon Owen (NZ), Tony Johnstone (Zim)
73 Gordon J Brand (Eng), Mike Miller (Sco), Jim Rhodes (Eng), Bertus Smit (SAf), Gery Watine (Fra).
74 Horacio Carbonetti (Arg), John Chillas (Sco) Guillermo Encina (Chi), Terry Gale (Aus), Stewart Ginn (Aus), David Good (Aus), Denis O’Sullivan (Ire), Manuel Piñero (Spa), Kevin Spurgeon (Eng).
75 Nick Job (Eng).
76 Bob Cameron (Eng), Doug Johnson (US), Bob Larratt (Eng)
77 Bruce Heuchan (Can), John Mills (am) (Eng), Abdulla Sultan (am) (Bhr).
78 Giuseppe Cali (Ita), Juan Quirós (Spa), José Rivero (Spa), Glenn Ralph (Eng)
79 Bobby Lincoln (SAf)
80 Martin Poxon (Eng)
81 Daij Ahmed (am) (Bhr), David J Russell (Eng)
82 Ali Sager Al Noaimi (am) (Bhr), Victor Garcia (Spa), Bill Longmuir (Sco).
83 Jerry Bruner (US), Mike Massie (am) (Sco), Khalid Salem (am) (Bhr)
Withdrew: Sam Torrance (Sco), Carl Mason (Eng)

No pay cheque this week for Cormack and Barnard

BOYS FROM BANCHORY MISS
CUT IN FLORIDA
WINTER TOUR EVENT

Banchory players Paul Cormack and Mark Barnard both failed to make the cut after two rounds of the NGA Pro Tour Winter Series’ second tournament over the LPGA International Champions’ Course at Daytona Beach, Florida.
Paul, pictured right, playing out of Inchmarlo Golf Centre, missed out on the last-day action for the second event in a row with a second-round 80 after a promising first score of 70. A total of 150 put him in joint 71st position in a field of 132. Only the leading 45 and ties with scores of two-over 146 or better qualified for the final round.
Mark Barnard, who is attached to Slaley Hall Golf Club, made the cut last week and earned $300 but missed out by three shots this week with 72 and 76 for joint 52nd place on 148.
Englishman Paul Curry is in 12th place on 142 after a pair of 71s.
Americans John Koskinen (69-67) and John Kimbell (71-65) lead the field on eight-under-par 136 from last week’s winner, the quaintly-named Brad Klaprott, who is on 138 (68-70).
Paul Cormack and Mark Barnard are following the NGP Pro Tour for its first six events. They will return home in mid-December after a trip that will have cost them more than a fistful of dollars but will have enriched them in pro tournament experience.
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Ayrshire player needs big improvement in Florida third round

PRESSURE ON PAMELA AT
FUTURES TOUR
QUALIFYING SCHOOL PRELIM

Ayr-born Pamela Feggans’ professional golf career faces another setback unless she can figure among the leading 90 players and ties at the end of the third round of the United States Futures Tour Qualifying School Stage 1 event at Lakeland, Florida.
Former Scotland amateur international Pamela, pictured right, who is 24 and went to college in Florida before turning pro, is lying in joint 110th position after scores of 75 and 80 for 155.
Although conditions were very windy for the second round, some players managed to return low numbers, in particular Elizabeth Stuart, 25, from Tampa, whose father emigrated from Glasgow before she was born.
Elizabeth had a first-round 80 and then a career-low 68, in which she had only 25 putts, including just 10 on the first nine holes. She is sharing 37th place on 148.
Londoner Polly Willett is joint 77th after 75 and 77 for 152.
Welsh girl Natasha Morgan, taking time off from studies at Lynn University, Boca Raton, in Florida, is sharing 100th place on 154 with rounds of 73 and 81.
Brenda McLarnon from Belfast is joint 125th with 77 and 79 for 156.
The lead is shared on two-under-par 142 over the Huntington Hills and Schalamar courses by Maru Martinez from Venezuela and 17-year-old Orlando-based amateur from Bangkok, Noon Huachai. Maru has shot a pair of 71s, Noon 69 and 73.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Men's open tournaments this Saturday and January 20

ENTERPRISING MOVE BY EAST
ABERDEENSHIRE GOLF CLUB

Normally the only golf competitions during the late autumn-winter months are those organised by Alliances - North, North-east, Midlands, Edinburgh & East of Scotland - but East Aberdeenshire Golf Club on the Aberdeen to Ellon road are breaking new ground.
They are stage two men's open amateur tournaments outwith what you would term the main golfing season.
The first is on Saturday and the second on Saturday, January 20.
The 18-hole stroke-play competitions will be held on "summer" greens, i.e. not temporary winter putting surfaces.
The prize fund will amount to £360 in vouchers for each event with a first scratch prize to the value of £100 on each occasion. Tee times are available between 9am and 1pm this Saturday.
All you have to do is phone the East Aberdeenshire pro's shop at 01358 742111.

ends

Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance

McLENNAN, CHAPLIN AND STEWART (137)
SQUEEZE HOME AT HADDINGTON
By DUNCAN IRELAND
A total of 26 teams competed in today's Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance competition at Haddington - on what has been suggested by many of the competitors to be the best inland course they have seen at this time of year in ages.
A huge thank you to Haddington for hosting our event and for even holding off on the hollow coring they had planned, until after our visit. We will definitely have to put this course on our annual list of "must plays".
Well done to our winners of Andrew McLennan, Mark Chaplin and Duncan Stewart, whose combined five-under-par total of 137 tied with two other teams on the same score but just pipped them both on the best back nine.
See you all at Royal Musselburgh on November 22.

LEADING SCORES
TAPPIT HEN TEAMS OF THREE
137 A McLennan, D Stewart, M Chaplin (better inward half) (£100 each); G Wither, J T Anderson, C McLachlan (best last six) (£60 each); G Black, D Gardiner, T Flaherty (£40 each).
138 I Fyfe, J Noon, R Noon (£15 each); E Hogarth, A Anderson, N Hopkirk; J White, I Fraser, H Bootland.
139 R Harrower, P Sewell, A Robertson; P Louden, J Rankeillor, A Love.
140 A Marshall, G Clark, S Gilhooley, G Law, E Bird, D Anderson.
141 D Hume, H Cartmill, J Laurieston, W Smith, S Wardlaw, B Clapperton.
142 R Cameron, A Rothney, J Kerr; A Wight, S Brown, J McCluskey.
144 T Buchanan, W Laing, R Eprile, D MacMullen, A Culverwell, S Walker; J McGhee, R Sutherland, S Downing.
146 D Scott, A Devlin, D Jeffrey.
147 S Watson, J S Anderson, S Paterson; I Hay, J Ritchie, D Ferguson; J Wardrop, P Henderson, J Wilson.
148 S Lamb, S Cameron, B Allan; R Neill, W Marr, T Lewis.

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NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE AT NEWMACHAR


YEATS FINISHES IN DARKNESS
TO WIN BY TWO STROKES
WITH ONE-UNDER 71

By COLIN FARQUHARSON (Colin@scottishgolfview.com)

The last hour or two of today's North-east Golfers' Alliance meeting at Newmachar Hawkshill were a golf writers' nightmare.
Everytime there was a new leader, yours truly would scrap his earlier story and write a new one.
And in the closing stages the lead changed hands not once, not twice but FOUR times!
The Hawkshill course was very wet for everyone but for the morning starters who had it wet underfoot and wet from the skies, conditions were all against good scoring -- and it showed.
For most of the afternoon, you could count the players who had broken 80 on the fingers of one hand.
They were led for a long, long time by Colin Nelson, the pro at what used to be Ian Smith's Golf Shop at Hazlehead but now operating under the name of the MacKenzie Club, thanks to Brian Hendry who took over the lease and we all know Brian's aspiratations vis a vis Hazlehead, designed in the mid-1920s by Alastair MacKenzie.
Colin's 75 included double bogeys at the ninth and 13th but it looked for a long time as if that was going to be the lowest score from a field of 99 - the highest so far of the autumn-winter-spring North-east circuit.
Then, eventually, Terry Mathieson (Murcar Links) came in to dislodge Colin with a 74. Terry has been right out of sorts on the golf course for many weeks but this was more like the man who reached the final of the Scottish mid-amateur during the summer.
Even so, Terry was not very pleased about finishing bogey-bogey with three putts on the both the 17th and 18th greens after underclubbing his approaches to both and leaving himself a long way from the flag.
Still, for the next hour or so Terry Mathieson looked like being the winner. Darkness was beginning to creep in, if anything a wee bit faster than that - and there were still some 20 players out there. No way they could finish in daylight, let alone return good scores ... or so secretary Ron Menzies and myself thought.
How wrong could we be!
Out of the almost pitch-black light/night stepped Kemnay club pro Ronnie McDonald with a 73.
As his golfing buddie Bill Urquhart said, "It was a terrific score considering he was playing blind man's buff over the last few holes ... couldn't see a thing."
So no wonder Ronnie bogeyed the 16th and 17th. Thank goodness for the birdies at the seventh, ninth and the 14th.
Ronnie, incidentally, will miss next week's Alliance meeting -- hopefully Turriff will be dry enough for play - because he is returning to the Algarve to compete in the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School. He missed out on a card by a single shot last year so good luck this time, Ronnie, from all your North-east Alliance colleagues.
So, it's after 5pm and surely we can declare Ronnie McDonald the winner? Still some guys out there in the total darkness, trying to play golf.
And, what do you know, one of them was going to top Ronnie's round by two strokes with a one-under-par 71!
Step forward, Dean Yeats, playing over his home course, and the local hero, although probably not to Ronnie McDonald!
Yeats, 19, who lost to Scott Hendry in the 2004 Scottish boys' championship final, used his local knowledge to the full to play the last few holes from memory because he certainly not have been able to see where he or his ball was going.
Astonishingly, Dean, pictured above right, was able to birdie the 14th and 17th before bogeying the 18th with three putts.
“I could hardly see where the flag was for my first putt,” said Dean who came home from the University of Kentucky earlier this year after only four days of a potential four-year golf scholarship.
“I didn’t like it all. I never got a chance to play golf in the short time I was there.”
Yeats reached the turn in 37 with eight pars and a bogey at the seventh. Then he birdied the 10th as the light began to fade fast.
On a very wet course, there were 27 No Returns from a field of 99.
Leading scores (par 72)
SCRATCH
71 D Yeats (Newmachar).
73 R McDonald (Kemnay).
74 T Mathieson (Murcar Links).
75 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club), D Corkey (East Aberdeenshire).
76 I Buchan (Craibstone), G Forbes (Murcar Links), S Pert (Huntly).
77 R L Nicoll (Murcar Links), R Hyland (Newmachar), S Finnie (Caledonian), G Ingram (Inverurie).
78 I Bratton (Newburgh), D Garrett (Huntly).
80 G Esson (Portlethen), B Ritchie (Inverallochy).
81 A Grant (Portlethen), C Duffus (Kemnay).
82 A Campbell (Deeside), A K Pirie (Hazlehead), N Reid (Deeside).
83 C Cassie (Nigg Bay), S Davidson (Banchory), A Graham (Portlethen), C Alexander (Murcar Links), R Penny (Portlethen)..
84 C Carnegie (Kemnay), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), S Troup (King’s Links).
85 K Smith (Aboyne), K Minty (Turriff).
86 S Kidd (Newburgh), S Florence (Oldmeldrum), F G Gray (Deeside), F Bisset (Banchory), D McKay (Caledonian).
87 J M Hamilton (Murcar Links), N Williamson (Banchory), G Allan (Newmachar), S Fraser (Northern).
88 G Grimmer (Nigg Bay), F Barclay (Kintore), B Harper (Newburgh), H McNaughton (Cruden Bay), D Nelson (Aboyne).
89 I Welsh (Nigg Bay), I D Smith (Hazlehead).
HANDICAP
Class 1
– D Yeats (Newmachar) (+1), R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) (5) 72; D Corkey (East Aberdeenshire) (2), S Pert (Huntly) (3), G Ingram (Inverurie) (4) 73; A Grant (Portlethen) (7) 74; C Cassie (Nigg Bay) (8) 75; T Mathieson (Murcar Links) (+2), D Garrett (Huntly) (2), C Duffus (Kemnay) (5) 76; S Finnie (Caledonian) 9scr), K Smith (Aboyne) (8), K Minty (Turriff) (8) 77.
Class 2 – S Florence (Oldmeldrum) (11) 75; G Travis (Auchmill) (15) 77; H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) (10)), G Homer (Lumphanan) (12) 78; W McBain (Turriff) (13) 79; C Telford (Banchory) (13) 81; D Wood (Newburgh) (14) 83; K Duncan (Cruden Bay) (12), J Jessiman (Oldmeldrum) (14) 84.

LEADING SCORECARDS

NEWMACHAR HAWKSHILLL PAR 72
OUT: 4-5-4-4-4-3-4-5-3-36
IN: 4-4-4-4-4-3-5-4-4-36

DEAN YEATS 71
OUT: 4-5-4-4-4-4-5-5-3-37
IN: 3-4-4-4-3-3-5-3-5-34

RONNIE McDONALD 73
OUT: 4-5-4-4-4-3-3-5-2-34
IN: 5-4-5-4-3-3-6-5-4-39

TERRY MATHIESON 74
OUT: 5-5-3-4-5-3-5-4-3-37
IN: 4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-5-37

COLIN NELSON 75
OUT: 4-5-3-4-4-2-4-5-5-36
IN: 4-4-5-6-4-3-5-4-4-39

DAVID CORKEY 75
OUT: 4-4-4-4-6-3-5-4-4-39
IN: 4-5-4-4-4-3-4-4-4-36

IAIN BUCHAN 76
OUT: 4-5-4-4-4-4-4-7-4-40
IN: 4-4-4-4-4-3-5-4-4-36

GARY FORBES 76
OUT: 4-5-4-6-4-3-4-4-4-38
IN: 4-4-4-5-4-3-5-4-4-38

STUART PERT 76
OUT: 5-6-4-5-4-3-4-5-4-40
IN: 5-4-5-3-5-3-3-4-4-36

Other halves:

BOB NICOLL 77 (36-41)
RICHARD HYLAND 77 (38-39)
STEWART FINNIE 77 (38-39)
DON GARRETT 78 (39-39).
IAN BRATTON 78 (40-38).

Hot stuff in California as Booth finishes four under par

WALLACE’S 12 BIRDIES ONLY GET
HIM A PLACE IN TOP 20 IN USA


Wallace Booth from Comrie, Perthshire, a final-year student at Augusta State University, shot 12 birdies over the three rounds to finish 18th in a field of 88 players for the Corde Valle Collegiate tournament at San Martin, California.
Booth had scores of 72, 70 and 70, with four birdies in each round, for a four-under-par total of 212 over a long course of 7,119yd and a par of 72.
To make the top 20 was quite an achievement for the Scottish youths champion of 2004 because the scoring was exceptionally good.
The joitn winners, Rob Gruber and Zack Miller, both Stanford University students, shot 14-under-par 202. Miller set a course-record 63 in his second round.
Stanford, not surprisingly, won the team event by 14 shots with a 42-under-par total of 822. Augusta State (865) came ninth of the 17 colleges participating.
LEADING INDIVIDUALS
202 Rob Gruber (Stanford) 69 68 65, Zack Miller (Stanford) 72 63 67.
204 Jamie Lovemark (Southern California) 69 68 67.
Other total:
212 Wallace Booth (Augusta State) 72 70 70.
LEADING TEAMS
822 Stanford. 836 Southern California. 841 Arizona. 847 Coastal Carolina. 849 Lamar. Also: 865 Augusta State (9th of 17).

NGA Professional Tour Winter Series

CORMACK IMPROVES WITH A 70 IN FLORIDA

Inchmarlo Golf Centre rookie professional Paul Cormack was lying joint 12th on 70 after the first round in the NGA Professional Tour Winter Series tournament over the LPGA Champions Course at Daytona Beach, Florida.
Cormack, who failed to survive the cut in the first event last week, had halves of 36 and 34 for his two-under-par round.
Fellow traveller Mark Barnard, also from Banchory but attached to Slaley Hall Golf Club, had a level par 72 (37-35) to be joint 37th in a field of 132 players
Cormack and Barnard are due to come home in mid-December, having played the first six tournaments of the tour’s winter series.
Americans Ted Potter (34-33) and Mark Evans (33-34) shared the lead on five-under-par 67.
Englishman Paul Curry is in joint 23rd place on 71 (37-34).

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Aberdeenshire girl finds going tough in Augusta

MICHELE THOMSON JUST
MAKES TOP 20 IN LADY
JAGUAR INVITATIONAL

North of Scotland women’s champion Michele Thomson from Ellon, a first-year student at Jacksonville State University, Alabama repeated her opening round of eight-over-par 80 for a disappointing final total of 160 in the Lady Jaguar Invitational women’s college golf tournament at Forest Hills Golf Club, Augusta in Georgia today.
Michelle, 18, who also holds the Scottish schoolgirls title, ran up double-bogey 6s at the first and third in her second round. Although she sandwiched a birdie 2 between them, she was out in five-over-par 41, an improvement of only one shot on her first-round score.
Over the 36 holes, Miss Thomson had only three birdies – which is not her game at all.
Apparently, Michele took a lot of putts on some of the hardest greens she had ever played on. A week's hard practice on the soft greens of Alabama were hardly the best preparation for the conditions they encountered - and that was reflected in the scoring of the Jacksonville State University team.
It was Michele's last tournament of the Fall season. She won't be in competitive action again until next year.
The best thing about the Augusta tournament for the Scot was a final placing of joint 20th despite a 16-over-par total, which underlined just how tough the par of 72 for the 6,094yd course was for everyone.
Amanda Smith (Augusta State), who had more local knowledge of it than most of her rivals, was able to win the title with a two-over-par total of 146 (74-72).
Dublin girl Dawn-Marie Conaty (Memphis), pictured above right, had one of her best finishes on the American circuit with scores of 76 and 76 for third place on 150. She had birdies at the fourth and ninth – boosting her tally to five over the two rounds.
Claire Starkie from Skipton, Yorkshire tied for sixth place on 152 with scores of 77 and 75, despite starting with a triple bogey 7 and dropping another shot at the ninth in her second round. She helped Georgia State University (606) win the team event by nine shots from the local favourites, Augusta State.
Portia Abbott from Wiltshire, one of Michele Thomson’s team-mates, was the leading Jacksonville State player with 76 and 80 for joint ninth place on 156. She had a triple bogey 7 at the 12th.
LEADING INDIVIDUALS
146 Amanda Smith (Augusta State) 74 72.
147 Joanna Klatten (Georgia State) 73 74.
150 Dawn-Marie Conaty (Memphis) 74 76.
Other totals:
152 Claire Starkie (Georgia State) 77 75 (jt 6th).
156 Portia Abbot (Jacksonville State) 76 80 (jt 9th).
160 Michele Thomson (Jacksonville State) 80 80 (jt 20th).
LEADING TEAMS
606 Georgia State. 615 Augusta State. 619 East Carolina. 627 Memphis. 637 Florida International. 644 Arkansas State. 647 Jacksonville State.

Open to amateurs and professionals, entry fee £375

DATES FOR 2007 PGA EUROPRO
TOUR QUALIFYING SCHOOL

THE 2007 PGA EuroPro Tour Qualifying School will be held over two stages next April, and is once again open to amateurs as well as ambitious young professionals, with record numbers expected to compete.

First Stage of Qualifying School will take place on April 11 and 12 at four venues around the UK.

Entry is open to all male professional golfers and male amateur golfers with a handicap of three or better.

A total of 240 players will then compete at Final Stage the following week at Frilford Heath in Oxfordshire.

The field will bee cut after 36 holes to the leading 120 players and ties, who will play the final round on Thursday, April 19.

Entry costs £375, with a prize fund available at Stage One and the Final Stage to accompany the greater prize of Categories on the 2007 PGA EuroPro Tour.

Kevin Harper won the PGA EuroPro Tour Rookie of the Year award in 2006 and also finished at the top of the Order of Merit following his superb debut season - after starting out at First Stage of Qualifying School in March.

Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance new

TEE TIMES AVAILABLE FOR TAPPIT
HEN AT HADDINGTON TOMORROW

By DUNCAN IRELAND

I still have two spaces to fill at 10.06am and a few at the end of the field if anyone is interested in playing in Wednesday's Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance Tappit Hen teams of three competition at Haddington Golf Club.
If you are, please call me on 0131 657 1855 (home) or mobile 07815 750 778 ASAP and I'll try to get you a team of three.

STARTING TIMES FOR WEDNESDAY.
8.00 Russell Cameron, Andrew Rothney, John Kerr.
8.09 Tom Buchanan, Willie Laing, Roy Eprile.
8.18 George Black, David Gardiner, Tom Flaherty.
8.27 David Scott, Alan Devlin, David Jeffrey.
8.36 Adam Strang, Harvey Butterworth, Peter Ritchie.
8.45 Stevie Lamb, Steve Cameron, Bob Allan.
8.54 Andrew Marshall, Gavin Clark, Steve Gilholley.
9.30 Ross Neill, Willie Marr, Tom Lewis.
9.12 George Wither, John T Anderson, Colin McLachlan.
9.21 Ross Harrower, Peter Sewell, Alistair Robertson.
9.30 James McGhee, Robin Sutherland, Stewart Downing.
9.39 Tony McLeman, David Martin, Ian Hislop.
9.48 Scott Watson, John S Anderson, Steve Paterson.
9.57 Andrew Wight, Stuart Brown, John McCluskey.
10.06 Derek Fish, partners.
10.15 Gordon Law, Eric Bird, David Anderson.
10.24 Ian Hay, James Ritchie, Douglas Ferguson.
10.33 John Wardrop, Peter Henderson, John Wilson.
10.42 Douglas Hume, Harry Cartmill, Jamies Laurieston.
10.51 Ewan Hogarth, Alistair Anderson, Norrie Hopkirk.
11.00 Justin White, Ian Fraser, Hinton Bootland.
11.09 Willie Smith, Stuart Wardlaw, Bob Clapperton.
11.18 Andrew McLennan, Duncan Stewart, Mark Chaplin.
11.27 David Watson, Walter Forsyth, Norman Forsyth.
11.36 David MacMullen, Alexander Culverwell, Scott Walker.
11.45 Ian Fyfe, Jim Noon, Ross Noon.
11.54 Paul Kelly, James Rankeilloer, Alastair Love.
12.03 Tee time available.
12.12 Tee time available.
12.21 Tee time available.

Competition format – Best two net scores from three to count.
Results will be worked out on countback to ensure that there will be no ties

PRIZE LIST
1st £100 per player
2nd £60 per player
3rd £40 per player
4th £15 per player

Continuing our new Book Review Service

STILL WONDERING WHAT
TO GIVE AS A PRESENT?
WHAT ABOUT A VERY

GOOD GOLF BOOK?

EASY RYDER
Europe’s Magnficient K Club
Triumph: Three in a row

By IAN STAFFORD

Mainstream Publishing. Price: £16.99 (Hardback).

“I just don’t think there’s ever been a European team which has played better.”
This was the gracious verdict of US captain Tom Lehman after his United States team were emphatically defeated 18½-9½ by Europe in the 36th Ryder Cup, held at The K Club in County Kildare.
In an event that was monopolised in the early years by the Americans, this was the three-in-a-row triumph that many said couldn’t be achieved. But, spurred on my motivational captain Ian Woosnam and inspired by the courage of team member Darren Clarke, who made himself available for selection just three weeks after the devastating loss of his wife to breast cancer, the European team romped to victory.
It was an emotionally-charged contest that Europe dominated from the outset, and the final score did not adequately reflect the huge gulf between the high-quality play of the victors and the rather lacklustre performance of the Ameridcans.
The result ensured that the Europeans have decisively shrugged off their underdog tag while post-mortems into America’s defeat will be long running.
Easy Ryder is a celebratory account that captures every glorious moment of one of the biggest events on the golfing calendar. Accompanied by many stunning photographs, it is an essential read for all golf fans.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Stafford
is a multiple award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster with 10 books to his name, including Playgrounds of the Gods, which was short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, and the best-selling In Search of the Tiger and Ashes Fever.

Perthshire player in joint 16th place in field of 88


CALIFORNIA DREAMING ... WALLACE
BOOTH HAS AN EIGHT
BIRDIE DAY AT SAN MARTIN

Scottish youths champion of 2004, Wallace Booth from Comrie, a final-year student at Augusta State University, was lying in joint 16th place in a field of 88 at the end of the first day of the Corde Valle Collegiate golf tournament at San Martin, California.
Wallace, 21, pictured right, had rounds of 72 and 70 for a two-under-par tally of 140 over a long course by British amateur standards – 7,119yd with a par of 72.
He spread his eight birdies for the day evenly over the two rounds and would have done even better but for stumbling at the 17th and 18th holes, both morning and afternoon. He bogeyed them both in the first round and bogeyed the 17th again in the second.
Leader by two strokes with one round to go is Zack Miller from Stanford University, California – Alma Mater for Tiger Woods and Mhairi McKay - with 72 and 63 for nine-under-par 135.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Ellon teenager toils in Lady Jaguar Invitational

OUTWARD HALF OF 42 BY
MICHELE THOMSON (80)
IN LADY JAGUAR
INVITATIONAL AT AUGUSTA

North of Scotland women’s champion Michele Thomson from Ellon had a double bogey 6 in a nightmare outward half of six-over-par 42 in the first round of the Lady Jaguar Invitational women’s college golf tournament at Forest Hills Golf Club, Augusta in Georgia today.
Michele, pictured right, a freshman student at Jacksonville State University, finished with a disappointing eight-over-par 80 with only two birdies on her card – at the second and 11th. She bogeyed three of the last five holes and is lying joint 17th overnight in a field of 40 players over what is a tough women’s course of some 6,094yd with a par of 72.
A one-over-par round of 73 by Joanna Klatten (Georgia State) was good enough to lead the field by one shot.
Joint second on 74 was Dublin girl Dawn-Marie Conaty (Memphis) who had birdies at the fifth, 13th and 16th.
Two English-born players are in the top 10.
Portia Abbott from Wiltshire, a team-mate of Michele Thomson, is sharing sixth place after a76 which included birdies at the fifth, ninth, 14th and 18.
Claire Starkie (Georgia State) from Skipton, Yorkshire is in joint eighth place after a 77 which included only one birdie, at the 10th.
Georgia State (303) are leading the team event from Augusta State (308).
LEADING INDIVIDUALS
73 Joanna Klatten (Georgia State).
74 Dawn-marie Conaty (Memphis), Amanda Smith(Augusta State).
Other scores:
76 Portia Abbott (Jacksonville State) (jt 6th).
77 Claire Starkey (Georgia State) (jt 8th).
80 Michele Thomson (Jacksonville State) (jt 17th).
LEADING TEAMS
303 Georgia State.
308 Augusta State.
311 East Carolina State.
317 Memphis.
321 Jacksonville State.
325 Florida International.
331 Arkansas State.

Americans change the system to stop the rot

FOUR CAPTAIN'S PICKS
FOR PAUL AZINGER IN
2008 RYDER CUP MATCH
Paul Azinger, appointed captain of the United States Ryder Cup team for the 2008 match at Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky has changed the method of selection of the American line-up.
The major change is the Azinger, pictured right, will have four captain’s picks instead of two as in the past.
The other big change is that the other players gaining automatic selection will come straight off a new-style money table in which one point will be awarded for every $1,000 earned at the four majors in 2007 and US PGA Tour events in 2008 + DOUBLE points for finishes in the 2008 majors.
Azinger is obviously trying to ensure that his team in 2008 will reflect the Americans who have been playing well in the build-up to the match.
One criticism of the selection process that produced a United States line-up that lost for the third Ryder Cup match in a row at the K Club in September was that it did not include enough players who had been winners earlier this year.
Whether Azinger can claim all the credit for the changes is a moot point. There had been rumblings on the other side of the Atlantic that something would have to be done or not only the American public but also their players would lose interest in playing in a match that Europe always won.
A far cry from the days when Jack Nicklaus was instrumental in the Great Britain team concept being replaced by a Europe line-up so that the Americans did not win nine times out of 10.
++Other golf news from the United States is that Tiger Woods has formed his own golf-course design company - Tiger Woods Design. He says he is now looking for land on which to design golf courses. Untried though he is as a golf course architect, the name "Tiger Woods" will have land-owners queuing up to have a course which is designed by the world's No 1 player.

Andy Fowlie's account of winning a 36-hole event on Cyprus

Stiffer shafts in irons
may have been key
factor in playing so
many shots just
the way I wanted

In Part 2 of his article about golf in Finland generally and how he won the Finnish Audi Tour (for over 30 year olds) 36-hole event at Aphrodite Hills Golf Resort, Cyprus, in particular, Royal Aberdeen Golf Club country member ANDY FOWLIE, a former North-east of Scotland youths champion, writes:

I am a software program manager for Nokia and I have been in Finland for four years. I am a member of Kytäjä which is a wonderful club. I have played over 150 golf courses in many different countries but I have never played a better inland course than the South East course at Kytäjä.
This is high praise indeed when I have also played Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire and courses like Lochinvar, Champions Club and Woodlands TPC in Houston.
Kytäjä is over 7,000yd, par-71 with extremely difficult greens, both to hit to and to putt on, and water galore. The second course (7100yd, par-72, also with plenty of water but with less undulating greens) is also first class.
The practice facilities, clubhouse and surrounding scenery are all in line with the quality of the South East course. All in all a true five-star golfing experience.
My handicap is not much different from 10 years ago. It is currently 3.1. However I would say that I am now playing better golf than ever before, especially considering the challenges caused by living in Finland where there is no possibility to play golf from October to May due to the weather and I have a greatly reduced possibility for competitive golf.
I played 15 rounds which counted for my handicap during this year compared to an average of 60 when I was playing in Aberdeen.
My handicap is also following a downward trend, having been up to five at the worst three or four years ago.
Now for the Finnish Audi Tour 36-hole event on the island of Cyprus:
FIRST TOURNAMENT ROUND
I had a pretty poor start to the round. I made a double bogey on the second and bogey at the third, fourth and fifth, leaving me five over par after only five holes.
I then missed a short birdie putt on the sixth. My swing was a little bit off and I didn't have a very good feeling about how I was hitting the ball. But I worked out what was wrong with my swing during the sixth hole and then started to play a lot better.
A good recovery
The seventh hole was a really dangerous hole all week and I hit a great five-iron onto the green to start the recovery. I made par at the seventh and then holed a three-metre birdie putt on the eighth to get back to four over par. On the 9th I hit a really good second shot (looking forward to seeing it on the TV) which landed about four metres past the hole and then spun back to about 50cm from the flag. Birdie! This meant that I was only three over after nine holes, which was a very good position after being five over after five holes.
A lightning delay for 90min did not do me any good at all. I had just birdied two holes in a row and was on a hot streak. Then I had to sit around for an hour and a half before going back to play the next hole. I made a disappointing bogey at the 10th (which I had eagled a few days earlier) after the delay.
Tough finish in the strong wind
The wind was now really blowing hard. This made it very tough on the back nine but my Balgownie experience helped very much with knowing how the wind was going to affect the shots (eg judging what club to use in each situation).
On the holes from 11 to 17 I hit a lot of really great shots but my putting let me down. I three-putted the 13th after hitting it about five metres from the hole with a great second shot. I three-putted the 15th after hitting a 210 metre seven-iron shot onto the green and I missed a one metre par putt on 17.
On the last a hit a terrible drive up the right and lost my ball before missing a one metre putt and ending up with a double bogey for a 79.
Overall feeling
I was only two shots behind the leader after the first round as the wind played havoc with the scoring. So it was a good position to be in but I had the feeling that it was a missed opportunity. I had hit a lot of good shots but missed nine putts from two metres or less. I felt that I could easily have been two shots ahead of the field instead of two shots behind the leader.
In such a significant wind 79 was still a very decent score. You could pretty much score anything if you didn’t get it just right. One guy, who won back-to-back events earlier in the Audi Tour shot 98 and the guys who were first and second in the Order of Merit standings going into the final 36-hole event had shot 85 and 82 in the first round.
TOURNAMENT ROUND TWO
After bogeying the second (another short putt missed) I hit an excellent shot into the third green, a fade with a six-iron from 164 metres which ended up 80cm from the hole - birdie.
On the fourth I hit a great eight-iron second shot from 138 metre which ended up 50cm from the hole. birdie. After just missing a birdie putt on the fifth I got another birdie on the par-5 sixth, a good drive and a four-iron followed by a chip to one metre and I holed the putt. Three birdies in four holes - which took me to two under par after six.
This was a very important part of the round. It set things up for me but it also might also have had an effect on the guys behind because I heard later that they had heard a rumour that I was three under par (which I wasn’t!).
A bit of a wobble
After the excellent start I then let things slip a little bit. On the seventh and eighth, the putting troubles returned. On the seventh I missed a par putt from 75cm, on the eightth I three-putted. Two bogeys to return me to level par.
A key moment
After parring the 10th one key moment of the round came on the 11th. I hit a terrible hook from the tee with my driver (worst shot of the week) into some bushes. After a couple of minutes of searching, my playing partner found my ball in one of the bushes. This was a good break, even though I had to take a penalty drop from the bush. It saved me at least one shot I think. Finding the ball was a good break... but after taking a penalty drop I still had a very difficult shot - 184 metres to the flag into a strong wind.
There was a bush in the way of the shot so I had to hit maybe 30 metres to the right of the green and then hook it back to get to the flag. I hit a four-iron exactly the way I wanted to and it went on the green.
Bogey was a great escape
This was an extremely good shot, very important for my score. I made a two-putt bogey which was a great escape after the poor drive. One over par after 11.
I three-putted the 12th for a bogey. If only I could putt! Two over par after 12.
The 13th hole is not a particularly difficult hole, a short-to-medium length par-4, but, in the strong wind, this was a lot tougher than normal. After two bogeys in a row I needed something to steady my round again and I got it with a perfect birdie. I hit a solid three-iron off the tee, right up the middle of the fairway, and then a great seven-iron from 152 metres to within two metres of the flag.
The putt was not a very long one but it was downhill and downwind with a big right-to-left break and that made it very fast. I hit a perfect putt (for once) and this was a really great birdie. I knew that was a huge moment and I had to really fight against getting too excited at that point. There were still a lot of tough holes to come. Back to one over par.
On 14 I hit my tee shot into the bunker on the left and had a tough shot from the fairway bunker. I hit a really great shot from there to the middle of the green. Then my putting let me down again. I three-putted for a bogey. My third three-putt of the day. Two over par after 14.
On 15 I hit a good six-iron onto the green (from 198metres) and two putted for par. On 16 I hit a good three-iron from the tee but it bounced to the right and went into a fairway bunker 134 metres from the green. The shot from there was a tough one because there were bushes covering most of the ground between me and the green.
Any small mistake would have meant a big problem, but I aimed a bit to the left to give me a bigger margin for error and then hit a very good shot, just short of the green. I hit an excellent chip with my seven-iron and tapped in for a par. Two over after 16... and starting to get a bit nervous.
On 17 I hit an excellent seven-iron about four metres from the hole. There was no way I would get worse than par. I narrowly missed the birdie putt. Two over par after 17.
A bit too exciting at the finish
Now my only thought was to get the round finished without making any mistakes. All year I been playing well for 14, 15, 16 or 17 holes - and messing it up in the remaining holes. I kept telling myself that there are no prizes for 17-hole scores and that I had to make this count otherwise all the good shots would have been for nothing.
I had a feeling that a par would be good enough for me to win. On the previous day I had messed up this hole and made a double bogey so I decided to be more conservative this time.
I hit a three-iron off the tee, very safe, up the left. From there I was trying to leave myself just short of the lake so that I could play my third shot from as short a distance as possible without taking a risk of going to the water.
I hit a terrible seven-iron for the second shot, a big draw which turned into a big hook. My ball hit the trees on the left with a terrible noise and I thought I had blown it. Luckily the ball was not in a bush but it left me with a very, very difficult third shot.
I had 128 metres to the flag, I was in the rough, I was on a sidehill lie - the ball was ~10 cm below my feet, the flag was very close to the water on a very small part of the green, the wind was blowing strongly towards the water.... and I was pretty nervous after the terrible second shot.
To make things worse the right club from there for me would have been a nine-iron, but I didn’t have a nine-iron in my bag since it snapped when I was playing the previous week.
I decided to hit a ‘small’ eight-iron, play a low shot to the left of the flag and let the wind take it back towards the hole. This was the best option because that way I would not have to hit so much over the water, but it was a very tough shot.
The shot was perfect, perhaps the best shot I have ever hit it in a pressure situation. It went exactly as I had planned and ended up less than two metres away from the hole. I two-putted for a par and I then waited to see how the guys behind would finish.
Five minutes later I was the winner. This was a fantastic feeling. I have been playing competitive golf for 20 years and I have won a few things in the past. But this was the one which gave me the most satisfaction. I had put in a lot of hard work (on the golf course) during this year without getting the rewards I expected but now it paid off when it mattered most and it felt really great.
Overall conclusion
Thinking back through the shots I hit during the competition I can definitely say that I have never before hit so many shots which were exactly as I intended during 36 holes. I recently put stiffer shafts to my irons and I think that they were one key factor here.
I was able to execute all different types of shots as the situation demanded, under pressure, often with little margin for error, again and again and again. If my putting had been better (six three-putts and 16 misses from 8ft or less during 36 holes - 36 putts in round 1 and 34 in round 2) I could have had obscenely good scores.
Now I feel like "I can do it when it matters" whereas previously I felt like "I am pretty sure I could do it... but I keep not doing it". That could be a big difference to me for next season.
+If you have any comments to make on Andy Fowlie's two-part report from Finland, you can E-mail Colin@scottishgolfview.com who will pass them on to Andy.

TOP PRIZES FOR MUNRO FERRIES, MIKE KEAY

Tain members triumph in North
Alliance scratch and handicap
in fierce wind at Invergordon
By ROBIN WILSON
There was complete dominance of the North Golfers’ Alliance fixture at Invergordon on Sunday by Tain members who, in a fierce wind, brought in four of the seven scores below 80.
The best return was a 75 from Tain’s left-handed scratch member Munro Ferries. He finished one ahead of his elder brother Bill and fellow Tain member Steven Holmes.
Completing the Tain rout was Mike Keay who finished fourth best scratch. With his handicap deduction of eight, Mike was the only player to match the net par of 69 and win the low handicap section.
Against the wind at the first hole Ferries made a wrong club selection and overshot the green but a pitch and putt saved his par 3.
The par 4 fourth hole was out of his reach even after two woods and a five-iron but one of the two shots dropped in his double bogey 6 was recovered with a birdie at the next on his way to an outward 36.
Billy Ferries, beginning with a more favourable birdie, matched his brother’s outward card but, with a closing bogey 5 for inward 40 to his brother’s par 4, he slipped one behind on 76.
Clubmate to both, Steven Holmes, with a slightly earlier start, was ahead of the strongest period of the gale and matched par figures over the closing seven holes for an inward 36 and his 76.
The Invergordon course had, like Reay golf course, the venue for the previous fixture, suffered some damage from the recent storms that swept the North.
A big overhanging branch was broken off from one of the trees protecting the 10th green. “Just suited me fine“ said the winner. “Coming from the left with my swing it made the tee shot a bit easier,” said Munro who began his inward half with a much easier par 3 than before. “I just hope it takes a long time to grow back,” quipped Munro!
+Robin Wilson's picture shows Tain members Mike Keay, Steven Holmes and Alex Gunn and a flagstick bending over in the wind on Invergordon's first green.

Results
SCRATCH
75 M Ferries (Tain).
76 B Ferries (Tain), S. Holmes (Tain).
77 M Keay (Tain).
78 R Matheson (Thurso).
79 L Parnell (Reay).
HANDICAP
Class 1
– M Keay (Tain) (8) 69; S Holmes (Tain) (5) 71; R Matheson (Thurso) (4) 74; C Harris (Invergordon) (5) 75; A Gunn Tain) (7) 76.
Class 2 – S Mackay (Durness) (16) 70; D A Matheson (Brora) (16), D Corbett (Durness) (18) 73; A Mackay (Reay) (19) 74; W Dunbar (Reay) (18) 76.

MYSTERY OVER IDENTITY OF RISING US STAR

IS NATIONWIDE TOUR WINNER
MICHAEL SIM AN
ABERDONIAN OR AN AUSSIE?

Is Michael Sim, winner of the recent Palmetto Classic on the United States Nationwide Tour, a Scot from Aberdeen or an Australian?
When Michael, pictured right, won the $90,000 first prize in the recent tournament on America’s No 2 pro golf tour, a writer on the Nationwide Tour website described him as “an Australian rookie.”
But, on the Nationwide Tour website, Michael Sim’s very brief biography says quite clearly that he was born in “Aberdeen, Scotland.”
Sim is in 16th place on the Nationwide Tour money table with earnings of $217,657 and seems certain to finish in the top 20 for the season – which means he will automatically gain promotion to the US PGA Tour and be playing with Tiger Woods & Co next year.
It is quite possible that Michael was born in Aberdeen and that his parents emigrated to Australia when he was a toddler, hence the fact that he did not figure in Aberdeen or North-east junior golf circles.
E-mails on the subject of Michael Sim’s nationality sent to the Nationwide Tour and the Australian PGA have so far brought no response.
If you know anyone else who could throw some light on the topic, please E-mail me at Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Incidentally, Michael's statistics on the Nationwide Tour are pretty impressive.
His AVERAGE driving distance has been 293.9 yards.
He is fifth in the tour's putting stats with 1.742 putts on averge per green.
He is 10th in the sand save stats, i.e. getting up and down from a bunker in one or two shots.
He has had three top-10 finishes this season - one victory, once runner-up, and once third.
He celebrated his 22nd birthday on October 23 by holing a 6ft birdie putt to win a play-off for the Palmetto Classic after tieing at 12 under par for the regulation 72 holes.
He's 5ft 9in and turn pro in 2005.

Overnight college news from United States


ASHTON INGRAM IMPROVES
BY THIRTEEN SHOTS
IN LADY MONARCH
Ashton Ingram, pictured right, from Fort-William, a freshman student at Belmont Abbey College, North Carolina improved by 13 shots with a second-round 82 over a tough, par-73 course of 6,142yd for the Lady Monarch Invitational tournament at the Nansemond River Golf Club at Suffolk, Virginia.
Her aggregate of 177 gave her a final placing of joint 32nd in the field of 46 players.
Team-mate Carley Warrington from Bradwell, England had scores of 81 and 80 for a share of 13th place on 161.
Laura Holmes from Ballina, Co Mayo in Ireland, a freshman student at Old Dominion University, Norfolk in Virginia, finished joint 21st with 81 and 85 for 166.
The tournament was won by Ashley Davis (Old Dominion) with 78 and 74 for 152.
Belmont Abbey, with four freshmen in their line-up and the only non-Division 1 squad in the eight-team field, did better than expected by finishing fourth on 655. Elon University and host college Old Dominion finished joint first on 628, 26 shots ahead of third-placed Longwood.
LEADING INDIVIDUALS
152 Ashley Davis (Old Dominion) 78 74.
154 Alexis Garduno (Old Dominion) 78 76, Natalie Desjardins (Long Island) 81 73.
Other scores:
162 Carley Warrander (Belmont Abbey) 81 80 (jt 13th).
166 Laura Holmes (Old Dominion) 81 85 (jt 21st).
177 Ashton Ingram (Belmont Abbey) 95 82 (jt 32nd of 46).
LEADING TEAMS
628 Elon University, Old Dominion University.
654 Longwood University,
655 Belmont Abbey College.
Eight teams took part.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Richie Ramsay No 1 for 10th week in a row


R&A WORLD AMATEUR GOLF RANKINGS

WEEK 42 WINNERS & LEADING AMATEURS

Charlie Beljan (The Club Glove), Will Besseling (Eisenhower Trophy – Individual), Taylor Coffman* (Barona Collegiate), Mitch Cohlmia / Nicolas Geyger* (Men’s Landfall Tradition), Brandon Crick (SCU Invitational), Brian Harman (Isleworth-UCF Invitational), Alex Hogben (ORU Invitational), Grant Leaver* (F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate), Jamie Lovemark (Big 10/Pac 10 Challenge), Kyle Peterman* (Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate), Ray Sheedy (49er Classic) & Kris Shepherd* (Poplar Hill Intercollegiate)
* New WAGRanked Player.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Richie Ramsay (Scotland), pictured right, retains the R&A WAGR No 1 spot for a 10th week.

JBE Kruger (South Africa), who climbs four places from No 23 to WAGRanked No 19, is the only mover into the Top 20.

Steady climbers, Kyung Tae Kim (Korea), up 40 places to No 33, and British Boys runner-up Bjorn Akesson (Sweden), up 44 to WAGRanking 46, move into the WAGR Top 50.

There are five upward movers into the lower regions of the WAGR Top 100. They are The Open silver medalist, Marius Thorp (Norway), up 55 to No 87, Tim Sluiter, one of the victorious Dutch World amateur championship team, up 18 to 89, Mark Flint Haastrup (Denmark), up 69 to 91, and Americans Trip Kuehne, up 67 to No 96, and Rob Grube, up 43 places to WAGR No 98.

The movers, into the WAGR Top 150 with the minimum divisor of 32, are Jorge Campillo (Spain), up 103 to WAGRanking No 16, Alan Wagner (Argentina), up 60 to No 121, Sweden’s Jonas Blixt, up 30 to 134, and a return for Roberto Castro (USA), up 13 to No 142.

Yoshinori Fujimoto (Japan) was the only amateur to make the halfway cut in the ABC Championship on the Japan Tour.

BESSELING, McALPINE RANKINGS EXPLAINED
David Moir, Manager-Championship Entries of R&A Championships Limited and the man in charge of the World Amateur Golf Rankings, explained to Scottish Golf View while Will Besseling, the Dutchman who had the lowest individual aggregate in the recent Eisenhower Trophy, as well as Scottish match-play champion Kevin McAlpine are ranked so comparatively low, given their achievements. Besseling is ranked No 423 and McAlpine No 242.
"Both Besseling and McAlpine are in WAGR positions that may be considered lower than expected as neither has yet played in the minimum 32 "counting rounds". Their points totals are therefore accumulated over 18 and 19 "rounds" respectively but divided by 32.
As they play more, their points averages will increase and their WAGR positions will improve as a result," said David.

HERE THEY ARE: THE TOP 100 AMATEUR
GOLFERS IN THE WORLD THIS WEEK

1 Richie Ramsay SCO 1153.66
2 Ross McGowan ENG 1126.79
3 Pablo Martin SPA 1123.08
4 Jamie Moul ENG 1117.02
5 Oliver Fisher ENG 1115.52
6 Rory McIlroy IRE 1105.50
7 Won Joon Lee AUS 1097.87
8 Nigel Edwards WAL 1030.95
9 Rhys Davies WAL 1025.45
10 Gary Wolstenholme ENG 1023.21
11 Mitchell Brown AUS 1014.49
12 Chris Kirk USA 1013.21
13 Webb Simpson USA 998.04
14 Jonathan Moore USA 983.64
15 Stephen Dartnall AUS 983.33
16 Billy Horschel USA 982.69
17 Julien Guerrier FRA 963.04
18 Bronson LaCassie AUS 962.07
19 JBE Kruger RSA 948.98
20 Scott Jamieson SCO 947.06
21 Richard Scott CAN 946.81
22 Andrew Tampion AUS 943.28
23 Seve Benson ENG 941.18
24 Dustin Johnson USA 938.18
25 Charl Coetzee RSA 937.68
26 Josh Geary NZL 936.54
27 Ben Parker ENG 934.21
28 Dawie van der Walt RSA 933.33
29 Niklas Lemke SWE 932.35
30 Johan Carlsson SWE 930.30
31 Robert Riesen USA 928.57
32 George Murray SCO 916.13
33 Kyung Tae Kim KOR 915.63
34 Jason Palmer ENG 913.51
35 Tim Stewart AUS 912.70
36 David Hewan RSA 910.77
37 Oscar Floren SWE 909.76
38 George Coetzee RSA 909.62
39 James Gill NZL 907.27
40 Alex Prugh USA 902.38
41 James Love CAN 897.37
41 Cameron Tringale USA 897.37
43 Adrien Bernadet FRA 897.22
44 Joost Luiten NED 892.50
45 Dandre Neumeyer RSA 888.24
46 Bjorn Akesson SWE 887.50
47 Sebastian Saavedra ARG 886.36
48 Stephen Lewton ENG 881.82
49 Christiaan Basson RSA 878.46
50 Ryan Yip CAN 875.00
51 Mark Purser NZ 874.07
52 Gary Woodland USA 872.73
53 Heinrich Bruiners RSA 865.63
54 Matteo Del Podio ITA 860.53
55 James Morrison ENG 860.00
56 Andrew Dodt AUS 857.14
57 Lloyd Saltman SCO 856.52
58 Richie Gallichan AUS 854.90
59 David Horsey ENG 853.33
60 Kevin Chappell USA 850.00
61 Seung Su Han KOR 843.75
62 Erik Flores USA 841.18
63 Paul O'Hara SCO 840.91
64 Andrew Parr CAN 839.53
65 Antti Ahokas FIN 835.29
66 Daniel Summerhays USA 834.15
67 Colt Knost USA 833.33
68 Brian Harman USA 32.65
69 Rick Kulacz AUS 827.94
70 Ashley Hall AUS 826.23
71 Martin Ureta CHL 823.81
72 Neil Schietekat RSA 822.22
73 Cennydd Mills WAL 820.93
74 Julien Grillon FRA 820.41
75 Tristan Lambert AUS 814.52
76 Jarred Texter USA 814.27
77 Edward Richardson ENG 807.32
78 Robert Gates USA 806.67
79 Matthew Cryer ENG 805.26
80 Daniel Belch ENG 802.78
81 Jamie Arnold AUS 800.00
82 Callum Macaulay SCO 800.00
83 Rohan Blizard AUS 798.04
84 Jose Luis Adarraga SPA 795.00
85 Zack Miller USA 795.00
86 Tyler Leon USA 793.88
87 Marius Thorp NOR 793.75
88 Bronson Burgoon USA 790.91
89 Tim Sluiter NED 788.24
90 Nicol Van Wyk RSA 788.00
91 Mark Haastrup DEN 787.50
92 Ben Evans ENG 784.09
93 Llewellyn Matthews WAL 781.13
94 John Gallagher SCO 779.66
95 Danny Lee NZL 778.13
96Trip Kuehne USA 778.13
97 Duncan Stewart SCO 775.00
98 Rob Grube USA 775.00
99 Jon McLean USA 773.68
100 Matthew Swan USA 772.22
Other Scots in world rankings:
114 Jonathan King 742.86.
118 Scott Henry 740.54.
125 Keir McNicoll 724.28.
126 Bryan Fotheringham 722.22
129 Elliot Saltman 729.82.
136 Glenn Campbell 722.64.
137 Wallace Booth 721.88.
147 Mark Kerr 710.00.
156 Craig Watson 702.04.
220 Iain Colquhoun 625.00.
223 Robert McKnight 622.22.
230 Steven McEwan 610.42.
242 Kevin McAlpine 600.00.
257 Ross Kellett 581.25.
310 Jordan Findlay 509.20.
339 Lewis Kirton 456.25.
353 Philip McLean 440.63.
375 Stuart Wilson 415.63.
435 Bryan Innes 343.75.
445 Russell Knox 321.88
456 Barry Scott 328.13.
475 Gordon Yates 312.50.
483 Allyn Dick 306.25.
492 Matthew Clark 300.00
497 Stewart Elder 296.88.

Service at Mortlach Parish Church, Dufftown on Thursday

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR
DR GEORGE GORMLEY
The funeral service for Dr George Gormley, president of the Scottish Golf Union from 1995-97, will take place at Mortlach Parish church, Dufftown on Thursday, November 9 at 1.30pm. Interment thereafter in Mortlach Cemetery. All friends are respectfully invited.
Dr Gormley, aged 70, of Garmony, Dunbar Street, L:ossiemouth, died, after a short illness, at Dr Gray's Hospital, Elgin last Friday.

Copyright © Colin Farquharson

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