MONIFIETH’S AILEEN BEATS BIG FIELD TO
WIN NORTHERN OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE

Monifieth’s Aileen Hunter beat a field of more than 140 to win the Northern Open women’s golf tournament over 18 holes of the Carnoustie championship links on Saturday.
Aileen claimed the Carnoustie Rosebowl with a round of 76 which was one over par but three under the CSS, enough to cut her handicap by 0.7. She won by three strokes from former international Claire Hargan (Mortonhall) and Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe. Claire pipped Wendy with the better last three holes in a card countback.
Angus county champion Lynne Fotheringham (Grange) won the Gourlay Rosebowl for the best net score on the day – a 74 off four of a handicap.
Details:
Carnoustie championship course. Par 75. CSS 79.
Carnoustie Rosebowl (best overall scratch) – A Hunter (Monfieth) 76.
Gourlay Rosebowl (best overall handicap) – L Fotheringham (Grange) (4) 74.
Scratch – C Hargan (Mortonhall) (better last 3), W Nicholson (Broomieknowe) 79; L Terry Cruden Bay) (better inward half), C MacDonald (Gullane) 82.
Handicap
Class 1 (0-11) – F Joss (Carnoustie Ladies) (6) 77; L Tait (St Regulus) (11) (bih), A Chree (Panmure Barry) (7) (bih), F Gilbert (Carnoustie Ladies) (4) 78.
Class 2 (12-17) – J Thomson (St Regulus) (125) 79; J Trangmar (St Regulus) (14) (bih), F McEwan (St Regulus) (13) 80; D Skelton(Braehead) (16) 81.
Class 3 (18-28) – E Guthrie (Stirling) (25) 79; C Moore (St Regulus) (20) 82; D Reid (Tillicoultry) (23) (84; Y Holland (Carnoustie Ladies) (23) 85.

QUEEN AND IMRIE MAKE CUT BUT LYNN
UNDONE BY 4 SHOTS SHED IN 3 HOLES

Vive La France! Five French players are in the top nine as the weather-delayed KLM Ladies Open moves into Sunday's third and final round at Eindhoven Golf Club.
Gwladys Nocera (France) is two shots clear on 10-under-par 134 with scores of 64 and 70.
She is two shots clear of Georgina Simpson from Huddersfield. Georgina has scored 69 and 67.
Clare Queen made the cut (146 and better) with ease, scoring 71 and 70 (four birdies, two bogeys) for joint 11th place on 141.
Kathryn Imrie made it by one with 75 and 70 for 145. Kathryn had five birdies on her card.
Lynn Kenny, sadly, was undone by the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, which cost her a combined four shots (double-bogey 7, bogey, bogey). Had she parred these holes she would have qualified on 145.
As it was Lynn had scores of 72 and 77 for five-over-par 149.
Liz McKinnon, from Inverness via Auckland New Zealand, had little chance of qualifying after a first-day 80 but she improved by five for a 75 and 155.
LEADING SCORES
Par 144 (2 x 72)
134 G Nocera (Fra) 64 70.
136 G Simpson (Eng) 69 67.
137 I Tinning (Den) 70 67, N David-Mila (Fra) 70 67.
138 C Kirkland (Fra) 69 69, S Kemp (Aus) 72 66.
139 L Kreutz (Fra) 67 72, L Maritz (SAf) 71 68, V Lagoutte-Clement (Fra) 70 69.
Other qualifiers:
141 C Queen (Carrick at Cameron House) 71 70 (jt 11th).
145 K Imrie (Monifieth) 75 70 (jt 49th).
Non-qualifiers:
148 L Kenny (Archerfield Links) 72 77.
155 L McKinnon (NZ) 80 75.

THREE WELSHMEN IN TOP FIVE AT
HALFWAY STAGE OF LINKS TROPHY

Dragon's Teeth! Three Welshmen in the top five at the halfway stage of the St Andrews Links Trophy.
Llewellyn Matthews from Southerndown took over the pole position from another Welshman, Nigel Edwards with a fine round of five-under-par 67 over the Old Course. Coupled with a 68 over the Jubilee Course on Firday, that put Llewellyn two shots clear of the field on nine-under-par 135 with two rounds to play on Sunday.
Jason Barnes (Chart Hills) is lying in second place with a 66 over the Jubilee and a 71 over the Old Course for 177.
Then comes Nigel Edwards (73), yet another Welshman, youngster Zack Gould (Vale of Glamorgan), 68, and Englishman Jonathan Hurst (Shaw Hill), 70, all sharing third place on 138.
Kevin McAlpine (Alyth), winner of the Bidwells Scottish open amateur stroke-play championship at Royal Dornoch last week, reduced the Old Course outward half to 29 shots - something he did before in the Amateur championship of 2004. But the inward half cost him 39 shots. Still, a 68 over the Old Course is not to be sniffed at and Kevin, on 142, has a platform for a Sunday surge as he did at Dornoch.
Banchory teenager James Byrne was one of the later startes. He dropped back a wee bit with a 74 for 140 but still has a chance of at least finishing second as he did in the Scottish stroke-play.
The cut fell at level par 144, which meant some highly-rated players will not be playing on Sunday - Scott Henry (Cardross) (145), Bryan Fotheringham (Forres) (148), Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey) (149), Seve Benson (Wentworth) (149), Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie) (150) and last year's Scottish youths champion from Spain, Francisco Pintor (150).

ALL THE SATURDAY SCORES

Par 144 (72 Jubilee, 72 Old Course).

135 L Matthews (Southerndown) 68 67.
137 J Barnes (Chart Hills) 66 71.
138 J Hurst (Shaw Hill) 68 70, N Edwards (Whitchurch) 65 73, Z Gould (Vale of Glamorgan) 70 68.
139 B Evans (Rye) 69 70, S Arnold (Aus) 67 72, D Horsey (Styal) 68 71.
140 J Moul (Stoke by Nayland) 67 73, A Kaleka (Fra) 71 69, M Allen (North Hantgs) 69 71, J Byrne (Banchory) 66 74.
141 R Kellett (Colville Park) 66 75, S McEwan (Caprington) 70 71.
142 S Larkin (Banchory) 72 70, T Sherreard (Chart Hills) 72 70, K McAlpine (Alyth) 74 68, G Paterson (St Andrews New) 70 72, J Parry (Harrogate) 69 73, C Wood (Long Ashton) 72 70, R McIlroy (Holywood) 73 69, K McNicoll (Carnoustei) 69 73, P Nelson (SAf) 69 73, C Ford (Kirby Muxloe) 72 70.
143 M Baldwin (Royal Birkdale) 72 71, L Saltman (Craigielaw) 73 70, G Dear (Murrayshall) 73 70, E Richardson (Rye) 73 70, R Blizard (Aus) 75 68, A Dodt (Aus) 71 72, M Griffin (Aus) 72 71.
144 O Sharpe (Minchinhampton) 72 72, S Ward (Co Louth) 72 72, W Booth (Comrie) 74 70, A Johnston (North Middlesex) 72 72, G Boyd (Cherwell Edge) 69 75, S Clark (US) 68 76, P O'Hara (Colville Park) 73 71, N Chaudhuri (Leicestershire) 72 72, C Macaulay (Tullkiallan) 70 74, J King (Glasgow) 73 71.
MISSED THE CUT
145 L Collins (Mendip Spring) 72 73, R Thomas (Aberdare) 71 74, S Henry (Cardross) 68 77, J Taverner (Enfield) 72 73, L Campbell (Rochester & Cobham Park) 73 72, M Kerr (Craigielaw) 74 71, S Mann (Carnoustie) 71 74, J Arnold (Aus) 70 75, P Waring (Bromborough) 72 73, M Veijalainen (Fin) 71 74, D Marmion (Delamere Forest) 72 73.
146 C Watson (East Renfrewshire) 73 73, J Howarth (Stockport) 73 73, R Kulacz (Aus) 72 74, B Parker (Gut Waldhof) 71 75, G O'Neill (Royal Jersey) 71 75, B Soutar (Leven GS) 71 75, M Thistleton (Hayling) 71 75, I Kenwright (Haydock Park) 68 78.
147 N Henrigues (Por) 73 74, R Neil-Jones (Rochester & Cobham Park) 70 77, J Freeman (Worksop) 70 77, V Dubuisson (Fra) 69 78, P McLean (Peterhead) 74 73, Z Saltman (Craigielaw) 76 71, R Gibson (US) 69 78, M Lamb (Haddington) 75 72, G Benson (Leighton Buzzard) 71 76, S Hutsby (Liphook) 73 74, C Orr (Lanark) 74 73, M Halliday (Royal Aberdeen) 73 74.
148 C Harkins (Belleisle) 74 74, C Schwierz (Ger) 75 73, T Ropiha (NZ) 72 76, B Fotheringham (Forres) 74 74, J Younger (Aus) 74 73, A Runcie (Abergele) 75 73, B Taylor (Hexham) 72 76, J-C Neil (SAf) 75 73, M Clark (Kilmacolm) 72 76, R Enoch (Truro) 72 76, J Koelbing (Ger) 72 76, B Sigl (Ger) 74 74, D Corsby (Fleetwood) 74 74.
149 L Kirton (Newmachar) 73 76, G Blainey (Bearwood Lakes) 72 77, D Stewart (Grantown-on-Spey) 72 77, J Abbott (Fynn Valley) 71 78, S Benson (Wentworth) 72 77, X Feyaerts (Bel) 72 77, S Borrowman (Dollar) 73 76.
150 F Pintor (Spa) 74 76, G Campbell (Blairgowrie) 75 75, A Rosado (Por) 74 76, M Gayes (Westwood) 75 75, J Gidney (Chruch Stretton) 69 81, L Calitz (SAf) 76 74, R McKnight (Barassie) 72 78, M Greil (US) 74 76, G Watremez (Bel) 76 74.
151 E McIntosh (Newmachar) 74 77, G Taylor (Meldrum House) 77 74, C Geraghty (St Annes Old Links) 72 79, M Larusson (Ice) 79 72, T Stewart (Aus) 77 74.
152 S McAllister (Craigielaw) 78 74, C Durnian (SAf) 79 73, B St John (US) 74 78, J Smith (Sundridge Park) 72 80, C Colraine (Windyhill) 77 75, H Joannes (Bel) 75 77, J Pernaa (Fin) 73 79, M Hillson (Craigielaw) 77 75, R Coull (Edzell) 75 77.
153 L Miller (Cawder) 78 75, B McGrory (Aus) 75 78, L de Jager (SAf) 73 80, S Lewton (Woburn) 76 77, M Greig (Bon Accord) 75 78, J-C Berlin (Fra) 77 76, T Dogil (Ger) 80 73, J Carlota (Por) 76 77.
154 J Palmer (Kirby Muxloe) 73 81, P Figueiredo (Por) 78 76, S Johnsson (Ice) 77 77, B Jones (Cuddington) 76 78, W Shucksmith (Alwoodley) 78 76, J Field jun (US) 74 80.
155 A Lynch (Glenbervie) 79 76, J Woods (St Andrews) 80 75, J Repokis US) 77 78.
156 G Mitchell (Braemar) 77 79 T Coombes (US) 79 77, S Graham (Blairgowrie) 83 73.
157 H Hjartarson (Ice) 81 76, P McGhee (US) 80 77.
158 B Edmond(Bon Accord) 79 79.
159 C Doherty (Bury) 79 80, S Runcie (Abergele) 79 80, C Rice (Southport & Ainsdale) 79 80.
162 J Vickery (Newport) 80 82.
164 A Ait Lafkihy (Ivory Coast) 84 80.
157 P McGhee (US) 80 77.
159 C Doherty (Bury) 79 80.

SLGA GIRLS’ DIVISIONAL TITLE LIES BETWEEN
EAST AND SOUTH AS NORTH LOSE TWICE

Title-holders North were beaten first by West and then by East on the first day of the SLGA inter-divisional girls’ team championship at Ballumbie Castle, Dundee today (Saturday).
The new champions will be either West or South. They both had one win and also drew 3-3 with each other.
It looks as if the title will be decided on a countback of games won if East finish the programme with a win over West and South do likewise against North on Sunday morning.

Details:

Morning

NORTH 2, WEST 4
North names first
Ashley Smith & Kirsty Moss bt Lauren Meldrum & Zoe Differ 2 and 1.
Aimee Taylor & Megan Aird lost to Nichola Ferguson & Lucy McNulty 2 holes.
Samantha Leslie & Heather Peebles lost to Hannah Gaunt & Linzi Allan 1 hole.

SOUTH 3, EAST 3
South names first
Isla Craigie & Lesley Atkins halved with Gillian Simpson & Rachel Watton.
Ailsa Bain & Nicole Blackie lost to Judy Shields & Hannah Dalrymple 2 holes.
Ailsa Mitchell & Ashley Macdonald bt Camilla Tait & Nicole Taylor 7 and 5.

Afternoon

EAST 4, NORTH 2
Simpson & Watton bt Smith & Moss 8 and 7.
Shields & Dalryumple bt Leslie & Aird 3 and 1.
Tait & Taylor lost to Peelbes & Taylor 5 and 3.

WEST 2, SOUTH 4
Meldrum & Differ lost to Craigie & Atkins 7 and 6.
Ferguson & McNulty bt Blackie & Bain 6 and 4.
Gaunt & Allan lost to Macdonald & Mitchell 2 and 1.

HOW THEY STAND
East 1 1/2pt, South 1 1/2pt, West 1pt, North 0.

FINAL SUNDAY MATCHES
West v East
North v South

LONGMUIR IN TRIPLE TIE FOR JERSEY
SENIORS' LEAD AT SIX-UNDER-PAR

Anglo-Scot Bill Longmuir, South African Bobby Lincoln and England's Carl Mason go into Sunday's final round of the Jersey Seniors Classic at La Moye Golf Club in a triple tie for the lead on six-under-par 138.
Longmuir, clear of the field after an opening 66, slipped back to a 72 today (Sat) and was overhauled by Lincoln's second-round 67 and Mason's 70.
Sam Torrance is not out of it yet. He is sharing fourth place, three shots behind on 141 after a 71.
Ross Drummond and Martin Gray give Scotland more representation in the top 10. They are both on 142, Drummond shooting a 70 and Gray a 69 in the second round.

LEADING TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
138 B Lincoln (SAf) 71 67, B Longmuir (Sco) 66 72, C Mason (Eng) 68 70.
141 T Allen (Eng) 69 72, G J Brand (Eng) 69 72, B Cameron (Eng) 70 71, T Gale (Aus) 72 69, M Poxon (Eng) 70 71, S Torrance (Sco) 71 70.
Other scores:
142 R Drummond (Sco) 72 70, M Gray (Sco) 73 69 (jt 10th).
146 J Chillas (Sco) 76 70 (jt 33rd).
147 M Miller (Sco) 78 69 (jt 37th).
148 C Maltman (Sco) 75 73 (jt 46th).

WOLSTENHOLME OUTCLASSES

EUROPEAN MID-AM FIELD TO

RETAIN TITLE BY NINE SHOTS

Walker Cup veteran Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs), 47 later this summer, retained the European men's mid-amateur golf championship by the runaway margin of nine strokes at the Domaine Imperial Golf Club on the shores of Lake Geneva today (Saturday).
Wolstenholme, pictured right, had to win a play-off last year to take the European over-35s title but 12 months later he outclassed the international field with rounds of u2 69 and 72 for a total of 213.
Runners-up on 222 were Ulrich Schulte (Germany) with 756, 70 and 77 for 222 and Finland's Mika Wikstrom with scores of 75, 76 and 71.
Scotland's Jim Deas finished joint 81st with 86, 76 and 81 for 243.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
213 G Wolstenholme (Eng) 72 69 72.
222 U Schulte (Ger) 75 70 77, M Wikstrom (Fin) 75 76 71.
223 T Krieger (Ger) 74 76 73.
224 M Wharton (Eng) 76 74 74, P Griffiths (Eng) 74 73 77, F Pfoestil (Ita) 76 75 73.
225 M Scopetta (Swi) 79 73 73, R Heath (Aus) 80 70 75.
226 K Bornemann (Ire) 76 72 78, M Mazur (Ger) 76 67 83.
227 S Giuliano (Ita) 74 78 75.
Other score:
243 J Deas (Sco) 86 76 81 (jt 81st).

SCOTS TAKE CLOSER ORDER IN

THIRD ROUND OF AUSTRIAN

OPEN AS LEFT-HANDER LEADS

Australian left-hander Richard Green extended his halfway lead to three strokes with a third-round 67 in the Austrian Open at Fontana Golf Club, Vienna today.
Next best is Englishman Richard McEvoy with a 64 for 201.
The three Scots who survive the halfway cut all scored under par today.
Gary Orr had a 66 for 204 to move up to a share of eighth place.
Stephen Gallacher (pictured right) had a 68 for 205 and joint 14th place.
Euan Little had a 66 for 207 and is sharing 21st place.
LEADERBOARD
Par 213 (3 x 71) 7,0714yd.

Players from GB&I unless stated.

198 Richard Green (Aus) 66 65 67.
201 Richard McEvoy 66 71 64.
202 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 65 69, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 67 66 69.
203 Johan Skold (Swe) 70 69 64, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 69 64, David Park 69 66 68.
204 Chris Gane 75 65 64, Shaun P Webster 65 71 68, Gary Orr 71 67 66, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 68 69, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 67 65, Graeme Storm 63 72 69.
205 Garry Houston 72 63 70, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 65 73 67, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 68 73, Stephen Gallacher 69 68 68, Tom Whitehouse 65 71 69.
206 Gary Lockerbie 66 72 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 66 73.
207 Euan Little 68 73 66, David Frost (SAf) 68 71 68, Sam Little 73 67 67,208 Francois Calmels (Fra) 66 73 69, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 71 69, David Higgins 70 71 67, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 65 72.
209 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 70 69, Graeme McDowell 71 69 69, Sion Bebb 70 68 71, Simon Nash (Aus) 73 68 68, Matthew Zions (Aus) 68 73 68, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 70 71 68, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 68 70 71, Richard Finch 66 70 73, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 69 70 70, Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 71 70, Edward Rush 67 74 68.
210 Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 69 71 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 70 70, David Bransdon (Aus) 69 68 73, Oliver Fisher 68 72 70, Paul Broadhurst 75 67 68.

211 Richard Bland 70 71 70, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 70 69 72, Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 72 70, Steve Alker (NZ) 69 73 69, Matjaz Gojcic (Slo) 68 70 73, Jean Hugo (SAf) 72 70 69, Kyron Sullivan 68 72 71, Hernan Rey (Arg) 69 73 69, Ian Garbutt 71 67 73.
212 Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 68 70, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 72 73, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 68 70 74, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 70 71, Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 72 70.
213 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 73 72, Miles Tunnicliff 69 68 76, Lee Westwood 66 72 75.
214 Iain Pyman 71 70 73, Roope Kakko (Fin) 74 68 72.
215 Danny Denison 66 76 73, Andrew Butterfield 72 70 73, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 71 74.
216 Rafael Gomez (Arg) 70 71 75.
217 Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71 76.
221 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 69 79.

GILLIES WINS £808 AT DALMUIR PRO-AM

Kingsfield tour pro Colin Gillies won the £808 top prize in the West Dunbartonshire Council pro-am at Dalmuir municipal golf course today with a three-under-par round of 64.
Gillies started his round birdie-eagle-double bogey and went on to pick up further birdies at the fifth, seventh and 10th. in halvesof 31 and 33. He bogeyed the 13th and 18th.
Gillies won by two shots from Murray Urquhart who flew back to Scotland from Dusseldorf late on Friday night, having failed to make the cut in a European Challenge Tour event.
Urquhart found the form that eluded him in Dusseldorf with a one-under-par 67 which earned him £646 for the runner-up prize and a further £97 for the team event. So the Inverness man's journey was worthwhile.
Greig Hutcheon (Peterculter) led the Clydebank Senior Citizens' trio of Chic Brogan (handicap 18), Barney Bell (18) and Willie Burns (12) to victory in the team event with a net total of 14-under-par 53.
LEADING PRO SCORES
Par 67
64 C Gillies (Kingsfield).
66 M Urquhart (Inverness).
67 S Savage (Dalmuir), D McCormack (East Aberdeenshire), G Hutcheon (Peterculter).
68 E Davie (Dunblane New).
69 A Mackrell (Gary Mitchell Golf), R Arnott (Bishopbriggs).
70 J McCreadie (Buchanan Castle), C Everett (Caldwell).

MURRAY LEADING SCOT IN DUSSELDORF

Former Scottish amateur champion George Murray from Anstruther will start the fourth and final round of the Vodafone Challenge in Dusseldorf in joint 15th place.
The rookie pro has had rounds of 71, 71 and 68 for a six-under-par tally of 210. In his third round, George had birdies at the first, sixth, eighth, ninth,15th and 18th with only two bogeys, at the third and 10th, in halves of 33 (three under par) and 35 (one under).
West Linton-based Welshman Gareth Wright is on 214 after a third-round 74.
Andrew McArthur from Windyhill, the second past Scottish amateur champion in the field for this European Challenge Tour event, is in joint 42nd place on 215 after a 70 which was highlighted by an eagle 3 at the 556yd 11th.
David Patrick from Mortonhall had a 72 for 216 while rookie Elliot Saltman from Dalkeigh had a 74 for 218.
Sweden's Magnus Carlsson and Juna Abbate from Argentina lead the field at 10-under-par 206.
LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
206 M Carlsson (Swe) 69 62 75, J Abbate (Arg) 70 67 69.
207 A Gee (Eng) 69 69 69.
208 J Kamte (SAf) 71 71 66, J Mellor (Eng) 69 72 67, H Santos (Por) 71 70 67.
Other scores:
210 G Murray (Sco) 71 71 68 (jt 15h).
214 G Wright (Wal) 69 71 74 (jt 35th).
215 A McArthur (Sco) 73 72 70 (jt 42nd).
216 D Patrick (Sco) 71 73 72 (jt 48th).
218 E Saltman (Sco) 70 74 74 (jt 62nd).

US OPEN CHAMPION OGILVY MISSES CUT BEFORE
HEADING OFF FOR OAKMONT TITLE DEFENCE

Colin Montgomery is in good company missing the cut in his last tournament before next week's US Open.
Australian Geoff Ogilvy, the defending champion at Oakmont, missed the cut by four shots in the Stanford St Jude championship at TPC Southwind on Friday.
Padraig Harrington also missed out, but only by one shot.
Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim is having a tough introduction to the US PGA Tour after graduating from the Nationwide Tour last season.
Michael was diagnosed as having a stress fracture in the lower spine towards the end of last year. He didn't play golf for four months after that during which time he had to embark on an exercise programme designed to build up the strength in his lower back muscles.
He played well in the Zurich Classic, his first event on the US PGA Tour a month or two ago but is still obviously feeling his way.
Michael missed the cut in the "St Jude" by a big margin with rounds of 80 and 76 for 156. He had a clutch of double bogeys in the first round.
The second round was not completed until Saturday morning after darkness halted play on Friday evenin.
SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 140 (2 x 70
133 Adam Scott 67 66
134 Brian Gay 68 66.
136 Andrew Buckle 70 66.
137 Fredrik Jacobson 67 70
138 Brian Davis 70 68, Duffy Waldorf 69 69, David Toms 70 68
Woody Austin 72 66, Scott Verplank 69 69, Brandt Snedeker 70 68.
Other scores:
141 Vijay Singh 72 69.
142 Retief Goosen 68 74.
144 John Daly 70 74, Sergio Garcia 74 70.
MISSED THE CUT
146 Pablo Martin 75 71, Padraig Harrington 74 72.
149 Bernhard Langer 77 72, Geoff Ogilvy 78 71.
156 Michael Sim (Aus) 80 76.

VIKKI JOINT 18th AFTER FIRST ROUND
OF US FUTURES TOUR EVENT

Vikki Laing was in joint 18th position after the first round of the United States Steel Classic - this week's US Futures Tour event - at Lost Marsh Golf Club, near Lake Michigan and a 30min drive from Chicago.
Vikki had halves of 38 and 37 for a three-over-par 75 in a day marked by a 30mph wind off Lake Michigan in the morning.
The wind veered in the afternoon and then dropped to a breeze so the later starters had the best of it.
Polly Willett from London had 38 and 40 for a 78 which put her in joint 53rd place.
South Wales amateur Natasha Morgan, a student at Lynn University, Boca Raton in Florida, had an 85 (41-44) for a share of 122nd place.
Another couple of shots and Natasha would have been eliminated under the Futures Tour rule which imposes a first-round "cut" on anyone who shoots 87 or higher.
Brenda McLarnon from Belfast was eliminated in this fashion after returning an 88 (47-41).
Two Canadians lead the field - Angela Buzminski from Ontario and Kim Brozer from Alberta - on one-under-par 71 over the 6,210yd course.
LEADERBOARD
71 Angela Buzminski (Ontario) 36-35, Kim Brozer (Alberta) 37-34.
72 Song Y Choi (Seoul), 38-34, Yoora Kim (Seoul) 35-37, Allison Fouch (Michigan) 35-37, Brandi Jackson (South Carolina) 40-32, Shayna Miyajima (Hawaii) 34-38, Courtney Erdman (California) 39-33.
Other scores:
75 Vikki Laing (Musselburgh) 38-37 (jt 18th).
78 Polly Willett (London) 38-40 (jt 53rd).
85 Natasha Morgan (South Wales) (am) 41-44.
Eliminated:
88 Brenda McLarnon (Belfast) 47-41.

CATRIONA, MHAIRI JOINT 9TH AT HALFWAY STAGE
OF LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Catriona Matthew (pictured right) and Mhairi McKay are lying joint ninth on four-under-par 144 at the halfway stage of the McDonald's LPGA championship.
Both Scots have scored 71 and 69 to be four shots behind the Norwegian leader, Suzann Pettersen (69-67 for 136), who has a one shot advantage over Australian Karrie Webb (68-69).
Michelle Wie made the cut with nothing to spare on 147 with rounds of 73 and 74 but Janice Moodie is out of the tournament.
Janice followed up a 70 with a disaster-strewn 79 for 149 to miss the cut by two shots.
LEADERBOARD
136 S Pettersen 69 67.
137 K Webb 68 69.
138 B Kim 67 71, B Lincicome 69 69.
139 P Creamer 71 68, M Pressel 68 71, M Lee 70 69, A Sorenstam 70 69.
Other qualifiers:
140 C Matthew 71 69, M McKay 71 69 (jt 9th).
143 L Davies 68 75 (jt 23rd).145 B Morgan 73 72 (jt 44th).
147 M Wie 73 74 (jt 70th).
Non-qualifier:
149 J Moodie 70 79.

US WIN BACK PALMER CUP WITH 18-6 VICTORY
OVER EUROPEAN STUDENTS

United States completed an 18-6 victory over Europe in the students' international golf match for the Palmer Cup at Caves Valley near Baltimore, Maryland today (Friday).
The Americans took the second-day foursomes 3-1 and the singles 6-2.

Results from the final set of singles (US names first):

Horschel bt Floren 4 and 3.
List bt Yates 6 and 5.
Harman bt Shaw 1 hole.
Simpson lost to Blixt 1 hole.
Lovemark bt Haastrup 2 and 1.
Moore bt Oriol 2 and 1.
Johnson bt Campillo 2 holes.
Kirk lost to Davies 4 and 2.
(US 6, Europe 2).

First day: US 9, Europe 3.
Second day: US 9, Europe 3.

Overall: US 18, Europe 6.

CUNNINGHAM WINS LOTHIANS' BOYS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Myles Cunningham, 17-year-old scratch player at Longniddry Golf Club, beat Mark Dickson (Gullane) 2 and 1 in the final of the Lothians' boys' championship at the Braids this evening.
It was the second year in a row that Dickson had been beaten finalist.
Results of later rounds:
QUARTER-FINALS
M Cunningham (Longniddry) bt N Henderson (Glen) 3 and 2.
S Gordon (Glen) bt G Davidson (Winterfield) 3 and 2.
S Deegan (Craigielaw) bt G Currie (Gullane 3 and 2.
M Dickison (Gullane) bt J Ross (Royal Burgess) at 21st.
SEMI-FINALS
Cunningham bt Gordon 2 and 1.
Dickson bt Deegan 4 and 2.
FINAL
Cunningham bt Dickson 2 and 1.

DAVID LANE COMES FROM

SIX BEHIND TO WIN

ENGLISH SENIORS TITLE

FOR THIRD TIME

FROM THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE

Former Scottish senior open amateur title-winner David Lane (Goring & Streatley) secured his third English senior men's championship at Enville today when he came from six shots back to beat overnight leaders Chris Reynolds and Alan Squires.
A closing round of 69 over the Highgate Course, the best of the day, for 218, four over par, left Lane (pictured right) three strokes ahead of Reynolds and four clear of Squires.
Lane, whose previous victories in this championship came at West Hill in 1997 and two years later at Shifnal, felt a third win was beyond his powers at 65 years of age.
“I felt I was past it with all these younger guys coming along, but I decided to go out and attack because I had nothing to lose - and it worked,” he said.
Although David finished fourth in the Irish seniors and runner-up in the "Scottish" in recent weeks, Lane arrived at Enville admitting he was scrambling and forecasting that he was not going to be in the hunt.
That seemed to be the situation when he teed-off the third round lying fourth, six strokes behind his rivals. But the picture soon began to change as the two leaders began spilling shots. At the turn, Lane was still two strokes adrift of Reynolds but the Kent man began tangling with the trees while Squires seemed to be the man to watch.
While Lane powered on to get to five over with one hole to play, both Reynolds and Squires were having to do the chasing. Lane put more pressure on when he secured a birdie 4 at the last, thanks to a sand wedge to five feet and a crucial putt.
That left Squires, who had holed a monster putt from across the 17th green to stay two adrift, needing an eagle at the last to tie. In the event he took a double-bogey 7 after firing his second shot into a bush and taking a penalty drop.
That also cost him second place as he returned 79 for an eight-over-par final total while Reynolds parred his way in from the 15th for 78 and the runners-up spot.
“I’m disappointed not to win but I’m more disappointed not to finish runner-up,” said Squires. “But Chris and I were not good enough. David played well and deserved it.”
Reynolds was equally disappointed. “I felt a 74 would be good enough but even that wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “My putting held up but I couldn’t keep out of the trees. I expected someone to break through and I’m glad it was David.”
With four-time champion Roy Smethurst in fourth place on 223 after a level-par 72, it meant the leading four players were all members of last year’s England senior home international side. Lane now sets his sights on the European title in Portugal next week and on this form you couldn’t bet against him.
“I played good golf today for the first time in weeks,” he admitted. “It is tremendous to win again and the icing on the cake was the sand wedge to five feet on the 18th. I’ve won again because my putting has improved but I don’t know why. I just decided not to leave anything short but it does leave you some tricky three-footers coming back.”
LEADING FINAL TOTALS

Par 214

218 D Lane (Goring & Streatley 76 73 69.

221 C Reynolds (Littlestone) 68 75 78.

222 A Squires (Oldham) 70 73 79.

223 R Smethurst (Crewe) 75 76 72.

224 A Morrison (Appleby) 77 75 72, J Jermine (Sunningdale) 73 77 74.

225 S Smale (Royal St George's) 74 74 77.

227 B Wallace (Crosland Heath) 72 79 76, C Boal (Broadstone) 74 76 77.

228 D McCart (Sherwood Forest) 81 73 74, D Arnold (Copthorne) 73 78 77.

229 G Steel (Moor Park) 78 75 76, G Reynolds (Ludlow) 79 74 76, P Groocock (Blackmoor) 78 74 77, H Moxon (Royal Cinque Ports) 77 74 78.

St Andrews Links Trophy

BANCHORY BOY BYRNE ON
HEELS OF LEADER EDWARDS
(65) IN FIRST ROUND

It was the young and the not-so-young vieing for the top spot at the end of the first round of the St Andrews Links Trophy tournament today.
Welsh Walker Cup player Nigel Edwards (Whitchurch, Cardiff), seeking to clinch another GB&I cap against the United States at Royal Co Down in September, set the pace with a cracking round of seven-under-par 65 over the Jubilee Course which measures some 6,805yd.
Teenager James Byrne (pictured right) from Banchory - a boy international whose ambition is to play for the Scotland MEN'S team (European or home internationals) - is hard of Nigel's heels with a 66.
James, who starts a four-year golf scholarship at Arizona State University in the autumn, shares the second spot with Ross Kellett (Colville Park, Motherwell) and Jason Barnes (Chart Hills) from southern England.
So high has been the standard of play that some 67 players will start the second round at par or under.

ALL THE FIRST ROUND SCORES
Jubilee Course: Par 72. SSS 73. 6,805yds
65 N Edwards (Whitchurch).
66 J Byrne (Banchory), J Barnes (Chart Hills), R Kellett (Colville Park).
67 S Arnold (Aus), J Moul (Stoke-by-Nayland).
68 D Horsey (Styal), I Kenwright (Haydock Park), S Henry (Cardross), S Clark (US), L Matthews (Southerndown), J Hurst (Shaw Hill).
69 B Evans (Rye), K McNicoll (Carnoustie), P Nelson (SAf), G Boyd (Cherwell Edge), V Dubuisson (Fra), J Parry (Harrogate), J Gidney (Church Stretton), R Gibson (US), M Allan (North Hants).
70 Z Gould (Vale of Glamorgan), J Freeman (Worksop), J Arnold (Aus), C Macaulay (Tulliallan), G Paterson (St Andrews New), S McEwan (Caprington), R Neil-Jones (Rochester & Cobham Park).
71 G Benson (Leighton Buzzard), G O'Neill (Royal Jersey), A Kaleka (Fra), M Thistleton (Hayling), M Veijalainen (Fin), B Soutgar (Leven GS), A Dodt (Aus), B Parker (Gut Waldhof), J Abbott (Fynn Valley), S Mann (Carnoustie), R Thomas (Aberdare), M Greil (US).
72 B Taylor (Hexham), P Waring (Bromborough), N Chaudhuri (Leicestershire), T Ropiha (NZ), A Johnston (North Middlesex), C Wood (Long Ashton), J Koelbing (Ger), R Enoch (Truro), X Feyaerts (Bel), L Collins (Mendip Spring), M Baldwin (Royal Birkddale), R McKnight (Barassie), S Ward (Co Louth), J TGaverner (Enfield), O Scharpe (Minchin Hmapton), C Geraghty (St Annes Old Links), S Larkin (Banchory), J Smith (Sundridge Park), M Griffin (Aus), R Kulaczx (Aus), D Stewart (Grantown on Spey), G Blainey (Bearwood Lakes), C Ford (Kirby Muxloe), D Marmion (Delamere Forest), M Clark (Kilmacolm), T Sherrard (Chart Hills), S Benson (Wentworth).
73 R McIlroy (Holywood), S Borrowman (Dollar), G Dear (Murrayshall), L Saltman (Craigielaw), C Watson (East Renfrewshire), J Palmer (Kirby Muxloe), L Campbell (Rochester & Cobham Park), J Howarth (Stockport), L Kirton (Newmachar), E Richardson (Rye), J King (Glasgow), M Halliday (Royal Aberdeen), L de Jager (SAf), S Hutsby (Liphook), J Perenaa (Fin), P O'Hara (Colville Park), N Henrigues (Por).
74 M Kerr (Craigielaw), J Young (Aus), W Booth (Comrie), D Corsby (Fleetwood), E McIntosh (Newmachar), B Sigl (Ger), J Field jun (US), C Harkins (Belleisle), F Pintor (Spa), B St John (US), K McAlpine (Alyth), A Rosado (Por), C Orr (Lanark), P McLean (Peterhead).
75 G Campbell (Blairgowrie), M Lamb (Haddington), R Coull (Edzell), M Gayes (Westwood), C Schwsierez (Ger), H Joannes (Bel), J-C Nel (SAf), A Runcie (Abergele), M Greig (Bon Accord), B McGrory (Aus), R Blizard (Aus), B Fotheringham (Forres).
76 L Calitz (SAf), B Jones (Cuddington), Z Saltman (Craigielaw), S Lewton (Woburn), G Watremez (Bel), J Carlota (Por).
77 G Mitchell (Braemar), C Colraine (Windyhill), G Taylor (Meldrum House), M Hillson (Craigielaw), T Stewart (Aus), S Johnsson (Ice), J Repokis (US), J-C Bertin (Fra).
78 L Miller (Cawder), S McAllister (Craigielaw), P Figueiredo (Por), W Shucksmith (Alwoodley).
79 T Coombes (US), M Larusson (Ice), S Runcie (Abergele), B Edmond (Bon Accord),C Rice (Southport & Ainsdale), C Durnian(SAf), C Doherty (Bury), A Lynch (Glenbervie).
80 T Dogil (Ger), P McGhee (US), J Vickery (Newport), J Woods (St Andrews).
81 H Hjartarson (Ice).
83 S Graham (Blairgowrie).
84 A Ait Lafkih (Ovory Coast).
Withdrew J White (Lundin).

THREE SCOTS MAKE THE HALFWAY CUT IN
THE EUROPEAN TOUR'S AUSTRIAN OPEN

Par 142 (2 x 71). Players from GB&I unless stated
131 Richard Green (Aus) 66 65.
132 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 68 133 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 66, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 67 66, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 65.
135 Garry Houston 72 63, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 68, David Park 69 66, Graeme Storm 63 72.
136 Richard Finch 66 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 65, Shaun Webster 65 71, Tom Whitehouse 65 71.
137 Stephen Gallacher 69 68, Richard McEvoy 66 71, Miles Tunnicliff 69 68, David Bransdon (Aus) 69 68
138 Matjaz Gojcic (Slo) 68 70, Sion Bebb 70 68, Ian Garbutt 71 67, Gary Orr 71 67, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 65 73, Lee Westwood 66 72, Gary Lockerbie 66 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 68 70, Mads-Vibe Hastrup (Den) 68 70
139 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 69, Francois Calmels (Fra) 66 73, Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 72, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 69 70, David Frost 68 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 70 69, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 67, Johan Skold (Swe) 70 69
140 Sam Little 73 67, Oliver Fisher 68 72, Robert-Jan Derksen (Net) 70 70, Graeme McDowell 71 69, Soren hansen (Den) 70 70, Kyron Sullivan 68 72, Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 69 71, Chris Gane 75 65
141 Simon Nash (Aus) 73 68, Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 72, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 73, David Higgins 70 71, Rafael Gomez (Arg) 70 71, Iain Pyman 71 70, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 70 71, Matthew Zions (Aus) 68 73, Richard Bland 70 71, Edward Rush 67 74, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 71, Euan Little 68 73.
142 Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 72, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 68, Steve Alker (Nzl) 69 73, Danny Denison 66 76, Paul Broadhurst 75 67, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 69, Andrew Butterfield 72 70, Hernan Rey (Arg) 69 73, Jean Hugo (SAf) 72 70, Roope Kakko (Fin) 74 68
MISSED THE CUT
143 Andrew Coltart 72 71, Martin Maritz (SAf) 75 68, James Hepworth 72 71, Marcus Higley 73 70, Oskar Bergman (Swe) 72 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 74, Erol Simsek (Ger) 72 71, Darren Clarke 73 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 73, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 69 74, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 75, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 72, Steven O'Hara 71 72, Denny Lucas 71 72, Andrew Marshall 70 73, Philip Golding 72 71, Hans Peter Bacher (Aut) (am) 72 71, Oliver Whiteley 73 70, Ally Mellor 76 67
144 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 74, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 75 69, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 71 73, Matthew Richardson 73 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 74, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 72 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 74 70, Keith Horne (SAf) 73 71, John Bickerton 72 72
145 Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 74 71, Thomas Kogler (Aut) 71 74, Francisco Cea (Spa) 71 74, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 74, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 68 77, Luis Claverie (Spa) 74 71, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 74 71, Johan Axgren (Swe) 72 73, Kevin Collins (US) 70 75
146 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 75, Niki Zitny (Aut) 74 72, Peter Lawrie 77 69, Uli Weinhandl (Aut) 71 75, Gareth Davies 72 74, David Drysdale 70 76, Juan Parron (Spa) 69 77, Neil Cheetham 77 69, Andrew Oldcorn 75 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 73 73, Kajetan Kromer (Aut) (am) 75 71
147 Colin Montgomerie 73 74, Lee James 73 74, John Wade (Aus) 74 73, Ross McGowan 70 77, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 71 76, David Carter 71 76, Stuart Little 75 72.
148 Gary Murphy 70 78, Andrew Raitt 74 74, Gary Emerson 75 73, Andre Bossert (Sui) 75 73, Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut) 73 75, Florian Praegant (Aut) 74 74, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 78 70, Mark Davis 75 73, Tim Milford 76 72, Simon Wakefield 71 77, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 74 74, Jamie Spence 70 78, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 73 75, Jorge Benedetti (Col) 72 76.
149 Claude Grenier (Aut) 74 75, Andreas Christ (Aut) (am) 79 70.
150 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 76 74, Jose Filipe Lima (Por) 73 77, Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 76 74, Benjamin Palanszki (Hun) (am) 74 76, Adrien Mork (Fra) 76 74
151 Michael Moser (Aut) 76 75
152 Morten Hedegaard (Den) 73 79, Wolfgang Rieder (Aut) (am) 72 80
153 Mark Pilkington 75 78.
154 Jurgen Maurer (Aut) 75 79.
155 David Dixon 79 76.
157 Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 79 78.
158 Jonathan Lomas 78 80.
159 Thomas Ortner (Aut) (am) 77 82.
Withdrawn: Shiv Kapur (Ind) Retired: Marcel Siem (Ger)

BILL LONGMUIR CLICKETY-CLICKS WITH A 66 IN
JERSEY SENIORS CLASSIC OPENING ROUND

By COLIN CALLANDER
European Seniors Tour Press Officer

Anglo-Scot Bill Longmuir took Route 66 right to the top of the leaderboard during the first round of the Jersey Seniors Classic at La Moye Golf Club today.
The Scot’s flawless six under par round of 66 sees him go into the second round two shots ahead of England’s Carl Mason and Bob Larratt and three in front of Argentina’s Adan Sowa, Englishmen Tony Allen, Gordon Brand senior and Andrew Reynolds and defending champion Guillermo Encina who all carded rounds of 69.
Meanwhile Sam Torrance battled back from five over par after five holes to register a one under par 71 that left him in a large group that also included Jersey’s own Tommy Horton.
Longmuir started his round with a birdie on the 514yd par-5 second. He picked up further shots on the 478yd sixth and par-4 seventh to go out in 33. Bill then cruised home with further birdies at the 11th, 13th and 16th.
“That is the best round I have played all year,” said Longmuir whose last victory on the European Seniors Tour was at the 2005 Scandinavian Senior Open.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens but today I holed a few and also got a bit of luck when I misread a 30-footer on the seventh only to see it curl round and drop into the hole. You know it’s your day when that sort of thing happens.”
Mason and Larratt both played steadily for their 68s but the same cannot be said for Torrance who took 8 at the 416yd par-4 fourth and a bogey 5 at the 437yd fifth but then eagled the sixth and birdied the seventh to get to the turn in two over par 38.
Torrance’s second nine proved to be almost as adventurous. The former Ryder Cup captain got back to one under with three consecutive birdies on the 11th, 12th and 13th, handed them back with bogeys on the 14th and 15th but then bounced back again with birdies on the 16th and 18th.
“The card doesn’t look very pretty but my golf was nowhere near as bad as it might look,” said Torrance.
“I did hit a couple of bad shots on the fourth but the rest was pretty steady and it could have been even better because I left my birdie putt on the 17th literally in the jaws of the hole.”
Jersey resident Tommy Horton missed last year’s Jersey Seniors Classic due to ill heath but bounced back with a fine one under par 71 that leaves him in touch with the leaders going into the weekend.
Horton started on the 10th and proceeded to record 12 successive pars before dropping a shot at the fourth and responding with birdies on the sixth and the eighth.
“I played very well,” said the man who has secured a record 23 titles on the European Seniors Tour. “It’s coming back. Every week seems to be that little bit better than the last.”
English stockbroker, Algie Rice, holds the lead after the second round of the amateur event. In the first round Rice, a 16 handicapper from Thorndon Park Golf Club in Essex, carded an 11 under par 61 in partnership with professional, Angel Fernandez from Argentina.
Twenty four hours later he added a 62 alongside England’s Denis Durnian. His 21 under par aggregate of 123 left him five shots ahead Martyn Ball, Ed Kimber and Stewart Crossby. Ball is a former county cricketer for Gloucester. He now works for Ginn Europe.
66 B Longmuir (Sco).
68 C. Mason (Eng), B Larratt (Eng).
69 A. Sowa (Arg), G Encina (Chi), A Reynolds (Eng), G Brand sen (Eng).
70 M Poxon (Eng), T Allen (Eng), B Cameron (Eng), S Owen (NZ).
71 D. Good (Aus), D Cambridge (Jam), T Horton (Eng), P Leonard (NIr), A Fernandez (Arg), S Torrance (Sco), B Lincoln (SAf).
72 B Shearer (Aus), T Gale (Aus), I Mosey (Eng), M Gregson (Eng), R Drummond (Sco), P Oakley (US).
73 D. Stirling (Eng), C Defoy (Wal), T. Rastall (Eng), H. Carbonetti (Arg), G Ralph (Eng), M Gray (Sco), B. Malley (US).
74 J Bruner (US), G. Levenson (SAf), D.J. Russell (Eng), S. Ginn (Aus), E Rodriguez (Spa), J Benda (US), G Townhill (Eng), B Smit (SAf), G Watine (Fra), J. Mashego (SAf), D Creamer (Eng)
75 D Merriman (Aus), D. Johnson (US), M. Clayton (Aus), J. Heggarty (Ire), C Maltman (Sco). P Terravanian (USA), M. Wolseley (NIr), G Cali (Ita), T Dill (US) , B. Heuchan (Can)
76 M Ferguson (Aus), D. O’Sullivan (Ire), B McColl (Scot), J.P. Sallat (Fr), R Stelton (US) . R Carrasco (USA), H. Woodrome (USA), J Chillas (Sco).
77 A Mew (T & T), D. Durnian (Eng), T. Charnley (Eng), J. Rhodes (Eng)
78 G Wintz (USA), P. Dugenny (Fr), J. Lapsley (NZ), B. Hardwick (Can), M Miller (Sco).
79 N Clarke (SAf), A Garrido (Spa), M. Bembridge (US).
80 S Wild (Eng).
82 B Lendzion (US).

CHRIS KELLY SLASHES THREE SHOTS OFF

CAWDER RECORD WITH 10-UNDER 60

Cawder Golf Club tournament professional Chris Kelly slashed three strokes off his home course pro record with a brilliant round of 10-under-par 60 today.
His unblemished scorecard included an inward half of seven-under-par 28 which might well be a PGA Scottish Region tournament record for nine holes.
Kelly, who won the £1,127 top prize in the Cawder Golf Club pro-am by three strokes, had an eagle 3 at the 12th and eight birdies, at the first, fifth, seventh, 11th,15th, 16th, 17th and 18th.
It is the second Tartan Tour course record in a matter of days. Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) won the Pollok pro-am with a 10-under-par 61 on Wednesday.
Kelly’s nearest rival was Stephen Gray (Hayston) who equalled the old record of 63.
It was Chris Kelly’s day of days. He also led the Wholesale Domestic team of Derek Toward (8), Brian Toward (12) and Alex McPherson (6) to victory with a net score of 15-under-par 55.

LEADING PROFESSIONALS
Par 70
60 C Kelly (Cawder).
63 S Gray (Hayston).
64 C Doak (unatt).
68 G McFarlane (Clober), J McKinnon (Irvine), I Pender (unatt).
69 P McKechnie (Braid Hills), P Brookes (Pitreavie), D Robertson (Czech Design), C Lee (All Swing Golf Centre), G Collinson (Esporta Dougalston), C Gillies (Kingsfield).
TEAM WINNERS
55 C Kelly (Cawder) & Wholesale Domestic: D Toward (8), B Toward (12), A McPherson (6).

ends

UNITED STATES LEAD 12-4 IN PALMER
CUP WITH EIGHT SINGLES TO GO

United States followed up their 8-0 whitewash of the Europeans in the first day singles by taking the second morning’s foursomes 3-1 to lead 12-4 with eight singles to conclude the Palmer Cup students’ amateur international golf match at Caves Valley Golf Club near Baltimore, Maryland.
European hopes had been high of retaining the trophy they won by a record margin at Prestwick last year after they won the opening four-ball matches 3-1. But the Americans got their act together in the singles and were still in rampant mood on the second day.
Stirling University student Gordon Yates and Denmark’s Mark Haastru lost their foursomes tie by 4 and 3 to Jonathan Moore and Webb Simpson.

Results so far:
UNITED STATES 12, EUROPE 4
American names first
First day
FOUR-BALLS:: US 1, Europe 3.

SINGLES (8-0)
J Lovemark bt R Davies 4 and 2.
L List bt J Campillo 2 holes.
B Horschel bt G Shaw 2 holes
B Harman bt P Oriol 4 and 2.
J Moore bt G Yates 2 and 1.
W Simpson bt J Blixt 2 and 1.
C Kirk bt M Haastrup 1 hole,
D Johnson bt O Floren 4 and 2.

Second day
FOURSOMES (3-1)
Harman & Horschel bt Campillo & Oriol 5 and 4.
List & Lovemark lost to Blixt & Floren 5 and 4.
Moore & Simpson bt Haastrup & Yates 4 and 3.
Johnson & Kirk bt Davies & Shaw 2 and 1.

WOLSTENHOLME LEADS BY TWO SHOTS
IN EURO MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

Title-holder Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs) will start Saturday's third and final round with a two-shot advantage in the European men's mid-amateur championship at the Domaine Imperial Golf Club course on the shores of Lake Geneva.
Wolstenholme, who will be 47 in August, shot a second-round 69 for a three-under-par tally of 141. His nearest challenger was Marc Mazur (Germany) who had a 67 for 143.
The minimum age requirement is 35 years, an example set by the European Golf Association which should be followed by all the governing bodies who run "mid-amateur" events with 25 years as the minimum age.

LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
141 G Wolstenholme (Eng) 72 69.
143 M Mazur (Ger) 76 67.
145 U Schulte (Ger) 75 70.
147 P Griffiths (Eng) 74 73.
148 K Bornemann (Ire) 76 72.
149 F Wattier (Fra) 72 76.
150 M Kjellgren (Swe) 74 76, R Heath (Aus) 80 70, M Wharton (Eng) 76 74, T Krieger (Ger) 74 76.
Other scores:
155 M Huebl (Aut) 71 84.
164 G Walker (Sco) 82 82.

URQUHART MISSES CHALLENGE TOUR
CUT BY 11 SHOTS IN GERMANY

Northern Open title-holder Murray Urquhart from Inverness missed the halfway cut by the wide margin of 11 strokes in the European Challenge Tour event, the Vodafone Challenge, at G&CC An Der Elfrather Muhle, Dusseldorf today.
Urquhart had his adventures in a first-day 75 when he lurched from an eagle to a double bogey but there were no bright spots at all on his second-round, nine-over-par 81 for a 36-hole total of 14-over 156.
Murray was out in 39 and home in seven-over 42 with a triple bogey 6 at the short 14th and a double bogey 6 at the 16th.
Scots who survived the cut were George Murray from Anstruther on 142 (71-71), new rookie Elliot Saltman from Dalkeith and David Patrick (Mortonhall), both on level par 144, and, late in the day, they were joined by Andrew McArthur (Windyhill) on 145. For most of the afternoon the former Scottish amateur champion had looked to be one shot too many to make it but the late finishers' scores deteriorated and enabled Andrew to get through on the limit mark of one over par.
Murray had his second double bogey of the tournament, at the 12th, but birdies at the fourth, ninth, 13th and 18th helped him return a 71.
Saltman had only one birdie, at the ninth, in his second-round 74 while Patrick did well to recover from a double-bogey 6 at his first very hole with birdies at the fifth, sixth, 17th and 18th for a 73.
Ed Thomson (150) joined Murray Urquhart (156) on the road home to Scotland.
Halfway leader by an astonishing six shots is Sweden's Magnus Carlsson who had a dream round of 10-under-par 62 (31-31) for a 36-hole tally of 13-under-par 131. Carlsson had four eagles, five birdies, one double bogey and two bogeys on a scorecard to remember.

LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2 x 72). 6,859yd.
131 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 69 62.
137 Anthony Tarchetti (Eng) 68 69, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 72 65, Juan Abbate (Arg) 70 67.
138 Adam Gee (Eng) 69 69; Joost Luiten (Net) 70 68 ;Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 68 70.
139 Simon Lilly (Eng) 68 71; Ricardo Santos (Por) 72 67; Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 67 72; Jamie Little (Eng) 69 70; Marco Crespi (Ita) 73 66 ; Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) (am) 67 72.
140 Tino Schuster (Ger) 72 68; Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 68 ; Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 68; Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 74 66; Gary Clark (Eng) 71 69 ; Gareth Wright (Wal) 69 71.
141 Jason Kelly (Nor) 70 71; Kieran Staunton (Eng) 71 70; Matt Ford (Eng) 70 71; Anders Schmidt Hansen (Den) 69 72; Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 75 66 ; James Morrison (Eng) 72 69; Kasper Linnet Jorgensen (Den) 72 69 ; Hugo Santos (Por) 71 70; Julio Zapata (Arg) 70 71; John Mellor (Eng) 69 72 ; Inder Van Weerelt (Net) 73 68; Alexander Knappe (Ger) (am) 70 71,
142 Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 71 71; Zane Scotland (Eng) 69 73; Jorge Bartolome (Spa) 73 69; Mark Laskey (Wal) 73 69; Tim Dykes (Wal) 72 70; James Kamte (Rsa) 71 71; Wil Besseling (Ned) 75 67; Carlos Balmaseda (Esp) 71 71 ; George Murray (Sco) 71 71; Robert Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 70.
143 Chris Hanson (Eng) 71 72; Ben Willman (Eng) 72 71; Tuomas Tuovinen (Fin) 71 72; Pablo Del Grosso (Arg) 69 74; Manuel Merizalde (Col) 73 70; Ian Keenan (Eng) 70 73; Gareth Paddison (NZ) 71 72.
144 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 75 69; Carlos Del Moral (Esp) 74 70; Manuel Kempe (Ger) 72 72; Mickael Dieu (Fra) 71 73 ; Kariem Baraka (Ger) 70 74; Jordi Garcia Del Moral (Spa) 75 69; Benjamin Miarka (Ger) 75 69 ; Branden Grace (Rsa) 76 68; David Patrick (Sco) 71 73; Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 75, Thomas Nielsen (Den) 68 76; Elliot Saltman (Sco) 70 74.
145 Marc Perez Gelma (Esp) 75 70; Niels Kraaij (Net) 69 76; Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 74; Paolo Terreni (Ita) 71 74; Sebastian L Saavedra (Arg) 69 76; Klas Eriksson (Swe) 73 72; Andrew McArthur (Sco) 73 72; Marcel Haremza (Ger) 76 69 ; Jan-Are Larsen (Nor) 72 73; Ralf Geilenberg (Ger) 75 70 ; Robert Mcguirk (Eng) 73 72.
MISSED THE CUT
146 Michael Hoey (NIr) 70 76; Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 76 70; Tomas Jesus Muñoz (Spa) 73 73; Diego Borrego (Esp) 74 72; Tiago Cruz (Por) 74 72 ; James H Williams (Wal) 70 76; Alejandro Villavicencio (Gtm) 75 71; Didier De Vooght (Bel) 77 69; Soren Juul (Den) 78 68; Allen John (Ger) (am) 76 70.
147 James Ruth (Eng) 77 70; Justin Brink (Ire) 74 73 ; Sean Whiffin (Eng) 73 74; Cenydd Mills (Wal) 73 74; Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 71 76 ; Julien Clément (Sui) 73 74; Liam Bond (Wal) 70 77; John Boerdonk (Ned) 78 69; Nilson Cabrera (Par) 74 73; Paul Dwyer (Eng) 79 68; Daniel Wardrop (Eng) 75 72.
148 Jamie Elson (Eng) 74 74; Jose Luis Adarraga Gomez (Esp) 80 68 ; Jerome Theunis (Bel) 70 78; Antti Ahokas (Fin) 71 77; Simon Robinson (Eng) 77 71; Lasse Jensen (Den) 75 73; Alessio Bruschi (Ita) 74 74; Benjamin Schlichting (Ger) 76 72 ; Jacques Chevalier (Fra) 70 78; Tobias Dier (Ger) 75 73; Robin Swane (Ned) 71 77; Phillip Westermann (Am) (Ger) 77 71.
149 Lee Corfield (Eng) 75 74; Alan Bihan (Fra) 74 75; Adam Constable (Wal) 74 75; Paul Nilbrink (Nor) 76 73; Christoffer Lange (Den) 77 72; Matthew Tottey (Wal) 70 79; Van Phillips (Eng) 78 71.
150 Edward Thomson (Sco) 76 74; Robert Coles (Eng) 77 73; Stuart Cage (Eng) 75 75; Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 78 72; Alex Mcguinness (Ken) 72 78; Kim Kristoffersen (Nor) 73 77.
151 Sam Osborne (Eng) 76 75; Sean Doherty (Eng) 78 73 ; Max Kramer (Ger) 74 77; Kevin Harper (Eng) 79 72; Tobias Schwartzer (Ger) 73 78; Miguel Angel Duque (Esp) 75 76; Colm Moriarty (Ire) 77 74; Toni Karjalainen (Fin) 77 74.
152 Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 74 78; Gary Birch jun (Ger) 81 71; Christian Reimbold (Ger) 77 75; Raphaël De Sousa (Sui) 72 80;Gustavo Acosta (Arg) 81 71; Niki Ferrari (Ger) 75 77; Frederik Schulte (Am) (Ger) 74 78.
153 Niklas Abrahamsson (Swe) 77 76.
154 Michiel Bothma (SAf) 84 70; Matt Dearden (Wal) 78 76; Manoel Willems (Bel) 80 74; Dennis Küpper (Ger) 80 74; Marc Farry (Fra) 77 77; Marius Junker (Am) (Ger) 77 77; Gabriel Canizares (Esp) 69 86; Carlos De Corral (Esp) 74 81; Kalle Edberg (Swe) 78 77; Stephen Browne (Ire) 78 77.
156 Alex R Sundsten (Nor) 79 77, Murray Urquhart (Sco) 75 81, Mark Grabow Schytter (Den) 76 80.
158 Wolfgang Huget (Ger) 78 80.
159 Richard Treis (Ger) 78 81.
161 Nicolas Meitinger (Ger) 86 75.
162 Florian Ruprecht (Aut) 80 82, Matthew Brunyard 80 82, David Astin (Eng) 87 75.
164 Kevin Berger (Ger) 86 78.

ABERDEEN & DISTRICT JUNIOR PENNANT LEAGUE RESULTS

Latest results in the Aberdeen & District Junior Pennant League, sponsored by Paul Lawrie Junior Golf Development:

OLDMELDRUM 6, ALFORD 0.
INCHMARLO 2 1/2, HAZLEHEAD 3 1/2.
AUCHMILL 0, MURCAR LINKS 6.
CRUDEN BAY 1/2, PETERHEAD 5 1/2.
McDONALD ELLON 3 1/2, PORTLETHEN 2 1/2.
WESTHILL 5 1/2, BANCHORY 1/2.

STORM HITS KLM LADIES OPEN, KATHRYN
ONE OF 60 STILL TO FINISH FIRST ROUND

Kathryn Imrie was one of 60 players unable to complete the first round of the KLM Ladies Open at Eindhovensche Golf Club today because of a thunder and lightning storm over the course.
Play was suspended at 4.20pm and the players did not return.
Kathryn, pictured above, was two over par for the 10 holes she played, having run up a double bogey 6 at the second and dropped shots at the first and 10th. She birdied the long fourth and long ninth in 39 to the turn.
Clare Queen finished with a one-under-par 71 - seven shots behind France's Gwladys Nocera who broke the course record with an eight-under-par 64 to be the clubhouse leader by three shots.
Lynn Kenny matched the par of 72 with birdies at the fifth, ninth and long 15th. She shed strokes to par at the second, 13th and 16th in halves of 35 and 37.
New Zealander Liz McKinnon, married to a Highlander and based near Inverness, had been playing well this season - until today. She slumped to an eight-over-par 80 with halves of 38 and 42. She completed an unhappy day with a triple bogey 7 at the last.
CLUBHOUSE LEADERS
Par 72
64 Gwladys Nocera (Fra).
67 Ludivine Kreutz (Fra), Christl Boeljon (Net) (am).
68 Ashleigh Simon (SAf).
69 Georgina Simpson (Eng), Rebecca Coakley (Ire), Anja Monke (Ger).
Other scores:
71 Clare Queen (Carrick at Cameron House).
72 Lynn Kenny (Archerfield Links).
80 Liz McKinnon (NZ).

RAMSAY PLAYS WITH TIGER AND TITLE-HOLDER IN FIRST
TWO ROUNDS OF UNITED STATES OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Richie Ramsay, holder of the United States amateur championship, gets the traditional plum draw in the first two rounds of the 2007 US Open championship which starts off at Oakmont Country Club, Pennsylvania next Thursday.
The Royal Aberdeen Golf Club honorary member will partner Australian Geoff Ogivly, winner of the title at Winged Foot 12 months ago, and Tiger Woods, US Open champion in 2000 and 2002.
They will tee off at 7.55am from the first hole on Thursday and 1.25pm at the 10th hole in the second round on Friday.
Colin Montgomerie has been given Chris DiMarco (US) and Tim Clark (South Africa) as partners at 7.33am from the 10th hole on Thursday and 1.03pm from the first in the second round.
Martin Laird from Glasgow, a winner on the US Nationwide Tour this season and the third Scot in the US Open field, will play with amateur Alex Prugh from Spokane, Washington State, and Todd Fisher from California. They will tee off at 12.52pm at the first on Thursday and at 7.11am from the 10th on Friday.

KILPATRICK DOING HIS BEST TO FORCE HIS
NAME ON TO THE SELECTORS' LIST FOR
WALKER CUP AT ROYAL CO DOWN

His name does not figure on the R&A's short leet of possible selections but rising Ulster star Richard Kilpatrick has his eyes firmly on a place at September's Walker Cup at Royal County Down.
The Banbridge player outclassed the field with an eight-stroke win in the East of Ireland championship at Baltray this week.And the 25-year-old feels that there is much more to come as he closes out his days as an amateur before turning professional at the end of the summer.
"Hopefully another win would turn a few heads on the Walker Cup selection committee," he said.
"Obviously it would be great to be a part of things at Royal County Down before I go to the qualifying school. Another performance like the East of Ireland would I think put me in the reckoning."
A 23-man provisional squad has been named for the Walker Cup and that doesn't at the moment include Kilpatrick.But that's not to say he can't force his way in by sheer weight of results as the squad was formed to give potential team members every available chance to get familiar with Royal Co Down.
Kilpatrick is more than familiar with the set-up there. He heads to the Irish amateur championship in Cork this weekend as one of the favourites and still has the North of Ireland, the British and European amateur events to come.
Victory in either the British or European, currently held by Holywood's Rory McIlroy, could very well be enough to catapult him into the European team for September's date with the Americans.
Whatever happens he will is going to the European Tour qualifying school in the hope of gaining his full European Tour card for next season.
"That's the plan but if I don't earn my card I will probably head back to America and join one of the mini-tours there rather than the EuroPro tour here," he said.
"Playing in Florida over the winter made a huge difference to me, but the most important thing I learned was more attitude than anything else.
"I'm probably playing the same as I was two or three years ago but the results are so much better."
He spend his time at the Lake Nona resort, giving him the chance to play with fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell, Trevor Immelman and 2003 Open winner Ben Curtis.
"The difference with these guys is how good they are from 100 yards in. They don't panic when they are in trouble and they don't end up with double bogeys," he said.
"Playing with them really helped and it's changes my game around."

RITSON SMITH ABERDEEN PENNANT LEAGUE RESULTS

Thursday evening's Ritson Smith Aberdeen & District Pennant League results:

Newmachar 1, Murcar Links 5.
Peterculter 6, East Aberdeenshire 0.
Portlethen 3 1/2, Royal Aberdeen 2 1/2.
Westhill 3, Craibstone 3.

MONTGOMERIE MISSES AUSTRIAN OPEN CUT BY A MILE - NOW FOR US OPEN

Colin Montgomerie's prospects of US Open glory next week were rock bottom after he crashed out of the Austrian Open today to extend the longest winless streak of his career.
Montgomerie, pictured right smiling (which he certainly wasn't today!) could only add a 74 to his opening 73 for a five-over-par total of 147 at Fontana Golf Club, at least five shots too many to make the halfway cut.
It was not the sort of preparation the Scot was looking for with next week's second major of the season in mind.
Second at Winged Foot last year after taking a double bogey on the 72nd hole to lose by one shot, Montgomerie had been looking for a good performance before returning to Oakmont, where he lost a play-off to Ernie Els in 1994.
Instead, he headed for an early exit after a round of three birdies, two bogeys and two double bogeys, pausing only to say: "I'm hitting the fairways but nothing is happening. I can't make a score and I'm getting used to it."
Starting the day at two over, Montgomerie made the perfect start with a birdie from 20 feet on the 10th, his opening hole. Another birdie attempt from similar range narrowly missed on the next, however, and the Scot was beginning to get annoyed when he pulled a short birdie putt wide from just six feet on the 12th.
There was much worse to follow as the eight-time European No. 1 ran up a double bogey on the next, the 13th certainly proving unlucky for the 43-year-old, whose last victory came in Hong Kong in December 2005.
Attacking the pin after a perfect drive, Montgomerie's approach flew over the green and left him with a tough chip from heavy rough, which he managed to move just a few feet.
From there, his fourth shot ran so far past the hole that it was still his turn to play ahead of the birdie putts of playing partners Paul Broadhurst and Miguel Angel Jimenez - both of which eventually went in to rub salt into the wound.
Montgomerie repaired some of the damage with a birdie on the 15th, only to bogey the next two holes and drop back to four over par.
He found the front edge of the par-5 18th in two, but for the second day in succession three-putted for par and was halfway to the first tee as his playing partners putted out.
The final nail in the coffin came on the third when he duffed his approach into a greenside bunker to run up a double bogey 6, and his frustration was complete when a long-range eagle putt on the last stopped an inch short of the hole.
At that point, Swedish duo Pelle Edberg and Steven Jeppesen and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez shared the clubhouse lead on nine under par, two ahead of Wales' Garry Houston.
Darren Clarke is hovering on the projected cut-off point on one over but is one under for his second round through five holes.

EARLY CLUBHOUSE SCORES

SECOND ROUND

Par 144 (2 x 72)

33 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 66, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 67 66, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 65
135 Garry Houston 72 63, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 68, David Park 69 66
136 Richard Finch 66 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 65, Shaun Webster 65 71
137 Stephen Gallacher 69 68
138 Matjaz Gojcic (Slo) 68 70, Sion Bebb 70 68, Ian Garbutt 71 67, Gary Orr 71 67
139 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 69, Francois Calmels (Fra) 66 73, Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 72, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 69 70
140 Sam Little 73 67, Oliver Fisher 68 72, Robert-Jan Derksen (Net) 70 70, Graeme McDowell 71 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 70
141 Simon Nash (Aus) 73 68, Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 72, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71
142 Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 72, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 68, Steve Alker (NZ) 69 73, Danny Denison 66 76, Paul Broadhurst 75 67
143 Andrew Coltart 72 71, Martin Maritz (SAf) 75 68, James Hepworth 72 71, Marcus Higley 73 70, Oskar Bergman (Swe) 72 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 74
144 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 74, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 75 69, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 71 73, Matthew Richardson 73 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 74, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 72 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 74 70
145 Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 74 71, Thomas Kogler (Aut) 71 74
146 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 75, Niki Zitny (Aut) 74 72, Peter Lawrie 77 69, Uli Weinhandl (Aut) 71 75
147 Colin Montgomerie 73 74, Lee James 73 74, John Wade (Aus) 74 73, Ross McGowan 70 77
148 Gary Murphy 70 78, Andrew Raitt 74 74, Gary Emerson 75 73, Andre Bossert (Sui) 75 73, Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut) 73 75, Florian Praegant (Aut) 74 74, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 78 70, Mark Davis 75 73, Tim Milford 76 72
149 Claude Grenier (Aut) 74 75, Andreas Christ (Aut) (am) 79 70.
150 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 76 74, Jose Filipe Lima (Por) 73 77, Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 76 74, Benjamin Palanszki (Hun) (am) 74 76.
151 Michael Moser (Aut) 76 75.
152 Morten Hedegaard (Den) 73 79, (x) Wolfgang Rieder (Aut) (am) 72 80.

153 Mark Pilkington (Wal) 75 78.
155 David Dixon 79 76

REYNOLDS AND SQUIRES IN STRAIGHT FIGHT
FOR ENGLISH SENIOR AMATEUR CROWN

With one round left, the English men’s senior amateur championship at Enville in Staffordshire looks to be a straight fight between senior international team-mates Chris Reynolds and Alan Squires.
Reynolds, 58-year-old captain of Littlestone Golf Club, fired a best-of-the-week 68 and was joined on one-over-par 143 by Squires from Lancashire with a second round 70, both over the Highgate Course.
The pair are five strokes clear of Sam Smale from Royal St George’s in Kent and six ahead of the rest of the field.
Out in the first match on Day 2 at 8.30am, Reynolds’ 68 contained seven birdies, while Squires had four in his 70.
“That’s my best ever return in the 'English' and it would have been better if my five-footer at the last hadn’t horseshoed out,” said Reynolds, who made his international debut in last year‘s senior home internationals at Dunbar.
“It was lovely to be out first because you could set an even pace. Also we were round in three-and-three quarter hours.” Despite his high placing, Squires, 58, was not entirely happy with his form. “I played OK but I was fighting a bit with my game,” said the man from Oldham.
“I only hit my driver a couple of times because although this is a good course, it’s pretty tight around here so you have to put the ball in the right places.”
Smale, 61, from Pinner in Middlesex, had a second successive 74, this time over the Highgate, while former champion David Lane went round the Lodge Course in 73 for 149 to lie fourth. Defending champion Doug Arnold is among a large group on 151 after shooting 78 over the Lodge.
“I’ve got a bad back and finishing with a double-bogey 6 didn’t help,” he said. “But I’m not too disappointed as I’ll be there tomorrow.”
Four-time champion Roy Smethurst is also on 151 after a 76 on the Lodge. “I frittered away too many shots and I also took 6 on the last,” he admitted
One of the best recoveries was produced by Kent man Chris Buckley, who shot 72 over the Lodge following a first round 81. His 153 was easily within the cut limit which came at 158 with 66 players surviving for today's final round.
Spare a thought for David Slingsby from Hallowes who experienced a Hamlet moment on the par-3 first hole on the Lodge Course. After hitting his tee shot in a bunker, he then took 13 strokes to escape, eventually finishing with a 16, eventually signing for a 96.
For full and final scores visit the Championships Section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org

LEADING TWO-ROUND TOTALS
143 Chris Reynolds (Littlestone) 68 75, Alan Squires (Oldham) 70 73.
148 Sam Smale (Royal St Reorge's) 74 74.
149 David Lane (Goring & Streatley) 76 73.
150 John Jermine (Sunningdale) 73 77, Campbell Boal (Broadstone) 74 76, Jonathan Hubbard (Sunningdale) 75 75, Martin McKenna (Elsenham) 76 74.
151 Bob Wallace (Crosland Heath) 72 79, Douglas Arnold (Copthorne) 73 78, Bob Knott (Churston) 73 78, Roy Smethurst (Crewe) 75 78, David Glover (Droitwich) 77 74, Alan Slack (Grange P)ark) 77 74, Howard Moxon (Royoal Cinque Ports) 77 74.
152 Andrew Morrison (Appleby) 77 75, Peter Groocock (Blackmoor) 78 74.
153 Kevin Ballinger (Abu Dhabi) 76 77, Grahgam Steel (Moor Park) 78 75, Gordon Reynolds (Ludlow) 79 74, Chris Buckley (Woodlands Manor) 81 72, Thomas Coughlan (Walmley) 81 72.

Press Release

ROYAL LIVERPOOL BAGS THREE AWARDS

The Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake is celebrating the winning of three prestigious awards.
The club, which last year hosted the 135th Open championship, has been honoured for its contribution to tourism and the sporting life of Merseyside.
The Wirral Tourism Awards for Excellence gave Royal Liverpool the Wirral Tourism Ambassador Award; the Mersey Partnership Tourism Awards named the Open Championship as the Best Tourism Experience of the Year; while BBC Radio Merseyside delighted the historic Club with its coveted Scouseology Award for Sport.
Back on the Open rota after four decades, Royal Liverpool was the setting for one of the finest Open championships of all time. Hundreds of thousands of spectators and tens of millions of television viewers watched as the greatest players in the world got to grips with classic links golf on a course that demanded enormous imagination. It was Tiger Woods, of course, who navigated his way to a memorable victory to win the title and lift the Claret Jug.
The secretary of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Chris Moore, said: “An enormous amount of hard work by many people and bodies, together with the enthusiasm of the local community, combined to bring The Open back to Hoylake and then make it one of the greatest Championships ever. These awards are a reflection of that great collective effort and support.”

Clackmannan County championship

ALLOA PLAYERS MARCH ON IN MATCH-PLAY

FROM HUGH HUNTER

Using home advantage to the maximum, Alloa golfers took total control of the quarter-finals in the Clackmannan county men's match-play championship.
Closest match involved newcomer David Milloy against Tulliallan’s John Maxwell. Milloy scored a hard-fought win at the 19th after being one up at the turn.
The other three semi-finalists, all established county players, won through after three-hole leads after nine holes, including the defending champion, Craig O’Connor, who demonstrated his determination to retain the trophy with another fine win.

Results:
QUARTER-FINALS
David Milloy (Alloa) beat John Maxwell (Tulliallan) at 19th.
Ian Ross (Alloa) beat Steven Horne (Tulliallan) 4 and 3.
Jamie Aitken (Alloa) beat Phil Hendry (Alloa) 2 holes.
Craig O’Connor (Alloa) beat Ross Benvie (Braehead) 5 and 3.

Semi-final line up at Braehead:
Milloy v Ross, Aitken v O’Connor.

GOOD DAY FOR JANICE, CATRIONA AND
MHAIRI AS LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP
STARTS IN MARYLAND

It was a good day for the Scots in the first round of the McDonald's LPGA championship at Havre De Grace, Maryland.
Janice Moodie had a 70 to be alongside Annika Sorenstam in joint 13th place on 70.
Catriona Matthew and Mhairi McKay both had 71s to be joint 20th.
Korean players dominated the top of the scoreboard on 67 with Kim Saiki-Maloney and Birdie Kim sharing the lead with Angela Park.
Janice Moodie had a double-bogey 7 as early as the long second hole but she hit back immediately with a birdie at the third and a couple more at the eighth and ninth to be out in one-under-par 35.
The Scot actually made it four birdies in a row with sub-par figures at the 10th and 11th. That was as good as it got for Janice. She dipped with bogeys at the 14th and 15th and got only one of them back with a birdie at the 18th.
Catriona deviated from par only three times in a rock-steady round. She had a birdie at the second, a bogey at the fifth and a birdie at the eighth. She parred the last 10 holes.
Mhairi had the same kind of card. She bogeyed the first and birdied the sixth and ninth. She parred her way in.
Michelle Wie was sharing 47th place on 73.
+Switch over to www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk for more details about Michelle Wie's round.

FIRST ROUND LEADERS
67 Kim Saiki-Maloney, Angela Park, Birdie Kim.
68 Karrie Webb, Morgan Pressel, Stacy Prammanasudh, Laura Davies.
69 Brittany Lincicome, Pat Hurst, Maria Hjorth, Suzann Pettersen, Giulia Seregas.Other scores:
70 Annika Sorenstam, Janice Moodie (jt 13th).
71 Catriona Matthew, Mhairi McKay (jt 20th).
73 Michele Wie (jt 47th)

FIRST-ROUND SCORES IN US PGA TOUR EVENT

Scores from the Stanford St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind at Memphis:

FIRST ROUND
Par 70. Players from US unless stated.
67 Adam Scott (Aus), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe).
68 Retief Goosen (Rsa), Brian Gay.
69 Duffy Waldorf, Gavin Coles (Aus), Scott Verplank.
70 Brian Davis, Andrew Buckle (Aus), Darron Stiles, David Toms
John Daly, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Justin Leonard, Robert Allenby (Aus)
Dean Wilson, Jose Coceres (Arg), Brandt Snedeker.
71 Charles Warren, Jeff Overton, Eric Axley, Steve Lowery, Bob May
Steve Elkington (Aus), Will MacKenzie, George McNeill, Briny Baird
Stephen Ames (Can)
72 Bryant Mackellar, Woody Austin, John Mallinger, Heath Slocum
Vijay Singh (Fij), B.J Staten, Sean O'Hair, Shaun Micheel, Chris Stroud
Joe Ogilvie, Cliff Kresge, Bob Tway, Anthony Kim, Scott Gutschewski
Ryan Armour, Jason Schultz
73 Jeff Gove, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Bob Estes, Joe Durant
Craig Lile (Rsa), Brett Quigley, Ryan Palmer, Dicky Pride, Bob Heintz
Tim Herron, John Merrick, Vance Veazey, Chris DiMarco, Michael Putnam
Michael Allen, Jeff Brehaut, Fred Funk, Parker McLachlin
Charlie Wi (Kor), Jarrod Lyle (Aus), Michael Boyd, Jeff Maggert
Arjun Atwal (Ind), Kyle Reifers, Cameron Beckman, Glen Day, Olin Browne
74 Tom Byrum, Vaughn Taylor, Tag Ridings, Billy Mayfair, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa)
Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn), Stephen Leaney (Aus), Jim Gallagher Jnr
Chris Tidland, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Bill Haas, Tim Petrovic
Douglas Labelle, Steve Flesch, Lee Janzen, Brian Bateman, Hunter Mahan
Billy Andrade, Mathew Goggin (Aus), Loren Roberts, DJ Brigman
Camilo Villegas (Col), Padraig Harrington
75 Bart Bryant, J.P. Hayes, Harrison Frazar, Steve Wheatcroft, Hank Kuehne
Nathan Green (Aus), Mike Weir (Can), Craig Bowden, Pablo Martin
Stuart Appleby (Aus), Kent Jones, Jason Dufner, Matt Kuchar
Steve Allan (Aus), Ty Harris, Troy Matteson, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn)
D.J. Trahan, Rich Barcelo
76 Robert Gamez, Brendon De Jonge, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Jim Rutledge (Can)
Brent Geiberger, Payton Osborn, Alex Cejka (Ger), Kevin Na (Kor), Ken Duke
Boo Weekley
77 Jin Park (Kor), Bernhard Langer (Ger), Kirk Triplett, David Branshaw
Marco Dawson, John Senden (Aus), Jerry Smith, Kevin Stadler
Mark Calcavecchia, Ted Tryba, Johnson Wagner, Paul Sheehan (Aus)
78 Philip Francis, Paul Goydos, Len Mattiace, Bubba Watson
Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)
79 Paul Stankowski, Chris Couch, Steven Bowditch (Aus), Todd Hamilton
80 Matt Hendrix, Michael Sim (Aus), Bubba Dickerson, Tom Pernice Jnr.
81 Kevin Burgin, Tripp Isenhour
82 Tom Johnson
83 Paul Gow (Aus)
84 Bryce Molder
85 Craig Perks (Nzl)
87 Ted Purdy

UNITED STATES WIN EIGHT SINGLES TO
TAKE PALMER CUP STRANGELHOLD

The United States bounced back from losing the four-balls 3-1 to score an 8-0 whitewash over Europe in the singles and have a strangehold 9-3 lead at the halfway stage of the transatlantic students’ golf match for the Palmer Cup at Caves Valley Golf Club near Baltimore, Maryland.
The American line-up, containing most of the top US college circuit players and including Jamie Lovemark, the new No 1 in the R&A World amateur rankings, had been expected to gain revenge for the record trouncing (19 ½-4 ½) they received in last year’s match over the Prestwick links.
Instead, the Europeans got off to a flying start with Edinburgh-born Welsh Walker Cup player Rhys Davies and Ulsterman Gareth Shaw, team-mates at East Tennessee State University, thrashing Jamie Lovemark (University of Southern California) and Luke List (Vanderbilt) by 9 and 7 in the first tie off the tee.
There was some incredible scoring by the Europeans in this match. Davies birdied the first two holes and then Shaw took over. He birdied the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth. Davies and Shaw were six up after seven and there was no way back for the American pair after that.
The United States levelled it at 1-1 when Brian Harman (Georgia) and Billy Horschel (Florida) won by 3 and 2 against the all-Spanish pairing of Jorge Campillo and Pedo Oriol.
GORDON YATES' MORNING VICTORY
But Europe edged ahead again when the all-Swedish partnership of Jonas Blixt and Oscar Floren won by 2 and 1 over Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina) and Chris Kirk (Georgia).Stirling student Gordon Yates and Mark Hastrup from Denmark then stretched the European lead to 2pt at lunchtime by beating Jonathan Moore (Oklahoma State) and Webb Simpson (Wake Forest) by one hole after being two up with four to play.
Whatever the Americans had for lunch, it transformed them into match-play tigers and they won all eight singles. Lovemark gained revenge for his landslide four-balls defeat by slamming Davies 4 and 2 and Shaw lost his tie by two holes to Billy Horschel.
Gordon Yates had a great struggle with Jonathan Moore before losing by 2 and 1.
Three of the ties went to the 18th green and another two ended at the 17th but the Americans won all the close ones.
There are 12 points to play for on the second and last day – four foursomes and eight singles.United States lead 5-4 in the series with one draw.
First day details:

UNITED STATES 9, EUROPE 3

FOUR-BALLS (1-3)
US names first
L List (Vanderbilt) & J Lovemark (Southern California) lost to R Davies (Wal) & G Shaw (NIr) 9 and 7.
B Harman (Georgia) & B Horschel (Florida) bt J Campillo (Spa) & P Oriol (Spa) 3 and 2.
J Moore (Oklahoma State) & W Simpson (Wake Forest) lost to G Yates (Sco) & M Haastrup (Den) 1 hole.
D Johnson (Coastal Carolina) & C Kirk (Georgia) lost to J Blixt (Swe) & O Floren (Swe) 2 and 1.
SINGLES (8-0)
Lovemark bt Davies 4 and 2.
List bt Campillo 2 holes.
Horschel bt Shaw 2 holes.
Harman bt Oriol 4 and 2.
Moore bt Yates 2 and 1.
Simpson bt Blixt 2 and 1.
Kirk bt Haastrup 1 hole.
Johnson bt Floren 4 and 2.

HARD WORK PAYS OFF WITH FIRST
FULL SCOTLAND CAP FOR
MICHELE THOMSON

Ellon teenager Michele Thomson has been talking about how she feels at being awarded her first full cap for Scotland in next month's European women's team championship in Italy:
“I am really delighted that the Scottish European Team selectors have recognised my achievements and progress this year and look forward to repaying their faith in me with a solid performance in Italy.
"Since my return from the USA (Jacksonville State University) in early January I have worked hard on swing changes with my coach Neil Marr of Meldrum House and with Ross Cameron, PGA professional, and the help and guidance these guys have given me has been absolutely invaluable.
"I believe the changes that they have made to my technique have possibly lost me a little length but in return my accuracy and consistency has improved tenfold and once the putts start to roll in the confidence really starts to build.
"While the golf coaching has been terrific, the Grampian Institute of Sport have also been very supportive since my return from America and special thanks must go to Neil Brown at the RGU fitness centre and physiotherapist Karen Young of Banks of Dee Sports Centre.
"When I look back now it makes me realise that there is so much help here in Scotland and much of it right on our doorstep. All I need now is someone to help with the weather!!
"Since early January I have hit golf balls and trained six days a week, sometimes in the most interesting and challenging weather conditions but it just goes to show, if you put in the effort, the rewards are definitely out there.
"I aim to keep working as hard as ever over the next few months and hopefully more silverware and success will come my way.”

WOLSTENHOLME'S GOOD START TO EURO
MID-AMATEUR TITLE DEFENCE.

Title-holder Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs) made a good start to his defence of the European men's mid-amateur championship at Domaine Imperial Club on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland today.
Over a Pete Dye-designed par-72 lay-out, Walker Cup veteran Wolstenholme shared a one-stroke lead with Frenchman Francois Watter on 72.
The big international field included one Scot, James Deas, who had an 86.


Leading first round scores
Par 72
72 G Wolstenholme (Eng), F Wattier (Fra).
73 D Clerget (Fra), D Heyen (Ger), R Baird (Wal).
74 P Griffiths (Eng), T Krieger (Ger), B Downing (Eng).
Other scores:
75 N Illingworth (Eng).
76 M Wharton (Eng), P Errity (Ire), K Bornemann (Ire), A Stacey (Eng).
77 M Stokes (Eng).
79 E Murphy (Ire).
80 L Watcham (Eng), M Reid (Eng), C Mitchelson (Eng).
81 G Ruth (Eng), T Bray (Eng).
86 J Deas (Sco).

European Challenge Tour

MURRAY URQUHART HAS A ROLLER

-COASTER RIDE IN GERMANY

Northern Open champion Murray Urquhart is lying joint 93rd in a field of 155 at the end of the first round of this week's European Challenge Tour event, the Vodafone Challenge at G&CC An der Elfrather Muhle, Dusseldorf.
Urquhart, pictured right, had a roller-coaster round of three-over-par 75 with halves of 40 and 35.
He had a nightmare run of a double bogey 6 at the third, a double bogey 6 at the seventh and, to cap it all, a triple bogey 7 at the eighth. He was grateful for a 2 at the short sixth to get him out in 40.

Then the Inverness man went from the ridiculous to the sublime with an eagle 3 at the ninth, a birdie at the 10th and another birdie at the 12th, with a bogey sandwiched between at the 11th.
Urquhart settled to par the last six holes.
German amateur Max Kieffer and Italian Lorenzo Gagli lead the field on five-under-par 67.
Rookie pro Elliot Saltman (Craigielaw) is in joint 19th position with a 70 - one shot better than former Scottish amateur champion George Murray from Anstruther and David Patrick (Mortonhall).
Another former Scottish amateur champion, Andrew McArthur (Windyhill) had a 73 while Ed Thomson (Largs) had a 75.
SCOREBOARD
Par 72 6,859yd
67 Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Maximilian Kieffer (Am) (Ger).
68 Anthony Tarchetti (Eng), Thomas Nielsen (Den), Simon Lilly (Eng), Wilhelm Schauman (Swe).
69 Zane Scotland (Eng), Pablo Del Grosso (Arg), John Mellor (Eng), Gareth Wright (Wal), Sebastian L Saavedra (Arg), Adam Gee (Eng), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Gabriel Canizares (Spa), Niels Kraaij (Net), Anders Schmidt Hansen (Den), Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arg), Jamie Little (Eng).
70 Elliot Saltman (Sco), Kariem Baraka (Ger), Juan Abbate (Arg), Liam Bond (Wal), Matthew Tottey (Wal), Jacques Chevalier (Fra), Michael Hoey (NIr), Joost Luiten (Net), Ian Keenan (Eng), Jason Kelly (Nor), Matt Ford (Eng), Julio Zapata (Arg), James H Williams (Wal), Jerome Theunis (Bel), Alexander Knappe (Am) (Ger).
71 Chris Hanson (Eng), Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Gary Clark (Eng), Mickael Dieu (Fra), Paolo Terreni (Ita), Tuomas Tuovinen (Fin), Martin Wiegele (Aut), Robin Swane (Net), Kieran Staunton (Eng), Antti Ahokas (Fin), David Patrick (Sco), Andrea Maestroni (Ita), Carlos Balmaseda (Spa), Hugo Santos (Por), James Kamte (SAf), George Murray (Sco), Gareth Paddison (NZ).
72 Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Jan-Are Larsen (Nor), Tim Dykes (Wal), Manuel Kempe (Ger), James Morrison (Eng), Robert Dinwiddie (Eng), Ben Willman (Eng), Raphaël De Sousa (Swi), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Tino Schuster (Ger), Kasper Linnet Jorgensen (Den), Alex McGuinness (Ken), Leif Westerberg (Swe), Ricardo Santos (Por).
Other Scots scores:
73 Andrew McArthur.
75 Murray Urquhart.
76 Edward Thomson.

MONTY IN DANGER OF MISSING THE
CUT IN EURO TOUR EVENT IN AUSTRIA

Just when Colin Montgomerie had got his game back on song for next week's US Open, he falls off his perch again with a two-over-par 73 in the first round of this week's European Tour event, the BA-CA Golf Open presented by Telekom Austria at Fontana Golf Club.
Over a par-71 lay-out, the general scoring was low - Graeme Storm is the leader with an eight-under 63 and he has only one shot of an advantage.
Monty is back in joint 101st place and he will need a score that improves his position by a good 40 positions to survive the halfway cut on Friday evening.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 71 (Players from GB&I unless stated)
63 Graeme Storm.
64 Martin Eklandsson (Swe).
65 Tom Whitehouse, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Shaun P Webster.
66 Gary Lockerbie, Richard McEvoy, Richard Green (Aus), Lee Westwood, Francois Calmels (Fra), Daniel Denison (Eng), Richard Finch (Eng).
Scots scores:
68 Euan Little (jt 18th).
69 Stephen Gallacher (jt 32nd).
70 David Drysdale (jt 44th).
71 Gary Orr (jt 71st).
72 Andrew Coltart (jt 84th).
73 Colin Montgomerie (jt 101st).
75 Andrew Oldcorn (jt 130th).

STIRLING STUDENT YATES HELPS
EUROPEANS TAKE SURPRISE 3-1
LEAD IN PALMER CUP

Europe took a surprise 3-1 lead over favourites United States in their own backyard on the opening morning of the two-day transatlantic students’ golf match for the Palmer Cup.
With this year’s venue the Caves Valley Golf Club near Baltimore, Maryland, the American line-up, containing most of the top US college circuit players and including Jamie Lovemark, the new No 1 in the R&A World amateur rankings, was expected to gain revenge for the record trouncing (19 ½-4 ½) they received in last year’s match over the Prestwick links.
Instead, the Europeans got off to a flying start with Edinburgh-born Welsh Walker Cup player Rhys Davies and Ulsterman Gareth Shaw, team-mates at East Tennessee State University, thrashing Jamie Lovemark and Luke List by 9 and 7 in the first tie off the tee.

It was the highest winning margin ever recorded in any Palmer Cup tie. The scoring was fantastically good.

Davies birdied the first two holes. Shaw birdied the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth. After six holes, the European partnership were six holes up - and there was no way back for Lovemark and List after that.

The United States levelled it at 1-1 when Brian Harman and Billy Horschel won by 3 and 2 against the all-Spanish pairing of Jorge Campillo and Perdo Oriol.
But Europe edged ahead again when the all-Swedish partnership of Jonas Blixt and Oscar Floren won by 2 and 1 over Dustin Johnson and Chris Kirk.
Stirling student Gordon Yates (pictured above) and Mark Hastrup from Denmark then stretched the European lead to 2pt at lunchtime by beating Jonathan Moore and Webb Simpson by one hole after being two up with four to play.
Results:
FOUR-BALLS
US names first
L List & J Lovemark lost to R Davies & G Shaw 9 and 7.
B Harman & B Horschel bt J Campillo & P Oriol 3 and 2.
J Moore & W Simpson lost to G Yates & M Haastrup 1 hole.
D Johnson & C Kirk lost to J Blixt & O Floren 2 and 1.

**WE EXPECT TO HAVE THE RESULTS OF THE AFTERNOON SINGLES NEARER MIDNIGHT

ANY COMMENTS? E-mail them to colin@scottishgolfview.com

LAURA MURRAY IS QUEEN OF THE CASTLE
AT BALLUMBIE IN LGU CHALLENGE BOWLS

Robert Gordon University student Laura Murray won the Wallace Williamson Bowl with an excellent scratch score of three-under-par 70 in the Scottish LGU Challenge Bowls meeting at Ballumbie Castle Golf Club, Dundee today.
The score will almost certainly be ratified as a new women’s course record. It was three under the Competitive Standard Scratch score for the day.
The LGU Challenge Bowl in the Silver Division was won by Jen Petrie (Panmure Barry) with a net 69 off nine of a handicap. She had a better inward half than Lorraine McNicoll (Ballumbie Castle), playing off 13, who also had a net 69.
Isobel Millar (Vale of Leven) scored a double whammy in the Bronze Division, winning the Bronze Scratch Cup with a round of 79 and the LGU Challenge Bowl in this division with a net 77 off 22.
Isobel received both trophies but Ann Callaghan (Ballumbie Castle), playing off 28, was awarded the best net prize with a 78
A total of 33 players took part.

PRESS RELEASE

NIKE SIGN UP NEW PRO PABLO MARTIN

Nike Golf today announced the signing of young Spanish golfing sensation Pablo Martin.
Martin has had the biggest week of his life to date by turning professional, signing with Nike Golf and qualifying for the US Open.
He has signed a multi-year agreement with the fastest growing brand in golf and will represent Nike Golf in clubs, ball, footwear, glove, bag, apparel, headwear and accessories.
Following a highly distinguished amateur career and collegiate campaign at Oklahoma State University, the 21-year-old from Malaga became the first amateur to win on the PGA European Tour when he claimed victory at the Estoril Open de Portugal in April.
The win earned Martin an exemption on the European Tour until the end of the 2009 season, which will commence when he establishes his membership on Tour.
Martin intends to compete both on the European Tour and the US PGA Tour, via sponsor exemptions, for the remainder of 2007. “in October.

Scottish Golf Union Press Release

SGU TO ACCEPT SELF-NOMINATIONS
FROM YOUNGSTERS FOR
SCOTTISH GOLF ACADEMY

‘Game Academy’ has been launched in the Home of Golf in a drive to find the next Richie Ramsay, the current US amateur champion, or for those wishing to emulate the sizzling form of 2005 Open silver medallist Lloyd Saltman, recently crowned Irish amateur champion.
The SGU is embarking on its very own X Factor talent search for up and coming golfers who want to be the next sensation on the amateur golf scene.
For determined young Scots out there who are ‘game on’ to improve their golf and harbour the ambition to become a national squad member, entry into the Scottish Golf Academy could put them on the fairway to a first national cap.
The SGU established the Scottish Golf Academy two years ago, with the aim of increasing opportunities for aspirational young players, who wish to develop their potential and game to whatever level their talent and ambition may take them.
As the Golf Academy moves into its third year of operation, the SGU is seeking fresh X Factor talent for a year one intake this September.
SGU Performance Manager Stuart Turner, the man who masterminded the Academy programme from inception, said: “The current system for entry into the Academy relies on clubs nominating players to the SGU’s 16 areas, who in turn ensure the SGU is made aware of these players.
"The Academy coaches then track the golfers throughout the season for potential selection in to the Academy. However, we are not getting the numbers of players referred to us that we would like, so we have come up with the idea of self nomination.”
The SGU’s aim is to ensure talent does not go unnoticed and self nomination by players will complement the current referral system by the SGU areas.Turner added:
“We are leaving no stone unturned in our quest to ensure we do not miss any talented young golfers out there. Academy players benefit from structured coaching and competition delivered by some of the best coaches in the country.
"If you know someone who should be involved, urge them to self nominate now.”
Those game for improvement must meet the X Factor criteria. To be an 'Academy wannabe' you must have been born in 1993 or after and have a handicap of 10 or less.
Interested players should contact the Scottish Golf Union as soon as possible, but no later than July 31, 2007 for more information and a form.
BACKGROUND NOTES
The Scottish Golf Union (SGU) is the governing body for men’s amateur golf in Scotland. The SGU exists to further the cause of golf; to attract newcomers to the game; to develop golfing skills at all levels and to provide support and advice to clubs.
The Scottish Golf Academy was set up in September 2005 and provides players with a structured coaching and competition programme, managed day to day by SGU National Junior Coach Spencer Henderson.
The aim of the Academy system is to fill a previously missing link from regional to national level, and provides one of the key steps in the player pathway structure – giving players a consistent framework to progress from clubgolf stages, to whatever level they aspire to.
There are now eight academy venues across the country and 96 talented young golfers are benefiting from up to 100 hours of structured coaching sessions per annum.
Considerable progress has been made throughout the two years of operation, including significant handicap reductions and improved competition results.
In 2006 in conjunction with the SLGA, 12 girls were introduced into the Academy programme for the first time.

THREE SCOTS IN US OPEN FIELD AT OAKMONT

There will be three Scots in the field for next week's United States Open championship at Oakmont Country Club - Colin Montgomery, Richie Ramsay and Martin Laird, the former Scottish youths champion, who has come through a final qualifier play-off at Riverside GC, Illinois with rounds of 72 and 71 for 143.
Laird is having a successful season on America's No 2 men's pro tour, the Nationwide Tour, on which he has beenn a winner and has won over $120,000.
Edinburgh-born Walker Cup player Rhys Davies, who won 10 events during four years (just ended) at East Tennessee State University, has earned a place in the field through a 36-hole sectional qualifying event.
Russell Knox, still an amateur, from Inverness survived a local qualifier but was eliminated in one of the many sectional qualifiers. Russell has just finished four years at Jacksonville University, Alabama.

LLOYD SALTMAN TO MAKE PRO DEBUT IN BRITISH
MASTERS FROM SEPTEMBER 20 to 23

Lloyd Saltman will turn professional immediately after the Walker Cup match at Royal County Down on September 8 and 9.
He intends making his debut as a pro in the British Masters at The Belfry from September 20 to 23. The Craigielaw 21-year-old played in the event last year as an amateur and would have collected £5,000 for making the cut and finishing on 293 had he been a professsional then.
Saltman and possibly Richie Ramsay - another 99.99% certain to be named in the GB&I team to play the United States - will miss the men's home internationals (September 19 to 21).
Ramsay has not yet made up his mind if he will defend the US amateur title this summer. He says he wants to get back into the swing of things on this side of the Atlantic, having missed weeks of tournament play because of accepting invitations to play in US Tour evens.
The Aberdonian is focused on gaining a second Walker Cup honour so there is no truth in the rumours that he might turn professional after competing in the Open at Carnoustie in July.

McINTOSH RETIRES, YOUNG IS

NEW SECRETARY OF

NORTH-EAST DISTRICT

Ill health has forced George McIntosh to stand down as secretary-treasurer of the North-east District of the Scottish Golf Unon.
His successor is George Young (pictured right) from Inverallochy, a former president of the district and manager of Fraserburgh Golf Club for a spell.
McIntosh was diagnosed as having Parkinson’s Disease in the 1990s when he was secretary-manager of Newmachar Golf Club. He fulfilled that role as well as becoming secretary-treasurer of the North-east District after Ian McPherson (Cruden Bay) died in 1996.
George took early retirement from the Newmachar post in 2003 due to his ongoing illness but retained the NE District post.
“I’ve enjoyed very much the years I’ve been involved with the district but I have to face up to the inevitable. My health is deteriorating to the point where I cannot continue to do the work.”
Born in Braemar in 1956, George McIntosh was a good golfer in his younger days and won every Braemar Golf Club trophy except the club championship.
He started his long career in golf administration when he was appointed secretary of the Braemar club in December 1979.
George Young, who worked for Aberdeenshire county council for many years, is father of Steven Young, who won the British boys title, the Scottish boys match-play championship three years in a row from 1993-95, and was capped for Scotland and then Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup. Steven now lives in Texas.

McKECHNIE SETS NEW POLLOK RECORD AND
ADDS £1,051 TO HIS BANK BALANCE

Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), the leading Tartan Tour money-winner this season, lifted the £1,051 first prize and claimed a new course record with a 10-under-par round of 61 in the Pollok Golf Club pro-am today.
Paul had an eagle 3 at the 15th and nine birdies, at the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth, 10th, 13th and 18th, in halves of 30 (six under par) and 31 (four under par).
It wasn't quite a perfect round - he bogeyed the 17th.
McKechnie won by four strokes, an unusually big margin on the pro-am circuit, from joint runners-up Chris Kelly (Cawder) and Alan Lockhart (Ladybank).
There was a tight finish to the team event with three teams finishing with a net total of 124.
Victory, with a better back nine hole total, went to the Hamilton Glen team and professional Brian Mason (Drumoig). The amateurs were Douglas Hogg (handicap 12), Colin Cammidge (11) and Graham Wright (12).
The two other teams on 124 were David Fleming (Prestwick) and J T C 1, and Paul McKechnie and Caledonia Financial Planning.
LEADING SCORES
Par 71
61 P McKechnie (Braid Hills).
65 C Kelly (Cawder), A Lockhart (Ladybank).
66 S Gray (Hayston).
68 J McCreadie (Buchanan Castle), G Hutcheon (Peterculter).
69 S Cairns (Westerwood), M Loftus (Cowglen), D Robertson (Czech Design), C Lee (All Golf Swing Centre), C Elliott (Haggs Castle).

AMERICAN IS NEW NUMBER ONE IN R&A
WORLD AMATEUR RANKINGS
American college student Jamie Lovemark is the new No 1 in the R&A's World Amateur Golf Rankings following an impressive victory over one of the strongest fields in amateur golf at the NCAA Division 1 men's college championship at Williamsburg, Virginia.
Lovemark, a student at the University of Southern California, shot two 64s (12 under par) over the final 36 holes to win the title with a nine-under-par total fo 271. He is the first American to be No 1 since the R&A started its world ranking of amateurs.
England's Jamie Moule, who knocked US amateur champion Richie Ramsay (Royal Aberdeen) off the top perch some 16 weeks ago, has slipped down to second place.
There are two Scots in the top 20 - Lloyd Saltman (Craigielaw) in ninth place and Richie Ramsay in 18th place.
Alyth's Kevin McAlpine won the Bidwells Scottish open stroke-play title at Royal Dornoch on Sunday, to claim a notable double, having won the Allied Surveyors Scottish amateur championship last year at Nairn. He is only the sixth player to achieve the feat of holding both Scottish national titles concurrently. The victory has catapulted McAlpine up 65 places to No 107.
Apart from Saltman and Ramsay, the only other Scots ranked in the top 100 are Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) in 78th place and John Gallagher (Swanston) in 84th place.
Top 20 are:
1 J Lovemark (US), 2 J Moul (Eng), 3 B Horschel (US), 4 R Davies (Wal), 5 C Kirk (US)_, 6 P Martin (Spa), 7 K Stanley (US), 8 W Simpson (US), 9 L Saltman (Sco), 10 B LaCassie (Aus), 11 J Parry (Eng), 12 G Wolstenholme (Eng), 13 R McIlroy (NIr), 14 D Johnson (U&S), 15 N Lemke (Swe), 16 G Boyd (Eng), 17 A Wagner (Arg), 18 R Ramsay (Sco), 19 K Chappell (Eng), 20 N Edwards (Wal).

R&A PRESS RELEASE

STRONGEST OF FIELDS FOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
AT ROYAL LYTHAM & ST ANNES LATER THIS MONTH

Royal Lytham & St. Annes, one of the great championship courses in the north-west of England, has attracted one of the strongest and most representative fields for many years for The Amateur Championship that will be played there and at St. Annes Old Links from 18 to 23 June.
Players from 29 countries will be competing for the honour of having their name inscribed on a trophy that was first played for in 1886, 12 months after the inaugural event at Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, the founding club of what was to become the Amateur Championship in 1922.
While Lytham has had 10 Open championships played over its historic links, this year marks only the fourth Amateur championship to be played there since the first in 1935 when American Walker Cup player Lawson Little successfully defended the title he had claimed twelve months earlier at Prestwick.
Little, Horace Hutchinson, Harold Hilton, Michael Bonallack and Peter McEvoy still remain the only players to have successfully defended the Amateur championship.
St Annes Old Links, many times a Final Qualifying venue for The Open, will be used in parallel with Royal Lytham & St. Annes on the two days of stroke play qualifying.
Players from Great Britain and Ireland will surely have Walker Cup selection as a target for 2007 and a good performance in the Amateur will reinforce their claim for a place in the ten-man team.
English player Jamie Moul, currently No 2 in the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking after holding the No 1 spot for 16 weeks, must already have his sights set on Royal County Down in September. Moul reached the semi-final stage of the Amateur last year at Royal St George’s, only to lose to fellow English international Adam Gee.
Also staking their claim for a place are, American college student, Rhys Davies of Wales and Craigielaw player Lloyd Saltman. Both were in the 2005 Walker Cup team and this year, while Davies was winning twice on the college circuit, Saltman made an explosive start to the season with four major stroke-play victories, in England, Ireland and Scotland.
Welsh stalwart Nigel Edwards, already twice a Walker Cup player, is in the field for Lytham and England’s most capped player, Gary Wolstenholme, will hope to become a member of the exclusive club of players who have won the Amateur on three occasions, his previous successes coming in 1991 and more recently in 2003 at Royal Troon.
If the trophy is to go overseas then it is likely that its destination will be one of the main golfing nations who have several players in the field.
It is over 30 years since the last American victory. With 12 players in this year’s field, the time might be right to redress that. Their top contender could be Luke List, a college player who earlier in the year won the Jones Cup at Sea Island against a top international entry.
A large entry has been received from South Africa includes national champion Louis de Jager while one of the top Australians playing in the Amateur is Rohan Blizard, their national amateur champion.
Competitors play 18 holes on each of Royal Lytham & St. Annes and St. Annes Old Links on Monday and Tuesday, June 18 and 19. The top 64 and ties enter the match-play stages leading to the 36 hole final on Saturday, June 23.

The draw can be viewed at www.randa.org – championships.

TIGHT MATCHES IN RITSON SMITH ABERDEEN
& DISTRICT PENNANT LEAGUE

There were some very tight matches in Tuesday evening's latest round of Ritson Smith Aberdeen Pennant League matches.
Craibstone and Nigg Bay drew 3-3 at Craibstone while East Aberdeenshire are still bemoaning losing both their last ties against Newmachar, which went down the 18th. Newmachar won 4-2.
Tuesday's results:

AUCHMILL 2, HAZLEHEAD 4.
CRAIBSTONE 3, NIGG BAY 3.
EAST ABERDEENSHIRE 2, NEWMACHAR 4
(East Aberdeenshire names first)
Donald Emslie & Stephen Hepburn lost to Kevin Riley & Chris Simpson 1 hole.
Callum Kinnaird & Dod Laing lost to Martin Lawrence & Jamie Wilson 4 and 2.
Bill Yeoman & David Corkey lost to George Mitchell & John Duff 1 hole.
David Forman & Stuart McIntosh bt Keith Spence & Michael Spence 2 and 1.
Neil Forbes & Euan McIntosh lost to Iain Wallace & Richard Barr 4 and 3.
Ian Kynoch & Les Singer bt Mike Berkeley & Colin Ross 2 and 1.
STONEHAVEN 3 1/2, WESTHILL 2 1/2.

THURSDAY NIGHT'S MATCHES:
Newmachar v Murcar Links.
Peterculter v East Aberdeenshire.
Portlethen v Royal Aberdeen.
Westhill v Craibstone.

++We invite secretaries (or any other official) of home clubs to E-mail the results of any matches to colin@scottishgolfview.com, on the same night if possible, if not the following morning.

PRESS RELEASE

AMATEUR HOOPER WINS CELTIC PRO TOUR OPENER

Amateur Richard Hooper won the opening event of the new Celtic Pro Tour in a dramatic sudden-death play-off with Challenge Tour and former European Tour professional Stuart Manley at Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club on Tuesday.
The two, who played together in the last pairing, both finished on two under par 140 after 36 holes at the South Wales Open.
The play-off was played over the first three holes, and spectators were treated to some spectacular golf with both players recording birdie threes on the first hole, with two solid pars on the second.
The third hole saw Manley (ISM/ Mountain Ash) hit his approach shot over the back of the green, allowing Hooper (Neath) to play safe into the heart of the green. Although Manley produced a sparkling return chip, which almost dropped into the hole, Hooper stayed calm and sank a 12 foot putt to win the trophy with another birdie.
Last season’s Dragon Tour Order of Merit winner, Alex Smith, who had been suffering from a debilitating stomach virus since last Friday, fought well on his home course to shoot a one under par 70 in round two to put himself once again in the prize money, in third place.
The 2006 Order of Merit runner up, Tom Davies (Machynys Peninsula), was again consistent, and claimed fourth spot, with James Shield (The Oxfordshire) fifth and David Price (Aber Wrought Iron / http://www.vale-hotel.com/) sixth.
“We had some fantastic weather this week, which certainly added to the occasion,” said Tour director Rhydian Thomas. “The Pyle and Kenfig course was in great condition, and all golfers were very complimentary about the standard of the greens.
“For Richard to win this event, he had to come from behind, against a quality European and Challenge Tour golfer of Stuart’s ability. In fact, after shooting 69 in regulation play, and then getting birdies on two of the extra holes, you could say he was 4 under par over 21 holes. We just hope he had enough strength left to play in a County matchplay event that same evening !”
The Tour encompasses events in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Golfers can still join the Tour, with annual membership costing £175 for professionals, and event entry priced at £99. Amateur golfers with a scratch handicap or better can also enter events at a cost of £55, and don’t need to pay membership. Prize money at each event will be at least £1,000 to the winner, with the top 25% in the field winning money also. A voucher will be available to the leading amateur.
Golfers wishing to enter the next event, the West Wales Open at Gower Golf Club next Monday 11th & Tuesday 12th June, should contact Rhydian Thomas on 07861 686568 or register online at the website at http://www.celticpro.com/ by 5pm Saturday 9th June
The Gower event is quickly followed by the Tour’s first venture into Ireland at Seafield Golf Club for the Wexford Open on Monday June 18th and Tuesday June 25th.

SCOREBOARD FROM SOUTH WALES OPEN
Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club.
Par 142 (2 x 71).
140 Richard Hooper (am) 71 69, Stuart Manley 70 70 (Hooper won play-off).
144 Alex Smith 74 70.
148 Tom Davies 74 74.
149 James Shield 74 75.
150 David Price 76 74, Ryan Thomas (am) 75 75.
151 Ian Brown 78 73, Matthew Griffiths 75 76, Adam Lee 72 79, Matthew Hollis 72 79.
152 Kevin Goude (am) 77 75, Alun Evans 75 77.
154 Eurig Williams 81 73, Chris Cousins 80 74.
157 Chris Gray 80 76, Leon Clark 79 77.
158 Leighton James 80 78.
159 Spencer Vickery 81 78, Mark Govier 80 79.
160 Mike Thorne 80 80, Darren Legg 74 86.
161 Huw James 77 84.
163 Andy Lambert 76 87.
167 George Watts 89 78.
168 Scott Davies 87 81, Arthur Thompson 80 83.

Press Release

DUNDONALD HOSTS DUKE OF YORK TROPHY
TOURNAMENT FOR SECOND YEAR IN ROW

Dundonald Links is delighted to announce that it will again be hosting the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy from 11th – 13th September, 2007.
The Duke of York Trophy, now in its seventh year, is a unique, international 54-hole stroke play golf tournament for boys and girls who are either the current holders of their Under 18 National Championship or have won selected major golfing events in the preceding year. Sanctioned by the R & A and now counting towards the World Amateur Golf Rankings, the tournament is organised in a similar fashion to a professional tour event to give the potential golfing stars of the future a chance to experience what life as a pro might involve.

Running since 2001, the tournament has featured some fine talent including, European Tour young-gun Oliver Fisher who won the event in 2005, European Amateur Champion, Rory McIlroy and Pablo Martin, who recently won as an amateur on The European Tour. This year’s event will feature a field of over 45 champions from more than 23 countries, with the average handicap likely to be an impressive scratch.

"I am delighted that the tournament is returning to Dundonald Links in September and look forward to building on the success of last year's event. It is also good to note the successes that many of our past players are enjoying such as Oliver Fisher, now in his first year on the European Tour, Sam Hutsby as an England national squad player and Anna Nordqvist who is currently 3rd in the European Amateur Ladies' rankings," commented the event’s Patron, HRH The Duke of York.

John Caven, Director of Operations at Dundonald Links said: “We are delighted to be once again hosting this prestigious tournament that does so much for junior golf. The course should provide a stern but fair test for these talented youngsters.”
Designed by renowned architect, Kyle Phillips, Dundonald Links is the Ayrshire Links Course owned by Loch Lomond Golf Club. Situated near the legendary town of Troon, it can certainly lay claim to being a true test of links golf and a worthy neighbour to Open Championship venues, Royal Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry. Master-craftsman Kyle Phillips has created a classic links course that blends in seamlessly with the natural surroundings, in a similar vein to his highly-acclaimed Kingsbarns Golf Links.

DOUGLAS MITCHELL (net 0 at 13th) STEALS
DEAN ROBERTSON’S STRATHAVEN THUNDER

Dean Robertson won the £1,100 top prize with a four-under-par 67 in the Strathaven Golf Club pro-am today – but it was a 15-handicap amateur, Douglas Mitchell who provided the main talking point in the clubhouse.
Douglas had a hole in one at the 153yd 13th hole – where the stroke index allowed him a shot for his team event score, which meant that Mr Mitchell had a net 0 at the hole!
No wonder that the Netherfield Stud trio of Douglas, Mark Hendry (6) and Alex Quale (10), piloted by pro Craig Imlah (Peebles), won the team prize with a score of 19-under-par 52.
Robertson had an eagle 3 at the 487yd par-5 10th and birdies at the fifth, eighth, 14th and 16th in halves of 34 (one under par) and 33 (three under par). He had bogeys at the sixth and 13th.
Colin Gillies (Kingsfield) and Peterculter’s Greig Hutcheon finished a shot behind in second place on 68.
LEADING PRO SCORES
Par 71
67 D Robertson (Czech Design).
68 C Gillies (Kingsfield), G Hutcheon (Peterculter).
69 R Arnott (Bishopbriggs).
70 C Imlah (Peebles), C Kelly (Cawder), P McKechnie (Braid Hills), J McKinnon (Irvine), D Williamson (Kirkhill), R Gray (Torrance House0, J McCreadie (Buchanan Castle).
TEAM WINNERS
52 C Imlah (Peebles) & Netherfield Stud: M Hendry (6), A Quale (10), D Mitchell (15).

HEATHER BLOOMS IN NORTHERN VETS FINAL BY BEATING SCOTS CHAMPION KATHLEEN

Downfield Golf Club member Heather Anderson, beaten in the semi-finals of the Angus women’s county golf championship earlier this season, won the Northern veteran women’s championship at Panmure Barry Golf Club today.
Heather, making her debut in the veterans’ area championship, having returned to Scotland from Shropshire a few months ago, had a notable win in the final over Kathleen Sutherland (Royal Montrose), the leading qualifier for the match-play stages at Panmure Barry on Monday and winner of the Scottish veteran women’s title last year.
Heather, the No 2 seed, who had squeezed through at the 19th against Sue McGregor in the morning semi-finals, beat Kathleen by one hole.
Ann Meldrum (Murcar Links) won the Bronze Division championship by beating Cathy Clark (Aberdeen Ladies) 3 and 2 in the final.

**Picture shows Northern vets' president Tony Moffat congratulating Ann Meldrum after the Bronze final. Cathy Clark is on the right. For a picture of Tony and the Silver Division championship finalists, log on to www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk

Results from the Northern veteran women’s championship meeting at Panmure Barry:

Silver Division – Scratch – Mrs K Sutherland (Royal Montrose) 77, Mrs Heather Anderson (Downfield) 78. Handicap - Mrs S Hodge (Aberdeen Ladies) (13) 72, Mrs Anne Bowman (McDonald Ellon) (7) 74.
Bronze Division – Scratch – Mrs C Clark (Aberdeen Ladies) 101, Mrs V Walker (Hazlehead) 113. Handicap - Mrs C Clark (Aberdeen Ladies) (21) 80, Mrs V Walker (Hazlehead) (25) 88.

Match-play results:

Championship – Semi-finals – K Sutherland bt A Bowman (McDonald Ellon) 5 and 4, H Anderson bt S McGregor (Edzell) at 19th. Final – Anderson bt Sutherland 1 hole.
Bronze – Semi-finals – Mrs C Clark (Aberdeen Ladies) bt Mrs L Esson (Aberdeen Ladies) 7 and 6, Mrs A Meldrum (Murcar Links) bt Mrs V Walker (Hazlehead) 3 and 2. Final – Meldrum bt Clark 3 and 2.

FIFE ORDER OF MERIT PLACINGS

Brian Soutar (Leven Golfing Society) and Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) are well clear of the field in the Forrester Park Fife Order of Merit for the Mackay Bowl.
Positions are seven events:

1 Brian Soutar (Leven GS) 240pt.
2 Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) 220.
3 Colin Martin (BNalbirnie Park) 130.
4 Kevin Blyth (Kirkcaldy), Gary Fotheringham (Canmore), Barry McDermott (Leven GS), Gary Page (Balbirnie Park), Colin Steffen (Dunnikier Park) 125.

The next counting event is this weekend’s St Andrews Links Trophy.

YOUNG SCOTS NAMED IN SQUADS FOR
EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Seven of the eight teenage players who helped Scotland win the girls’ home international title last summer for the first time since 1998 have been named by the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association selection committee in two squads for European team championships at the beginning of July.
They include the quartet to represent Scotland, under the captaincy of Jennifer Jenkins (Ralston), in the European girls’ team championship at Oslo Golf Club, Norway from July 10 to 14 is:
Carly Booth (Comrie), Krystle Caithness (St Regulus), Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) and Sally Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies).
And Rachael Livingstone, Roseanne Niven and Michele Thomson figure in the Scotland line-up, under the captaincy of Lesley Johnston, for the European women’s team championship at Castelcontrubia Golf Club, Italy, also from July 10 to 14. The full team is:
Rachael Livingstone (Musselburgh Old), Heather MacRae (Dunblane New), Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder), Roseanne Niven (Crieff), Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon), Jenna Wilson (Strathaven).

I M G PRESS RELEASE

PABLO TURNS PRO WITH I M G

Former British boys' open champion Pablo Martin has announced that he has both turned professional and selected IMG, the world’s premier sports, entertainment and media company, for global management and marketing representation.
Martin, a 21-year old from Malaga, Spain, will make his professional debut at this week’s Stanford St. Jude Championship on the US PGA Tour, following a highly distinguished amateur career and collegiate campaign at Oklahoma State University.
In April 2007, Martin became the first amateur to win on the European Tour when he claimed the Estoril Open de Portugal. The historic victory earned Martin an exemption on the European Tour that will commence when he establishes membership on Tour and will last through the 2009 season. Martin intends to compete both on the European Tour and the US PGA Tour, via sponsor exemptions, for the remainder of 2007.

DISAPPOINTING FINISH FOR SCOTS IN
CHALLENGE TOUR EVENT


More news we were unable to give you on Sunday because of a communications hitch:

Jack Doherty finished as the leading Scot at the Oceanico Developments Pro-Am Challenge, but it was another disappointing week for the Challenge Tour’s tartan contingent at the Marriott Hotel and Country Club in Manchester.
No-one was more frustrated than George Murray who fell from a tie for fifth place at the halfway stage to a finishing position of 42nd after weekend rounds of 73-74 at the par 70 venue saw him fall from eight to one under par in the space of 36 holes.
It was the same case for all four Scots who made the cut. Chris Doak shot 74-73 over the last two rounds to finish on level par, while Peter Whiteford’s scores of 72-76 saw him finish five over.
Doherty finished the week on two under after rounds of 71-73 that left him 13 shots behind the winner, Ross McGowan of England who took the title after a play-off with Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera.

FIRST OVER-50s WIN FOR ROCCA AS HE LANDS
THE AIB IRISH SENIORS OPEN TITLE

In case you missed the news - regrettably due to our communications black-out on Sunday -
Italian Ryder Cup star Costantino Rocca celebrated his first win as a Senior golfer when he closed with a final round of one under par 71 to capture the AIB Irish Seniors Open, in association with Greenstar and Fáilte Ireland, at the PGA National Ireland golf course.
Rocca, playing in only his third event on the European Seniors Tour, coped best in the rain-plagued final round thanks to a wonderful short game display for a winning 54-hole total of five- under-par 211.
England’s Kevin Spurgeon and Spain’s Juan Quiros shared second spot two strokes back after returning level par 72s, while overnight leader Stewart Ginn three-putted from six feet at the 16th for a 76 that left the Australian on two under par alongside American Doug Johnson.
After collecting the stunning Waterford crystal trophy and a winner’s cheque for €67,500, Rocca acknowledged that Ireland had been good to him.
The last of his five European Tour victories came at the West of Ireland Golf Classic in 1999, when he defeated Padraig Harrington by two shots at Galway Bay Golf & Country Club, and eight years later he was delighted to back in the winner’s enclosure on another Christy O’Connor junior-designed course at Palmerstown House.
“I am very pleased to win so early in my Seniors career and obviously it has been a long time since my last Tour victory. This tournament is very special. I love the people here in Ireland and they gave me good support,” said Rocca, who chipped in at the 11th and made a number of up and downs in his final round.
Ireland’s Adrian Morrow, on 10-over-par, collected the JB Carr Memorial Trophy for the leading amateur in the field. Coincidentally, Sunday marked the three-year anniversary of the death of Carr, recognised as the greatest Irish amateur golfer of his era and the first Irishman to be elected as captain of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72) PGA National Ireland

211 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 69 71 71
213 Juan Quiros (Esp) 73 68 72, Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 71 70 72
214 Doug Johnson (USA) 69 71 74, Stewart Ginn (Aus) 67 71 76
216 Sam Torrance (Sco) 71 74 71, Tony Allen (Eng) 73 72 71, David Merriman (Aus) 72 70 74, John Bland (SAf) 71 73 72, David Good (Aus) 73 71 72
217 Glenn Ralph (Eng) 73 74 70, Guillermo Encina (Chi) 72 73 72, Horacio Carbonetti (Arg) 71 73 73, Bob Cameron (Eng) 74 72 71
218 Ross Drummond (Sco) 74 74 70
219 Carl Mason (Eng) 73 73 73, José Rivero (Esp) 75 72 72, Delroy Cambridge (Jam) 77 70 72, Alan Tapie (US) 69 75 75, Peter O’Hagan (Ire) 72 71 76
220 Gordon J Brand (Eng) 70 79 71, Denis O’Sullivan (Ire) 74 73 73, Terry Gale (Aus) 73 73 74
221 Mike Clayton (Aus) 72 77 72, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 73 74 74, Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 75 72 74, Bobby Lincoln (SAf) 73 73 75
222 Bill Longmuir (Sco) 72 77 73, Tommy Horton (Eng) 75 74 73, Eamonn Darcy (Ire) 71 77 74, Gery Watine (Fra) 74 74 74, Angel Fernandez (Chi) 74 71 77
223 Peter Teravainen (US) 75 76 72, Jerry Bruner (US) 71 79 73, Adan Sowa (Arg) 72 78 73
224 Jeff Hawkes (SAf) 74 81 69, Jimmy Heggarty (NIr) 72 78 74, Nick Job (Eng) 73 74 77, Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 73 74 77, Gavan Levenson (SAf) 68 75 81
225 Mike Miller (Sco) 73 77 75
226 Adrian Morrow (Ire) (am) 74 78 74, Denis Durnian (Eng) 77 74 75, John Chillas (Sco) 71 77 78, Simon Owen (NZ) 75 73 78
227 Martin Gray (Sco) 74 72 81, Jim Rhodes (Eng) 75 78 74, Pete Oakley (US) 71 79 77
228 Ian Mosey (Eng) 73 80 75, Bruce Heuchan (Can) 73 80 75, Tony Charnley (Eng) 76 77 75, Bertus Smit (RSA) 76 75 77
229 Noel Ratcliffe (Aus) 75 79 75, Mike Ferguson (Aus) 79 74 76, Ray Carrasco (USA) 73 78 78
230 Tim Rastall (Eng) 75 80 75, Manuel Piñero (Esp) 74 78 78, David Creamer (Eng) 71 80 79, Bill Malley (US) 72 79 79
231 Bob Larratt (Eng) 76 77 78, Paul Leonard (NIr) 72 80 79
232 Jim Lapsley (NZ) 78 77 77, Liam Higgins (Ire) 74 77 81, Emilio Rodriguez (Spa) 75 76 81
233 John Mashego (SAf) 76 79 78
234 Bob Shearer (Aus) 80 78 76,
235 Martin Poxon (Eng) 79 79 77, Victor Garcia (Spa) 79 74 82
236 David J Russell (Eng) 74 81 81, Steve Martin (Sco) 75 78 83, Philippe Dugeny (Fra) 73 78 85
237 Antonio Garrido (Esp) 73 84 80
239 Maurice Bembridge (Eng) 77 76 86
240 Liam MacNamara (Ire) (am) 77 79 84
245 Dermot W Morris (Ire) (am) 89 79 77
John Benda (USA) DQ

ALVA AND DOLLAR BOYS WIN AT HOME IN
CLACKMMAN COUNTY BOYS' LEAGUE

By HUGH HUNTER

Home advantage ruled the day in the second set of matches in the Clackmannan County Boys League. In dull conditions, the hill golf players from Alva and Dollar triumphed over the flatter course players in two exciting matches.
At Alva, the top three scratch players all won comfortably, with the best win of the evening by 12-year-old county junior champion Lawrence Allan, who raced to the turn in 31, giving him a four-hole lead which proved unassailable.
Martin Hall clinched the match for Alva by holding a two-hole lead throughout the inward nine, winning at the 17th and leaving Alva winners by four matches to two.
The match result was a bit closer at Dollar. Alloa’s top two had narrow wins over their Dollar counterparts in the first two games, but the team could only muster one more half. When the Dollar tail wagged very strongly, the result was a narrow 3-2 win for the home team with one game halved.
Dollar top the league at present with two wins although there is a very long way to go. The next matches at 4.30pm on Sunday feature Alva v Dollar and Tillicoultry v Alloa.
Details:

ALVA 4, BRAEHEAD 2
(Alva names first)
Gary Elliot bt John McPherson 4 and 3.
Lawrence Allan bt Andrew Borek 4 and 3.
Scott Thomson bt Scott Clark 2 and 1.
Reyner Kennedy lost to Michael Barrett 7 and 5.
Martin Hall bt Ross Finlay 3 and 1.
Davis Fisher lost to Steven Nicol 4 and 2.

DOLLAR 3 1/2, ALLOA 2 1/2
(Dollar names first)
Roddie Forgie lost to Andre Scotland 1 hole.
Tom Hogarth lost to Grant Dowie 1 hole.
Steven McPherson bt John Salmond 10 and 8.
Ben Smith halved with Bruce McAdam.
Sean Sarafilovic bt Grant Ross 2 holes.
Euan Tait bt Callum Graham 4 and 3.

NICHOLAS PIPS SCOTT FOR NORTH-EAST YOUTHS

TITLE AT INVERALLOCHY

Cullen's Nicholas McAndrew pipped Scott Fraser (Royal Aberdeen) for the North-east District youths' golf championship over 36 holes at Inverallochy Golf Club on Sunday.
McAndrew led the field by one shot from Fraser with an opening round of 70. They both shot 69 on the second circuit, the Cullen lad winning with an aggregate of 139 to 140.
Wilson Stephen of the host club was a creditable third on 141 with rounds of 73 and 68.
Matthew Smith (Royal Aberdeen), who had scores of 71 and 76 for 147 and joint 10th place, had a hole in one at the 156yd 14th hole with a wedge.

+Picture shows (left to right): NE District president Dr Douglas Fowlie, Scott Fraser, Nicholas McAndrew and Wilson Stephen.

LEADING TOTALS
Par 134 (67 67). CSS 67 67.
139 N McAndrew (Cullen) 70 69.
140 S Fraser (Royal Aberdeen) 7169.
141 W Stephen (Inverallochy) 73 68.
143 A Bews (Murcar Links) 78 65, N McKinnon (Murcar Links) 74 69.
145 G Carnie (Newburth) 74 71.
146 R Hyland (Hazlehead) 76 70, Jonathan Findlay (Fraserburgh) 72 74, S Griffiths (Cullen) 72 74.
147 A Hay (Westhill) 73 74, M Smith (Royal Aberdeen) 71 76.

CLACKMANNAN COUNTY MATCH-PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
FIRST-ROUND WINNERS AT DOLLAR

By HUGH HUNTER

The 2007 Clackmannan county match-play championship started on Monday evening at Dollar with 16 qualifiers from the spring and summer meetings. Players generally enjoyed the good putting surfaces, and high quality of golf was provided for a good number of spectators.
Title-holder Craig O’Connor (Alloa) emphasised his determination to retain the trophy with a win over local ace Darren Hulston.
Elsewhere there were several nerve-wracking moments when matches went to the closing holes. Young David Milloy (Alloa) won the last two holes to scrape through, as did Alloa golfers Ian Ross and Jamie Aitken.
Former international Steven Horne(Tulliallan) survived a tough match with former Scottish boys' champion John Gullen (Alloa).
Alloa players dominate the quarter-finals, and with these being held over the Schawpark course, a stranglehold on the event is possible.

Results:
First round
D Milloy (Alloa) beat G Lyons (Tulliallan) 1 hole.
J Maxwell (Tulliallan) beat S Moffat (Braehead) 2 holes.
S Horne (Tulliallan) beat J Gullen (Alloa) 2 and 1.
I Ross (Alloa) beat P McLeod (Braehead) 1 hole.
P Hendry (Alloa) beat A Cunningham (Braehead) 5 and 4.
JAitken (Alloa) beat S McIvor (Alva) at 20th.
R Benvie (Braehead) beat P Dempsey (Alloa) 3 and 2.
C O’Connor (Alloa) beat D Hulston (Dollar) 6 and 5.

The semi-finals will be played over Braehead on June 11 with the final at Tulliallan on June 14, both starting at 5.15 pm.

RITCHIE PIPS LINDSAY, BISSET FOR
ALEX FOX TROPHY AT SCOTTISH
GOLF WRITERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

Bryce Ritchie (Bunkered Magazine) pipped Matthew Lindsay (Glasgow Evening Times) and Fergus Bisset (Golf Monthly) for the Alex Fox Trophy in the Scottish Golf Writers’ Championship at Dundonald Links today.
Bryce, playing off 11 of a handicap, scored 34 Stableford points, one more than two-handicapper Matthew and Fergus who plays off three.
Matthew’s better inward half of 16pt won him Class 1 from Fergus (inward half 14pt).
The Bunkered Guests’ Trophy was won for a second time by Scottish PGA tournament director Hugh Malcolm. He scored 35pt off seven of a handicap.
Ian Hutcheon (Monifieth), recent winner of the Scottish senior amateur title for a third time and still playing off +2 at the age of 65, was runner-up in the guests’ section with 33pt and also presented the prizes, the bulk of which were generously provided by Callaway Europe and Bunkered Magazine.

+Picture shows (left to right): Bryce Ritchie, Ian Hutcheon, Hugh Malcolm.

PRIZEWINNERS
WRITERS’ Class 1: 0 to 10
33 Matthew Lindsay (Evening Times) (2) (inward half 16pt), Fergus Bisset (Golf Monthly) (3) (inward half 14pt).
29 Gillian Kirkwood (http://www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk/) (10) (inward half 17pt), Martin Dempster (Bunkered) (10) (inward half 13pt).
26 Malcolm Campbell (Freelance) (5).
24 Lawrence Donegan (The Guardian) (7).
WRITERS’ Class 2: 11 to 24
34 Bryce Ritchie (Bunkered) (11).
25 Douglas Lowe (Herald) (11) (inward half 12pt), Nick Rodger (David Begg Sports) (18) (inward half 7pt).
24 David McCarthy (Daily Record) (18).
15 Euan McLean (Sunday Mail) (12) (better last six holes), Alan Campbell (Sunday Herald) (18). 6 Michael McEwan (Bunkered) (24).
GUESTS
35 Hugh Malcolm (Scottish PGA) (7).
33 Ian Hutcheon (Scottish senior champion) (+2).
29 Stewart McDougall (David Begg Sports) (10).
27 Ross Duncan (Scottish Golf Union) (6).
26 Hugh Hunter (Past SGU president) (9).
25 Graham Watson (Scottish Institute of Sport) (4).
PUTTS DURING ROUND
Writers’ Class 1
31 Matthew Lindsay (inward half 16), Gillian Kirkwood (inward half 17).
Writers’ Class 2
33 Bryce Ritchie (better last six holes: 10), Douglas Lowe (last six holes: 11).
Guests
30 Ian Hutcheon (inward half 16), Graham Watson (inward half 17).
TEAM SWEEPSTAKE
95 Fergus Bisset, Hugh Malcolm & Ross Duncan.
91 Lawrence Donegan, Bryce Ritchie & Matthew Lindsay.

ANOTHER FISTFUL OF DOLLARS FOR VIKKI

Vikki Laing continues to pick up regular pay cheques on the US Futures Tour this season.
She finished joint 11th in the Aurora Health Care Women's Championship with scores of 73, 72 and 73 for two-over-par total of 218. That earned her $1,296.
Sweden's Sofie Andersson won the first prize of $12,000 with scores of 70, 72 and 70 for 212 - one shot ahead of amateur Esther Choe and Brandi Jackson.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
212 S Andersson (Swe) 70 72 70 ($12,000).
213 Brandi Jackson (US) 71 72 70 ($9,000), Esther Choe (US) (am) 72 69 72.
214 Jane Park 72 69 73, Caroline Larsson (Swe) 69 69 76 ($5,501 each).
Other total:
218 Vikki Laing (Musselburgh) 73 72 73 (jt 11th) ($1,296).

WELL DONE, KEVIN ... AND JAMES TOO!
McAlpine completes Scottish title

double, teenager Byrne runner-up

Great result for Kevin McAlpine to follow up his victory in the Scottish men's amateur match-play championship at Nairn last year by winning the Bidwells Scottish men's open amateur stroke-play championship at Royal Dornoch over the weekend.
The Alyth man, who had rounds of 67, 70, 64 and 70 for a nine-under-par total of 271, will defend his national match-play title at Prestwick at the end of July with confidence sky high after this one.
And what a great performance too by Banchory teenager James Byrne who won the silver medal for being officially placed second. Frenchman A Kaleka had the same 72-hole total but James was awarded the medal for having a better last 36-holes total.

James actually had a better Sunday 36-hole total than Kevin - 133 (65-68) to 134 (64-70).
James' ambition is to be chosen for the Scotland team for the men's home internationals, which would mean him coming home again from the States after only a week or two at Arizona State.
Scott Mann from Carnoustie is another who would like to play for Scotland in the home internationals and he did his selection prospects no harm at all with a fifth place finish on 275, only four shots behind Kevin McAlpine.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 280 (4 x 70)
271 K McAlpine (Alyth) 67 70 64 70.
273 J Byrne (Banchory) 70 70 65 68, A Kaleka (Fra) 69 68 66 70.
274 A Bernadet (Fra) 70 67 68 71.
275 S Mann (Carnoustie) 67 65 71 72.
276 B Parker (Ger) 67 69 68 72.
278 B Akesson (Swe) 68 71 71 68, G Boyd (Cherwell Edge) 66 71 71 70, P O'Hara (Colville Park) 69 69 69 71.
279 T Rosendahl (Swe) 68 71 72 69, W Booth (Comrie) 69 72 67 71.
281 H Norlander (Swe) 71 70 72 68, J Hurst (Shaw Hill) 71 70 69 71.#
282 B Soutar (Leven GS) 74 72 69 67.
283 G Dear (Murrayshall) 73 71 69 70.
284 D Marmion (Delamere Forest) 71 69 73 71, L Saltman (Craigielaw) 73 70 69 72, R McKnight (Barassie) 71 72 69 72.
285 J Gunn (Royal Dornoch) 73 72 71 69, M Baldwin (Royal Birkdale) 68 73 73 71, M Thistleton (Hayling) 69 73 70 73.
286 M Kerr (Craigielaw) 78 68 73 67, C Macaulay (Tulliallan) 76 70 69 71, D Elder (Carnoustie) 71 72 69 74.
287 P McLean (Peterhead) 76 68 70 73, B Fotheringham (Forres) 73 71 69 74.
288 K McNicoll (Carnoustie) 66 77 74 71, G Paterson (St Andrews New) 67 76 69 76, L De Jager (RSA) 72 70 69 77.
289 - K Nicol (Fraserburgh) 73 73 72 71, J Dale (Rochford Hundred) 71 75 72 71, M Novy (Cze) 69 76 71 73, A Biggadike (US) 76 69 70 74.
290 S McAllister (Craigielaw) 72 74 71 73, R Jones (Orchardleigh) 75 71 70 74.
291 M Clark (Kilmacolm) 73 71 73 74, C Gray (West Kilbride) 70 71 76 74.
292 K Hamilton (Whitecraigs) 74 72 72 74, S Henry (Cardross) 73 68 75 76, D Stewart (Grantown-on-Spey) 69 71 74 78.
293 S McEwan (Caprington) 73 72 73 75.
294 A Dick (Shotts) 73 72 75 74, C Harkins (Ayr Belleisle) 72 74 73 75, D Simpson (Crieff) 70 74 73 77.
295 S Borrowman (Dollar) 71 75 71 78.
296 B McGrory (Aus) 72 74 75 75.
297 G Campbell (Blairgowrie) 74 72 72 79.
298 E McIntosh (Newmachar) 74 72 77 75.
299 G Turner (West Linton) 67 74 78 80.

MELISSA BREAKS ONE RECORD AND DENISE ANOTHER IN NOTABLE ST RULE TROPHY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Derby girl Melissa Reid made all the running to win by the commanding margin of eight strokes a St Rule Trophy tournament highlighted by very low scoring over the St Andrews New and Old Courses at the weekend.
The 19-year-old from the Chevin club thus completed a notable Scottish double. A few weeks ago, Curtis Cup player Melissa retained the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur title at Troon.
At St Andrews, Miss Reid, set the first-round pace with a six-under-par 69 - one shot outside the New Course women's record on Saturday - and then held off the challenges of 19-year-old Henrietta Brockway (Yeovil) and Old Course record-breaker, 18-year-old German Denise Becker on Sunday over the Old Course.
Melissa had Sunday rounds 72 (four under par) and 68 (eight under par) for an 18-under-par aggregate of 209 – in one fell swoop a staggering six strokes better than the tournament record of 215 set by Catriona Matthew in 1994.

STAMP OF REALLY GOOD PLAYER
Amazingly, in her post-tournament comments, Miss Reid said she did not feel she was swinging at her best but, with her new-found mental strength this season, she stay focused and was able to get great figures without being on song ... the stamp of a really good player.
OK, so Miss Reid lost to Naomi Edwards (Ganton) in the recent final of the English women's closed amateur championship, but it would take a brave person to predict someone to beat Melissa in next week's British women's open amateur championship at Alwoodley, Leeds.
Miss Brockway got on level terms on Sunday with Miss Reid after 36 holes on 10-under-par 141, thanks to an eight-under-par 68 to tag on to her opening 73. But Henrietta fell away (slightly) in the third round with 39 for the outward half, which, despite steady rain from late afternoon onwards, was playing very short, with nine-hole totals of 30, 32 and so on.
In the third round, Denise Becker, an 18-year-old from Germany, broke the Old Course St Andrews women's record of with a 10-under-par round of 66. The previous record was set by Mhairi McKay (Turnberry) in 1993 when she had a 67 over the Old Course.Miss Becker had an outward half of eight under par 30 with an eagle and six birdies and only one par figure in the first nine.
She birdied the first three holes of the inward half but then was one over par for the last six holes with five pars and her only bogey at the 15th.
Brockway, Becker and Australian Kate Coombes were joint runners-up on 217 but the Everard Trophy for being officially placed second went to Denise Becker for having the best last round of the three on 217.

HENRIETTA WINS U-18 TROPHY
Miss Brockway pipped Carly Booth, the 14-year-old Comrie prospect, for the Lawson Under-18 trophy. Carly signed off with a 69 (32-37) for 219 which earned her joint sixth place overall and the honour of being the leading Scot in what is now an international event.
That was a tremendous effort by Carly, which must have been noted by the Ladies Golf Union selectors, out in force with a GB&I team for the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe at Fairmont St Andrews to be chosen shortly.
Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), only 16, finished third in the Under-18 event with a total of 220. She was joint ninth, alongwith Heather MacRae (Dunblane New) and others.
For two of the leading three Scots to be aged 16 must be a source of encouragement for the SLGA and national coach Kevin Craggs.
Defending champion Krystle Caithness (St Regulus) finished joint 18th after getting off to a slow start with a 78. Her closing round of six-under-par 70 over the Old Course should restore her confidence.
England (432) won the team event from Ireland (438), Germany (440) and Scotland (444).
Deirdre Smith (Co Louth), the 2004 Irish women's champion, had a hole in one at the 13th over the New course on Saturday.
A total of 27 players finished with sub-par 54-hole aggregates. That must be a third record for this particular St Rule Trophy.

TIME TO RE-RATE SHORT PAR-5s
At the same time, without wishing to detract in any way from the girls’ efforts, it must be time that the SLGA course-raters revised the par for the par-5 holes of under 400 yards in length – not only at St Andrews but also at Troon Portland where there was also exceptionally low scoring in the recent “Helen Holm” tournament.
Nowadays, players in the higher echelons of women's amateur golf are getting on with short irons at these far-too-short par-5 holes.

WEEKEND SCOREBOARD
FINAL TOTALS
Par 75 76 76. CSS 76 75 75
Par 227
209 M Reid (Chevin) 69 72 68.
217 K Coombes (Australia) 77 69 71, D Becker (Ger) 77 74 66, H Brockway (Yeovil) 73 68 76.
218 R Bell (Ganton) 76 68 74.
219 M Riordan (Tipperary) 78 70 71, S Doering (Ger) 71 73 75, C Booth (Comrie) 74 76 69.
220 E Bennett (Australia) 77 72 71, K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) 74 72 74, D Smith (Co Louth) 72 77 71, H MacRae (Dunblane New) 78 70 72, S Kirchmayr (Ger) 77 72 71.
221 N Holleder (Ger) 76 73 72.
222 B Mullins-Lane (Harefield Place) 73 76 73.
223 L Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 77 71 75, K Smith (Waterlooville) 74 73 76, B Loucks (Wrexham) 77 74 72.
224 K Caithness (St Regulus) 78 76 70, R Jennings (Izaak Walton) 76 72 76.
225 T Davies (Holyhead) 78 74 73.
226 E Ogilvy (Auchterarder) 73 75 78, T Delaney (Carlow) 77 77 72, E Lyons (West Surrey) 78 74 74, S Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 78 72 76, P Halbig (Ger) 77 75 74, N Edwards (Ganton) 74 75 77.
227 D Montgomery (The Lambourne) 75 75 77.
228 L Ball (Matfen Hall) 77 74 77, R Livingstone (Musselburgh Old) 79 72 77, E Givens (Blackwell Grange) 77 72 79, D Karlsson (Swe) 73 76 79, K Walker (Buchanan Castle) 77 73 78.
229 K Hillas (Norway) 82 70 77, S Bishop (Cochrane Castle) 76 78 75, V Sternebeck (Ger) 79 76 74, T Von Ruben (SAf) 86 71 72, J Wilson (Strathaven) 78 78 73, K Brotherton (Tulliallan) 79 74 76.
230 C-M Carlton (Stirling Univ) 77 80 73, S Evans (Vale of Llangollen) 78 74 78.
231 L Murray (Alford) 77 73 81, M Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 88 71 72, A Scott (Consett) 80 75 76, S Keating (Aus) 80 76 75.
232 N Podmore (High Legh Park) 76 77 79, J Dotten (Can) 77 75 80, B Arthur (Aus) 84 72 76, C Gruber (Royal Dornoch) 78 76 78, R Flood (Aus) 77 78 77.
233 J Turner (Mortonhall) 80 74 79, R Niven (Crieff) 79 77 77.
234 P Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) 75 82 77, J Carthew (Ladybank) 78 77 79.235 C Choi (Aus) 81 78 76, S Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 79 76.
236 A Ramsay (Kirriemuir) 84 75 77, L Kenney (Pitreavie) 83 77 76, T Hoffmeister (Ger) 82 76 78.
238 E Moffat (St Regulus) 84 76 78, J Hodge (Knowle) 78 80 80, M Gunhildrud (Nor) 79 80 79.
240 R Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 82 78.
241 K Harper (Inverness) 86 75 80.
244 J Nicolson (Wrexham) 84 78 82.
245 S Ovadia (US) 86 79 80.
247 M Briggs (Kilmacolm) 87 79 81.
252 A Bushby (Strathmore) 84 79 89.
258 E Cuthill (Lanark)( 91 86 81.
261 T Karlsson (Swe) 80 90 91.
NR T McDonnell (Ennis).
Withdrew: C Lee (West Lancs) 78 88 w/d.
INTERNATIONAL TEAM EVENT
432 England (N Edwards, M Reid, K Smith).
438 Ireland (T Delaney, M Riordan, D Smith).
440 Germany (S Doering, T Hoffmeister, N Holleder).
444 Scotland (K Caithness, H MacRae, J Wilson).
446 Australia (B Arthur, C Choi, K Combes), Wales (T Davies, S Hassan, B Loucks).
467 Norway (M Grunhildrud, K Hillas).
489 Sweden (D Karlsson, T Karlsson).

+Picture above shows Melissa Reid on left and Denise Becker on right in St Rule clubhouse.

SORRY FOR SUNDAY BREAKDOWN

Sincere apologies for the complete breakdown of communications on Sunday from the St Rule Trophy and other competitions.
The telephone line I was using at St Andrews was not equal to the task of enabling me to put the scores and other information up on the website.
I will put the St Rule Trophy story I wrote on Sunday evening as well as the scores up on the screen shortly ... plus an edited version of the other tournaments we were unable to report on.
Colin Farquharson

FIRST WIN OF TARTAN TOUR SEASON
FOR JASON McCREADIE AT WISHAW

Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) scored his first win of the Tartan Tour this season when he won the Wishaw Golf Club 36-hole Order of Merit pro-am with rounds of 66 and 63 for a nine-under-par total of 129.
Jason earned £2,400 for his victory by one shot from Eddie Thomson (Largs) (65-65) who gained £1925.
Thjird was Fraser Mann (Musselburgh) with a pair of 66s for six-under-par 132 and a pay-out of £1,441.
Inchmarlo Golf Centre’s Mark Barnard picked up the last of the four-figure cheques – one for £1,079 – with 66 and 67 for 133 and fourth place.
LEADING TOTALS
Par 138 (2 x 69)
129 J McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) 66 63.
130 E Thomson (Largs) 65 65.
132 F Mann (Musselburgh) 66 66.
133 M Barnard (Inchmarlo) 66 67.
135 C Nicoll (Prestwick) 70 65, S Taylor (Bothwell Castle) 70 65, C Ronald (Carluke) 67 68.
136 K Glen (Royal Musselburgh) 68 68. D McLure (Troon Welbeck) 65 71.
137 C Kelly (Cawder) 73 64, F McLaughlan (Bothwell Castle) 73 64, M King (Kingsfield) 721 65, A Lockhart (Ladybank) 71 66, S Cairns (Westerwood) 69 68.

TARTAN TOUR MONEY TOP 20

1 P McKechnie (Braid Hills) £9,505.
2 M Urquhart (Inverness) £8,446.
3 D Patrick (Mortonhall) £7,939.
4 R Arnott (Bishopbriggs) £6,859.
5 C Doak (unatt) £5,333.
6 S Gray (Hayston) £4,948.
7 C Gillies (Kingsfield) £4,674.
8 D Orr (East Renfrewshire) £3,496.
9 S Cairns (Westerwood) £3,834.
10 C Kelly (Cawder) £3,828.
11 G Hutcheon (Peterculter) £3,820.
12 D Robertson (Czech Design) £3,777.
14 C Nicoll (Prestwick) £3,446.
15 J McKinnon (Irvine) £3,445.
16 C Ronald (Carluke) £2,819.
17 G McFarlane (Clober) £2,635.
18 J McCreadier (Buchanan Castle) £2,600.
19 M Lofdtus (Cowglen) £2,582.
20 C Lee (All Golf Swing Centre) £2,514.

ORDER OF MERIT LEADERS

1 P McKechnie (Braid Hlls) 549.52, 2 R Arnott (Bishopbriggs) 506.88, 3 Stephen Gray (Hayston) 464.38, 4 S Cairns (Westerwood) 399.08, 5 C Kelly (Cawder) 396.08 6 J McKinnon (Irvine) 392.50, 7 G Hutcheon (Peterculter) 379.50 8 D Orr (East Renfrewshire) 370.14, 9 M Loftus (Cowglen) 366.25, 10 C Doak (unatt) 359.58, 11 M Urquhart (Inverness) 334.96, 12 C Lee (All Golf Swing Centre) 329.75, 13 A Lockhart (Ladybank) 318.14, 14 C Nicoll (Prestwick) 314.11, 15 F Mann (Musselburgh) 286.75, 16 G McFarlane (Clober) 276.88, 17 F McLaughlan (Bothwell Castle) 269.93, 18 D Robertson (Czech Design) 263.46, 19 C Gillies (Kingsfield) 263.25, 20 L Vannet (Carnoustie) 235.12.

MELISSA AND HENNY SHARE ST RULE TROPHY LEAD

Henrietta Brockway, only 17 years old, from Yeovil joined 19-year-old Melissa Reid from Chevin Derby in the lead after the second round of the St Rule Trophy over the Old Course, St Andrews today.

Henny opened with with a 73 over the New Course on Saturday but went seven-under-par over the Old Course with a 68 for a nine-under-par 36-hole tally of 141.

Melissa, winner of the Helen Holm Scottish open stroke-play at Troon for the past two years, had set the pace with a 69 over the New Course and a three-under-par 72 over the Old Course enabled her to

rub shoulders with another teenager in the pole position.

With one more round to go over the Old Course today, Melissa and Henny are three shots clear of Rachel Bell (Ganton) and Germany's Stephanie Doering.

Scotland's leading performance at this stage was 16-year-old Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) who has scored 74 and 72 for a share fifth place on 146.

 

 

SECOND ROUND TOTALS

First round: New Course. Par 75, CSS 76.

Second round: Old Course. Par 75. CSS 75.

141 M Reid (Chevin) 69 72, H Brockway (Yeovil) 73 68.

144 R Bell (Ganton) 76 68, S Doering (Ger) 71 73.

146 K Combes (Aus) 77 69, K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) 74 72.

147 K Smith (Waterlooville) 74 73.

148 M Riordan (Tipperary) 78 70, L Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 77 71, E Ogilvy (Auchterarder) 73 75, H MacRae (Dunblane New) 78 70, R Jennings (Izaak Walton)76 72.

149 S Kirchmayr (Ger) 77 72, N Holleder (Ger) 76 73, B Mullins-Lane (Harefield Place) 73 76, D Smith (Co Louth) 72 77, E Bennett (Aus) 77 72, E Givens (Blackwell Grange) 77 72, D Karlsson (Swe) 73 76.

150 L Murray (Alford) 77 73, C Booth (Comrie) 74 76, S Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 78 72, K Walker (Buchanan Castle) 77 73, D Montgomery (The Lambourne) 75 75.

151   L Ball (Matfen Hall) 77 74, B Loucks (Wrexham) 77 74, D Becker (Ger) 77 74, R Livingstone (Musselburgh Old) 79 72.

152 K Hillas (Nor) 82 70, E Lyons (West Surrey) 78 74, J Dotten (Can) 77 75, S Evans (Vale of Llangollen) 78 74, T Davies (Holyhead) 78 74, P Halbig (Ger) 77 75.

153 K   Brotherton (Tulliallan) 79 74, N Podmore (High Legh Park) 76 77.

154 C Gruber (Royal Dornoch) 78 86, K Caithness (St Regulus) 78 76, J Turner (Mortonhall) 80 74, T Delaney (Carlow) 77 77, S Bishop (Cochrane Castle) 76 78.

155 R Flood (Aus) 77 78, A Scott (Consett) 80 75, V Sternebeck (Ger) 79 76, J Carthew (Ladybank) 78 77.

156 J Wilson (Strathaven) 78 78, R Niven (Crieff) 79 77, B Arthur (Aus) 84 72, S Keating (Aus) 80 76.

157 C-M Carlton (Stirling Univ) 77 80, T Von Ruben (SAf) 86 71, P Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) 75 82.

158 J Hodge (Knowle) 78 80, T Hoffmeister (Ger) 82 76.

159 A Ramsay (Kirriemuir) 84 75, S Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 78, C Choi (Aus) 81 78, M Gunhildrud (Nor) 79 80, M Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 88 71.

160 L Kenney (Pitreavie) 83 77, E Moffat (St Regulus) 84 76.

161 K Harper (Inverness) 86 75.

162 J Nicolson (Wrexham) 84 78, R Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 82.

163 A Bushby (Strathmore) 84 78.

165 S Ovadia (US) 86 79.

166 M Briggs (Kilmacolm) 87 79, C Lee (West Lancs) 78 88.

170 T Karlsson (Swe) 80 90.

177 E Cuthill (Lanark) 91 86

MELISSA AND HENNY SHARE ST RULE TROPHY LEAD

Henrietta Brockway, only 17 years old, from Yeovil joined 19-year-old Melissa Reid from Chevin Derby in the lead after the second round of the St Rule Trophy over the Old Course, St Andrews today.

Henny opened with with a 73 over the New Course on Saturday but went seven-under-par over the Old Course with a 68 for a nine-under-par 36-hole tally of 141.

Melissa, winner of the Helen Holm Scottish open stroke-play at Troon for the past two years, had set the pace with a 69 over the New Course and a three-under-par 72 over the Old Course enabled her to

rub shoulders with another teenager in the pole position.

With one more round to go over the Old Course today, Melissa and Henny are three shots clear of Rachel Bell (Ganton) and Germany's Stephanie Doering.

Scotland's leading performance at this stage was 16-year-old Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) who has scored 74 and 72 for a share fifth place on 146.

 

 

SECOND ROUND TOTALS

First round: New Course. Par 75, CSS 76.

Second round: Old Course. Par 75. CSS 75.

141 M Reid (Chevin) 69 72, H Brockway (Yeovil) 73 68.

144 R Bell (Ganton) 76 68, S Doering (Ger) 71 73.

146 K Combes (Aus) 77 69, K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar) 74 72.

147 K Smith (Waterlooville) 74 73.

148 M Riordan (Tipperary) 78 70, L Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 77 71, E Ogilvy (Auchterarder) 73 75, H MacRae (Dunblane New) 78 70, R Jennings (Izaak Walton)76 72.

149 S Kirchmayr (Ger) 77 72, N Holleder (Ger) 76 73, B Mullins-Lane (Harefield Place) 73 76, D Smith (Co Louth) 72 77, E Bennett (Aus) 77 72, E Givens (Blackwell Grange) 77 72, D Karlsson (Swe) 73 76.

150 L Murray (Alford) 77 73, C Booth (Comrie) 74 76, S Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 78 72, K Walker (Buchanan Castle) 77 73, D Montgomery (The Lambourne) 75 75.

151   L Ball (Matfen Hall) 77 74, B Loucks (Wrexham) 77 74, D Becker (Ger) 77 74, R Livingstone (Musselburgh Old) 79 72.

152 K Hillas (Nor) 82 70, E Lyons (West Surrey) 78 74, J Dotten (Can) 77 75, S Evans (Vale of Llangollen) 78 74, T Davies (Holyhead) 78 74, P Halbig (Ger) 77 75.

153 K   Brotherton (Tulliallan) 79 74, N Podmore (High Legh Park) 76 77.

154 C Gruber (Royal Dornoch) 78 86, K Caithness (St Regulus) 78 76, J Turner (Mortonhall) 80 74, T Delaney (Carlow) 77 77, S Bishop (Cochrane Castle) 76 78.

155 R Flood (Aus) 77 78, A Scott (Consett) 80 75, V Sternebeck (Ger) 79 76, J Carthew (Ladybank) 78 77.

156 J Wilson (Strathaven) 78 78, R Niven (Crieff) 79 77, B Arthur (Aus) 84 72, S Keating (Aus) 80 76.

157 C-M Carlton (Stirling Univ) 77 80, T Von Ruben (SAf) 86 71, P Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) 75 82.

158 J Hodge (Knowle) 78 80, T Hoffmeister (Ger) 82 76.

159 A Ramsay (Kirriemuir) 84 75, S Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 78, C Choi (Aus) 81 78, M Gunhildrud (Nor) 79 80, M Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 88 71.

160 L Kenney (Pitreavie) 83 77, E Moffat (St Regulus) 84 76.

161 K Harper (Inverness) 86 75.

162 J Nicolson (Wrexham) 84 78, R Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 80 82.

163 A Bushby (Strathmore) 84 78.

165 S Ovadia (US) 86 79.

166 M Briggs (Kilmacolm) 87 79, C Lee (West Lancs) 78 88.

170 T Karlsson (Swe) 80 90.

177 E Cuthill (Lanark) 91 86