Saturday, February 21, 2009


McNicoll, Law, McLean and


Paterson beat Portugal cut

Only four Scots - Carnoustie's Keir McNicoll, Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) and two Paul Lawrie proteges David Law (Aberdeen Hazlehead) and Peterhead's Philip McLean - survived the two-round cut in the Portuguese men's open amateur golf championship at Troia Golf Resort near Lisbon.
Morning fog delayed play so much on Thursday and Friday that the second round was not completed until Saturday afternoon. By that time the organisers had decided to cut the scheduled 72-hole tournament to only three rounds.
A total of 57 players with 36-hole tallies of six-over-par 150 or better will contest the third and final round on Sunday.
St Andrews Links Trophy winner McNicoll, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, heads the Scots qualifiers with scores of 74 and 71 for 145 - eight shots behind Dutchman leader Jurrian Van der Vaart who scored 68 and 69 for seven-under-par 137, excellent scoring on what is rated one of the toughest courses in Portugal.
Teenager Law had Saturday off because he completed his rounds of 77 and 70 for 147 on Friday.
Paterson and McLean made the cut with nothing to spare. Paterson, under pressure after an opening 79, birdied the seventh, eighth and 10th to put himself inside the cut mark - and then grittily parred the last eight holes for a 71 and the limit mark of 150.
McLean, despite a double bogey 6 at the eighth, had shots in hand until he bogeyed the 16th and 18th for a 74 and 150.
Wallace Booth (Comrie) and Gavin Dear (Murrayshall), two of Scotland's Eisenhower Trophy-winning trio (rookie pro Calum Macaulay was the third) missed the cut by one shot.
Booth doubled bogeyed the 16th and bogeyed the 17th for a second-round 74 and 151. Dear lost the plot with a double bogey at the fifth and single bogeys at the eighth, ninth, 12th and 16th. A birdie at the 18th was too little too late for a 76 and 151.
Other Scots non-qualifiers were Steve McEwan (Caprington) on 152 with a pair of 76s, Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) on 153 with 80 and 73, and Scott Borrowman (Dollar) with a horrendous first round of 83 followed by a creditable 72 for 155.
Van der Vaart leads on 137 by one shot from Englishman Sam Hutsby and Norway's Anders Kristiansen. Dale Whitenell, in fourth place on 139, gives England two players in the top four. The defending champion, Portugal's Pedro Figueiredo, is in fifth place on 141.
SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
137 Jurrian Van der Vaart (Net) 68 69.
138 Sam Hutsby (Eng) 72 66, Anders Kristiansen (Nor) 70 68.
139 Dale Whitnell (Eng) 71 68.
141 Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 69 72.
142 Jamie Abbott (Eng) 73 69, Luke Goddard (Eng) 72 70, Reinier Saxton (Net) 72 70.
144 Leonarda Motta (Ita) 73 71, Oliver Farr (Wal) 75 69, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 71.
145 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 75 70, Edouard Espana (Fra) 79 66, Keir McNicoll (Sco) 74 71, Cian Curley (Ire) 74 71, Ben Westgate (Wal) 72 73, Stanislas Gautier (Fra) 72 73, Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 72 73, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 70 75.
146 Paul Cutler (Ire) 73 73, Romain Schneider (Fra) 70 76, Manuel Alexandre Violas (Por) 75 71, Shane Lowry (Ire) 75 71.
147 David Law (Sco) 77 70, Craig Hinton (Eng) 75 72, Darren Wright (Eng) 77 70, Erwan Vieilledent (Fra) 74 73, Adam Runcie (Wal) 75 72, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 76 71, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 76 71, Miles Mackman (Eng) 72 75, Wolters Stephan (Ger) 74 73, Miguel Gaspar (Por) 74 73.
148 Christopher Mivis (Bel) 78 70, Jason Barnes (Eng) 77 71, Dylan Boshart (Net) 75 73, Luke Lennox (Ire) 73 75, Michael Salminen (Fin) 75 73, Olivier Serres (Fra) 74 74, Alexandre Levy (Fra) 76 72, James Taverner (Eng) 75 73, Mayel Cheikh (Fra) 73 75, Stiggy Hodgson (Eng) 73 75,
149 Billy Hemstock (Eng) 75 74, Richard Merchant (Wal) 76 73, Julien Brun (Fra) 74 75, Elias Bertheussen (Nor) 77 72,
150 Greg Paterson (Sco) 79 71, Andrew Hogan (Ire) 75 75, Kevin Turlan (Fra) 71 79, Jacob Roth (Den) 75 75, Floris de Vries (Net) 75 75, Are Friestad (Nor) 77 73, Philip McLean (Sco) 76 74, Niclas Carlsson (Swe) 75 75, Jake Shepherd (Eng) 75 75
MISSED THE CUT (150 or better qualified)
151
James Howie (Wal) 80 71, Jonathan Gidney (Eng) 79 72, Ricardo Melo Gouveia (Por) 77 74, Gavin Dear (Sco) 75 76, Goncalo Pinto (Por) 75 76, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 78, Todd Adcock (Eng) 78 73, Wallace Booth (Sco) 77 74, Dara Lernihan (Ire) 77 74, Tom Lewis (Eng) 76 75, Max Glauert (Ger) 75 76, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 75 76, Andre Chiapuzzo (Ita) 75 76, Jose Maria Joia (Por) 74 77, Robin Kind (Net) 73 78, Oskar Ardvidsson (Swe) 73 78.
Selected non-qualifiers:
152
Richard Prophet (Eng) 77 75, Steven McEwan (Sco) 76 76.
153 Paul O'Hara (Sco) 80 73, Alan Dunbar (Ire) 78 75, Pat Murray (Ire) 76 77.
155 Scott Borrowman (Sco) 84 71, Jack Senior (Eng) 80 75.
156 James Webber (Eng) 78 78
158 Andy Sullivan (Eng) 76 82.

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Fog reduces Portguese event

to three rounds



The 72-hole Portuguese men's open amateur championship at Troia Golf Club, pictured right, near Lisbon has been reduced to three rounds because of the time lost at the start of each day due to heavy fog.
The 42 players who did not complete their second rounds on Friday are currently finishing off the job and a cut will be made to the leading 50 and ties for Sunday's third and final round.
We will give you the second-round totals as soon as they become available.

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Alan McLean and David Drysdale trail

on South Africa's Sunshine Tour

Scots Alan McLean, pictured right, and David Drysdale are lying joint 25th and 33rd with one round to go in the South African Sunshine Tour's Telkom PGA championship at Country Club Johannesburg.
Glasgow-born Canada-based McLean had five birdies in a third-round 69 for a seven-under-par tally of 209.
Dunbar's Drysdale, marking time in South Africa until entry opportunities arise again on the European Tour, shot a 68 for 211. Drysdale had an eagle 3 at the 583yd third hole which cost him a 7 in the first round. He also birdied the sixth, 10th, 14th, 16th and 18th but dropped shots at the ninth, 12th and 15th.
The lead is shared by South African Thomas Aiken and Zimbabwe's Marc Cayeux on 14-under-par 202.

LEADING THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72) Players from South Africa unless stated
202 Thomas Aiken 65 71 66, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 68 67 67.
203 Jean Hugo 65 69 69.
204 Jaco Van Zyl 70 68 66.
205 Charl Coetzee 69 68 68, Louis de Jager 69 67 69.
206 George Coetzee 69 70 67, Michiel Bothma 68 70 68, Trevor Fisher jun 69 68 69, Titch Moore 68 69 69, Tyrone Ferreira 69 67 70, James Kingston 69 66 71, Peter Karmis 69 66 71.
Selected scores:
209 Alan McLean (Sco) 72 68 69 (jt 25th).
211 David Drysdale (Sco) 73 70 68 (jt 33rd).

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McCarron leads by three as Phil

Mickelson loses momentum

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Phil Mickelson failed to build on an impressive start at the Northern Trust Open to leave fellow American Scott McCarron with a three-shot lead after two rounds of the event at Riviera Country Club, near Los Angeles in California
It's been an unimpressive start to the year for Mickelson, who has missed one cut and finished 42nd and 55th in his other two events, but the world's fifth-ranked player looked to be on his way to turning things around after an eight-under-par 63 gave him the lead after the first round.
Mickelson's momentum continued early in the second round when he sank a 28-footer on the first hole for an eagle that moved him to 10-under. But he immediately gave that shot back with a bogey at the par-4 second hole. Three more bogeys ensured he had to settle for a one-over 72.
At seven-under 135 through 36 holes, Mickelson is three shots behind leader McCarron, who also has struggled this year.
McCarron, who underwent elbow surgery in 2006 and missed the entire following year, shot a three-under 68, moving to 10-under 132 overall.
After missing the cut last week at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and not finishing better than 34th in his previous three events, McCarron finds himself two strokes ahead of three golfers as he seeks his first win since claiming the BellSouth Classic in 2001.
Steve Stricker (66), Tommy Armour III (67) are both two shots off the lead.
Joining Mickelson at seven-under are Englishman Luke Donald (69), Rory Sabbatini (67), Pat Perez (66), K J Choi (69) and Geoff Ogilvy (67).
"Obviously, I've got to get things turned around," Mickelson said. "This is the first time I'm in contention heading into the weekend and I'm excited about it."
Glasgow's Martin Laird continued his dismal start to the 2009 season by missing another cut.
Martin was in good company as he made his exit - Padraig Harrington also failed to make it through to the weekend action.
Harrington will not be panicking yet, but surviving only one of his last five halfway cuts in America was definitely not what he had in mind after winning back-to-back majors last season.
The world number three's latest had a two-over-par total of 142 - three too many to beat the cut.
He began the year with a fifth-place finish in Abu Dhabi, but said there: "I don't think I've ever teed it up on a Thursday not been a little bit concerned about the cut."
He added: "You want to play four rounds and make sure you're in there competing. I've seen a lot of players start a run from scraping a cut and they relax on the weekend to shoot a good score, so, every week, to play four rounds is essential."
A change of format might help the Dubliner at the moment and he will have that next week in the Accenture World Match Play in Arizona, where he is due to play American Pat Perez, winner of last month's Bob Hope Classic, in Wednesday's opening round.
There is also still nearly seven weeks to go to the start of The Masters at Augusta and his attempt to win a third successive major - this time, of course, with Tiger Woods in the field.
SCROLL DOWN FOR SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

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Martin Laird misses cut again in California

US PGA Tour Scoreboard
NORTHERN TRUST OPEN
Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, California, United States of America
Par 142 (2 x 72)
132 Scott McCarron 64 68
134 Steve Stricker 68 66, Tommy Armour III 67 67
135 Phil Mickelson 63 72, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 67, Pat Perez 69 66, K J Choi (Kor) 66 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 67
136 Dustin Johnson 66 70, Kevin Na 67 69, Bill Lunde 69 67, Andres Romero (Arg) 66 70
137 Kirk Triplett 67 70, John Merrick 66 71, Ben Curtis 68 69, Fred Couples 67 70, Bob Estes 72 65, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 67, Jim Furyk 66 71, Rich Beem 68 69, Marc Turnesa 69 68, Briny Baird 67 70
138 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 69, Woody Austin 68 70, Matt Kuchar 70 68, John Mallinger 70 68, Kenny Perry 70 68, Hunter Mahan 69 69, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 68, Dean Wilson 66 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 67, Rocco Mediate 70 68
139 Nick Watney 71 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 69, Kevin Sutherland 72 67, David Duval 70 69, Charles Howell III 72 67, Jeff Klauk 67 72, Bo Van Pelt 68 71, Jimmy Walker 69 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68, Jason Gore 69 70, Jason Bohn 73 66, Brendon De Jonge 69 70, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 71, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 71, Ryan Moore 68 71, D.J. Trahan 67 72
140 Jerry Kelly 72 68, Brad Adamonis 70 70, Charley Hoffman 68 72, Chris DiMarco 68 72, Jeff Quinney 69 71, Joe Ogilvie 70 70, Bubba Watson 69 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 68, J.B. Holmes 73 67, Chad Campbell 72 68, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 67, Ben Crane 72 68, Brandt Jobe 68 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 72
141 Michael Letzig 70 71, Bart Bryant 74 67, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 70 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 71, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 70, Mike Weir (Can) 70 71, Cameron Beckman 70 71, Scott Verplank 71 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 70
MISSED THE CUT
142
Vaughn Taylor 70 72, Zach Johnson 73 69, Steve Flesch 73 69, Todd Hamilton 67 75, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 74, Steve Marino 73 69, Steve Pate 71 71, George McNeill 71 71, Bill Haas 69 73, Johnson Wagner 70 72, Troy Matteson 71 71, Brandt Snedeker 67 75
143 Paul Azinger 67 76, John Senden (Aus) 71 72, Billy Mayfair 76 67, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 73, Chez Reavie 69 74, Michael Allen 69 74, Jeff Maggert 71 72, J J Henry 74 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 71, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 71 72, Nicholas Thompson 71 72
144 Vincent Johnson 70 74, Chris Stroud 71 73, Tom Pernice Jnr. 72 72, Cliff Kresge 72 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 69, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 73, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 73 71, Will MacKenzie 69 75, John Rollins 70 74, Justin Leonard 70 74, Tim Petrovic 75 69, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 70 74, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 72
145 Ryan Palmer 74 71, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 69 76, Lucas Glover 73 72, Eric Axley 72 73, Ken Duke 73 72, Steve Lowery 71 74, Jonathan Byrd 70 75
146 Jin Park (Kor) 73 73, Ricky Barnes 73 73, Mark Brooks 73 73, Brian Gay 70 76, Matt Bettencourt 76 70, Brian Bateman 69 77
147 Nathan Green (Aus) 73 74, Kevin Chappell 75 72, James Nitties (Aus) 76 71, Parker McLachlin 75 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 76, Mark Wilson 72 75
148 Heath Slocum 72 76, Kevin Streelman 75 73
149 David Morland IV (Can) 75 74, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 79, David Berganio Jnr. 72 77, Bryce Molder 72 77, Harrison Frazar 73 76
150 Jeff Overton 75 75, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 78
151 Tim Herron 73 78, Jim Gormley 79 72, Corey Pavin 73 78
153 Tom Lehman 76 77
154 Brad Faxon 77 77

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Aberdonian Sim now

joint 7th in Johnnie

Walker Classic

Aberdeen-born Michael Sim, pictured right, is lying joint seventh with one round to go in the Johnnie Walker Classic at The Vines Resort and Country Club, Perth, Western Australia - to where he and his parents emigrated from the Granite City in the early 1990s when Michael was seven years old.
Sim lost his full playing rights on the US PGA Tour after suffering a stress fracture of the lower spine during the winter between gaining promotion from the US Nationwide Tour and actually making his debut on the No 1 American circuit.
He has had two rounds of 69 and a third-round 67 for a tally of 11-under-par 205 only two shots behind the new joint leaders, the English duo of John Bickerton and Ross McGowan who broke away from a crowded leaderboard to share the third round lead.
The co-leaders produced bogey-free cards with McGowan firing a seven-under-par 65, one better than Bickerton as they ended the round on 14-under-par 202.
Lying two shots back are Australian Terry Pilkadaris (68), Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin (66), Felipe Aguilar of Chile 68) and New Zealand amateur Danny Lee (69).
Korean rising star Bae Sang-moon, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, charged into contention with a 65 to lie three off the pace alongside experienced Japanese campaigner Hiroyuki Fujita, who carded a 70.
“So far, so good,” said Bickerton, who missed four cuts on the trot before arriving for the Johnnie Walker Classic.
Chasing a fourth career victory, the 39-year-old Bickerton said his mental approach was rock solid after a telephone conversation with his sports psychologist Jamil Qureshi on Friday night.
“I’m not giving any secrets away, but today I was quite focused and concentrated on playing the golf course and not the scoreboard. You do get nervous out there, there's no doubt about it. But today I was very calm and I actually enjoyed it.”
McGowan, the English amateur champion in 2006, put himself in prime position for a career breakthrough at the Johnnie Walker Classic, which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.
“It’s where you want to be. A good round tomorrow, and we’ll see how it goes,” said the 26-year-old. “I just hit the ball nicely and hit a lot of fairways. Around here if you can do that, the second shots, third shots, aren't too tough. I just played solid and hit the ball fairly close to about 10 feet most of the day and made a few putts.”
The 18-year-old Lee, who became the youngest winner of the US Amateur Championship last year, could play his way into the history books by becoming the first amateur to win the Johnnie Walker Classic, whose past champions include Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Ernie Els.
He agonisingly missed a three-foot eagle chance on the last hole to draw closer to the English leaders. “I'm only like two behind. I still think I can win this tournament. As I said, I'm really happy to make the cut, and all I've got to do is just play well,” said Lee.
Pilkadaris, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, put on a grandstand finish with three birdies over his closing four holes for a 68 to surge into contention. “I was putting really well. I holed everything I looked at and when you do that, you’re going to score well and all of the sudden, the confidence goes up,” said Pilkadaris.
Big-hitting Bae needed only 26 putts to negotiate his way up the leaderboard. “On the first two days, I couldn’t hole my putts. I had so many chances but kept missing from one to two metres. But after yesterday’s round, I spent an hour at the putting green just trying to read the lines better and it worked,” said Bae, who is hoping to become the first Asian winner at the Johnnie Walker Classic.
“If I can shoot another 65 tomorrow, I’ll have a chance. I’ll be trying but I’ll need to concentrate well in the final day and play well on every hole.”
Fujita, a six-time winner in Japan, opened with successive bogeys but bounced back with a back nine 32 which included five birdies. “I was missing shots on the front nine and then made some adjustments to my swing which worked. I holed a bunker shot on the 13th for birdie which got me going,” he said.
Richie Ramsay, the second Aberdonian in the field, could have done with some of Michael Sim's figures. Richie's early days on the European Tour are being blighted by well-over-par rounds that pop up to mar his overall totals. Today he had a four-over-par 76 and now has only four players behind him on the scoreboard as he stands on one-over-par 217.
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie had a 72 for 209 while one-time Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart also matched the par of 72 for 213.

THIRD ROUND TOTALS

Par 216 (3 x 72)
202 John Bickerton 66 70 66, Ross McGowan 70 67 65
204 Danny Lee (Nzl) 67 68 69, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 68 68 68, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 70 66 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68 66
205 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 64 72 69, Michael Sim 69 69 67, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 70 70 65, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 68 70, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 67 68 70
206 Damien McGrane 66 68 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 69 67, Gareth Maybin 68 70 68, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 66 70, Peter Senior (Aus) 70 67 69, Peter Lawrie 67 70 69
207 Won Joon Lee (Aus) 71 70 66, Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn) 68 70 69, David Frost (Rsa) 73 64 70, Lee Westwood 66 73 68, Adam Blyth (Aus) 68 68 71
208 Chris Gaunt (Aus) 68 69 71, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 65 71 72, Seve Benson 70 67 71, Tony Carolan (Aus) 65 72 71, Ian Poulter 68 69 71, Andre Stolz (Aus) 69 67 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 68 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 68 69
209 Scott Laycock (Aus) 68 71 70, Colin Montgomerie 67 70 72, Nick Dougherty 73 66 70, Tim Wood (Aus) 69 72 68, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 66 70, Paul Casey 71 68 70, Anthony Wall 70 70 69, Craig Parry (Aus) 71 69 69, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 71 68 70
210 Gary Lockerbie 69 69 72, David McKenzie (Aus) 68 73 69, David Smail (Nzl) 70 71 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 69 73, Richard Finch 69 70 71, Graeme Storm 73 64 73
211 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 71 72, Robert Dinwiddie 71 70 70, Phillip Price 68 70 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 67 74, Anthony Kang (USA) 67 67 77, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 70 70, Anthony Kim (USA) 68 68 75, Scott Hend (Aus) 68 72 71, Clint Rice (Aus) 67 71 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 68 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 71 70
212 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 67 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 65 75, David Howell 70 68 74
213 Alistair Presnell (Aus) 72 68 73, Andrew Coltart 72 69 72, Simon Khan 68 73 72
214 Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 69 73, James Kamte (Rsa) 73 67 74
215 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 70 74
216 Hyung-sung Kim (Kor) 68 71 77
217 Richie Ramsay 68 73 76
218 Darren Beck (Aus) 70 70 78, Michael Long (Nzl) 74 67 77
220 Anton Haig (Rsa) 69 72 79
222 Benn Barham 68 72 82
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