Wednesday, April 29, 2009

GUNN SHOOTS 66 IN ARIZONA

Dornoch exile Jimmy Gunn was sharing second place on six-under-par 66 with half the first-round field still to finish in the Gateway Tour's Desert Series No 6 tournament at Vista Verde Golf Club, Arizona today.
Gunn had a bogey-free round with birdies at the fifth, seventh, long 13th, short 14th, 15th and 18th.
The Scot was level with Ryan Dillon, one behind leader Corey Mahoney.

AND LAST WEEK ...

Jimmy Gunn set a course record and picked up his biggest cheque so far on the Gateway Tour in Arizona (last week).
Competing in the Desert Series event at the Lone Tree Golf Club, Chandler, Gunn started with a disappointing, two-over-par 73 which left him trailing the leaders in 85th place.
He beat the 36-hole cut in style with a nine-under-par course record round of 62 over the 6984yd course. That elevated him to eighth position and then, on the final day, a closing 69 raised him to a final placing of fifth with a nine-under-par total of 204 and his biggest cheque - $4,000 - since he joined satellite tour at the beginning of 2008.
Gunn, when an amateur, was a four-time club champion at Royal Dornoch and Carnegie Shield winner and Sutherland County Champion before uprooting for America at the end of 2007. He joined the Gateway Tour at the beginning on 2008 and now has sponsorship from the most unlikely of sources, the Coer d'Alene native America Indian tribe from Idaho who paid a visit to Dornoch in 2005 and forged a link with the club and player.

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Swine Flu postpones Nationwide Tour's

Mexico Open until later in season

The Nationwide Tour’s upcoming Mexico Open has been postponed due to the swine flu outbreak and will be played later in the season, Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee announced today.
The tournament was to be played during the week of May 18-24. The new tournament dates will be announced in the near future.
El Bosque Golf Club in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico is the new host site this year. The club is located approximately 200 miles northwest of Mexico City.
“Given the serious circumstances surrounding the swine flu outbreak, the Nationwide Tour has decided it is in everyone’s best interests to reschedule the Mexico Open presented by Corona Light and play the tournament later in the season,” Calfee said in a statement.
“A significant number of lives have been lost in Mexico, which is tragic. There are more important things for people to focus on at the moment."
Calfee said the tour will work with tournament personnel to decide on a new date, saying, “The PGA Tour is very committed to the Mexico Open and looks forward to playing at El Bosque Golf Club.”
All other details regarding the Mexico Open remain unchanged. The total and first-prize money will be $650,000 and $117,000, respectively.
The last time a Nationwide Tour event was postponed and rescheduled later in the season was the 2003 Henrico County Open that was impacted by persistent rains and a saturated, unplayable golf course.
The event was moved from May to July.
This is the second year the Nationwide Tour will be a co-sanctioning partner of the Mexico Open with the Mexican Golf Federation. Australian Jarrod Lyle won last year’s event by five shots over Matt Every.

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Free round of golf at La Manga for one night

bed and breakfast hotel room booking

NEWS RELEASE BY THE AZALEA GROUP
Former La Manga Club touring pro Seve Ballesteros won five majors to earn the right to free golf at the Spanish resort. In 2009 all golfers have to do for the same privilege is book a hotel room.
As if being able to play golf on La Manga Club’s three fantastic courses wasn’t enough to tempt people to the five-star resort, now they can play them for free.
Every visitor can receive a free round for each night they spend at the five-star Hotel La Manga Club Principe Felipe before July 10 and from August 23 to October 31 – a saving of €71 per day, or €497 on a week’s golf.
Bookings must be confirmed by May 18, and prices start from just €91.50 per person per night on a bed-and-breakfast basis.
Packages also include complimentary access to the indoor pool, fitness centre, saunas and steam rooms at Spa La Manga Club and complimentary use of the on-resort shuttle bus service.
With three championship courses, extensive practices facilities and an ideal, year-round climate, all set in the Murcia region of southern Spain, the award-winning La Manga Club resort is the perfect golf destination.
In addition, the resort also boasts first-class tennis, football, cricket and spa facilities among the wide range of available activities.
For more information call 0034 968 175577, email reserve@lamangaclub.com or visit www.lamangaclub.com


About La Manga Club

As a result of 37 years of continued investment, innovation and commitment to excellence, which have ensured that it has remained at the forefront of the sector, La Manga Club is widely recognised as Spain’s flagship resort and as one of the finest in the world.
Evidence of this is provided by its numerous World Travel Award nominations and prizes, such as the World’s Leading Sports Resort (top 5, 2006 and 2007), Spain’s Leading Golf Resort (winner, 2006), Europe’s Leading Golf Resort (winner, 2001, 2003 and 2005), and Europe’s Leading Conference Hotel (winner, 2003). In addition, the hotel obtained the prestigious Q for Quality certification in 2002.
La Manga Club is a spectacular resort located in the Murcia region of south-east Spain. Set out over an area of some 560 hectares (approx. 1,400 acres), it offers visitors a five-star hotel, luxury vacation apartments and 450 hectares of sports facilities, highlights of which include its three 18-hole golf courses, 28 tennis courts and its eight-pitch professional football centre, which also offers facilities for cricket, rugby and Gaelic football.
The resort is also home to innumerable leisure facilities, such as the Spa La Manga Club with its 13 luxurious treatment rooms, comprehensive fitness centre and 25m indoor swimming pool; meeting, banqueting and incentive facilities, and more than 20 restaurants and bars.
La Manga Club is located in a unique setting amid the rolling hills that separate the crystalline Mediterranean from the warm waters of the Mar Menor Sea in Murcia, southern Spain. Lying to the south of the Costa Blanca, this region is known as the Costa Cálida, or 'warm coast', thanks to its mild, year-round Mediterranean climate.

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Scots skipper hints that two's not enough for him

Monty to make plea for more

Ryder Cup wild-card picks

European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie is dropping big hints that he will approach the powers that be. requesting a change in Europe's qualification system for the biennial match with the United States at Celtic Manor next year.
Traditionally, well, at least since the 1995 match, Europe's team of 12 has been made up of 10 who have amassed the most qualifying points plus two wild cards selected by the team captain.
Montgomerie has always said he would want more control over who plays for him if he were made captain.
Montgomerie even has suggested having all 12 team members selected by the captain. He won't even try to get away with that but he is expected to plead for the right to choose more than just two members of the team.
The European Tour tournament committee will meet at the Irish Open next month.
Today, at the PGA Golf de Catalunya course, the day before he plays in the Spanish Open, Montgomerie declined to reveal just how he wants his team to be formed but left no doubt he will ask for a change to the system.
"I am one vote [on Ryder Cup team selection], although a more powerful one now than I was, and I'll put a case forward," Montgomerie said.
"It's up to the committee to debate that and to come up with a scenario. I can't at this stage say what -- but you can put two-and-two together." Reports that U.S. captain Corey Pavin is urging Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to play Celtic Manor -- the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup -- in the Wales Open this year left Montgomerie unfazed.
Although Pavin is playing in the Wales Open, Montgomerie does not believe the world's top two players will turn up.
"Knowing Celtic Manor will be a huge, huge advantage to Europe. We will have had three years playing it and the Americans will only have three days. It was proved in 1997 that 10 years learning to play Valderrama gave us a tremendous advantage," Montgomerie said.

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Colin Dalgleish and his Walker Cup preliminary squad

GB&I Walker Cup team captain Colin Dalgleish, centre with light blue top, and most of the preliminary squad for the match against the United States at Merion Golf Club in September at the conclusion of their two-day bonding session at Formby Golf Club, Lancashire. Image by courtesy of Tom Ward Photograph (you can enlarge it by clicking on it).

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NATIONS GATHER FOR THE R&A WORKING

FOR GOLF CONFERENCE

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R&A
29 April 2009, St Andrews
: Delegations from 60 countries affiliated to golf’s governing body, The R&A, gathered in St Andrews today for the start of three days of discussion and debate on future developments in the game.
The conference, staged every four years, welcomes more than 160 delegates from countries as far apart as Argentina and Australia, Canada, China and Cote d’Ivoire.
The agenda ranges from Amateur Status to World Anti-Doping regulation. Issues such as pace of play, alternative models for golf development, technology in golf and the next steps for golf’s inclusion in the Olympic Games will also be debated.

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Lanarkshire, Fife name teams for start

of SGU area team championship on May 17

Lanarkshire have announced their six-man team for the first tie in the Scottish Golf Union area team championship, against Perth and Kinross on Sunday, May 17 at East Kilbride.
It is:
Paul Shields (Kirkhill). SGU men's area team championship ties on May 17)
Grant Beaton (Kirkhill).
Stuart Henderson (Hamilton).
Kevin Louchrie (Cambuslang).
Andy Fairbairn (Kirkhill).
Steven Rennie (Drumpellier).
Chris Orr (Lanark).
Morning programme of three foursomes tees off at 9am followed by six singles in the afternoon.

Fife's team to play Clackmannanshire at Braehead includes three Thornton Golf Club members.
It is:
Scott Michie (Thornton).
Alex Main (Thornton).
Michael Main (Thornton).
Colin Martin (Balbirnie Park).
Scott Stewart-Cation (Ladybank).
James White (Lundin).
Jordan McColl (Scotscraig).

+If any other districts wish to publish their May 17 line-ups on www.scottishgolfview.com, E-mail the information to Colin@scottishgolfview.com

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Powerade PGA Assistants' Championship qualifier

Mark Barnard, bad experience three years ago (Image by courtesy of Matthew Lewis, Getty Images).

Why Mark Barnard is not going down to

Auchterarder for a practice round

NEWS RELEASE FROM PGA
As the flagship event for Britain’s top young golf professionals approaches, Inchmarlo’s Mark Barnard knows he should do the right thing.
And that is – go for a practice round at Auchterarder before the Scottish qualifying round there on Monday, May 11 for the Powerade PGA Assistants’ Championship, in association with FootJoy. But the Perthshire course, which runs cheek-by-jowl with the PGA Centenary course at Gleneagles Hotel, has never been a happy hunting ground for the 23-year-old Scot, now in his final year of PGA training at Inchmarlo Golf Centre.
“I did what seemed to be the right thing three years ago, travel down from Banchory (Aberdeenshire) for a practice round, and went round in something like six or seven under par,” he said.
“So what happens on the competition day? Let’s just say I had some bad experiences on the greens – I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole. So there and then I decided that, as far as Auchterarder was concerned, practice rounds were a no-no.
“So I won’t be going anywhere near the course until I tee off in the qualifier.”
Barnard is proving this early in the season that he’s one of the brighter prospects on the horizon. He fired a five-under 66 in winning the Linksland Series at Dunbar, beating another Auchterarder entrant, Gareth Wright from West Linton (Peebleshire) in a play-off.
From someone relatively new to competitive golf, a sharp contrast among the 50 entrants occurs in the shape of 34-year-old David Patrick. A regular member of his university team in Charleston, South Carolina, as long ago as 1994, the 6ft.4in. Edinburgh man, now based at Elie Sports Club, Fife, can boast a fine pedigree in the game.
A member of the 1999 winning Walker Cup team and winner on the Challenge Tour four years ago, Patrick has belatedly decided to enroll on the PGA’s three-year foundation degree in professional golf studies - but that hasn’t adversely affected his own game.
He tied second in the first of the Linksland Series, at Kingsbarns, and easily qualified for the Wateraid Pro-am final with a par-72 at Kilmarnock Barassie two weeks ago.
The splendid London Club near Brands Hatch will again host the PGA Assistants’ Championship final over 54 holes from August 12-14. And in association with FootJoy, each of the 120 finalists who survive seven qualifying rounds throughout Britain and Ireland will be provided with shoes and gloves. Guy Woodman (East Herts) will be defending the title.
Richard Baldwin of Coca Cola Enterprises added: “We at CCE are pleased to sponsor the Powerade PGA Assistants' Championship for the sixth year running. We are looking forward to the event and wish everyone the best of luck at the regional rounds and look forward to the final at The London Club in August.”
+++Competitor draw and full list of entries for the event at Auchterarder can be found under ‘Schedule, Scores and Results’ at http://www.pga.info/PGAAssistantsChampionship.aspx

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