Now young Matteo has to beat the jinx

on leading qualifiers in Amateur

FROM THE GOLFWEEK.COM WEBSITE
By ALISTAIR TAIT
Senior Writer
Italy’s Matteo Manassero made British Amateur Championship history today when he became the youngest known medalist (leading qualifier for the match-play stages) since the tournament began in 1885.
The 16-year-old added a two-under-par 70 at Formby to his opening 65 at West Lancashire for a nine-under-par total of 135. That gave him a four-shot lead over veteran Welshman Nigel Edwards and Sam Hutsby of England.
Manassero could not match the quality of his eagle, seven-birdie barrage of his first-round 65, but he didn’t have to do much to smash a record that David Duval set in 1991 at Ganton.
Duval was 19 when he led the qualifying at Ganton. Three other 19-year-olds have earned medalist honours since then. Scot Stephen Gallacher recorded that feat in 1994, Nick Dougherty managed it in 2001 and Hutsby was one year shy of his 20th birthday when he was medalist at Turnberry last year.
Manassero needs an asterisk beside his name, since the R&A only began keeping such records in 1984. However, given that today’s competitors are much younger than their forebears, it seems almost certain that Manassero is the youngest ever.
The precocious native of Verona, Italy looks up to Seve Ballesteros and countryman Costantino Rocca. Both men would have been happy with the scores Manassero has posted over the last two days.
The 16-year-old complained about his work on the greens at Formby Golf Club as the reason he didn’t come close to matching his opening round. “I didn’t putt very well,” he said.
He now has to try to get over the amateur jinx if he hopes to better John Beharrell’s record of youngest winner of the championship. Beharrell was 18 years old when he won the 1956 tournament at Royal Troon.
The amateur jinx refers to medalists only. Seven of the last 10 have lost in the first round. Edwards made his seventh cut in the British Amateur in the last eight years. His best finish in the game’s premier amateur event is a quarter-final appearance in the 2005 championship at Royal Birkdale. He lost to Oliver Fisher on that occasion.
The 40-year-old Welshman reached the match play stages with a conservative game plan. He plotted his way to a level-par 72 with 16 pars, one birdie and a bogey.“It was a matter of getting the job done today,” Edwards said.
“I just played nice and steady and didn’t want to do anything wrong.”
Hutsby fashioned a 71 at West Lancashire to go with his opening 68. The 20-year-old is one of the most highly-rated amateurs in the British Isles, so it is no surprise he will enter the match play stages as one of the favourites.
“I felt there was a score out there today, so I didn’t want to play too protectively,” Hutsby said. “I didn’t play as well as yesterday. I was a bit sloppy. My game is in reasonable shape. Match play is fantastic because it’s change of game plan. I like to be aggressive. If in doubt go flat out.”
Defending champion Reinier Saxton added a second successive 70 to qualify on 4-under-par 140.
Scottish stroke-play champion Tommy Fleetwood, beaten finalist last year, also safely made it through. He added a 70 at West Lancashire to the 74 he recorded in Round 1. Fleetwood was one of just 10 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup squad players to make the cut of 3-over-par 147.
Sixteen GB&I squad members failed to advance, including highly-rated players like Matt Haines and Luke Goddard of England, and former Augusta State player Wallace Booth.
NCAA champion and college No. 1 Matt Hill also missed. He posted a 75 at Formby to the 76 he returned at West Lancashire to miss by four shots.
Hill’s chances of making the match play stages didn’t start well in Round 2. He hit his opening tee shot into trees to the right of the first hole and could only chip the ball back to the fairway. He made bogey and just couldn’t make enough birdies over the next 17 holes to catch up.
The 20-year-old Canadian was tasting links golf for the first time.
Four of the 20 U.S. players in the field made it through. Russell Henley, Steve Ziegler, Gregor Main and William Wilcox will try to emulate Drew Weaver’s feat of two years ago and win the game’s oldest amateur championship.
Main might be the man to watch from that bunch. The UCLA freshman Monday qualified for the Buick Open on the US PGA Tour this year and made the cut. The Bruins freshman is ranked 27th on the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
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Seventy-six players qualified with the cut coming at 147 (+3). A preliminary round will take place on Wednesday morning from 7.36am to establish the top 64 players with the first match of the second round commencing at 9.45am.
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Visit RandA.org for a full list of qualifiers and the draw for the match play stage of the 2009 Amateur Championship.

Scores with relation to par from the second round of the British Amateur Championship, played June 16 at the par-72, 7,020-yard West Lancashire Golf Club and the par-72, 7,095-yard Formby Golf Club in Formby.
Par 144 (2x72)
1. Matteo Manassero 65-70--135
2. Nigel Edwards 67-72--139
2. Sam Hutsby 68-71--139
4. Jack Bartlett 69-71--140
4. Gavin Dear 69-71--140
4. Reinier Saxton 70-70--140
4. Brendan Smith 70-70--140
4. Matt Jager 66-74--140
9. Jesper Kennegard 68-73--141
9. Fredrik Qvicker 72-69--141
9. Stefan Wiedergruen 71-70--141
9. Tommy King 73-68--141
9. Stephan Jaeger 68-73--141
9. Maximilian Kieffer 69-72--141
15. Ben Rickett 72-70--142
15. Simon Ward 70-72--142
15. Peter Baunsoe 72-70--142
15. Jamie Abbott 74-68--142
19. Willem Vork 70-73--143
19. Luke Lennox 73-70--143
19. Pontus Widegren 75-68--143
19. Russell Henley 75-68--143
19. James Byrne 69-74--143
19. Andrea Pavan 72-71--143
19. Greg Paterson 73-70--143
19. Bryden Macpherson 75-68--143
19. Adam Runcie 73-70--143
19. James White 73-70--143
19. Chris Cannon 71-72--143
19. Niall Kearney 72-71--143
19. Daan Huizing 68-75--143
32. Stephan Gross 72-72--144
32. Rhys Enoch 69-75--144
32. David Markle 68-76--144
32. Joon Kim 71-73--144
32. James Robinson 69-75--144
32. Tommy Fleetwood 74-70--144
32. Niclas Johansson 73-71--144
32. Jurrian Van Der Vaart 75-69--144
32. Steven Brown 71-73--144
32. Jake Amos 73-71--144
32. Ignacio Elvira 70-74--144
32. Kalle Samooja 76-68--144
44. Steve Ziegler 72-73--145
44. Charlie Cossins 74-71--145
44. Jonathan Hurst 76-69--145
44. John Carroll 73-72--145
44. Jonathan Gidney 70-75--145
44. Darren Renwick 72-73--145
44. Adam Wainwright 72-73--145
44. Joe Vickery 73-72--145
52. Mark Hillson 75-71--146
52. Gregor Main 76-70--146
52. Pedro Oriol 71-75--146
52. Paul Cutler 70-76--146
52. Eugene Wong 73-73--146
52. Victor Flatau 71-75--146
52. Dale Whitnell 69-77--146
52. Johann Lopez Lazaro 71-75--146
52. Lincoln Tighe 71-75--146
52. Richard Hooper 71-75--146
62. Matthew Nixon 72-75--147
62. Nils Floren 74-73--147
62. Sam Stuart 73-74--147
62. Tim Sluiter 71-76--147
62. Stiggy Hodgson 73-74--147
62. Robin Kind 72-75--147
62. William Wilcox 76-71--147
62. Billy Hemstock 71-76--147
62. Sam Haywood 73-74--147
62. Nunzio Lombardi 76-71--147
62. Daniel Nisbet 74-73--147
62. Adrian Ford 73-74--147
62. Henrik Norlander 73-74--147
62. Ryan Dreyer 77-70--147
62. Alexander Knappe 71-76--147

DID NOT QUALIFY
77. Todd Adcock 80-68--148
77. Sebastian MacLean 76-72--148
77. Olivier Serres 74-74--148
77. Nuno Henriques 72-76--148
77. Jason Timmis 73-75--148
77. Andrew Cooley 72-76--148
77. Michael Kraaij 71-77--148
77. Derik Ferreira 73-75--148
77. Richard Bentham 76-72--148
77. Wouter De Vries 73-75--148
77. Tom Sherreard 75-73--148
77. Adam Wootton 71-77--148
77. Cyril Bouniol 76-72--148
77. Bill Rankin 76-72--148
77. Fraser Fotheringham 74-74--148
77. Morten Madsen 72-76--148
77. Jon White 75-73--148
77. Oliver Farr 74-74--148
77. Allen John 74-74--148
96. Farren Keenan 77-72--149
96. Jason Scrivener 75-74--149
96. David Coupland 74-75--149
96. Nino Bertasio 74-75--149
96. Kris Nicol 76-73--149
96. Kelly Kraft 74-75--149
96. Gary Stal 74-75--149
96. Tristan Bierenbroodspot 74-75--149
96. John Kemp 76-73--149
96. Mervin Rocchi 73-76--149
96. Gordon Yates 75-74--149
96. Jean-Pierre Verselin 81-68--149
96. Paul O'Kane 74-75--149
96. Charles Ford 76-73--149
96. Paul O'Hara 75-74--149
96. Robin Wingardh 72-77--149
96. Darren Wright 72-77--149
113. Ian Kenwright 75-75--150
113. Lindsay Renolds 76-74--150
113. Mads Kristensen 75-75--150
113. Luke Collins 75-75--150
113. Miles Mackman 79-71--150
113. Jack Senior 75-75--150
113. Anders Kristiansen 78-72--150
113. Raphael Marguery 76-74--150
113. Will Roebuck 73-77--150
113. Mark Young 71-79--150
113. Benedikt Staben 76-74--150
113. Thomas Shadbolt 73-77--150
113. Keir McNicoll 73-77--150
113. Steve Uzzell 76-74--150
113. Craig Hinton 76-74--150
113. Scott Borrowman 77-73--150
113. Seamus Power 77-73--150
113. Matt Haines 76-74--150
113. Ben Westgate 75-75--150
113. Sean Einhaus 76-74--150
113. Rhys Black 76-74--150
113. Maxwell Scodro 77-73--150
Selected scores:
135. Steven McEwan 76-75--151
135. Bobby Rushford 77-74--151
152. Wallace Booth 78-74--152
152. Chris Paisley 72-80--152
167. Michael Stewart 78-75--153
167. Gordon Stevenson 77-76--153
167. Neil Henderson 78-75--153
167. Peter Latimer 75-78--153
167. Ross Kellett 73-80--153
192. David Law 74-80--154
205. Luke Goddard 77-78--155
232. Alan Dunbar 74-83--157
232. Philip McLean 74-83--157
232. Lewis Kirton 78-79--157
243. Paul Ferrier 78-80--158
256. Alexander Culverwell 78-82--160
256. Jordan Findlay 78-82--160
DQ. Stephen Clark 81-DQ
WD. Paul Betty 83-WD

PGA EuroPro Tour in Glorious Devon

Birdie bursts benefit Balmaseda

and Brooks at Bovey

By ANTHONY LEAVER
Carlos Balmaseda and Daniel Brooks both posted fantastic opening rounds of 63 to share the lead at seven under in the PGA EuroPro Tour’s Sureshot GPS International Open at Bovey Castle in Devon.
The Spaniard picked up four birdies on both front and back nines with just a single blemish on the 16th to lead by two shots on a day of fine scoring on the South Coast. Brooks (Mill Hill) didn’t drop a shot all day, going through the turn at two under par before picking up back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 then three more birdies in his last four holes.
Young South African Louis De Jager was part of Balmaseda’s three-ball and he is one of four players to share third spot two shots back at five under. The 22 year-old has enjoyed success on the Sunshine Tour and showed he could mix it in Europe too, going out level par after three birdies and three bogeys, but finishing strongly with three further birdies building up to an eagle at the last in his 65.
Llewellyn Matthews (Southerndown GC) joins De Jager after posting five birdies without dropping a shot, while Tom Haylock (Ground Construction Ltd) mirrored the South African’s effort with an eagle at the last seeing him post a 65 – which Mark Ramsdale (Formby GC) equalled late in the day with an eagle two at the fourth the highlight for him.
Last week’s event at Prince’s Golf Club in Kent was a tight affair and the early signs are that Devon holds much of the same in store with a cluster of players chasing at four and three under.
Jamie Elson (Forum Financial Associates), Paul Maddy (Gog Magog) and Jeremy Kavanagh (Stoke Park) carded four under rounds of 66 to lurk three shots behind Balmaseda, while Order of Merit leader and Sky Bet’s 12/1 favourite Steve Surry (Cumberwell Park) heads a pack of players at three under after the opening round.
The second round of the Sureshot GPS International Open begins at 6.30am on Wednesday morning. The full first round Leaderboard is available at http://www.europrotour.com/ by clicking on the Score Updates link, also home to live scoring.
LEADERBOARD
Par 70
63 Carlos Balmaseda (Spain), Daniel Brooks (England).
65 Louis de Jager (South Africa), Llewellyn Matthews (Wales), Tom Haylock (England), Mark Ramsdale (England).
66 Jamie Elson (England), Paul Maddy (England), Jeremy Kavanagh (England).

SCOTS' SCORES
Par 70
68 Mark Kerr
69 Barry Hume
70 John Gallagher
71 Graham Brown
71 Jack Doherty
71 Scott Jamieson
71 Zack Saltman
73 Lorne Kelly
74 Paul Doherty
75 Elliot Saltman
76 Shaun McAllister

Bryan Fotheringham wins Badenoch

Open by two from Forres clubmate

Former Scotland international Bryan Fotheringham (Forres) won the Badenoch Open over Kingussie and Newtonmore
The North District champion, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, had rounds of 68 and 69 for a total of 137.
He won by two shots from clubmate Robert McKerron (70-69) with Kingussie's Brian Shaw third on 141.
Angus Boyd, a 12-year-old boy from Alloa, won the Handicap Class 2 section.
Leading totals

Scratch

137 Brian Fotheringham (Forres) 68 69.

139 Robert McKerron (Forres) 70 69.

141 Brian Shaw (Kingussie) 71 70.

Handicap

Class 1 (0-9)

133 Raymond Munro (Newtonmore) 71 62.

136 Willie Fraser (Kingussie) 68 68.

137 Scott Gilbert (Uphall) 71 66.

Class 2 (10-20)

138 Angus Boyd (Alloa) 72 66.

139 Kennedy Miller (Newtonmore) 68 71 (better last 9 at Newtonmore), Dougie Langlands (Kingussie) 68 71.

BILL LOCKIE (North Gailes) - a sterling defence of Senior PGA championship.

Four Scots take on the big boys at

PGA Seniors Championship

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE PGA

Four Scottish pros will aim to shine when they take on some of golf’s biggest names in the prestigious De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship next week.

Bill Lockie (North Gailes), John McTear (Mar Hall), Alastair Webster (Edzell) and Garry Harvey (Kinross Golf) – the man who engraves the winner’s name on the Claret Jug at the Open - will be up against a host of star players including former Ryder Cup captains Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam when they tee up in the £250,000 at Northumberland’s Slaley Hall from June 25-28.

The four qualified for the event, which is the longest-running tournament on the European Senior Tour, after finishing in the top 20 at the Senior PGA Professional Championship at Northants County last month.

Lockie, defending the title he won in 2008, mounted a sterling defence to grab the runners up spot behind champion George Ryall.

Sky Sports will televise the PGA Seniors Championship, which will be played over the Dave Thomas-designed Hunting Course.

The event remains one of the flagship tournaments on the Senior circuit and one of only two 72-hole championships on the Tour – the other being the Seniors Open.

Previous champions include Open Championship winners Max Faulkner, Kel Nagle and Peter Thomson, while Christy O'Connor lifted the PGA Seniors title no less than six times.More recent winners include defending champion Gordon J Brand plus Carl Mason and Torrance who are both chasing a third PGA Seniors title.

+Image above of Bill Lockie by courtesy of Tom Dulat at Getty Images

Leading Sutherland county championship prizewinners at Brora. Left to right: Bronze medallist James MacBeath, champion Chris Mailley, former Sutherland champion George Sutherland, handicap title winner George Rutherford and Ken Lorimer, Brora club captain. Image by Robin Wilson.

NORTH COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UP

BY ROBIN WILSON

Caithness
First time winner of the Caithness county championship, Alan Swanson (Thurso), a member of the host club, benefited from a quick start to his second round with three birdies through the first four holes.

A fourth birdie at the eighth hole for a super outward half card of four under par 31 set him up for a gross two-under-par 67 and make up the lost ground on clubmate Doug Thorburn, the first-round leader with a 70.
Swanson added his 67 to a first-round 76 for 143 to tie Thorburn who fell back to a second round 73 which included a title-losing out of bounds drive at the final hole for a double bogey 6. Swanson was declared the new Caithness county champion on the better second round score rule.

Thurso results

CSS 70 70 (All Thurso players)
Scratch

143 A Swanson 76 67, D Thorburn 70 73.

147 P Sangster 73 74.

150 G Calder 72 78.

Handicap

P Sangster (5) 137, G. Calder (6) 138, A Simpson (17) 140.

Ross-shire
Local three handicapper Graham Gordon, a police officer with Northern Constabulary, stalked from behind with a second round, two under par 65 to catch the first round leader and capture the Ross-shire county championship for the first time over his home Strathpeffer Spa course.
In the lead from a first round 68 was Invergordon's Glen McAlpine, followed by clubmate and 2006 winner, Alan Gilmour, on 68.
Gordon surged to the front with a second round outward half of 31 which included a run of six 3s in succession from second to eighth and a birdie at the ninth. He came home in two under par 34 for 65 and the winning total of 136.

Gilmour took the bronze medal after a second round 69 for 137.
Strathpeffer Spa results:
CSS 66 65
Scratch

136 G Gordon (Strathpeffer Spa) 71 65.

137 A Gilmour (Invergordon) 68 69, G McAlpine (Invergordon) 66 71.

139 M McNab (Strathpeffer Spa) 64 65, M Bartlet (Strathpeffer Spa) 71 68.

Handicap

(All Strathpeffer Spa players)

S Duff (8) , N Dow (18) 127; L Manson (9) 128; M McNab (5 ) 129.

Sutherland
Royal Dornoch's Chris Mailley was an 18-year-old when he won his first Sutherland county championship at Golspie in 2001 and had to wait another seven years before a repeat at his home club last year.

But this year, now 26, he retained the cup at Brora with two quick rounds of 66 and 68, each completed in under 3 ½ hours
Highlight of Mailley's first round was three birdies in succession from the sixth to the eighth holes in an outward half of 31, helped by and putting stats of 21 for the round.

In the second round, Mailley was still holding a three shot lead over playing partner James MacBeath when MacBeath faltered at the 12th hole with a double bogey.

Mailley strung together another hat-trick of birdies at the 12th, 13th and 14th to cruise home with a one under par 68 for 134 and a nine-shot win over the local player.
Handicap winner was the oldest player in the field, George Rutherford (66) from Blairgowrie, a Scottish boys international in 1960. In his 50 years as a non-resident member at Brora, this was the first time he broke 70 - a gross 69 to better his first round 80 by 11 shots and a net total of 139.
Brora results:

CSS 70 70

Scratch

134 C Mailley (Royal Dornoch) 66 68.

143 J G MacBeath (Brora) 69 74.

146 D Holden (Royal Dornoch) 75 71.

147 G Grant (Brora) 72 75.

148 N Munro (Royal Dornoch) 73 75.

149 G M Rutherford (Brora) 80 69, L MacDonald (Brora) 75 74, R S Cameron (Brora) 75 74.
Handicap

G M Rutherford (Brora) (5), L MacDonald (Brora) (5), G Grant (Brora) (4) 139; N Munro (Royal Dornoch) (4) 140; C Sutherland (Royal Dornoch) (7) 142.

Greenock's Johnny Caldwell win s

Renfrewshire youths' match-play

NEWS RELEASE FROM RENFREWSHIRE GOLF UNION
The final stages of the 2009 Duncan Trophy – Renfrewshire Golf Union’s Youth Match Play Championship – were contested over Renfrew Golf Course. Despite weather warnings and occasional distant thunder, the matches were played without interruption and the spectators were treated to as great display of golf from the young competitors.
In the first of the morning semi-finals, home course member Jordan Grant was under severe pressure from Scott McGrenaghan of Cochrane Castle and the match went all the way to the 20th hole before Jordan could book his place for the afternoon final.
The second semi-final also saw a home player, the much fancied and long hitting Michael Campbell – last year’s champion - in action. His opponent was Greenock Golf Club’s Johnny Caldwell who surprised many by coasting home with a comfortable 4 & 3 victory.
The stage was set for an afternoon of high quality golf and the first six holes were halved with neither player able to take advantage of the occasional error and with any birdie being matched.
Then Caldwell started to feel the strain and balls out of bounds at the seventh and ninth left the crowd thinking that it was all over, especially when he caught the bunker at the par-3 tenth and needed a sand save to halve the hole.
Grant remained two up until the 13th, where his lead was reduced to one, and he had a great chance to take command when he had a putt for an eagle at the long 15th.
He took three putts and never really recovered from that, letting Johnny back in the match with a par at the next hole and seeing him take the lead with a tramliner putt for a birdie at the penultimate hole. A half at the final hole meant that the trophy went to Greenock.
=================IMAGE NOT YET TO HAND================
Pictures: Caldwell receiving his trophy from Billy Gilmour, RGU President, the finalists before the final – Jordan Grant on the left - and the semi finalists – McGreneghan, Caldwell, Campbell and Jordan