Wallace Booth gets that "one good round" he's been waiting for ... and it clinches place in top eight for Scotland at Conwy (image by Cal Carson Golf Agency).

Ireland fail to qualify for championship flight

but Wallace Booth pulls Scotland through

Big shock of the European men's amateur team championship so far at Conway, North Wales is the failure of Ireland - bidding to win the title three years in a row - to qualify for the championship flight.

They finished 11th and that means they cannot now win the title. They will be competing in Flight B.

But Scotland can win the championship. They qualified in sixth place and play Sweden in their opening match. Sweden are the third seeds behind Norway and Italy.

Wallace Booth was the man who lifted the Scots up by their bootlaces with a great round of 66 to be the top Scot in the stroke-play stage with a six-under-par total of 138.

The Comrie man has been frustratingly on the edge of producing a good score for weeks - way back to the Scottish stroke-play at Murcar Links where he told us that he felt he needed and would get one good score that would put his season on the rails.

Well, Wallace could not have got his "one good score" in a better place than Conwy where the whole Scotland team benefited from it.

QUALIFIERS FOR CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT

690 (-30) NORWAY.
693 (-27) ITALY.

697 (-23) SWEDEN.

700 (-20) ENGLAND.

707 (-13) FRANCE.

716 (-4) SCOTLAND.

716 (-4) GERMANY.

718 (-2) FINLAND

Match-play draw

1 Norway v 8 Finland.

4 England v 5 France.

6 Scotland v Sweden 3.

7 Germany v Italy 2.

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

134 (-10) Pontus Widegren (Ger) 67 67.

134 (-10) Matteo Manassero (Italy) 66 68.

135 (-9) Andrea Pavan (Italy) 67 68.

136 (-8) Matt Haines (England) 67 69.

SCOTLAND SCORES

138 (-6) Wallace Booth 72 66 (jt 9th).

143 (-1) Michael Stewart 70 73 (jt 34th).

144 (level) Gavin Dear 69 75 (jt 41st).

146 (+2) Michael Campbell 73 73 (jt 50th).

146 (+2) Paul O'Hara 72 74 (jt 50th).

148 (+4) Ross Kellett 72 76 (jt 71st).

FLIGHT B

10 Wales, 11 Ireland, 12 Denmark, 13 Belgium, 14 Portugal, 15 Iceland, 16 Spain.

FLIGHT C

17 Austria, 18 Czech Republic, 19 Green, 20 Turkey.

Mark Kerr poised for last-day charge

Stage set for exciting finish to PGA

EuroPro Tour event in Suffolk

The final day of The Stoke by Nayland Championship 2009 promises to be an exciting one – with Tom Haylock and James Ruebotham tied for the lead after a fine day of scoring at the PGA EuroPro Tour event in Suffolk.
Ruebotham (Welwyn Garden City GC) fired the second best round of the day – an eight under 64 – to share the lead, starting with three birdies and an eagle in his first five holes and picking up three more shots in a faultless round.
Since dropping a shot on the eighth in his opening round, Haylock (Ground Construction Ltd) has avoided any blemishes – ending his opening round four under par and shooting a 67 in his second round to progress to nine under.
Surry (Cumberwell Park) fired out of the blocks, birdying the first five holes in order to blank out his opening round 73. A sixth birdie at the eighth was followed by a dropped shot at the ninth to see him go out at four under for the tournament.
But the 27 year-old was not finished there and continued his charge up the leaderboard with four birdies on his back nine to shoot a fantastic nine under round-of-the-day 63.
Australian Chris Gaunt joins Surry at eight under after a fine round of his own. A 71 on the opening day meant he began the second round at one under, but he soon made inroads into catching the leaders with five birdies on the front nine and two on the back contributing to a 65. Scot Mark Kerr (Saffron Walden) was in the penultimate trio to finish and made it a chasing pack of three one stroke behind the leaders with his second 68 of the tournament.
Gaunt and Surry could’ve been joined by overnight co-leader Kieran Staunton (Woodcote Park) who moved to eight under from beginning the day at five under but a bogey at 18 means he is two shots behind along with Jeremy Kavanagh (Stoke Park) carded a 67 to move to seven under.
Matthew Ford (Marriott Tudor Park), Lorne Kelly (Pro Dream USA) and Nicky Harris (Whitefield GC) – who won here in 2008 – all posted rounds of 70 to follow opening rounds of 68 to move to six under.
Craig Housden (Channels) shared the overnight lead with Staunton but a treble bogey at the tenth means he is eight shots off the lead at one under.
Fifty-seven players made the cut at one over and the final round will begin at 8am, with the leading duo of Haylock and Ruebotham teeing off at 12.30pm. Live scoring is available on the final round by visiting http://www.europrotour.com/ and clicking on the Score Updates link on the homepage.
HOW THE SCOTS FARED
Par 144 (2x72)
136 Mark Kerr 68 68
138 Lorne Kelly 68 70
139 Steve Jamieson 70 69
141 Paul Doherty 69 72
142 Jack Doherty 71 71
142 John Gallagher 72 70
142 Barry Hume 73, 69
142 Elliot Saltman 70 72
143 Lee Harper 69 74
Scott Herald 73 71
Duncan Stewart 75, 70 +1
MISSED THE CUT
146 Steven Mackie 73 73
149 Chris Kelly 75 74.
151 Graham Brown 74 77
154 Shaun McAllister 80 74.
159 Zack Saltman 80 79.
160 Eric Walker 79 81.

ONLY TWO SCOTS LEFT IN MCGREGOR TROPHY

Only two Scots out of an entry of seven survived the halfway cut in the McGregor Trophy Under-16 boys’ open amateur stroke-play championship at Radcliffe on Trent Golf Club today
Liam Johnston (Dumfries & Co) had rounds of 70 and 72 for two-over-par 142 while Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) made the cut with one shot to spare with rounds of 70 and 74 for 144.
Scots who shot over the 145 mark were Neil Beattie (St Andrews) with 75 and 72 for 147, Daniel Flannery (Peebles) with 73 and 75 for 148; Calum Stewart (Brora), 76 and 73 for 149, Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) 79 and 71 for 150, and Ewan Scott (St Andrews) with 78 and 76 for 154.
Max Orrin from Kent and Belgium’s Bertrand Mommaerts share the halfway lead on three-under-par 137, Orrin with 70 and 67, Mommaerts with 67 and 70.
LEADERBOARD
Par 140 (2x70)
137 Max Orrin
(Kent) 70 67, Bertrand Mommaerts (Belgium) 67 70.
138 Curtis Griffiths (Wentworth)70 68, David Lloyd (Romanby) 70 68, Adria Arnaus (Spain) 69 69, Nick Newbold (Kedleston Park) 68 70, Liam Harper (Lydd) 67 71, Seb Crookall-Nixon (Workington) 66 72.
Scots scores:
142 Liam Johnston (Dumfries & Co) 70 72.
144 Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) 70 74.
MISSED THE CUT (145 or better required).
147 Neil Beattie (St Andrews) 75 72.
148 Daniel Flannery (Peebles) 73 74.
149 Calum Stewart (Brora) 76 73.
150 Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) 79 71.
154 Ewan Scott (St Andrews) 78 76.

Sir Bob Charles (73) beats his age

at Montrose - and wins the money

Former Open champion Sir Bob Charles beat his age of 73 - not for the first time - with a par-matching round of 71 over the Montrose Medal links today.
Sir Bob and Montrose professional Jason Boyd beat Alan Crowe, chairman of the Montrose Links Trust and a 15-handicap golfer, and Aberdeen businessman Jim Hardie, who plays off four, by one hole after being two down with four to play.
"Sir Bob hit a four-iron to within 2 1/2ft of the stick for a birdie 4 at the long 15th. Then he hit a five-wood to within 3ft for a birdie 2 at the 16th before finishing 4 4. He's still a terrific golfer," said Jim Hardie who has fixed up the itinerary of Scottish links courses that Sir Bob had always wanted to play but never got around to on his visits to Scotland.
Tomorrow, Sir Bob, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, will play Cruden Bay with a tee-off time at approximately 12 noon.
There was a fair-sized gallery at Montrose to watch the four-ball featuring the left-handed New Zealander who won the 1963 Open at Royal Lytham after a 36-hole play-off with American Phil Rodgers..
His journey of discovery started at North Berwick on Tuesday but the sea fog all along the East Coast ruined the day as a spectacle.
"Sir Bob thought Montrose was a very good links indeed. Well, worth the visit," said Hardie.

Crichton Golf Club, Dumfries, represented by captain Brian Oakes and secretary Lee Sterrit ... at the top of the leaderboard.

Crichton Turn Up the Heat to Win

Belhaven Qualifier

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Club captain Brian Oakes and secretary Lee Sterritt scorched to a four-shot victory in the South Regional Final of the Belhaven Best Captains & Secretaries Championship amid searing temperatures at Broomieknowe.
The Dumfries pairing recorded a championship record-equalling nine-under par 61 on the Midlothian course, which included an amazing run of seven consecutive 3s in the four-ball better-ball format, in a round that began with a birdie 2 for captain Oakes.
“We only played together for the first time last night at Crichton and actually lost, so it was a real surprise to come out here today and shoot such a low score. I’ve played in this event for three years but this is the first time I’ve qualified for the Final, which I’m really looking forward to.” said secretary Sterritt, a 5-handicapper.
“It’s great to reach the Belhaven final.” said a delighted Oakes. “As you’d expect with a nine-under par round, we holed a few putts and dovetailed really well. Lee didn’t tell me how well we were scoring, otherwise I might have got more nervous towards the end!” he admitted.Neil Hampton led Loch Ness to their third Belhaven final partnering club captain John Fraser to an excellent five-under par 65, edging out Duns for the runner-up spot by virtue of a superb onward half of 30. The Borders pairing of Allan Anderson and Ian Learmonth were also five-under par but had to settle for third place and a place in the September final.
On a day of very low scoring in red-hot temperatures, Braids United, Langholm and Liberton all posted four-under par 66s to book their final spots, whilst Portobello and Carnwath clinched the final two places on the 67 mark, pipping host club Broomieknowe and Dumfries & Galloway on the countback.
The 2009 Belhaven Best Captains & Secretaries Final takes place on Tuesday 22 September at Glenbervie, part of the SGU’s 10-year sponsorship anniversary with Belhaven.

Edinburgh banker makes telling

move to win trip to Turkey

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE PGA
An Edinburgh banker cashed in the round of his life to win a place in Europe's biggest pro-am.
David Kidd, a member of Prestonfield - the closest golf club to Edinburgh's city centre - teamed up with head professional Gavin Cook to top the Virgin Atlantic PGA National Pro-Am Championship regional final at Crieff.
The pair combined to impressive effect to shoot a 10-under-par 61 to win by two shots from a trio of clubs - Ian Bratton and Liam McLeod (Newburgh), Martin Piggott and Brian Gribbon (Loch Ness) and Campbell Elliott and Graham Pascal (Haggs Castle).
Kidd, who began the year as a 20 handicapper but has come down to 15 after winning a couple of medals, was in red-hot form, firing an impressive one over scratch over the opening nine holes to move them to seven-under-par.
Tartan Tour regular Cook then stepped in to sink decisive birdies on the last two holes to clinch victory. Awaiting the duo is a 36-hole grand final at Turkey's Antalya Golf Club where they will take on 15 other finalists from across Great Britain and Ireland over the PGA Sultan Course.They will also enjoy an all expenses stay at the Sirene Beach & Hotel Resort.
"It's the biggest thing I've ever achieved in golf. I've only been playing seriously four or five years," said Kidd, aged 48 who is a senior change analyst with the Royal Bank of Scotland.
"I played last night and had a mare but today turned up and played as well as I've ever played. I can't believe that we're going to be heading to Turkey in December to play in the grand final.
"I've already told a few friends - I can't repeat what they said but 'jammy' cropped up a few times."
Cook, who has been head pro at Prestonfield for nearly five years, admitted he felt they were on to a winner as they reached the turn in 30 strokes but wasn't letting on to his partner.
"Out in 30 is pretty good going by any stretch but I didn't want to say too much to David because I thought nine or 10 under might be close to winning it so I didn't want to pile the pressure on," he said.
"We faltered a bit on 11 and 12 but managed a birdie, birdie finish. David was just fantastic, to play the front nine in one over scratch is pretty impressive."

World Hickory Festival developments

NEWS RELEASE
Just three months away from the 2009 World Hickory Festival, there is news of some exciting developments in the shape of a totally new tournament to be played over the historic Old Musselburgh Links in East Lothian, the first time this famous course will have hosted a professional tournament since Harry Vardon took home the honours in 1906.
The venerable Links has, of course, hosted one of the most popular tournaments on the schedule. Previous winners include Willie Park Jr, James Braid & J H Taylor.
The new tournament has been created to help promote the ‘Old Links’, recognised officially as the world’s oldest course. It will be sponsored by the Scottish Homecoming and the East Lothian Council. And like the World Hickory Open, this event will be run under the auspices of the Scottish PGA Tartan Tour.
World Hickory’s Chairman Lionel Freedman also says he is delighted to announce that the racecourse complex that surrounds the course will host the event. Players and visitors are most welcome, he adds.
The format is an 18 hole medal for professionals and amateurs to be played on Sunday 20th September. Twenty professionals and twenty amateurs from this tournament will qualify for a match between Scotland and the Rest of the World on the following day, Monday 21st September. This will be played on a ‘Ryder Cup’ format. In parallel, non-qualifiers will have a consolation tournament on Gullane No. 3.
Following this, Tuesday 22nd September will feature an 18 hole medal round over Craigielaw Golf Course.
However, the principal event of the week is the World Hickory Open, to be played this year on Gullane No. 2. But as demand has proved so fierce, the format for this year has changed to a 36 hole tournament. An 18 hole pro-am will be played on the first day on 24th September. While professionals will carry their score forward to the second round on Friday 25th September. Amateurs will play a separate World Hickory medal on this day.
The Musselburgh Hickory International has a prize fund of £10,000 and the World Hickory Open prize fund has been increased to £12,500, with prizes for the pro-am and second day amateurs.
A Gala Buffet will take place at Musselburgh on Sunday 20th September and a Gala Dinner will be held in the Gullane clubhouse on Thursday 24th September.

Full details of all tournaments can be found on the website: http://www.worldhickoryopen.com/

THE R&A ANNOUNCE PRIZE MONEY FOR

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2009

The R&A has announced that prize money will be held at the same level as last year for this year’s Open Championship at Turnberry. The total prize fund will be £4.2 million in 2009, with the Champion receiving £750,000.

The breakdown of Prize Money for The Open Championship 2009 is as follows:

1 £750,000; 2 £450,000; 3 £290,000; 4 £220,000; 5 £180,000; 6 £157,000; 7 £134,000; 8 £112,000; 9 £100,000; 10 £88,000.
11 £79,000; 12 £73,000; 13 £67,000; 14 £62,000; 15 £57,000; 16 £52,500; 17 £50,000; 18 £48,000; 19 £46,000; 20 £44,000.
21 £42,000; 22 £40,000; 23 £38,000; 24 £36,250; 25 £34,750; 26 £33,250; 27 £31,500; 28 £30,250; 29 £29,250; 30 £28,250.
40 £18,250; 50 £12,250; 60 £10,500; 70 £9,500; 80 £3,200; 90 £2,650; 100 £2,650.

Every man who plays in the Open championship proper will receive a minimumpayment of £2,100 from the R&A.

down to the man who finishes 156th - £1,200.

Scotland lying seventh in European

team championsip qualifying

Scotland were lying seventh at the end of the first stroke play qualifying round of the European men's amateur team championship at Conwy, North Wales.
Ireland, bidding for a title hat-trick, were well outside the leading eight teams.
Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) had the best Scottish score of 69, closely followed by young Michael
344 England.Stewart (Troon Welbeck) with a 70.

FIRST-ROUND TEAM TOTALS

347 Norway, Italy.
348 Sweden.
351 France.
354 Wales.
355 Scotland.
358 Denmark, Germany.
364 Netherlands, Finland.
370 Iceland.
372 Belgium, Ireland.
373 Portugal.
376 Spain.
377 Austria.
391 Czech Republic.
397 Greece.
410 Turkey.
LEADING INDIVIDUAL
66 Matteo Manassero (Italy).
SCOTS' SCORES
69 Gavin Dear.
70 Michael Stewart.
72 Ross Kellett, Paul O'Hara, Wallace Booth.
73 Glenn Campbell.

Scots' scores in Euro ProTour event
at Stoke by Nayland

Lorne Kelly 68 -4
Mark Kerr 68 -4
Lee Harper 69 -3
Steve Jamieson 70 -2
John Gallagher 72 Lvl
Barry Hume 73 +1
Steven Mackie 73 +1
Graham Brown 74 +2
Duncan Stewart 75 +3
Chris Kelly 75 +3
Eric Walker 79 +7
Shaun McAllister 80 +8