Climax to European men's amateur team championship

Wallace Booth (Comrie), back in form at just the right time for Scotland. Picture from Conwy by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography.

Scotland v England line-up in Conwy final

MORNING FOURSOMES
08:40
Gavin Dear & Glenn Campbell v Dale Whitnell & Charlie Ford.
08:50
Wallace Booth & Michael Stewart v Matt Haines & Tommy Fleetwood.

AFTERNOON SINGLES
14:00
Gavin Dear v Matt Haines
14:08
Wallace Booth v Sam Hutsby
14:16
Michael Stewart v Dale Whitnell
14:24
Ross Kellett v Tommy Fleetwood
14:32
Paul O'Hara v Luke Goddard

Team captains
Scott Knowles (Scotland)
Colin Edwards (England)

Now, isn't that disappointing?

Tiger never plays golf for fun

Tiger Woods, the host of the $6million tournament, moved to the top of the leaderboard midway through the second round of the AT&T National with a four-under 66 at Bethesda, Maryland.

Woods, who made three birdies during a four-hole stretch, was at 10-under 130, one shot ahead of Rod Pampling, who had a 64.
Anthony Kim, the first-round leader at eight-under par, teed off in the afternoon.
During his post-round Press Conference, Tiger let it be known that he has no interest in playing golf on holiday.
"I don't play golf on my vacations," Woods told reporters. "I get away from it when I'm at home."
The winner of 14 majors said golf does not hold any interest for him in his spare time.
"I'd never, ever have a golfing vacation because it's not interesting for me to go out there and do that," said the married father of two.
Editor's note: Isn't that disappointing news. To the best player in the world, golf is his job, not a sport to enjoy.

So you want to play a shot like Tiger Woods? Try this ....

Tiger Woods first tried the shot in competition during the third round at the Memorial, choking up (going down) on the grip of his driver about 2 inches, and he pulled it off to perfection. He used it again on the eighth hole in the first round of the AT&T National.

Woods said he began working on the shot a few months ago, and the idea is to give him a range that is a little less than a full driver, and a little more than a full three-wood.The eighth hole played 341 yards on Thursday, a slightly elevated green that makes it nearly impossible to drive, but Woods wanted to take the bunkers out of play.

“A full driver I felt would get me too far down there, and a three-wood couldn’t take the bunkers out of play,” he said. “So it’s nice to have a little bit of a 'tweener.' I drop (my grip) down (the shaft) and hit just this little softy cut out there. It’s a lot further than my three-wood, but it’s nowhere near a full driver, and I can keep that in play.”

Editor's note: So, give that a try on the practice ground before you use it in the next medal competition. Of course, many years before Tiger was born, a certain John Panton was playing all sorts of improvised shots, including going down the shaft by more than two inches, to get under the wind that always blew when the Northern Open was played over links courses in April.

Sundridge Park - only seven miles from

centre of London - to get major revamp

Sundridge Park Golf Club, just seven miles from the centre of London, has two 18-hole courses which will begin a phased renovation this autumn under the auspices of Swan Golf Designs.
The practice has recently completed the blueprints for the management of the landscape and bunker strategy on both the East and West courses, following a detailed appraisal of both laouts, and is being retained by the club as golf course architects throughout the implementation of the improvements.
Bob Walden, Sundridge Park Golf Club’s general manager, said: “We wanted to look to the future and make sure we were keeping pace with the modern game and its equipment.
“Also, like most clubs, we have criticism of bunkers from our members and we wanted to address those from a completely independent point of view.”
Sundridge has a unique setting: the venue proudly claims to be the nearest 36-hole golf club to a major metropolitan city, just seven miles from the centre of London, and is set in the grounds of the Sundridge Park Estate, designed by Humphrey Repton, considered by many to be the last great English landscape designer of the 18th century and natural successor to Capability Brown.
The courses also boast an impressive design pedigree: the West Course was laid out by Willie Park under the supervision of James Braid while Sir Guy Campbell and Major CK Hutchinson – whose work as a team has been regularly recognised, including courses ranked in the UK ’s top 100 – created the East Course.
Swan Golf Designs was selected for the work bcause the club felt the company had the right qualities to follow in such prestigious footsteps.
For more information visit www.swangolfdesigns.com.

FRENCH OPEN REPORT

Harrington misses fifth cut in a row

... and he blames his putting

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Padraig Harrington's nightmare run of missed cuts went to five in Paris today - just as many as Tiger Woods has failed to make in his ENTIRE 13-year professional career.
With his Open hat-trick bid less than two weeks away, Harrington's fate was effectively sealed when he drove out of bounds and ran up a triple-bogey 8 at the 14th hole of his second round in the French Open Alstom at Le Golf National.
The Dubliner, who finished with a 75 for five over par, freely conceded on Wednesday that he was running out of time to get his game in good enough shape to triumph again at Turnberry.
Now he has only next week's Irish PGA championship to find a bit of competitive confidence before heading to the Ayrshire links.
Harrington, who last played four rounds of an event at the Players Championship in Florida in early May, left a tournament which at the halfway stage sees Argentina's Rafa Echenique - last week's albatross man in Munich - take over at the top from German Martin Kaymer.
It was more his putting than his 8 which troubled the three-time major winner.
"I was never comfortable on the greens all week," said Harrington, who felt his three-putt bogey at the 13th to drop to two over was the crucial mistake. "I'm hoping that's all it was. I just struggled - just putted terribly and didn't get any confidence. That's reflected in the score.
"It showed up the weakness in my putting. I've been happy with it and still am physically, but it certainly got on top of me this week and that's where the focus will be.
"You don't just click, but I have another week. The last six months the focus has been on my swing and definitely now I will be firmly focused on my previous strength - a good, sharp short game.
"I'm not worried about how hard they set up Turnberry. I will be more worried about how I am - but I can manage any challenge."
One Irishman who was celebrating making the cut was Shane Lowry who won the Irish Open in his last outing as an amateur - and had missed every cut in his fledgling pro career. Withrounds of 69 and 72 for 141 he had two shots to spare.
Marc Warren seems to be blowing hot and cold these days. This, it appears, is a hot week and he is the leading Scot on 140 (68-72). Alastair Forsyth and Paul Lawrie (141) made the cut with ease.
A pack of Scots just made it through by the skin of their teeth on 143 - Colin Montgomerie (69-74), Gary Orr (73-70) and David Drysdale who plummeted from a top-10 placing with an opening 67 to a share of 62nd place with a 76 which included an inward half of 41 (double bogey 6s at the 12th and 18th).
Three Scots were on the wrong side of the Great Divide - Richie Ramsay taking one shot too many in 71 and 73 for 144; Scott Drumond on 148 (72-76) and Stephen Gallacher drifting into the wilderness with 74 and 79 for 153.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 142 (2x71) 7,299yd
132 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 65 67
134 Steve Webster 69 65, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 66, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 62 72
135 Peter Hanson (Swe) 65 70, Richard Green (Aus) 68 67
136 Paul Waring 66 70, Lee Westwood 68 68
137 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 70, Scott Strange (Aus) 65 72, Seve Benson 70 67
138 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 71, Kenneth Ferrie 70 68
139 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 72 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 68 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 72, Danny Willett 68 71
140 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 69 71, Gareth Maybin 69 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 65 75, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 67 73, Robert Rock 70 70, Marc Warren 68 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 70, Jamie Donaldson 69 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 66, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 67 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 70
141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 74 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 70, Oliver Wilson 72 69, Graeme Storm 69 72, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 74, Shane Lowry 69 72, Paul Lawrie 67 74, Ian Poulter 72 69, Alastair Forsyth 72 69, Barry Lane 70 71, Ross McGowan 69 72
142 Damien McGrane 70 72, Benn Barham 68 74, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 67 75, John Bickerton 65 77, Paul Nilbrink (Swe) 73 69, Peter Lawrie 71 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 72, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 72, Sam Little 67 75, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 70 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 68 74, Nick Dougherty 66 76, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 73, Darren Clarke 73 69, Paul Broadhurst 73 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70, Phillip Archer 69 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 72
143 Gary Orr 73 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 70, Steven O'Hara 71 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 68 75, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 72, Pablo Martin (Spa) 71 72, Colin Montgomerie 69 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 75 68, David Horsey 72 71, David Lynn 69 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 71, Gary Lockerbie 68 75, David Drysdale 67 76, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 71, Mark Foster 69 74, Philip Golding 71 72
MISSED THE CUT
144 Richie Ramsay 71 73, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 75, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 72, Simon Wakefield 70 74, Simon Khan 71 73, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 71 73, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 73 71, Michael Hoey 71 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 71, Bradley Dredge 73 71
145 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 77, Stephen Dodd 70 75, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 77, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 74, Tano Goya (Arg) 72 73, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 70, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 75 70
146 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 75, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 76, Federico Cabrera (Arg) 70 76, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 73, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 76, Simon Dyson 73 73, Oliver Fisher 71 75
147 Graeme McDowell 72 75, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 77, Daniel Brooks 74 73, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 75, David Dixon 74 73, Richard Finch 72 75, Raul Quiros (Spa) 72 75, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 74 73, Paul McGinley 72 75, Padraig Harrington 72 75
148 Marco Ruiz (Par) 71 77, Lee Slattery 73 75, Phillip Price 74 74, Scott Drummond 72 76, Miles Tunnicliff 71 77
149 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 74 75, Taco Remkes (Ned) 70 79, Scott Arnold (Hkg) 71 78
150 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 75 75, Rhys Davies 77 73, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 76 74
151 Anton Haig (Rsa) 77 74, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 80 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 75 76, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 77, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 75 76, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 80, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 77 74
152 Mark Brown (Nzl) 79 73, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 72 80, Cedric Menut (Fra) 69 83, Gregory Havret (Fra) 77 75
153 Stephen Gallacher 74 79, Nicolas Joakimides (Fra) 79 74, Marcus Higley 81 72, Damien Perrier (Fra) 75 78, Robert Dinwiddie 74 79
154 Anthony Kang (USA) 78 76, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 76 78, Gary Murphy 74 80, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 75 79, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 82
155 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 77 78, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 76 79
156 Malcolm MacKenzie 74 82, David Frost (Rsa) 76 80
157 Alex Larrazabal (Spa) 78 79
162 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 78 84
WD: Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Marcel Siem (Ger), Anthony Wall
DQ: David Howell

Lloyd Saltman misses another cut

Parry has stars in his eyes as he

leads Credit Suisse Challenge

By RODDY WILLIAMS, European Challenge Tour Press Officer
Yorkshireman John Parry, a team-mate of Rory McIlroy and David Horsey in the Walker Cup two years ago, moved into halfway lead in the Credit Suisse Challenge in Switzerland with a six under par 67.
Seven birdies and only one dropped shot at Wylihof Golf Club, Luterbach, took Parry to ten under par 136 and one clear of Sweden’s Bjorn Pettersson.
The 22-year-old, Harrogate-born Parry, pictured above by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography, is embarking on his first season on the Challenge Tour from where he hopes to follow his erstwhile team-mates on to the European Tour. Four of the 2007 Walker Cup team – Jonathan Caldwell, Horsey, McIlroy and Danny Willett – have made it on to the European Tour, with McIlory also making his winning breakthrough, and Parry hopes it won’t be long before is joins them.
Parry played with Horsey at Royal County Down against the United States and will have taken inspiration from his partner’s success in finishing the Challenge Tour's No 1 last year.
Currently 32nd in the Challenge Tour Rankings, Parry needs to climb into the top 20 by the end of the season to earn a place on the European Tour and is laying some solid foundations to his fledgling professional career.
The par-5s proved the key to his low second round as he birdied all five on another sweltering day in Switzerland. His round was all the more impressive in that he didn’t get a practice round after only finding out on Tuesday he was in the field.

“I just played nice and steady and took advantage of the par-5s,” he said. “I was able to either get on the greens or close enough for a chip and putt. It was good solid golf.”
Pettersson picked up five birdies without dropping a shot to lie one off the pace on nine under par, with Frenchman Julien Quesne a further shot adrift after a round of 69. American Nathan Smith, Australian Tony Carolan and Spain’s Carl Suneson lie on seven under par.

Anstruther's George Murray climbed 17 places into the top ten at the halfway stage as he trails Parry by four strokes.
Murray, the 2004 Scottish amateur champion, picked up six birdies with two dropped shots for a round of 69 and 36 hole total of 140.
That left the 26 year old Fifer in a share of seventh place going into the weekend as he looks to chase down Parry’s lead.

SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 146 (2x73)

66 players made the cut at 145 (-1)
136 J Parry (Eng) 69 67
137 B Pettersson (Swe) 69 68
138 J Quesne (Fra) 69 69
139 C Suneson (Esp) 69 70, T Carolan (Aus) 70 69, N Smith (USA) 71 68
140 R Santos (Por) 72 68, R Steiner (Aut) 70 70, G Murray (Sco) 71 69, A Gee (Eng) 73 67
141 S Jeppesen (Swe) 71 70, N Meitinger (Ger) 69 72, S Davis (Eng) 67 74, P Baker (Eng) 70 71, E Molinari (Ita) 72 69, J Colomo (Esp) 70 71, P Relecom (Bel) 71 70, J Morgan (Eng) 72 69
142 M Tullo (Chi) 73 69, F Praegant (Aut) 74 68, D Denison (Eng) 72 70, J Grillon (Fra) 72 70, N Sulzer (Sui) 70 72, A Marshall (Eng) 72 70
143 J Larsen (Nor) 74 69, J Billot (Fra) 71 72, T Cruz (Por) 68 75, A Butterfield (Eng) 73 70, G Houston (Wal) 71 72, N Maestroni (Ita) 69 74, M Wiegele (Aut) 72 71, L Kennedy (Eng) 71 72, L James (Eng) 68 75, K Sullivan (Wal) 71 72, J Sjöholm (Swe) 73 70, J Campillo (Esp) 74 69, N Lemke (Swe) 73 70, L Bond (Wal) 71 72, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 72, M Villegas (Col) 72 71, A Hansen (Den) 72 71, C Russo (Fra) 69 74, S Robinson (Eng) 67 76
144 F Colombo (Ita) 71 73, J Bjerhag (Swe) 72 72, J McLeary (Sco) 71 73, M Zions (Aus) 69 75, J Granberg (Fin) 73 71, A Mellor (Eng) 72 72, G Shaw (Nir) 74 70
145 D Wardrop (Eng) 71 74, C Moriarty (Irl) 74 71, F Fritsch (Ger) 71 74, T Whitehouse (Eng) 71 74, M Laskey (Wal) 73 72, P Purhonen (Fin) 73 72, P Kaensche (Nor) 73 72, J Clément (Sui) 73 72, C Brazillier (Fra) 75 70, R Karlberg (Swe) 75 70, S Saavedra (Arg) 75 70, C Günther (Ger) 74 71, G Woodman (Eng) 69 76, P Del Grosso (Arg) 74 71, F Calmels (Fra) 72 73, G Paddison (Nzl) 74 71

MISSED THE CUT
146 M Mills (Eng) 71 75, O Floren (Swe) 73 73, M Cort (Eng) 74 72, P Karantzias (Gre) 74 72, V Riu (Fra) 73 73, J Ruth (Eng) 73 73, L Gagli (Ita) 72 74, A Zanini (Ita) 74 72, A Grenier (Fra) 74 72, A McArthur (Sco) 72 74, P Bocian (Swe) 74 72, B Mason (Eng) 72 74, J Little (Eng) 73 73, A Bossert (Sui) 72 74, M McGeady (Irl) 74 72, J Heath (Eng) 71 75,
147 A Bernadet (Fra) 72 75, R Russell (Sco) 73 74, C Gane (Eng) 73 74, A Haindl (RSA) 74 73, I Pyman (Eng) 75 72, A Wagner (Arg) 76 71, L Westerberg (Swe) 72 75, A Högberg (Swe) 76 71, G Gresse (Bel) 78 69, S Juul (Den) 74 73, L Brovold (Nor) 74 73,
148 R Hie (Ina) 75 73, M Delpodio (Ita) 74 74, N Fox (Irl) 72 76, R Furrer (Sui) 77 71, D Ulrich (Sui) 79 69, A Roberts (Eng) 74 74, S Manley (Wal) 78 70, R Kilpatrick (Nir) 69 79, M Reale (Ita) 74 74, O Suhr (Den) 74 74, O David (Fra) 77 71, S Walker (Eng) 75 73, A Mörk (Fra) 73 75, Å Nilsson (Swe) 75 73,
149 L Saltman (Sco) 76 73, P Niederdrenk (Ger) 72 77, M Jurgensen (Den) 73 76, K Jorgensen (Den) 76 73, T Weiss (Sui) 70 79, R De Sousa (Sui) 74 75, J Boerdonk (Ned) 75 74, S Luna (Esp) 76 73, S Rojas (am) (Sui) 78 71,
150 P Gustafsson (Swe) 70 80, D Marmion (Eng) 76 74, M Rominger (Sui) 72 78, J Dusson (Fra) 76 74,
151 A Murray (Irl) 76 75, A Ahokas (Fin) 76 75, J Parron (Esp) 78 73, F Svanberg (Sui) 70 81, K Webber (Aus) 78 73, B Evans (Eng) 80 71, G Molteni (Ita) 75 76, R Wiederkehr (Sui) 75 76, S Henry (Sco) 76 75, N D'Incau (am) (Sui) 75 76,
152 T Dykes (Wal) 68 84, A Chopard (Sui) 77 75, D Froreich (Ger) 80 72, E Ramsay (Sco) 75 77, S Reale (Ita) 72 80,
153 T Schuster (Ger) 78 75, A Rocha (Bra) 78 75, M Kramer (Ger) 78 75,
154 J Schmid (Sui) 78 76, B Miarka (Ger) 78 76, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 80 74, K Benz (am) (Sui) 78 76, V Honauer (am) (Sui) 76 78,
155 C Achermann (Sui) 76 79,
156 A Bruschi (Ita) 79 77,
157 S Grant (Irl) 83 74, F Li Puma (Sui) 77 80, J Johnson (Eng) 73 84,
158 T Ferreira (RSA) 80 78,
159 J Zapata (Arg) 80 79,
164 A Joudar (Mar) 79 85,
165 T Benslimane (Mar) 80 85, M Chatelain (Sui) 83 82,
WD Z Scotland (Eng) 77 -.

Great Scots! Through to Euro final

.... and England make it at 20th

Scotland cut high-flying Italy down to size at Conwy, North Wales today to follow up their last autumn world championship success in Australia by reaching Saturday's final of the European men's amateur team championship. Their opponents will be England who got through on the back of Luke Goddard's 20th hole win in the final singles against top seeds Norway.

It will be Scotland's first appearance in the European final since 2001 when they beat Ireland.

There was a lot expectation and pressure on the Scots coming into this championship and they have lived "dangerously," qualifying 6th of eighth for the championship flight, thanks to a brilliant second round by Comrie's Wallace Booth.

But, the closer they have got to the final, the better the Scots have played and there was a lot to like in their 4 1/2-2 1/2 trimming of Italy today.After the foursomes were shared 1-1, wins by Gavin Dear (Murrayshall), Wallace Booth and Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) wrapped up the Scots' place in the final.

Dear was two up with four to play in the lead-off singles tie against Joon Kim but lost the 15th and 17th and came through a test of nerve for a one-hole win that set the ball rolling for Scotland.

Wallace Booth coasted home by 4 and 2, leaving Scotland needing one more point to clinch overall victory. They got it from young Michael Stewart, the US college boy from Troon.
Stewart and Nino Bertasio were even steven after the turn and kept exchanging holes. Bertasop squared the match at the 14th before Stewart got his nose in front again at the 16th and clinched victory for himself and the Scots as whole by also winning the 17th.

Ross Kellett (Colville Park) was held to a square match by Andrea Pavan while Paul O'Hara, beaten 6 and 4, could hardly have been expecting the Italians to field their British amateur champion, Matteo Manassero, in the fifth and last singles slot against him - a blunder by the Italians as they needed a point from Matteo at the head of the batting order where it counted, not at No 5 where it was inconsequential.
SGU National Coach Ian Rae had every reason to be delighted with the team’s performance.
He said: “I am delighted with their win here this afternoon. We really have excelled in the match- play phase and have played better and better each day which has really been the key to our success.
“Getting into the top eight was our first objective but once it comes to match play it is man pitted against each man and we have thrived in that competitive environment. The boys have also adapted well. There was a lot of rain this morning and as a result the course is playing much longer than it has and they have taken the change in playing conditions in their stride.
"The team is in a buoyant mood and are really looking forward to tomorrow.”
England came back from 0-2 down after the foursomes to edge ahead in the singles against Norway with victories by their top three men in the batting order - Matt Haines, Sam Hutsby and Tommy Fleetwood.
But Norway clawed their way back to 3-3 overall whne Anders Kristiansen beat Dale Whitnell by two holes.
It all boiled down to the last singles which went into extra holes when Espen Kofstad and Luke Goddard came off the 18th green all square. Goddard prevailed at the 20th.
SEMI-FINALS DETAILS
SCOTLAND 4 1/2, ITALY 2 1/2
Foursomes (1-1)
Gavin Dear & Glenn Campbell lost to Niccolo Quintarelli & Nino Bertasio 3 and 2.
Wallace Booth & Michael Stewart bt Matteo Manassero & Andrea Pavan 4 and 2.
Singles (3 1/2-1 1/1).
Dear bt Joon Kim 1 hole.
Booth bt Quintarelli 4 and 3.
Stewart bt Bertasio 2 and 1.
Ross Kellett halved with Andrea Pavan.
P O'Hara lost to Matteo Manassero 6 and 4

NORWAY 3, ENGLAND 4
Foursomes (2-0)
Anders Kristiansen & Joakim Mikkelsen bt Dale Whitnell & Charlie Ford 3 and 1.
Espen Kotstad & Elias Bertheussen bt Tommy Fleetwood & Matt Haines 2 and l.
Singles
Haines bt Knut Borsheim 4 and 2.
Sam Hutsby bt Joakim Mikkelsen 2 and 1.
Fleetwood bt Arie Friestad 2 and 1.
Anders Kristiansen bt Dale Whitnell 2 holes.
Espen Kofstad lost to Luke Goddard at 20th.

Olazabal bound for Barassie in bid to

qualify for Open championship

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY R&A
Jose Maria Olazabal is expected to line up in the field at Kilmarnock Barassie next Monday as he attempts to qualify for the 138th Open Championship along with 287 golfers hopeful of playing their way into one of the 12 Turnberry berths available at Local Final Qualifying.

Competitors will play 18 holes on both Monday and Tuesday to determine who will win a place in this year’s Open Championship - with the four places available at each of the three west coast venues: Glasgow Gailes Links, Kilmarnock (Barassie) and Western Gailes
Olazabal will undoubtedly command attention as he attempts to ensure a 22nd Open appearance. The two-time Masters winner has played in the last two Championships at Turnberry, finishing tied 38th in 1994 and tied 16th in 1986 meaning that, should he qualify, he will have the advantage of being one of the more experienced players over the Ailsa Course.
In addition, Barassie will host two former Ryder Cup competitors, Sweden’s Per-Ulrik Johansson and Phillip Price of Wales. Johansson, the first Swede to play in the biennial team event on two occasions — he was on the winning side in both 1995 and 1997 –, has played in nine Open Championships, though his last appearance was at St Andrews in 2000.
Price won the Ryder Cup with Europe in 2002 after beating Phil Mickelson in the final day singles. The Welshman has a best Open result of tied 10th at Royal St George’s in 2003 and, like Johansson, has also competed in nine previous Opens. Both would relish the chance to make it ten at Turnberry this July.
The 45-year-old Ronan Rafferty, who was a serious contender at Turnberry in 1994 having posted a 66 in the second round followed by a 65 in the third, will mount his challenge at Glasgow Gailes. Joining him in the field is 2009 Amateur runner-up, Sam Hutsby, who will be aiming to reach his first Open Championship after coming so close to earning an exemption last month.
Also competing are the winners of the last two Amateur Championships to have been held at Turnberry. Warren Bladon, winner in 1996, will tee-off at Barassie having comfortably progressed through last month’s Regional Qualifying. And Reinier Saxton, the 2008 winner, is scheduled to make his first attempt to reach a Major Championship as a professional, having only relinquished his amateur status a fortnight ago.
Local Final Qualifying takes place on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 July. Live scores and full reports will appear on Opengolf.com throughout the event.
The Open Championship will be held at Turnberry from July 16 to 19.

.

Shiskine Golf Club’s seven volunteer coaches, Willie Kelso, Joe Faulkner, Gordon Stewart, Jacqui Rankin, David Henderson, Liz Kerr and Jenni Turnbull with PGA Pro Alan Martin (centre) who led the Level 1 training course). Image by courtesy of Rob Eyton-Jones.

Shiskine Golf Club making huge strides in

developing junior golf in Arran community

NEWS RELEASE BY ROB EYTON-JONES
Arran’s Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club, which last month received major investment from sportscotland to help transform its facilities, is making huge strides in developing junior golf in the community through the national junior programme, clubgolf.
clubgolf is the partnership between the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association (SLGA), the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA), the Golf Foundation and sportscotland launched in 2003 following Scotland’s successful bid to host the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Shiskine golfers had become aware the average age of its member was heading towards the late 50s. They realised that the numbers of children playing golf on the island was shrinking and they admitted more could be done to offer local youngsters a structured coaching programme.
Through the forward thinking efforts of its members, in combination with clubgolf, improvements to its clubhouse and the adoption of a clubgolf programme (Shiskine is the first clubgolf centre on Arran) will have a double impact on local juniors.
“Our club is very much involved with the community,” said the Club’s clubgolf co-ordinator, Gordon Stewart.
“We have had a good relationship with the two local primary schools and have offered their children coaching in an amateur but enthusiastic way.
“But when we looked at the whole junior structure we realised we hadn’t got a proper training programme in place.
“Then, when we found out about clubgolf and proper structured coaching we decided to invest in training to push it forwards.”
To address its challenges the Club has been working closely with Ann Lang, clubgolf’s Regional Manager for South West Scotland.
This May it made a significant step by sending seven of its members on clubgolf’s two day Level 1 coaching course, held at the local high school. All seven became qualified coaches. Having since re- approached the local primary schools, the Club has attracted over 30 children to its clubgolf coaching which is supervised by its pro, Dougie Bell.
“We run the coaching on Monday evenings, take the children out for between one and two hours and we rotate the volunteers,” said Mr Stewart. “It’s working very well and the kids love it.”
Junior developments at Shiskine are having a knock on effect locally. Impressed by its results nearby Whiting Bay GC has made contact with Ann Lang to improve its own junior coaching.
Meanwhile, work on Shiskine’s new purpose-built clubhouse is due to start soon. When complete it will provide full disabled access, improved changing rooms and showers plus a room for bowling and tennis club members. In addition, a new restaurant and function suite will be available all year round creating a fantastic facility for use by the whole community.
“It’s very obvious to us that juniors are very keen but there were no facilities for them, no junior room or TV, so we are quite excited about providing that facility,” added Mr Stewart.
With the local driving range providing the practice facility to keep the coaching going through the autumn and winter, and other plans to hold junior tournaments, local children have everything they will ever need to keep them involved and developing in the game.
Rob Eyton-Jones
e: rob@eyton-jones.co.uk
Official clubgolf website: http://www.clubgolfscotland.com/

2009 Fife Order of Merit for the Mackay Bowl

POSITIONS AFTER 12 EVENTS

1 James White (Lundin) 480pt.
2 Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) 380pt.
3 DannySommerville (St Andrews) 220pt.
4 Colin Loveday (Scotscraig) 170pt.
5 Alex Main (Thornton) 140pt.
6 Scott Crichton (Aberdour) 125pt.
6 Alistair Hain (Ladybank) 125pt.
6 Geoff Marshall (Kirkcaldy) 125pt.
6 Colin Martin (Balbirnie Park) 125pt.
6 Lee Stewart (Canmore) 125pt.
+The next counting events are the Fife stroke-play championship at Canmore on Sunday, July 5 and the Cameron Corbett Rosebowl at Haggs Castle on Saturday-Sunday (July 4-5).

Dollar golf course (from the club's website). The club was formed in 1906.

Dollar Golf Club fights to survive

... and they ask for your support

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY DOLLAR GOLF CLUB
Increased costs and reduced members numbers are a problem for many Scottish golf clubs but it is the smaller clubs which are likely to suffer most as the credit crunch continues to bite.
Dollar Golf Cub in Central Scotland now faces a survival struggle as a small membership struggles to meet the cost of running an 18-hole hillside village club – of which there are very many in Scotland.
But the club members have rallied round and started a “Drive to Survive” campaign which will involve a members’ levy, member donations and many other fund-raising activities.
The club hopes to raise £50,000 from assorted sources to enable it to stay open whilst plans are prepared probably to sell the clubhouse whilst creating a modest changing facility somewhere on the course to allow the club to continue in operation.
Club Captain Jerry Cant says “There are complex legal issues involved since we only own the clubhouse and rent the course but given a little time we feel we can work out a future on a lower cost base.
"It would be tragic if golf were to stop in Dollar after 120 years and our membership are determined and united in our bid to stop that happening. We hope the wider sporting community will support our efforts to keep this beautiful course open for generations to come”. Jerry continues:
“We are holding a ‘Drive to Survive’ fun-day on August 4, 2009, when we are putting on a fantastic exhibition of golf with four of Scotland’s top amateurs playing three rounds in a day. There are some brilliant prizes in the offing, and we hope to drum up a lot of support from the golfing community”.
Donations to the Drive to Survive fund can be made online at http://www.dollargolfclub.com/ (follow the ‘Funding 2009’ link), via cheque (made payable to Dollar Golf Club & sent to Dollar Golf Club, Drive to Survive, Brewlands House, Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland FK14 7EA), by BACS to Clydesdale Bank, Dollar, sort code 82-62-08 account number 00215176 or in cash.
All contributors to the Drive to Survive fund will be welcome to play a free round on the course at Dollar - the views are stunning, the greens are great and the club’s welcome to you will be heartfelt.

*For more information please contact John McMillan on 01259 742400 or email fundraising@dollargolfclub.com

Scone man 15th in this week's R&A WAGR

Gavin Dear closing in on world

top 10 ranking target

This week’s R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings show that Murrayshall’s Gavin Dear has risen to his highest position yet – 15th – and that Mark Hillson (Craigielaw) and Banchory’s James Byrne have surged up the rankings by 77 and 44 places respectively over a one-week span.
After he had won the Craigmillar Park Open in April, the 24-year-old Dear from the Perth village of Scone said that his target was to make the top 10 of the R&A WAGR for the simple reason that it would exempt him from playing in the early stages of the European Tour Qualifying School process.
Dear. pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, is quite emphatic that he will turn professional in September, hopefully after playing for GB&I in the Walker Cup match that month at Merion Golf Club, USA.
“I’m nearly in my mid-20s. I can’t delay any longer in turning pro after this amateur season,” says Gavin.
Byrne, winner of back-to-back SGU Order of Merit events – the Tennant Cup and the East of Scotland Open, has gone up from 204 to 160 in the world rankings.
Hillson, the only Scot to make the last eight of the British amateur championship, has surged 77 places to No 178.
Byrne and Hillson have now risen in the Scottish rankings to third and fourth place behind Gavin Dear and Comrie’s Wallace Booth, displacing two men who are in the Scotland line-up at the European amateur team championship this week, Paul O’Hara (Colville Park) and Michael Stewart.
O’Hara is currently in 192nd position and Stewart is 240th.
There are 15 Scots in the top 500 of the R&A WAGR. You can argue both ways on that statistic. That’s a fairly good achievement for a country with a population of only five million.
The other side of the coin is that Scotland is the Home of Golf and we probably have more male amateur golfers percentage wise than a lot of bigger countries – and we should have twice as many in the top 500.
You pays your money …
The world’s top 15 amateurs, as calculated by R&A staffer David Moir who is so heavily involved in working out the weekly rankings, based on tournament returns from all over the world, that he had to cancel a guest appearance at the Scottish golf writers’ championship prizegiving meal at Fairmont St Andrews late Tuesday afternoon, are:
1 Nick Taylor ( Canada ) 1300.00.
2 Morgan Hoffman ( US ) 1243.08.
3 Matt Haill ( Canada ) 1235.19.
4 Sam Hutsby ( England ) 1147.89 (+3 from last week).
5 Matteo Manassero ( Italy ) 1146.15 (+3).
6 Nicol Van Wyk ( South Africa ) 1144.00 (+3).
7 Rickie Fowler (US) 1138.67 (+3).
8 Mike Van Sickle ( US ) 1116.39 (-2).
9 Stephan Gross ( Germany ) 1104.29 (-4).
10 Cameron Tringale (US) 1087.72 (+2).
11 Erik Flores (US) 1087.14 (+2).
12 Victor Dubuisson (France) 1056.86 (+4).
13 Matt Jaeger ( Australia ) 1051.25 (+1).
14 Brian Harman (US) 1051.02 (+1).
15 Gavin Dear ( Scotland ) 1047.37 (+2).

Other Scottish player rankings:
91 Wallace Booth (Comrie) 865.38 (+5).
105 Ross Kellett ( Colville Park ) 847.62 (-13).
160 James Byrne (Banchory) 791.94 (+44).
178 Mark Hillson (Craigielaw) 776.79 (+77).
192 Paul O’Hara ( Colville Park ) 769.23 (-2).
240 Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) 736.21 (-4).
249 Steven McEwan (Caprington) 731.65 (-4).
284 Scott Borrowman (Dollar) 706.25 (-4).
285 Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie) 706.25 (-10).
340 James White (Lundin) 674.60 (+8).
386 Philip McLean (Peterhead) 648.10 (+17).
421 Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie) 625.33 (+35).
423 Greg Paterson ( St Andrews New) 624.66 (+6).
426 Gordon Yates ( Hilton Park ) 622.50 (-1).