McLeary confident he can catch leader

Molinari over final Spey Valley round

From Michael Gibbons, Challenge Tour Press Officer
Jamie McLeary continued to fly the Scottish Saltire at the top end of the Scottish Hydro Challenge leaderboard after a third round of one over par 72 saw the Dalmahoy-based professional move into a tie for second place at the Macdonald Spey Valley course, Aviemore.
McLeary was naturally disappointed to drop two strokes in his last three holes, but he is confident that he can overhaul leader Edoardo Molinari of Italy – the 2005 US Amateur champion who posted a brilliant third round 67 – in today’s final round.
“That was a very disappointing finish,” McLeary admitted. “There were two bogeys in there but it felt like three dropped shots because I should have birdied the 17th.
“I hit a great drive down the last and only had 96 yards to the pin but I had to back off because an ice cream van started chiming on the road! That got a few giggles from the gallery! Then I went back to the shot, hit it and got a terrible gust and it spun back off the green to about 30 yards.
“I played okay all day – it was very tough out there so Edoardo’s four under is a great effort. I can go out and have a go tomorrow. I know if I can go under par tomorrow then I will have a chance if the weather is the same as we have had all week. I still have a great chance and I am looking forward to it. I just have to hope that the guys around me start thinking about it too much and give me a chance to sneak in there.”
McLeary, currently on five under par alongside Englishman James Ruebotham, will be joined by fellow Scots Peter Whiteford (currently three under), Scott Jamieson (two under) and Andrew McArthur (one under) in the chase for the £30,000 first prize at the European Challenge Tour event.
It looks unlikely that former Open Champion Paul Lawrie will be in the hunt for the top prize after a third round of four over 75 left him ten shots off the pace.
THIRD ROUND LEADERS
Par 213 (3x71)
207 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 71 67.
209 Jamie McLeary (Sco) 69 67 72, James Ruebotham (Eng) 71 69 68.
210 Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 74 66, Peter Whiteford (Sco) 70 70 70.
211 Sion E Bebb (Wal) 68 74 69, Scott Jamieson (Sco) 70 68 73, Reinier Saxton (Net) 73 68 70.
Selected scores:
212 Andrew McArthur (Sco) 67 73 72.
215 Raymond Russell (Sco) 74 70 71.
217 Greig Hutcheon (Sco) 70 76 71, Paul Lawrie (Sco) 71 71 75.
218 Andrew Oldcorn (Sco) 72 69 77, Duncan Stewart (Sco) 71 72 75.
219 Ross Cameron (Sco) 70 71 78, Scott Henderson (Sco) 72 73 74, Eric Ramsay (Sco) 71 75 74.
MISSED THE CUT
147 George Murray (Sco) 72 75.
148 Scott Henry (Sco) 73 75, Lloyd Saltman (Sco) 71 77.
151 Lee Harper (Sco) 74 77, Barry Hume (Sco) 73 78, Edward Thomson (Sco) 73 78.
152 Craig Lee (Sco) 74 78, David Orr (Sco) 77 75, Murray Urquhart (Sco) 77 75.
153 Jason McCreadie (Sco) 77 76.
154 Graeme Lornie (Sco) 80 74.
164 Eric Walker (Sco) 86 78.

EUROPRO TOUR REPORT

Jack Doherty wins

£2,500 for joint

third place

By ANTHONY LEAVER
James Busby hailed his victory today in the EuroPro Tour's The Pandora 2009 Open at Burhill Golf Club in Surrey as a “massive” moment in his career.
The Shropshire man followed two rounds of 70 with a fine five under round of 67 to finish nine under for the tournament and take the £10,000 prize home to Staffordshire.
“I’ve not really been enjoying my golf because of money worries so this is a massive win for me,” said Busby, who moves to fourth in the Order of Merit with the victory. “It gives me another year basically and now I’m in the top five I want to stay there and grab one of the Challenge Tour cards on offer.”
Busby was one stroke behind leading duo Daniel Gaunt (Burhill GC) and Oliver Turnill (Bognor Regis GC) ahead of the final round but quickly got into his stride with four birdies on the front nine to charge into the lead. A fifth birdie at the 11th moved him to nine under, and with the chasing pack struggling for rhythm, he was home and hosed – even recovering from a bogey at 17 with a birdie at the last.
“You’re always looking for the victory when you are in touch with the leaders and on the back nine, I was really thinking about it,” said the 27 year-old. “I played some good golf today, holed a lot of putts and I really enjoyed it.”
At the end of the event, Daniel Brooks (Mill Hill) was Busby’s closest challenger, finishing strongly with three birdies on the back nine to card a 69, finishing two shots behind at seven under and picking up a £5,000 runners-up cheque to move to the top of the Order of Merit.
Scot Jack Doherty (North Gailes), pictured above, equalled Busby’s round of 67 to move from level par to take third spot at five under, picking up five birdies and an eagle in his final round. Jack's financial reward for £2,500.
Gaunt and Turnill both suffered frustrating days, with the Australian recording back to back bogeys from the fifth to drop to three under and although he fought back with three birdies, a double bogey at the 16th meant he finished with a 73 to end the tournament at four under. Turnill joins Gaunt in a four-way tie for fourth with a 73, with Graeme Clark (Doncaster) and Michael Collins (Mallow Golf Range) completing the quartet in fourth.
There’s little rest for the players as the PGA EuroPro Tour moves to Marriott Tudor Park in Kent for the Virgin Atlantic 25th Anniversary Classic, beginning on Tuesday August 4.
Alongwith Jack Doherty, there were two Scots in the top 10 - Elliot Saltman finished on 213, six behind the winner. Elliot won £825.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 216 (3x72)
1 James Busby 70, 70, 67 -9 207 £10,000
2 Daniel Brooks 75, 65, 69 -7 209 £5,000
3 Jack Doherty 71, 73, 67 -5 211 £2,500
=4 Graeme Clark 70, 71, 71 -4 212 £1,325
=4 Michael Collins 73, 68, 71 -4 212 £1,325
=4 Daniel Gaunt 68, 71, 73 -4 212 £1,325
=4 Oliver Turnill 72, 67, 73 -4 212 £1,325
=8 Rob Harris 74, 70, 69 -3 213 £825
=8 Elliot Saltman 73, 70, 70 -3 213 £825
=8 Paul Dwyer 70, 72, 71 -3 213 £825
=8 Matthew Evans 70, 71, 72 -3 213 £825
Selected score:

=44 Paul Doherty 71, 74, 77 222 +6 £220

David Law (Hazlehead) with the Scottish amateur championship trophy after his historic victory at Royal Troon Golf Club. Image by courtesy of Rob Eyton-Jones. Click on it to enlarge.

Classic final win at 38th over Paul O'Hara

David Law first to complete Scottish boys' and men's national title double By COLIN FARQUHARSON Eighteen-year-old David Law from the Aberdeen municipal course of Hazlehead is the new Allied Surveyors Scottish men's amateur golf champion. Paul Lawrie's protégé, a Harry Potter bespectacled lookalike, unseeded and No 598 in the R&A world amateur golf rankings, scored a thrilling and upset win over the favourite, the fourth seed and world ranked No 127, Paul O'Hara (Colville Park), at the 38th hole of a roller-coaster of a 36-hole final over the windswept Royal Troon Golf Club links. And so young Law, winner of the Scottish boys' match-play championship at Royal Aberdeen in April, made a Scottish golfing history. He is the first teenager to win both the boys' and the men's national match-play titles in the same season. And when one considers that the Scottish men's championship started in 1922, that underlines the magnitude of David's feat. After the victory by Nigg Bay's Donald Jamieson over Charlie Green in the 1980 Scottish final at Balgownie, it took another 23 years before the next Aberdonian victory - by Graham Gordon (Newmachar) over Stuart Wilson at The Duke's in 2003. Now David Law has made it two national winners from the Granite City in six years. "I can hardly believe it. I'm delighted that I was able to play well in front of the biggest crowd that's come to watch me – and Paul – play," said David who is a full-time amateur with no desire to go a US college, although he's bound to be bombarded now with scholarship offers from the States. "What surprised me was how comfortable I felt out there. I wasn't nervous at all, well, maybe now and again. Maybe going through it all at boys' level in April at Balgownie helped me deal with the situation. And my short game is not usually as good as that!" Paul Lawrie, playing in the Scottish Challenge at Aviemore, had been sending David text messages all meeting and they exchanged several such communications of the eve of the final. "Paul told me to stay focused, keep my concentration and to believe in myself that I could win. Paul has helped me a lot with my short game this year and I've been out to his practice green at his house. It's all helped to make this week possible. "At the start of the week I thought reaching the quarter-finals would be a good performance for me in a men's championship. But once I started winning matches, I grew more and more confident and kept revising my possibilities." What did he think of the prospect of playing No 1 for Scotland in his debut in the men's home internationals in September? "That team hasn't been chosen so I'll wait until that happens before I start thinking about that. I've got the boys' home internationals to look forward to next week. I'm now away to drive home to Aberdeen and tomorrow (Sunday), I'll drive south again to meet up the the rest of the Scotland (under-18) team. I've had 'well done' texts from them all already. I hope my mother's packed another suitcase for me!" said David. It was a classic match-play final – one of the best for years - that kept a gallery for 250 enthralled. What a pity that one player had to lose. O'Hara, 22, playing in his third final, having lost the 2004 (Gullane) and 2006 (Prestwick) showdowns, had been bidding to follow in the footsteps of his European Tour-playing brother Steven who won the Scottish amateur title at Royal Dornoch in 2000. No two brothers have both won the championship since it was first played in 1922. Paul O'Hara, playing in his eighth tie of the week, had never been behind to any of his previous seven opponents. He was the first seeded player Law had met in the championship. "I didn't play as well as I had done earlier in the week, but David holed a lot of putts out there. Several times I thought I had him but he kept holing the putts, kept getting up and down to halve holes" said O'Hara. "Losing in the final for a third time doesn't hurt as much as some people might expect. It was a really good game and a lot of people would die to get into one championship final, let alone three." Law was two up after six holes but found himself two down after 15 holes before winning the short 17th with a birdie 2 and holing a brave six-footer for a half at the 18th to go in for lunch only one down. O'Hara quickly went two up again by birdieing the 19th hole but he let the initiative and the lead slip out of his hands by being bunkered at the 23rd and 25th to be pulled back to all square. O'Hara had a nightmare 29th hole – two penalty drops out of the gorse – finally conceding it after playing six shots to reach the green.That handed Law a one-hole lead for the first time since the seventh hole in the morning and, in the final analysis, was probably the turning point for the Aberdonian's victory.. But O'Hara was not ready to throw in the towel. He squared the contest with a par – no mean feat in such windy conditions – at the 33rd and then got up and down in two shots from a bunker, holing from 18ft, at the short 35th to stay on level terms. In truth, Law had one of his raring putting lapses there. Despite O'Hara's heroics from the sand, David, after a magnficent iron tee shot to within five or six feet, had the chance to go to the 35th tee one up. But he missed. Both young men had birdie chances on the 36th green but couldn't coax their putts, of around 18ft into the hole, Law's putt just twisting off line at the last minute and stopping only an inch to the right of the cup.. O'Hara said later that he felt he had a winning chance in extra holes because they would be played into the fierce wind and, in his opinion, Law didn't hit his approach shots so well under these circumstances. Sure enough, David missed the green had at the 37th (first) by a good 30yd hole on the left, although he had the right club because his ball finished pin high but in light wispy rough. O'Hara, for his part, hit the green with his approach and faced a 20ft putt to birdie the hole for the third time. It looked like the end for the Aberdeen teenager but with a coolness and skill of which mentor Paul Lawrie would have been proud, Law tossed his lob wedge recovery from the rough high in air, across the wind - to within five feet of the flagstick. Over now to O'Hara to putt for a 3 which would make him champion. He left his effort short but still a certain par 4, which would be decisive if Law failed to hole his putt. In the circumstances, one would have forgiven David if he had taken a long time studying the line with the help of his caddie and Scottish boys championship beaten finalist, Paul Shields (Kirkhill). But he did not. Almost as if he knew he could and would hole it to stay alive, Law stepped up and calmly rolled the putt into the centre of the hole. On to the 37th and I felt that something, someone had to give sooner rather than later. And it was O'Hara. He made two errors of judgement. He took too much club or hit it harder than he needed to into the wind because his ball overshot the green. That was the first mistake. The second was his attempt at a recovery shot. As the Motherwell man said later, "I played a terrible chip there. I think I was trying too hard and thinking I had to hole it (for a birdie 3)." Law, just short of the green in two, used his putter and got his ball to within a couple of feet of the hole. When O'Hara could not hole his putt for a 4, David stepped up and sank his to become Scotland's first teenage double champion. RESULT Final (36 holes) David Law (Hazlehead) bt *Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) at the 38th hole. *denotes seeded player.

Ding-dong struggle in the wind at Royal Troon

Paul O'Hara (left) and David Law on the first tee before the start of today's 36 hole Allied Surveyors Scottish amateur championship final at Royal Troon (image by Cal Carson Golf Agency). Click to enlarge.

Law wins a classic final at the 38th hole

PAUL O'HARA (Colville Park) 22 v. DAVID LAW (Hazlehead) 18.

HOW IT ALL WORKED OUT

Neither player showed any sign of nerves as the opening hole was halved in birdie 3s. O’Hara sank his 18ft putt to put the pressure on young Law but the 18-year-old Aberdonian, who had played the more accurate approach shot after the longer, straighter drive, confidently followed him in from 4ft.
Law was ice cool again when facing a three-footer for a half in 4s at the second. No hesititation. Straight in.
O’Hara, playing his eighth tie of the week, fell one down for the first time since the championship began on Monday. He bogeyed the third for Law to go one up with a par. But Law’s lead was short-lived. He took a bogey 6 at the long fourth and O’Hara’s par levelled matters.
O’Hara was quickly in arrears again after having a bad lie in a greenside bunker at the short fifth and taking two shots to get out of the sand. Law’s cast-iron par 3 put him in the lead once more.
O’Hara was not quite on song, not quite as confident as he had been prior to the final. He bogeyed the long sixth with three putts to go two down but perked up to birdie the seventh and be only one down on the eighth tee.
Law was bunkered to lose the Postage Stamp short hole to O’Hara’s par 3 which squared the contest.
Law drove deep into the left gorse off the ninth tee and didn’t bother looking for his ball. He played a provisional ball …. into the right gorse … and eventually conceded the hole with O’Hara home in two.
Out in an approximate two-over-par 38 in the bright and breezy conditions, O’Hara was one up but it was all square again after a half in 4s at the 10th O’Hara took three putts from short of the green to lose the 11th.
The wind had risen quite sharply and after the 12th was halved in 4s, Law conceded the 13th after being in trouble to go one down again.
Law had a birdie chance from about 12ft at the short 14th but couldn’t take it and O’Hara, who had putted up close from short of the green, was able to escape with a half in 3.
O’Hara went two up for the first time with a par at the 15th.
The 16th was halved in par 5s.
Law played a great five-iron at the short 17th to set up a conceded birdie 2 which O’Hara, having missed the green left, couldn’t match.
Law did well to get down in two putts from 18yd at the edge of 18th green, holing the second from 6ft O’Hara two-putted from 20ft to go in for lunch one up.
O’Hara made a great start to the second round with a wind-taming pin-high approach shot, 4ft from the flagstick and he downed the putt for a repeat of his opening birdie 3. This time Law, just on the green in two, could not match it, taking two putts from 40ft.
Law seemed a little uncertain in his club selection into the wind. He was well through the back of the second in two while O’Hara was again pin high but off the green to the left. O’Hara almost holed his delicate little pitch but Law was able to come out of the rough to 5ft and he holed the par-saving putt for a half.
After a half in 4s at the 21st, the par-5 22nd was halved in birdie 4s, Law following O’Hara in from 15ft after Paul had holed from 16ft.
Law got back to one down with a par 3 at the short 23rd, holing a second putt of 6ft after O’Hara had been bunkered and failed to hole a five-footer for a 3.
It was tough going for both players into the wind and neither played the long 24th well. O’Hara finally missed from 5ft for the hole to be halved in bogey 6s.
Law got back on level terms for the first time since the morning 12th when O’Hara bunkered his drive in losing the 25th to his opponent’s par 4.
Both men hit the green at the Postage Stamp 26th short hole, O’Hara missing from 8ft in his attempt for a 2 and Law holing from 5ft for a half in 3.
The 27th was halved in bogey 5s, leaving the match all square with nine holes to play, Law having covered the afternoon outward half into the wind in roughly one-over-par 37 to O’Hara’s 38.
After the 28th was halved in par 4s, O’Hara had a nightmare 29th hole, which saw him take two penalty drops for unplayable lies in the gorse and he finally conceded the hole after taking six shots to reach the green at this par-4 hole. Law, off the green but pin high in 2, was now one up for the first time since the seventh in the morning.
Law bravely holed a 12ft putt at the 30th to stay one up, getting down in two shots from over 150yd.
The 31st was halved in bogey 5s with O’Hara letting another 8ft winning chance go by.
The short 32nd was halved in par 3s but Law drove into the rough at the 33rd, could only hack out and O’Hara, on in two, squared the match with a par 4..
The long 34th hole was halved in par 5s after an excellent recovery pitch by Law to within 12 inches of the hole after he had gone through the back of the green in three on to an access road to a private house in the middle of the course. He was permitted a free drop and took full advantage of it to match O’Hara’s more conventional 5.
The short 35th in a nerve-tingling match was halved in par 3s. O’Hara came out of a greenside bunker to hole from 20ft for a 3. Law, after a superb tee shot to 5ft, saw his putt for the vital horseshoe out.
The 36th hole was another nail-biting half in par 4s with O’Hara just failing to hole his 20ft birdie putt and Law’s 15ft birdie putt for the title, coming to rest an inch from the side of the hole.
Law played a great recovery to halve the first extra hole in 4 after missing the green 30yds left of the flag. He holed a 5ft putt to match O’Hara’s solid 4.
At the second extra hole, O’Hara was through the back of the green with his approach and, by his own admission, “played a terrible chip” to lose the hole and the title with a bogey 5 to Law’s two-putt par 4.