WILDE ANTICS CLAIM FALDO SERIES WIN

Tom Wilde from Bourne End produced two late birdies to clinch the Faldo Series UK Championship at Hollinwell Golf Club in impressive style.
Following a first round score of 69 in the fifth UK Championship of the season, 20-year-old Wilde produced birdies at the 16th and 17th holes in the final round to finish on five under par and win by two.
The boys’ under-18 category produced an equally dramatic finish with Leicester’s Greg Eason, 17, emerging victorious at the first extra hole of a sudden death play-off.
Supported by The R&A, the European Tour and the PGA, all of the age category winners from Hollinwell will now travel to the Faldo Series Grand Final in Brazil. Nick Faldo will host his 13th Grand Final at Itanhanga Golf Club in Rio de Janeiro from October 28 to 30, giving all participants the opportunity to meet and draw inspiration from the six-time Major winner.
Winners from Hollinwell (all qualify for the Faldo Series Grand Final in Brazil):
Boys U21
Tom Wilde 20 Castle Royal Bourne End +2.0 139 -5
Boys U18
Greg Eason 17 Kirby Muxloe Leicester +1.8 141 -3
Boys U16
George Howard 16 Menzies Willingham 1.8 145 +1
Girls U21
Jessica Wilcox 17 Blankney Sleaford 0.2 146 +1
Girls U16
Emma Harris 13 Peel Isle of Man 2.8 159 +9

CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT

Four share lead on 65 in Fred

Olsen Challenge de Espana

BY PAUL SYMES, CHALLENGE TOUR PRESS OFFICER
Rhys Davies’ fine recent form continued at the Fred Olsen Challenge de España as the Welshman posted a flawless round of 65 to join his namesake Gareth Davies of England, home favourite Jesus Maria Arruti and Sweden’s Steven Jeppesen at the top of the leaderboard.
The SWALEC Wales Challenge winner, who has earned over €50,000 in six Challenge Tour appearances to climb to 13th place in the Rankings, collected six birdies on the opening day at the picturesque Tecina Golf at La Gomera in the Canary Islands.
Davies said: “I putted very well today – that was really the key to my low score. I got into a good rhythm with my putter and it also helped that I was able to read the lines well, because some of the greens were pretty tricky. To be honest I didn’t hit the ball particularly well off the tee and even some of my iron shots were pretty ordinary, but I was able to hole some key putts for par, which kept me going.
“My season’s going pretty well – I’m playing solidly and I’m happy with my game. I’m currently 13th in the Rankings and I’ve nearly done enough to get a European Tour card of some sort, but I just want to keep it going and keep climbing the Rankings to make my card safe.”
Jeppesen joined Davies on six under par after matching the Welshman’ flawless round, whilst the other Davies – Englishman Gareth – and Arruti made it a four-way tie at the top in the €150,000 event.
The Spaniard, whose 20 visits to the Qualifying School is a European Tour record, now also holds the record for the lowest nine-hole score of the 2009 Challenge Tour season, having reached the turn in a scarcely-credible 28 shots courtesy of six birdies and an eagle.
Unfortunately for the home crowds, however, Arruti was unable to maintain his momentum and he came home in 37 to drop back to six under par.
He said: “I play some really great golf on the front nine. My longest birdie putt was from five metres on the second hole – even my eagle putt on the seventh was only from three metres! But I got the back nine off to a bad start with a bogey on the tenth hole, and then got in trouble on the 11th and 12th holes, which also cost me bogeys. But at least I got one back on the 17th hole, which was a good finish.
“The main difference was that I hit the ball very straight on the front nine, and found every fairway. But on the back nine I missed too many fairways and rolled into the rough, which is very tough. But it’s only the second time I’ve played this course, and you have to know your way around here to play it well. So hopefully tomorrow will be even better.”
Jeppesen is also hopeful of brighter days ahead, having slowly slipped down the Rankings despite a promising start to the season which saw him finish in the top ten in consecutive weeks in Morocco and France.
He said: “I got into some bad old habits for a while, so recently I’ve made a few changes to my swing with Christian Hardin, my coach back in Sweden, and it seems to have worked. I worked mainly on my rotation, and today it felt a lot better. I got off to a great start with three birdies in my first three holes, which is always good for your confidence!
“The only time I was really in trouble was on the 13th hole, when I missed the green with my second shot and played a poor chip shot, but holed the putt from about 20 feet. But other than that, I felt in control all day.
“It’s a really nice course. When I arrived on the island and saw the landscape, I couldn’t really see how they could build a golf course here. But it works – they’ve done a great job.”
Despite a bogey at the 14th hole, Davies’ back nine score of 32 was the lowest of the four leaders, and his round of 65 was also the lowest of the Englishman’s season so far.Davies had showed signs of a return to form with a top 30 finish in Poland last week, and he was happy to build on his improved showing with another fine performance – particularly on the greens – at Tecina Golf. He said:
“I putted really well today – I probably holed about four or five putts from 20 feet or more. So I was really happy with my round. I’ve only played five events this year and I’m well down in the Rankings, so I probably need a good week here to give myself any chance of taking something from the season. If I play like I did today for the rest of the week, I’ll be there or thereabouts.” One shot back on five under par is Switzerland’s Raphäel de Sousa, who put behind him the disappointment of ten missed cuts this season to fire a round of 66. De Sousa, who narrowly missed out on graduation to The European Tour through the Challenge Tour in 2008, has endured a miserable campaign, and is currently languishing in 253rd place in the Rankings with earnings of just €315.
But the 26 year old from Geneva rediscovered his form, particularly on the greens.He said:
“I putted really well today. I’ve been really struggling on the greens this year, so recently I’ve been working really hard on my putting stroke with my Australian coach, Gavin Healey. This season has been really tough – I’ve been missing cuts by just one or two shots every week, and that’s been mainly down to my poor putting.
“But I’ve been playing better in the last few weeks, and today was better still. The technical changes I made worked well, and my rhythm felt much better. My long game was pretty good but my putting was the main difference, because I hardly missed anything all day. “It’s a very nice course, and it’s in great condition. There are definitely birdie chances out there, but there are also holes where you have to play more conservatively or you’ll end up in trouble, especially if the wind’s blowing hard.”
De Sousa was joined on five under par by the Argentine duo of Clodomiro Carranza and Pablo Del Grosso, the Spanish trio of Franciso Cea, Javier Colomo and Daniel Quiros, England’s Chris Gane and Germany’s Benjamin Miarka. Colomo and Quiros both eagled the third hole, whilst Cea opened with a bogey but closed with two birdies to match his two compatriots’ rounds of 66.
Colomo, currently 33rd in the Challenge Tour Rankings, said: “The key to my score was my mental strength. From the first hole to the last my concentration was very good, and I really thought about every shot. My putting was good and my short game was also better, which is great because that’s an area of my game which has let me down lately. I’m very happy and my confidence is high, so I’m really looking forward to the last seven weeks of the season.”
England’s Adam Gee also hit the headlines on the opening day, recording the first albatross of the 2009 Challenge Tour season on the seventh hole.Gee said: “I hit an 18 degree rescue club from 230 yards, and the next thing I knew, it’d gone in! I never thought I would hole it, particularly as I was two over par at the time and playing badly – so it made my round look a bit better than it actually was!”
SCOREBOARD
FIRST ROUND
Par 71
65 S Jeppesen (Swe) , J Arruti (Esp) , G Davies (Eng) , R Davies (Wal)
66 D Quiros (Esp) , J Colomo (Esp) , B Miarka (Ger) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , F Cea (Esp) , R De Sousa (Sui) , C Gane (Eng) , C Carranza (Arg)
67 J Hepworth (Eng) , Z Scotland (Eng) , J Sköld (Swe) , I Giner (Esp) , S Davis (Eng) , D Wardrop (Eng) , J Ocejo (Esp) , M Wiegele (Aut) , A Hansen (Den) , N Meitinger (Ger) , C Brazillier (Fra) , C Russo (Fra) , J Morrison (Eng)
68 J Campillo (Esp) , S Manley (Wal) , S Bebb (Wal) , R Santos (Por) , M Haastrup (Den) , J Zapata (Arg) , P Linhart (Esp) , A Bernadet (Fra) , J Grillon (Fra) , A Wagner (Arg) , M Tullo (Chi)
69 S Tiley (Eng) , I Sanchez-Palencia (Esp) , J Ruth (Eng) , J Larsen (Nor) , L Claverie (Esp) , P Oriol (Esp) , C Günther (Ger) , J Rosillo (Esp) , L De Jager (RSA) , D Ulrich (Sui) , C Smith (Wal) , A Marshall (Eng) , A Tampion (Aus) , D Griffiths (Eng) , J Parry (Eng) , A Gee (Eng) , L Bond (Wal)
70 M Higley (Eng) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , S Walker (Eng) , M Quiros (Esp) , R Muntz (Ned) , B Pettersson (Swe) , P Golding (Eng) , P Richardson (Eng) , R McEvoy (Eng) , B Parker (Eng) , O Floren (Swe) , G Murray (Sco) , K Sullivan (Wal) , S Surry (Eng) , M Bothma (RSA) , J Moul (Eng)
71 L Moolman (RSA) , J Heath (Eng) , R Treis (Ger) , A Salto (Esp) , M Mills (Eng) , S Jamieson (Sco) , T Weiss (Sui) , B La Roche (Esp) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , M Kramer (Ger) , L Westerberg (Swe) , C Suneson (Esp) , A Willey (Eng) , D Froreich (Ger) , M Zions (Aus) ,
72 R Steele (Eng) , J Guerrier (Fra) , P Whiteford (Sco) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , M Delpodio (Ita) , J Billot (Fra) , L James (Eng)
73 D Marmion (Eng) , J Abbate (Arg) , B Taylor (Eng) , G Houston (Wal) , R Harris (Eng) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , M Reale (Ita) , V Riu (Fra)
74 L Saltman (Sco) , M McGeady (Irl) , C Aguilar (Esp) , J Altonen (Fin) , H Bacher (Aut) , A Bruschi (Ita)
75 J Olmedo (Esp) , B Etchart (Esp) , B Evans (Eng) , P Bocian (Swe) , I Garcia Avis (Esp) ,
76 C Quevedo (Esp)
77 R Saxton (Ned) , M Fajardo (Esp) ,
78 P O'Keeffe (Irl) , J Relecom (Bel) , P Avilés (Esp)
79 D Küpper (Ger)
81 J Molina (Esp) ,
** N Vanhootegem (Bel) , D Van Doren (Bel) ,

Tie me kangaroo down, sport! Brett

Rumford sets pace with nine-under 62

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Australian Brett Rumford took the first-round lead at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland today after a brilliant birdie blitz for a nine-under-par round of 62 at the Swiss Alps venue.
Rumford, winner of the title in 2007, gave little indication of the round to come when he hit a wayward opening drive.
The 32 year old from Perth, Western Australia then dropped shots on the fourth and fifth holes. But then came a remarkable turnaround - Rumford played the remaining 13 holes in 11 under with an eagle two on the driveable seventh, birdies at the sixth and ninth and then an inward 28 containing seven more birdies.
His 62 would have equalled the Crans-sur-Sierre course record but for the fact that placing of the ball was allowed on the wet fairways.
"I got off to a shaky start in more ways than one," said Rumford, who leads by one from England's Simon Dyson, winner of the KLM Open in The Netherlands two weeks ago.
"I've no idea where that came off. When I won here I played great golf, but today I just got my putter running."
Dyson was delighted at waiting only 11 days to repeat the closing 63 which led to his second KLM Open victory in four years.
The 31 year old from York's round contained eagles at the first and 15th. A two iron to eight feet gave him the perfect start and a five wood to 15 feet on the 516 yard 15th brought the other.
“I drove the ball well, the irons were good and I managed to roll some in so it was good,” said Dyson. “I got off to an ideal start with the eagle at the first. I had good chances at the second and the third but then four was a good birdie because it was playing long - it was driver, five iron. A perfect start.”
No fewer than six players are tied for third on six under - Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez, the Swedish pair of Christian Nilsson and Alexander Noren, Argentina's Anders Romero and England’s Danny Willett.
Both Jaidee and Dyson have previously won the Asian Tour order of merit, so it was appropriate that both were going well in the first ever event co-sanctioned by The European Tour and Asian Tour on European soil.
For Jiménez it was a case of making a good start as he looks to keep his place in Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup Team for next year.
“It's a little bit early to be talking about that. But of course, every time you have a good result in this period then you are getting close to qualifying,” said the Spaniard.

LATER NEWS (not on the European Tour website)
It transpired later that tournament leader Brett Rumford hit a female spectator just above the eye with his opening drive.
While she was taken away for treatment with blood streaming down her face, the 32 year-old from Perth, who was told about the incident and was anxious to find out about the spectator's condition, dropped shots on the fourth and fifth holes.
But then came a remarkable turnaround. Rumford played the remaining 13 holes in 11 under par, with an eagle two on the driveable seventh, birdies at the sixth and ninth and then an inward 28 containing seven more birdies for a 62 which would have been a record but for preferred lies being the order of the day.
"It was not nice. You feel really bad for the lady, but there's really nothing you can do," said Rumford.

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD

European Tour Scoreboard
OMEGA EUROPEAN MASTERS
Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland
FIRST ROUND
Par 71
62 Brett Rumford (Aus)
63 Simon Dyson
65 Christian Nilsson (Swe), Alexander Noren (Swe), Andres Romero (Arg), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Danny Willett, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
66 Chris Wood, Paul McGinley, Marcus Fraser (Aus), Johan Edfors (Swe)
67 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Marcel Siem (Ger), Ross McGowan
68 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Graeme McDowell, David Howell, Metteo Manassero (Ita), Klas Eriksson (Swe), David Lynn, Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Callum Macaulay, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Miles Tunnicliff, Gregory Havret (Fra), Peter O'Malley (Aus), Bradley Dredge
69 Gary Orr, Anders Hansen (Den), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Graeme Storm, Anthony Wall, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Julien Clement (Swi), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Darren Clarke, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Lee Slattery, David Dixon, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Angelo Que (Phi)
70 Francis Valera (Spa), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Benn Barham, Oliver Wilson, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Scott Hend (Aus), Markus Brier (Aut), Pablo Martin (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Luke List (USA), Richie Ramsay, Gareth Maybin, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Phillip Price, Scott Strange (Aus), David Horsey, David Drysdale, Gary Murphy, Rick Kulacz (Aus), Tano Goya (Arg), Mark Foster, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Barry Lane
71 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Rafael Echenique (Arg), John Bickerton, Anthony Kang (USA), Danny Lee (Nzl), Marc Warren, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Michael Hoey, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), David Gleeson (Aus), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Marc Cayeux (Zim), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Seve Benson, Ken Benz (Swi), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par)
72 Bryan Saltus (USA), Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Branden Grace (Rsa), Kenneth Ferrie, Steven O'Hara, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Andre Bossert (Swi), Shane Lowry, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Sam Little, Adam Blyth (Aus), Scott Drummond, Mark Brown (Nzl), Paul Broadhurst, Martin Rominger (Swi), Mardan Mamat (Sin), James Kamte (Rsa)
73 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Griffiths, Simon Wakefield, Jason Knutzon (USA), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Kane Webber (Aus), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Gary Lockerbie, Robert Rock, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Andrea Chiapuzzo (Ita)
74 Darren Beck (Aus), Joost Luiten (Ned), Robert Dinwiddie, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Benjamin Rusch (Swi), Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn), Simon Khan, Peter Hanson (Swe), Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Iain Steel (Mal), Taco Remkes (Ned), Phillip Archer
75 Alexandre Chopard (Swi), Steven Walther (Swi), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus)
76 Mitchell Brown (Aus), Scott Arnold (Aus), Sung Lee (Kor)
77 Andrew Coltart, Oliver Fisher
78 Ake Nilsson (Rsa), Marc Dobias (Swi)
79 Ben Leong (Mal), Sven Struver (Ger)
80 Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi)

SCOTLAND SCHOOLS GOLF TEAM TO

PLAY ENGLAND IS ANNOUNCED

The Scottish Schools Golf Association has named the following 12 boys and six girls to play against England in the annual schools golf international match against England at Westerwood Hotel & Golf Course, Cumbernauld on Monday, September 14.

BOYS
Jamie Arthur (Kinross High)
Neil Beattie (Madras College, St Andrews)
Tom Blennerhassett (Balerno High)
Stuart Boyle (West Calder High)
Graeme Duncan (Calderhead High, Shotts)
Simon Fairburn (Galashiels Acad)
Grant Forrest (Stewart's Melville Coll, Edinburgh)
Scott Gibson (Dumfries Acad)
Liam Johnston (St Joseph's Coll, Dumfries)
Calum McLean (Hillpark Secondary, Glasgow)
Paul McPhee (Perth Acad)
Calum Stewart (Golspie High).

GIRLS
Lesley Atkins (Loretto School)
Eilidh Briggs (Gryffe High, Johnstone)
Gabrielle Macdonald (Trinity Acad, Edinburgh)
Alyson McKechin (Trinity High, Renfrew)
Ailsa Summers (Dundee High)
Rachael Watton (Firrhill High, Edinburgh).

+Jill Meldrum of Dullatur was selected but was unable to play as she is starting at Caledonian University.

Old and Castle Courses bookings

suggests Scots tourism recovering

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ST ANDREWS LINKS TRUST
A rapid influx of tee time applications yesterday (Sep 2) for play at St Andrews Links in 2010 suggests the outlook for Scottish golf tourism next year might be brightening.
The Advanced Reservations process for play on the Old Course and The Castle Course opened at 10am BST yesterday and within 15 minutes more than 800 email applications had been received by St Andrews Links Trust.
Due to the continued level of demand, the Links Trust, which manages and maintains the seven public golf courses at the Home of Golf, invite applications for tee times a year ahead and at a specific time to try to ensure that everyone has an equal chance to secure a much sought after tee time on the hallowed Links.
Despite the difficult economic situation, applications flooded in from around the world to the Trust’s Reservations Department. It will spend the next few weeks processing the forms which golfers downloaded from the http://www.standrews.org.uk/ website.
Alan McGregor, chief executive of the Links Trust, said, “It has been a challenging year for the Scottish golf tourism market so it is particularly pleasing to see that the level of interest in playing at St Andrews Links remains very high.
“We are fortunate that so many golfers aspire to play our courses and experience all of the history and tradition at first hand. We work hard to maintain its profile and to communicate to golfers round the world how they can come here to play. The support of our global partner, Allianz, has been extremely beneficial in that regard.
“Next year will see the Open Championship return to the Old Course for the 28th time and the spotlight of world golf will once again fall on the Links. We hope this will encourage even more golfers to come to St Andrews to play golf.”
Tee times can also be booked for The Castle Course from April to November 2010. The Castle Course will remain open for play during the week of the Open Championship from July 12-18, the first time the Links Trust has been able to offer golf to the public throughout the championship period.
Four of the St Andrews Links courses, the Old, New, Castle and Jubilee, were included in the most recent Golf Digest Top 100 rankings.
For more information about booking any of the seven St Andrews Links courses please contact the Reservations Department at http://uk.mc870.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=reservations@standrews.org.uk or on 0044 1334 466666.

.

Nick Faldo to design course in Vietnam

NEWS RELEASE
Faldo Design has been appointed by the Banyan Tree Indochina Hospitality Fund L.P. to develop an 18-hole championship standard golf course at the Laguna Hue resort located between Danang and Hue city in central Vietnam.
The Nick Faldo-designed course will form the centrepiece of a luxury integrated resort complex situated on a 280-hectare beachfront site that, when fully developed, will have approximately 2000 hotel keys under the management of international-branded hotel and resort operators, award-winning spas, resort residences, convention facilities and a town centre with retail and recreational facilities.
Six-time Major winner Faldo commented: “This is a stunning and very diverse piece of land with gently rolling terrain, splashes of sand throughout and an impressive array of natural design features. We’re spoilt for choice, really: our lay-out will incorporate sand dunes, rice-paddy fields, trees and scrub, wonderful exposed rock formations as well as a section of dramatic coastline and a routing that will visit each of these features on both nines.”
“For this part of Vietnam it’s a real hidden gem. We have the opportunity to create a very strategic golf course that offers golfers an abundance of shot and route options, and players will need to plot their way through some very picturesque surroundings. The course will sport a ruggedly-handsome look with a real sense of place. I’m confident that we can produce a finished product that has the potential to become a genuine talking point in the region.”
This new course at Laguna Hue will be a prominent addition to Nick Faldo’s expanding portfolio of golf courses. In Asia alone, Faldo Design has recently opened courses in China and Cambodia, and has also commenced work on a new project in India.
For information on Faldo Design visit www.nickfaldo.com

It's High Noon for Jim as Sam Torrance's caddie

after being made redundant at Leith Docks

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Jim Noon started to do a bit of caddying work at Muirfield to earn some pocket money. Now he's travelling all over the place carrying the bag of one of Scotland's greatest-ever golfers.
Noon and former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance have been friends since they were aspiring young professionals. They were re-united through their sons a few years ago before another chance meeting led to Noon becoming Sam's full-time caddie."My boy, Ross, played Daniel, Sam's son, in the Scottish Boys' Championship at Southerness and that's where we bumped into each other again," revealed Noon, who, unlike Torrance, was unable to sustain a career in the paid ranks and got himself re-instated as an amateur.
"We met again when the British Seniors' Open was held at Muirfield two years ago. Sam didn't know I was caddying and he asked me to give him my telephone number. We started working together around the Dunhill Links Championship later that year and I've been on his bag now for almost two years.
"I really enjoy it and the highlight so far was when Sam won the European Seniors' Tour Championship out in Spain towards the end of last year. This season he's lying third on the Order of Merit behind Mark McNulty and Ian Woosnam but it's likely to be a fight between Sam and Woosie for the top spot and, at the moment, we're not far behind Woosie with five events to go."
While Noon, who played most of his golf as a youngster at Monktonhall – he now lives just outside Dunfermline – had to give up his own dream of becoming a star in the paid ranks, he's delighted to be still involved in the game.
"I played on the European Tour for about six years and Sam and I started off our careers together. I'd won the Scottish assistants' championship at Dunbar in the mid-70s and played well in some British events but I began to struggle with my putting and, in the end, I was spending my own money to be on the Tour.
"It's great to be back out there as a caddie, though, and the most important thing for me is that Sam trusts my judgment. We get along well and have a good understanding but, at the same time, we've had our fall-outs as well."
Earlier this week Noon was on the bag when his boss played in the D J Russell invitational pro-am at Archerfield Links. They've now moved on to Woburn for this week's Travis Perkins Senior Masters with trips to Spain and the Czech Republic on the cards between now and the end of the season.
"I've also been over to America with Sam but, although the money is a lot better over there on the Champions Tour, he doesn't like to do too much travelling and prefers to be back home on a Sunday night," said Noon.
"This year has seen a few events fall from the European Seniors' Tour schedule due to the economic downturn but working for Sam is a continuous job and, as always, he's managed to have a few good finishes so far this season."
It's certainly a far cry from the casual caddying he started doing at Muirfield after being made redundant after nearly 20 years as a project manager for a firm in Leith Docks.
"I got a reasonable package and only turned to caddying to make myself some pocket money," said the 57-year-old.
After being re-instated as an amateur, Noon did pretty well, winning the South East District championship among other titles, picking up four gold medals in the Scottish area team championship with the Lothians and getting close to a full Scotland cap at a time when Colin Montgomerie was starting to emerge on the scene.
"I play off two these days over at Leven, the long game is pretty solid but my short game has suffered, and I was delighted to go back to Monktonhall earlier in the year to win the seniors' open there with a 71," he revealed.
"It was great to see my son win the club championship at Craigielaw this year, too. He's off scratch but it is so competitive at the top level these days and I don't think he's good enough to make it in the pro ranks. Thankfully, he knows that himself and is doing a degree in business and finance."
+++The full article appears in today's Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.

September 19 is closing date for entries to

Scottish Alliance championship at Gullane

Eighty-one entries have been received so far by Keith Liddle, the Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance secretary, who will be running this year' Scottish Alliance championship at Gullane Golf Club's Nos 2 and 3 courses, East Lothian from October 6 to 8.
The maximum field is 144.
Closing date for entries is September 19.
"We have to be strict with this as we will have to notifiy Guallane Golf Club of any unused tee times so that they can put them back into their system and make them available for other visitors," said Keith.
Different areas have different methods of distribution of entry forms.
As far as the North-east Alliance is concerned, they will available at the annual meeting in the Atholl Hotel, Kings Gate in Aberdeen at 7.30pm on Monday, September 7. The North-east Alliance season does not start until Wednesday, September 16 at Kemnay so that would be leaving it a bit late to pick up a Scottish Alliance championship entry form.

Harrington vows to stop fiddling and

concentrate more on producing

FROM THE SCOTSMAN.SPORT.COM WEBSITE
By Trent Baker
Padraig Harrington has resolved to stop fiddling with his game and concentrate on playing his best at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
The popular Irishman missed five consecutive cuts this season after making changes to his swing. "I'm a little bit like that," he said. "I go in fads where I'm interested in playing and maybe other times where I'm interested in changing things and trying to improve things. So I have to be a little bit disciplined at the moment not to get drawn back into what I would have been doing for the first eight months of the year and wholeheartedly changing something."
Harrington's mid-season woes came on the back of one of the most successful periods of his career, winning both his second Open title and the US PGA last year. And the 38-year-old believes his increased profile has thrown undue focus on the changes in his game.
He said: "I've had plenty of times in my career where I've made changes, far more significant than the ones that I made this year. I think what happened this year is as I was making the change, I was higher profile, so it stood out a bit more. And secondly, during the change, my short game was poor. Normally I've done these changes in the past and my short game has hidden them. This year it didn't hide them, and I was a bit more in the spotlight."
Harrington claimed a share of second place alongside a group of players including Tiger Woods at last week's Barclays Championship in New Jersey.
That was enough to take him back into the world's top 10 and he hopes to use the support of the Massachusetts crowd to continue that form. He said: "Obviously being Irish, coming to Boston is not a bad thing. I had a great week in New York last week, and obviously I probably expect even more support up here. So it is fantastic for me.
"Hopefully this week I'll deliver a bit better than I did the last couple years."
In fact, Harrington missed the cut in 2007 and 2008, but expects to manage better this time around. He said: "The golf course itself is a good, solid golf course. Everything about it I like, so there's no reason why I wouldn't play well on the course."