England name four Canadian International

Junior Challenge at Ontario venue

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Adam Carson (Long Ashton), who helped Gloucestershire to the runner-up spot in the recent English boys' county championship finals, has been named in a four-strong squad to represent the English Golf Union in the Canadian International Junior Challenge at OslerBrook Golf and Country Club in Ontario from September 14 to 18.
He will be accompanied by Tom Boys (Royal, Liverpool), Scott Campbell (Hallowes, Yorkshire) and Tyrell Hatton (Harleyford, BB&O), all being members of the England Under 18 Squad. Carson, won the Fairhaven Trophy this year, finished runner-up in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, and was third in the English Under 18 Championship (Carris Trophy).
He was also a member of England’s victorious side in the Boys Home Internationals and of the winning GB&I team in the Jacques Leglise Trophy.
In 2008, Tom Boys won the Fairhaven Trophy but just missed out in the playoff for the individual title in the Canadian Junior Challenge. He also played in the Boys Home Internationals and this year has represented the EGU in South Africa and America. Campbell was also a member of the winning side in the Boys Home Internationals, his debut in England colours.
This followed a fourth place in the Carris Trophy and equal seventh in the Fairhaven Trophy. This will be his second transatlantic trip of the year, Campbell being a team-mate of Boys in the Thunderbird International in Arizona. Hatton is a former winner of the BB&O Junior Order of Merit who finished fourth in the Faldo World Series Final in Brazil last year. This year, he finished runner-up in the BB&O Junior Championship and tied sixth in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters. The Canadian International Junior Challenge is a nations cup-style event, the best three scores from four each day to count. There are also prizes for the leading individuals. --

European Tour Scoreboard
MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP
Gut Larchenhof GC, Cologne, Germany
FIRST ROUND
Par 72
65 Soren Hansen (Den)
66 Chris Wood
67 David Drysdale, Ross Fisher, James Kingston (Rsa), Scott Strange (Aus)
68 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Paul Lawrie, Simon Dyson
69 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Christian Nilsson (Swe), Nick Dougherty, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Graeme Storm, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Anthony Wall, Stephen Dodd, Richard Finch, Markus Brier (Aut)
70 Graeme McDowell, Anders Hansen (Den), Marcel Siem (Ger), Darren Clarke, Alex Cejka (Ger), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Peter Hanson (Swe), Robert Rock, Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Lee Westwood, Thomas Levet (Fra)
71 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Rodney Pampling (Aus), David Howell, Scott Drummond, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Anthony Kang (USA), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Alexander Noren (Swe), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha)
72 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Damien McGrane, Colin Montgomerie, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Danny Willett, Kenneth Ferrie, Paul McGinley, Alvaro Quiros (Spa)
73 Hennie Otto (Rsa), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa)
74 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Alastair Forsyth, Jamie Donaldson, Tano Goya (Arg), John Bickerton, Florian Fritsch (Ger)
75 Shane Lowry, Mark Brown (Nzl), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
76 Steve Webster, Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Gareth Maybin, Michael Hoey
77 Michael Campbell (Nzl), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Gregory Havret (Fra)
78 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Johan Edfors (Swe)
79 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind)

Gavin Dear bowing out as Scotland's

Amateur Golf of the Year

RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Murrayshall’s Gavin Dear goes into this weekend’s Walker Cup having been crowned the 2009 Scottish Golfer of the Year after finishing as the leading Scottish player in the R&A‘s World Amateur Golf Rankings.
The 25-year-old Perthshire player from the village of Scone has capped his final season as an amateur by claiming the coveted title from his World Cup team mate Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan) who has since joined the paid ranks on the European Tour, a feat that Dear also hopes to emulate in the coming weeks.
The World Champion began this year as the first Scottish winner of the 78th Dixie Men’s Amateur Championship, a prestigious title he claimed in December. Dear continued his red hot form into 2009 on the domestic front when he won the first SGU Order of Merit event, the Craigmillar Park Open in a sudden death play-off.
Leaving home shores once again, Dear added another title to his growing CV when he claimed the AIB Irish Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Royal Dublin. However, the plus 4 handicapper was pipped to the Bidwells Scottish Stroke Play Championship at Murcar Links, by his Walker Cup team-mate, England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
A busy schedule saw Dear claim top finishes at home and abroad, notably finishing third at the Spanish Amateur in claiming more valuable points as he climbed the rankings to 14th best amateur in the world.
Despite missing out on long runs at either The Amateur or Scottish Amateur Championships, victory in Wales when Scotland triumphed at the European Team Championship helped Dear
become just one of two Scots with his name on the prestigious Eisenhower and European Team Trophies.
Those achievements earned both Dear and Wallace Booth their call up to the Walker Cup as the only Scottish representatives in a GB&I side which are about to take on the US on home soil at Merion, Pennsylvania.
On the cusp of turning professional with the Walker Cup being his last competitive experience as an amateur, Dear had said it was a great honour to be selected and hopes are high that he can help bring this one more trophy home with him before he embarks on his transition to the pro ranks.
Dear finished his season with 1049.33 world ranking points, whilst European Amateur Championship runner up Ross Kellett finished with 923.94 points and ranked 52nd on the WAGR leaderboard. James Byrne finished just behind Kellett on 912.31 points, with SGU Order of Merit winner Paul O’Hara finishing on 866.67 points and ranked 96th in the world.
Previous winners of the Scottish Golfer of the Year title include Steven O’Hara and Richie Ramsay.

Another E-mail from Frank (Franco) Hennigan

Dear Colin
My original Email was in response to Jock MacVicar's article stating that 43 Scots had paid £1,350 each,when, in fact, some have and some have not had it funded by the SGU. I was only looking at a fact.
I then simply asked the questions that followed. What I did not do was to express my opinion on the matter.
If I may be allowed, and in the light of the responses so far, I would now like to ask some more weighted questions.
Why do not all the Scots get their entry fees paid?
It seems a shame that such a promising player as Chris Kelly has to pay this himself, and as Kevin McAlpine says there is a least one explanation.
Talented young golfers can't afford this hefty entrance fee.
And is the answer to an individual's success as a professional,and the potential pot of gold, obviously more funding?
Does this 'grow the game'?
Alternately, should we spend more on education?
I am interested in how golf club members benefit
Frank

Note from Editor: I think we are starting to go round in circles on this topic, so let's draw a line under with this item. Colin Farquharson

George Murray five shots off the pace

Challenge Tour's Dutch Futures

By STEVE TODD
European Challenge Tour Press Officer
Anstruther’s former Scottish amateur champion George Murray opened with a two under par round of 70 to lie five shots off the pace in the Dutch Futures on the European Challenge Tour today.
A day after Scotland agonisingly failed to beat the Dutch football team in their vital World Cup qualifier, Murray – currently 46th on the European Challenge Tour Rankings – is aiming for a good week to boost his own qualification battle for his European Tour card.
The 26 year old carded four birdies and two bogeys at Golf Club Houtrak, with England’s Ben Mason setting the pace after a seven under par round of 65.
Fellow Scot Andrew McArthur opened with a one under par 71 while Scott Jamieson, Jamie McLeary and Lloyd Saltman all signed for a level par rounds of 72.
Aberdeen's Peter Smith, based in Holland for a number of years, an aiming to go to the European Tour Seniors Q School later this year, had a 76 as he tried to regain a competitive edge that won him the Northern Open in his younger days.
Mason fired an eagle and six birdies for a superb opening round 65, holing his second shot with a wedge from 130 yards on the par four 16th hole after opening with three birdies in his first five holes.
He picked up another shot on the 18th but dropped one straight after the turn – his only bogey of the day - before adding further birdies on the second and eighth holes.
Those final two birdies moved him clear of five players who are locked on five under par; home favourite John Boerdonk, France’s Christophe Brazillier, fellow Englishman Matthew Cort, Danish teenager Jacob Olesen and Spain’s Carl Suneson.
“I was hitting it pretty close all day,” said Mason. “It’s my best round of the year – I had a 64 in Poland but that was a par 70 so that was only six under. To be honest though it was tricky out there with the wind and anything under 70 would have been so to shoot 65 is fantastic.”
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 70
65 B Mason (Eng)
67 J Boerdonk (Ned), M Cort (Eng) , J Olesen (Den) , C Suneson (Esp) , C Brazillier (Fra) ,
68 M Zions (Aus), A Butterfield (Eng) , B Wiesberger (Aut) , E Molinari (Ita) , W Vork (am) (Ned) ,
69 J Lima (Por) , P Golding (Eng) , B Pettersson (Swe) , N Meitinger (Ger) , D Griffiths (Eng) , J Quesne (Fra) , R Coles (Eng) , R Davies (Wal) , F Colombo (Ita) , M Cryer (Eng) , A Marshall (Eng) , B Evans (Eng) , N Colsaerts (Bel) , S Tiley (Eng) , M Wiegele (Aut) , K Sullivan (Wal) ,
70 M Higley (Eng , C Moriarty (Irl) , G Murray (Sco) , J Moul (Eng) , M Crespi (Ita) , A Gee (Eng) , M Delpodio (Ita) , G Houston (Wal) , A Tampion (Aus) , G Boyd (Eng) , S Bebb (Wal) , G Shaw (Nir) , L James (Eng) ,
71 A Snobeck (Fra) , A McArthur (Sco) , R Kakko (Fin) , L Moolman (RSA) , M Korhonen (Fin) , J Morrison (Eng) , L Kennedy (Eng) , N Smith (USA) , A Kaleka (Fra) , J Zapata (Arg) , F De Vries (Ned) , F Andersson Hed (Swe) , J Abbate (Arg) ,
72 J McLeary (Sco) , A Grenier (Fra) , J Grillon (Fra) , R McEvoy (Eng) , T Feyrsinger (Aut) , J Granberg (Fin) , W Besseling (Ned) , L Richard (Bel) , L Bond (Wal) , L Saltman (Sco) , M Tullo (Chi) , R Saxton (Ned) , M Reale (Ita) , R Swane (Ned) , S Davis (Eng) , G Gresse (Bel) , A Willey (Eng) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , G Paddison (Nzl) , S Jamieson (Sco) ,
73 C Günther (Ger) , G Molteni (Ita) , M Haastrup (Den) , R Kind (Ned) , T Dykes (Wal) , C Gane (Eng) , S Manley (Wal) , V Riu (Fra) , J Larsen (Nor) , B Hebert (Fra) , A Ahokas (Fin) , C Rodiles (Esp) , E Canonica (Ita) , A Perrino (Ita) , I Pyman (Eng) , J Colomo (Esp) , E Ramsay (Sco) , R Santos (Por) , J Blanks (Eng) , A Bernadet (Fra) , T Cruz (Por) ,
74 T Weiss (Sui) , J Theunis (Bel) , R Muntz (Ned) , F Calmels (Fra) , L De Jager (RSA) , D Nouailhac (Fra) , A Bossert (Sui) , C Carranza (Arg) , M McGeady (Irl) , J Parry (Eng) , M Mills (Eng) , J De Vries (am) (Ned) ,
75 F Praegant (Aut) , S Van Duijn (Ned) , C Russo (Fra) , O Floren (Swe) , Z Scotland (Eng) , P Whiteford (Sco) , T Laitto (Fin) , J Caldwell (Nir) , F Keenan (Eng) , R Steiner (Aut) , K Jorgensen (Den) , J Doherty (Sco) , L Gagli (Ita) , B Alvarado (Chi) , R Eccles (Ned) , D Huizing (am) (Ned) , T Sluiter (am) (Ned)
76 N Vanhootegem (Bel) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , P Smith (Sco) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , P Acuna (Gtm) , R Wechgelaer (Ned) , S Jeppesen (Swe) ,
77 B Miarka (Ger) , B Parker (Eng) , S Robinson (Eng) , C Simpson (Eng) ,
79 S Henry (Sco) , R Treis (Ger) , A Högberg (Swe) ,
80 M Pilkington (Wal) , A Wagner (Arg) , F Van Hoof (am) (Ned) ,
81 D Küpper (Ger)
82 J Relecom (Bel)
83 N Kraaij (Ned)
84 F De Vooght (am) (Bel)

Lee Westwood named Golfer of Month for August

England’s Lee Westwood has been named The Race to Dubai Golfer of the Month for August after two outstanding performances on golf’s grandest stage.
Westwood, who will receive a jeroboam of Moët & Chandon champagne along with an engraved alms dish in recognition of his achievement, followed up an excellent ninth place finish at the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational with another superb performance in a Major as he finished tied third alongside Rory McIlroy at the US PGA Championship behind Y E Yang and Tiger Woods.
Those performances lifted the 36 year old to fourth place in The Race to Dubai and to ninth on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Westwood said: “I nearly won the US Open last year and finished third in two Majors this year, so I feel I am getting closer all the time. I seem to be getting more opportunities to win Majors to it would be nice to have another couple of chances in 2010 and try to win one after coming so close this season.”
The Race to Dubai Golfer of the Month voting panel, which comprised members of the Association of Golf Writers in addition to commentators from radio and television, also gave great consideration to the achievements of Yang, England’s Simon Dyson, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Sweden’s Peter Hedblom.
Hedblom lost out in a play-off to Dyson at the KLM Open just seven days before lifting the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, while Harrington continued his return to top form with a second place finish at the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational, and a tie for ninth at the US PGA Championship.
But Westwood’s continued consistency at the very highest level was the deciding factor, with the Observer newspaper’s golf correspondent, Bill Elliott, commenting: “In an outstanding month for European Tour Members it may seem harsh ultimately to overlook Y E Yang’s US PGA Championship victory or Peter Hedblom’s stellar performances, but we felt that Lee Westwood’s consistency at the game’s sharpest edges deserved recognition.”
Westwood joins McIlroy (January), Geoff Ogilvy (February), Søren Kjeldsen (March), Angel Cabrera (April), Shane Lowry (May), Nick Dougherty (June) and Martin Kaymer (July) as a winner of The 2009 Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Month Award.
The Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Year will be selected following the Dubai World Championship at the Earth Course, Jumeirah Golf Estates, from November 19-22, 2009, where the winner of The Race to Dubai will be confirmed.

2009 FIFE ORDER OF MERIT for THE MACKAY BOWL

Positions after 22 events.

1 James White (Lundin) 920 pt.
2 Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) 690pt
3 Colin Martin (Balbirnie Park) 475pt
4 Danny Sommerville (St Andrews) 460pt
5 Alex Main (Thornton) 450pt
6 Peter Latimer (St Andrews New) 320pt
7 Scott Crichton (Aberdour) 305pt.
8 Michael Main (Thornton) 269pt

++The last counting event for the 2009 FIFE ORDER OF MERIT is the rearranged Pitreavie 36 Hole Open on September 27.

E-mail from Chris Kelly

Hi Colin,
Re Tour School entry fee (£1,350).
Just a quick note to back up Kevin McAlpine on this subject (scroll down to read his E-mail).
My own entry fee came straight out my bank account and I have the gaping hole to prove it.
I am in full support of the SGU paying some top amateurs' Tour School entry fees, given the success of last season with Callum and Scott getting European and Challenge tour cards respectively.
This my not have happened without such support form the SGU so on this subject they should be congratulated.
I have one question for "Franco." What would he like the SGU to spend his levy on, given that the part of their remit is to develop young amateurs into good professionals.

Chris Kelly

As golf world celebrates his 80th birthday,

Palmer still has a passion to play the game

FROM THE US PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
Tiger Woods passed Arnold Palmer on the US PGA Tour's career victory list last year, and some found it surprising how the King chose to congratulate him.
"We've had a couple of text messages back and forth," Palmer said.
=========================
Click on links to read more related stories:
HAIL TO THE KING: PGA Professionals share stories about, and love for, Palmer
INTERVIEW WITH THE KING: Arnold Palmer talks to PGA.com's John Kim at Bay Hill
PGATOUR.COM: Impact and images of Arnold Palmer's amazing career
=========================
If it's hard to imagine Palmer punching his thumbs on a cell phone to send a text, another sign of the times comes on Thursday when Palmer celebrates his 80th birthday.
And how to mark the big occasion? By playing golf, of course.
Palmer was in Orlando, for some weekend festivities. He threw out the first pitch Tuesday night at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. Then he retreated to his home in western Pennsylvania for golf and dinner Wednesday at Laurel Valley. His office said he would play golf with friends Thursday at Latrobe Country Club.
That's where Palmer learned to play golf. After all these years, it remains his greatest passion.
"I think of him as the greatest amateur-professional who ever lived," longtime friend Dow Finsterwald said in this month's issue of Golf Digest. "By that I mean he never stopped playing the game for the love of it, like an amateur. Sure, he liked making a nice living. But he loved to play. Still does."
Jack Nicklaus, a close friend and rival, met up with him at the Masters this year and the conversation turned to golf. Nicklaus asked how he was playing and Palmer told him, "Horrible."
"'How much are you playing?' He said, 'Every day,'" Nicklaus said. "But that's him. That's what he does."
Padraig Harrington recalled watching a Champions Tour event a decade ago, when Palmer came off the course excited as ever.
"He is buzzing," Harrington said. "You've never seen a man with so much excitement and enthusiasm, because he found the secret to the game. I just love the fact he's played the game at least 50 years competitively, and he's still convinced that there's a secret. I just love his enthusiasm."
Nicklaus believes Palmer's record, including seven majors, only tells part of the story.
Palmer won the Masters four times, but his swashbuckling style and the arrival of television proved to be the perfect marriage to make golf appealing to the masses.
His only U.S. Open victory defined his hard-charging style. Americans rarely traveled to the British Open until Palmer made the trip in 1960 and made golf's oldest championship relevant again.
He never won the PGA Championship, although it was Palmer who created the modern Grand Slam.
"I think he brought a lot more to the game than his game," Nicklaus said. "What I mean by that is, there's no question about his record and his ability to play the game. He was very, very good at that. But he obviously brought a lot more. He brought the hitch of his pants, the flair that he brought to the game, the fans that he brought into the game.
"He brought more than just his golf game."
And he keeps right on going. Palmer is the only living player with a PGA Tour event named after him -- the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill -- and he was among those who made a strong pitch for golf to become part of the Olympics.
He remains current to players not even born when he won his last PGA Tour event in 1973, including Woods.
While talking about Palmer's impending 80th birthday, Woods recalled nearly losing his college eligibility because of the kindness of the King. The Champions Tour was in northern California one year, and Woods was in Stanford when Palmer invited him to dinner.
"The tab comes, and I'm not going to say, 'Hey, Arnold, it's on me.' He picks up the tab like it's no big deal," Woods said. "And (I) come to find out, my coach had to report me because that was a violation. I had to send him a check."
Phil Mickelson patterns much of his game and his personality after Palmer. No other star signs more autographs and makes more eye contact than Mickelson, and it pleases Palmer especially that Mickelson's signature is legible.
Mickelson qualified for his first Masters in 1991 as a U.S. Amateur champion, and he quickly arranged a practice round with Palmer.
"We walked off the 18th tee about 100 yards, and he kind of grabs my arm and pulls me over and stops, and says, 'Right here. Right here,'" Mickelson said. Palmer then told him of the 1961 Masters, when someone in the gallery congratulated him for a sure victory. He hit into a bunker, made double bogey and lost.
"He was still fuming about it 30 years later," Mickelson said.
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was on his way to Laurel Valley on Wednesday and said only that the tour would have a "little presentation" for him. What to get one of the most popular figures in golf for his 80th birthday?
Harrington wouldn't know where to begin. He remains in awe of the time he was at an Italian restaurant last year in Miami having an appetizer when he heard someone approach the bar and order an Arnold Palmer.
"Now that's getting to another level," Harrington said. "Think about it. You don't go up there and order a Tiger Woods at the bar. You can go up there and order an Arnold Palmer in this country and the barman -- he was a young man -- knew what the drink was. That's in a league of your own."

E-mail from Kevin McAlpine

Colin,
I am E-mailing you with my response to the E-mail sent by "Franco" regarding Tour School expenses.
I think he has no idea what he is talking about.
Tour school expenses are paid by the Scottish Golf Union to a very select FEW of Scotland's TOP amateur golfers each year.
I would also like to say that when the debate about how ‘few top Scottish golfers there are on Tour’ arises, there is at least one explanation.
Young talented golfers cannot afford this hefty (entrance) fee (£1,350) and it is only right the SGU steps in to help them out.

Kevin McAlpine

+If you have news, views or images you would like to pass on to Scottishgolfview, E-mail Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Wallace Booth has one-track mind as

far as Walker Cup is concernted

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Oliver Brown
The enduring allure of the Walker Cup is reflected in the attitude of Wallace Booth.
The Perthshire man has shelved all attempts at turning professional to concentrate on Great Britain and Ireland’s three-day amateur showpiece against the United States, which begins on Thursday on the fearsome course of Merion, Pennsylvania.
Booth had not entertained any notion of helping to regain the Walker Cup before he fell short last year at the European Tour qualifying school. Suddenly, the primacy of the professional game could be forgotten.
“It was a big disappointment,” said the 24 year-old from Perthshire. “But I was determined not to let it get me down. I took a long, hard look at my game and I decided I needed to work on certain things to get better.
“The Walker Cup was the goal. “Everything was focused on getting to Merion. I was desperate to make the team. When I got the call it justified all the hard work I’d put into my game.”
Booth brings an advantage to his team through his grounding on long, rough-dominated American courses, having taken the college golf route at Augusta State University. Most of his team-mates are unaccustomed to the improvised bunker shots that Merion’s deep greenside rough forces them to play - save for Chris Paisley, who represented Tennessee, and Gavin Dear, who spent four years at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.