Benn Barham comes in from the cold

with a 63 to lead Austrian Open

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
England's Benn Barham equalled the lowest round of his career to lead the Austrian Open in Vienna earlier today.
Needing to climb 60 places from his present 175th to save his European Tour card, the 33-year-old from Kent shot an eight-under-par 63 to finish the opening day one in front of Scotland's Scott Drummond and Australian Brett Rumford.
Barham grabbed seven birdies and an eagle 2 on the 423-yard 13th, where his 150-yard approach pitched just past the flag and spun back into the hole.
"I couldn't quite see it drop, but the people around the green were shouting and waving so I knew it had gone in," he said.
"This time of year you have no choice - either knuckle down and play well to keep your card or go somewhere else, which I am not thinking about. I've been playing well the last four or five weeks, so this is not a freak round."
Drummond is fighting for his future as well, his five-year exemption for winning the Tour's flagship PGA Championship at Wentworth expiring in November.
The 35-year-old earned nearly £420,000 for that victory, but his total winnings for this season are only just over £100,000 and that leaves him 158th on the money list.
"I'm delighted," he said. "It's my lowest round of the season - and for the last few seasons, in fact. It was nice to get a top 20 finish last week, but I needed to bring that form to this week and keep the momentum going, which I've done."
Rumford led the Omega European Masters in Switzerland two weeks ago after a first-round 62 but fell back to 32nd there. His 64 was bogey-free, while Drummond had four successive birdies on the front nine and after a bogey on the 14th had three more in a row.
Ryder Cup Dane Soren Hansen, the only player in the world's top 50 taking part, carded a four-under 67, one better than 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie and France's Jean van de Velde, runner-up to him at Carnoustie.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 71
63 Benn Barham
64 Brett Rumford (Aus), Scott Drummond
65 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Richard Green (Aus), Phillip Archer, Mark Foster
66 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Callum Macaulay, Chris Gaunt (Aus), Pablo Martin (Spa)
67 Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Soren Hansen (Den), Joost Luiten (Ned), David Horsey, David Lynn, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Lee Slattery, Ross McGowan
68 John Mellor, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Wakefield, Wil Besseling (Ned), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Marc Warren, Markus Brier (Aut), Richard Bland, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Matthew Cort, Gary Lockerbie, Gary Murphy, Paul Lawrie, David Dixon, Thomas Levet (Fra)
69 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Hennie Otto (Rsa), David Howell, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Steven O'Hara, Alex Cejka (Ger), Seve Benson, David Drysdale, Sven Struver (Ger), Gregory Havret (Fra)
70 Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Phillip Price, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Oliver Fisher, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Iain Pyman, Marco Ruiz (Par), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
71 Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Damien McGrane, Lukas Nemecz (Aut), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Robin Goger (Aut), Robert Dinwiddie, Nick Dougherty, Scott Strange (Aus), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Marc Cayeux (Zim), Stephen Dodd, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Cesar Monasterio (Arg)
72 Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Richie Ramsay, Mark Davis, Alan McLean, Branden Grace (Rsa), Ally Mellor, Sam Walker, Alastair Forsyth, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Sam Little, Bradley Dredge, Chris Doak, Michael Hoey
73 Roope Kakko (Fin), Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice), Andrew Coltart, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Paul Broadhurst, Kane Webber (Aus), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Patrick Niederdrenk (Ger)
74 Anton Haig (Rsa), Greig Hutcheon, Simon Khan, Gustav Adell (Swe), Danny Lee (Nzl), John E Morgan, Marcus Higley, Claude Grenier (Aut), Taco Remkes (Ned), Santiago Luna (Spa), Benjamin Palanszki (Hun), Miles Tunnicliff, Barry Lane
75 Uli Weinhandl (Aut), Chenxiao Duan (Aut), Peter Lepitschnik (Aut), Petr Nic (Cze), Christoph Pfau (Aut), Jaakko Makitalo (Fin), Emanuele Canonica (Ita)
76 Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Clemens Prader (Aut), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Alex Larrazabal (Spa)
77 Moritz Mayrhauser (Aut), Simon Griffiths
78 Kevin Berger (Ger), Jurgen Maurer (Aut), Vincent Abel (Aut)
79 Jordi Garcia Del Moral (Spa), Michael Moser (Aut)
81 Leo Astl (Aut)
84 Sebastijan Ajster (Slo)

PGA CUP MATCH at The Carrick at Loch Lomond

Skipper Alliss hopes he's in wonderland

at end of morning foursomes

By NAT SYLVESTER, PGA Press Officer
GB& I captain Gary Alliss has opted for experience after revealing his opening pairings for the 24th PGA Cup Match against the USA at The Carrick at Loch Lomond.
All four previous PGA Cup players - Paul Simpson, Jon Bevan, Andrew Barnett and Paul Wesselingh - will all partner rookies in Friday morning foursomes as GB&I begin their bid to regain the Llandudno Trophy over three days.
That opposes the selections made by Alliss's opposite number Brian Whitcomb, who has named two rookie pairings.
GB&I rookie Jamie Harris, who will partner long-time friend Simpson, will make GB&I's first competitive shot when the first match gets underway at 7.45am.
They will take on US rookies Kyle Flinton and Sonny Skinner.
The US's experienced pairing of Ryan Benzel and Lee Rinker, part of the 2007 victorious side, are up against Bevan and Will Barnes.
Third out will see GB&I's all Welsh duo of Barnett and James Lee, who have played together both at amateur level and professional level for their country, take on the rookie pairing of Scott Hebert and Craig Thomas.
The final pair out sees Wesselingh, playing in his sixth successive PGA Cup match, teaming up with former European Tour and Walker Cup player Jeremy Robinson. They are up against Mike Small Mark Sheftic.
Sitting out the foursomes are GB&I's two youngest players - Scot Craig Matheson and Barry Taylor.
"I thought about it obviously a fair bit as it's important to get off to a good start and I tried to get some experience," said Alliss."Everybody will play tomorrow bar accidents but with those first foursomes I felt we had a very strong four pairings."
Paul and Jamie have blended well, they wanted to play together, they know each other's games and there's a bit of banter that goes on with them so I thought let them come out of the traps first.
"Will wasn't well today but hopefully he will be fine now. He and Jon practised together and their partnership has blossomed this week. Jon's passionately encouraging for everyone and with Will's first match I felt they would make a good pairing.
"Jimmy and Andrew played boys golf, are good friends and were a natural pairing. Then I opted to put out two seriously experienced campaigners in Paul and Jeremy who get on well together. I think they will be a fairly strong pairing that hopefully won't give anything away and it was fun that they came out against such a strong American pairing to play Mike Small and Mark Sheftic."
He added: "It is everything to get a good start but you can't win on the first morning. You can put yourself a bit on the backfoot if you lose all four but I hope we will have a lead. Whatever happens as day unfolds, we won't panic."

*For scores, reports and a full preview of the 24th PGA Cup log onto www.PGA.info

Locals clean up in Midland Alliance at Pitlochry

FROM LEE SUTHERLAND, Ballumbie Castle head professional
This week's Midland Golfers Alliance was held at a sunny Pitlochry Golf Club in Perthshire. Local knowledge proved decisive as both main prizes were won by locals.
Leading the way in the scratch was local professional Mark Pirie with a superb five-under-par score of 64. Dougal Spaven, playing of a handicap of nine, completed the double with a net 64.
LEADING SCRATCH
64 M Pirie (Pitlochry) p.
67 C Donnelly (Balbirnie Park) p.
70 P Jamieson (Dunblane New) p.
72 M Niven (Alloa).
73 D Spaven (Pitlochry), P Brookes (Pitreavie) p.
74 S Cargill (Arbroath), S Smith (Ladybank) p, E Walker (Burntisland) ap, D West (Burntisland), G Gillespie (Crieff).
75 F McKay (Scotscraig).
76 D Cameron (Pitlochry), L Sutherland (Ballumbie Castle) p, K McGowan (Burntisland) ap), E Rae (Arbroath), H Cowburgh) (Muckhart).
LEADING HANDICAP
64 D Spaven (Pitlochry) (9).
67 M Niven (Alloa) (5), G Gillespie (Crieff) (7).
68 A McKay (Pitlochry) (9), F MacKay (Scotscraig) (7), J Ward (Carnoustie) (10).
70 D Cameron (Pitlochry) (6), R Farquhar (Carnoustie) (8), S Andrews (Ladybank) (9), D Hutcheson (Murrayshall) (7), H Cowburgh (Muckhart) (6), J Cree (Thornton) (11).
71 D West (Burntisland) (3).
72 E Rae (Arbroath) (4).
73 S Cargill (Arbroath) (1), J Brown (Kirkcaldy) (9).

Qualifiers for the JTC Interiors Express Champinship at Montrose in April
M Pirie (Pitlochry) p.
P Jamieson (Dunblane New) p.
D Spaven (Pitlochry) (9).
P Brookes (Pitreavie) p.

Next week’s meeting is at Alyth on Thursday, September 24 when the tee will be reserved from 8.30 am to 12.30.

Northern Counties Cup Scoreboard Peterhead Golf Club. FIRST ROUND Inverness 2 bt Fortrose & Rosemarkie by two holes. Nairn Dunbar bt Moray 2 by one hole. SECOND ROUND Murcar Links bt Muir of Ord by one hole. Moray 1 bt Elgin by seven holes. Nairn 2 bt Turriff by six holes. Orkney 1 bt Inverness 1 by two holes. Banchory bt McDonald Ellon by one hole. Royal Aberdeen 1 bt Strathpeffer by nine holes. Brora bt Nigg Bay 2 by five holes. Cruden Bay 1 bt Meldrum House by nine holes. Royal Aberdeen 2 bt Nigg Bay 1 by two holes. Nairn Dunbar bt Orkney 2 by four holes. Peterhead bt Deeside by two holes. Duff House Royal bt Tain by five holes. Cruden Bay 2 bt Newmachar by five holes. Forres bt Royal Dornoch by 11 holes. Inverness 2 bt Torvean 1 by 12 holes. Nairn 1 received walk-over.

IMPRESSIVE WINNER AT LETHAM GRANGE

Patrick flying with the eagles as he wins

Scottish young pros' title by four shots


Former Walker Cup player David Patrick produced his most impressive performance yet in the play-for-pay ranks in winning the Scottish Young Professionals’ Championship at Letham Grange Hotel & Golf Resort, near Arbroath today.
A former stalwart of the Lothians amateur team, Patrick, now playing out of the Elie club, had three eagle 3s over the final 36 holes of 70 and 68 for a 14-under-par total of 278. He had a pair of 70s over the first two rounds.
He was one of only four players to finish under par after four circuits of the par-73 course so to reach double digits under par was a yardstick of how well he played.
His eagles came at the 485yd 14th in the third round and at the 476yd third and the 14th again in the fourth round. But for late bogeys at the 16th and 17th, Patrick’s win would have been even more emphatic.
Patrick, who played alongside Luke Donald and Paul Casey in the GB&I team who beat the Americans 15-9 in the 1999 Walker Cup match at Nairn, was eight under par for the final two rounds to win the £1,000 and the title by four shots from Steven Duncan (Balbirnie Park).
Duncan matched the winner’s closing round of 68 for a total of 10-under 282. His reward was £750.
James McGhee (Turnhouse), the first-round leader with a 66, which stood up as the best round of the tournament, finished third on 289 with closing rounds of 72 and 74 to earn £575.
Defending champion Greg McBain (Royal Dornoch) achieved a top 10 finish with a final rouond of 72 to finish joint seventh on 295.
Neil Fenwick (Dunbar) dropped out of contention with a catastrophic eight-over-par third round of 81. He rallied with a more acceptable one-over 74 in the last round but joint 11th after he was in the mix for a much higher finish was a big disappointment for the Dunbar player.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 292 (4x73)
278 David Patrick (Elie) 70 70 70 68 (£1,000).
282 Steven Duncan (Balbirnie Park) 72 71 71 68 (£750).
289 James McGhee (Turnhouse) 66 77 72 74 (£575).
281 Malcolm Isaacs (Nairn Dunbar) 71 74 75 71 (£450).
293 Iain Colquhoun (Dundonald Links) 74 75 75 69, Stephen Lamb (Broomieknowe) 72 76 74 71 (£350 each).
295 Graham Fox (East Kilbride) 75 75 78 67, Michael Rae (Alyth) 75 75 72 73, Greg McBain (Royal Dornoch) 75 73 75 72, Christopher Currie (Caldwell) 76 68 77 74 (£237 each).
297 Christopher Robinson (Dumfries & Galloway) 76 74 70 77, Scott Herald (Mearns Castle) 75 73 73 76, Graeme Brown (Montrose) 77 70 74 76, Neil Fenwick (Dunbar) 70 72 81 74 (£176 each).
298 David Broadfoot (Dumfries & Co) 75 75 75 73 (£143).
303 Alan Martin (Dunbar) 75 78 76 74, Terry Mathieson (Kings Acre) 72 77 77 77 (£138 each).
305 Ross MacLeod (Greaves Sport) 78 78 74 75 (£132).
306 David Blackadder (Kingsbarns) 77 74 81 74, Matthew Burt (Helensburgh) 72 76 82 76 (£126 each).
307 Peter Mitchell (Hermitage) 78 75 78 76 (£120).
308 Alastair Thomson (Douglas Park) 75 80 73 80, Alasdair McDonald (Elie) 74 76 71 87 (£116 each).
309 Ross Neill (Drumpellier) 76 77 79 77 (£113).
310 Ross Dixon (Renaissance Club) 84 71 80 75, Nathan Keast (Duff House Royal) 71 80 78 81, Andrew McHardy (Noah’s Ark) 76 74 81 79 (£110 each).
311 Alistair Brown (Whitecraigs) 82 76 76 77, Gareth Hardy (Belleisle) 78 78 76 79 (£106 each).
312 Alistair Love (Charleton) 76 83 79 74, Michael Baxter (Westerwood) 79 76 84 73 (£103 each).
314 David Laing (Craigielaw) 76 78 76 84 (£100).
317 Oliver Morton (Gullane) 76 77 78 86 (£99).
318 Paul Hubner (Eastwood) 81 76 84 77, Daniel Wood (Eyemouth) 78 79 79 82, Calum Lawson (Blairgowrie) 79 78 83 78, Graeme Fisher (Glasgow) 75 82 81 80 (£95 each).
319 Bobby Wallace (Bearsden) 77 80 80 82 (£91).
320 Stuart Williamson (Kirkhill) 76 81 83 80 (£89).
335 Michael Patterson (Kilmacolm) 80 77 88 90 (£88).

McAlpine one behind Elson at Dundonald Links

By SARAH GWYNN, European Tour Press Officer
Englishman Matthew Baldwin’s bid to be part of The European Tour in 2010 was on track after a 68 in the third round of European Tour Qualifying School, First Qualifying Stage, Section A, gave him a two shot lead.
Playing at Chart Hills Golf Club in England, one of four venues at this qualifying stage along with Dundonald Links in Scotland, the Lübker Golf Resort in Denmark and Ribagolfe in Portugal, Baldwin reached 12 under for the tournament, staying ahead of compatriot James Busby. The pair are way ahead of the rest of the field heading into the final day, with the next best players some eight shots off the lead on four under. Twenty-one places are up for grabs at Chart Hills
The top players from each venue will make it through to the Second Stage in November before the Final Stage, where top 30 players (plus ties) will win a coveted place on The 2010 European Tour International Schedule.
Dane Lars Johansen shot a 71 to keep his share of the lead at Lübker, where 39 players are fighting for nine available Stage Two places, but his compatriot Oliver Suhr, the other joint leader overnight, was forced to withdraw after breaking both ankles in a freak accident. Johansen is tied with Victor Almstrom of Sweden at two under par for the tournament, with another Swede, Lars Johansson, at level par.
In Portugal, where 12 places in Stage Two are on offer, Dutch amateur Jurrian Van der Vaart has a two shot lead heading into the final round after a 72 on day three. He leads Sweden’s Johan Bjerhag and American John Poucher, with South African Michiel Bothma another shot back.
In Scotland, where 84 players in Scotland are battling it out for 20 places, Englishman Jamie Elson shot a 70 in the third round to reach eight under, one shot clear of former Scottish amateur champion Kevin McAlpine (Alyth), who posted a 69.

THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

LUBKER, DENMARK
(Top nine qualify for Stage 2)
214 L Johansen (Den) 73 70 71, V Almstrom (Swe) 71 74 69, 216 L Johansson (Swe) 74 75 67,
218 T Norret (Den) 72 73 73, M Bliss (Can) 73 73 72,
219 M McQuillan (Can) 76 72 71, N Lemke (Swe) 73 74 72,
220 B Ahlenback (Swe) 73 73 74, M Warenius (Swe) 74 74 72,
221 F Ohlsson (Swe) 77 75 69, T Nielsen (Den) 75 74 72, A Axelsson (Swe) 78 75 68,
223 K Storgaard (Den) 75 75 73, C Lange (Den) 76 73 74,
224 B Akstrup (Den) 79 76 69,
225 P Malmgren (Swe) 78 75 72, D Lokke (am) (Den) 73 77 75,
228 K Edberg (Swe) 75 79 74, J Lykke-Kjeldsen (Den) 79 78 71,
229 K Nielsen (Den) 77 78 74, M Dam (Den) 82 75 72,
230 J Dantorp (Swe) 78 74 78, A Jacobsson (Swe) 79 77 74, F Gustavsson (Swe) 79 74 77,
231 O Haraldson (Swe) 83 75 73, M Hansen (Den) 76 81 74, M Eberhard (am) (Ger) 80 75 76,
232 M Olsen (Den) 76 79 77,
234 J Lerchedahl (Den) 84 74 76, A Murray (Irl) 79 78 77, J Glennemo (Swe) 78 79 77,
236 A Werner (Den) 82 77 77,
237 A Kali (Den) 79 83 75,
238 J Vinther (Den) 79 85 74, A Johansson (Swe) 80 80 78,
240 M Thistleton (am) (Eng) 82 82 76,
244 C Petersson (Swe) 86 82 76,
** O Suhr (Den) 69 74 WD, D Jonsson (Swe) 82 83 WD

RIBAGOLFE, PORTUGAL
(Top 12 qualify for Stage 2)
209 J Van Der Vaart (am) (Ned) 68 69 72,
211 J Bjerhag (Swe) 70 70 71, J Poucher (USA) 68 71 72,
212 M Bothma (RSA) 71 71 70,
215 M Ureta (Chi) 70 74 71, J Pettersson (Swe) 72 73 70,
216 D Torne (Esp) 74 73 69, P Del Grosso (Arg) 71 74 71,
217 J Little (Eng) 69 74 74, F Cea (Esp) 67 73 77,
218 L Claverie (Esp) 74 72 72,
220 J Evans (Eng) 71 77 72, H Santos (Por) 74 72 74, C Nel (RSA) 71 76 73,
221 L Dodd (Eng) 73 76 72,
222 C Cousins (Wal) 71 79 72, R Eriksson (Swe) 76 74 72, M Cobo Arrayas (Esp) 70 78 74,
223 K Grud (Den) 75 75 73, S Grant (Irl) 75 75 73, P Pinto (Arg) 74 76 73,
224 M Hedegaard (Den) 73 75 76, P Hansen (Den) 74 75 75, J Kelly (Nor) 76 73 75, J Carlson (Swe) 73 71 80, R Bastard (Eng) 77 75 72,
225 A Gutierrez (Esp) 76 74 75,
226 D Hutton (Eng) 71 73 82, J Billing (Swe) 76 76 74,
227 D Carrera (Esp) 75 76 76, N Drane (Eng) 74 78 75,
228 G Pera (Esp) 72 74 82, I Giner (Esp) 72 76 80, S Salem (Per) 77 72 79,
230 I Griffiths (Wal) 78 76 76,
231 B Campbell (am) (Nir) 76 76 79, A Finnbjornsson (am) (Isl) 80 73 78,
234 J Nordstrom (Swe) 79 77 78,
236 N Stivala (Aus) 79 75 82, S Vautier (Eng) 78 77 81,
238 N Fox (Irl) 79 76 83, A Pavlov (Rus) 81 82 75, D Goldenberg (Isr) 79 79 80,
240 A Rogers (Eng) 78 80 82,
241 F Cabrera (Arg) 81 78 82,
246 M Deboub (Alg) 80 84 82,
252 G Braga (Por) 76 89 87,
253 J Garzon Allende (Esp) 87 83 83,
256 A Savage (Irl) 83 81 92,
** A Salto (Esp) 78 80 WD, R Da Silva (am) (Por) 76 81 WD,

DUNDONALD LINKS
(Top 20 qualify for Stage 2)
208 J Elson (Eng) 69 69 70,
209 K McAlpine (Sco) (am) 67 73 69,
211 L De Jager (RSA) 69 70 72,
213 G Cowan (Eng) 73 70 70, C Lee (Sco) 78 70 65,
215 J McCreadie (Sco) 74 75 66, T Dykes (Wal) 69 73 73,
216 R Lee (Eng) 71 74 71,
217 O Whiteley (Eng) 74 74 69, P McKechnie (Sco) 73 74 70, W Bowe (am) (Eng) 73 70 74,
218 S McAllister (Sco) 76 69 73, I Ridgway (Eng) 75 72 71, D Belch (Eng) 71 75 72, M Hillson (Sco) (am) 75 72 71,
219 S Gray (Sco) 72 75 72, G King (Eng) 76 72 71, P O'Hara (Sco) 75 76 68, C Kelly (Sco) 73 73 73, S Mackie (Sco) 73 73 73,
220 M Kerr (Sco) 72 71 77, A Lockhart (Sco) 74 74 72, J Ablett (Eng) 74 74 72, S Doherty (Eng) 73 73 74, L Harper (Sco) 78 72 70, M Quiros (Esp) 71 76 73,
221 I Keenan (Eng) 74 72 75, D Astin (Eng) 77 73 71, J Axgren (Swe) 76 75 70,
222 G Plumet (Fra) 71 74 77, S Capper (Eng) 77 73 72, G Marks (Eng) 74 77 71, B Trainor (Irl) 70 78 74, R Cameron (Sco) 72 75 75, E Little (Sco) 75 73 74,
223 S Henderson (Sco) 72 76 75, S Jackson (Eng) 77 72 74, B McElhinney (Irl) 78 75 70, S Garcia-Grout (Esp) 76 73 74, J Fallon (Eng) 78 74 71, R Carter (am) (Eng) 78 73 72, G Yates (Sco) (am) 76 72 75,
224 J Housby (Eng) 77 73 74, D Holloway (Nzl) 77 75 72, M Lavelle (Irl) 78 75 71, C Campbell (Sco) 79 74 71, O Arvidsson (am) (Swe) 74 79 71,
225 S Hume (Sco) 76 75 74, K Nicol (Sco) (am) 76 72 77, J Findlay (Sco) (am) 74 76 75,
226 L McNaughton (Aus) 75 76 75, P Cormack (Sco) 79 74 73, A Hodkinson (Eng) 76 72 78, J Harper (Eng) 75 78 73, B Howlett (Eng) 83 71 72, C Wilson (am) (Eng) 73 73 80,
MISSED THE CUT
227 L Matthews (Wal) 78 74 75, B Hume (Sco) 74 80 73, L Clarke (Eng) 76 76 75,
228 D Chapman (Eng) 78 79 71, P Pujalte (Esp) 77 79 72, S McEwan (Sco) (am) 75 74 79,
230 H Robertson (Nzl) 81 77 72, N O'Briain (am) (Irl) 78 78 74,
231 J Senior (Eng) 76 79 76, S Henry (Sco) 76 76 79, C Nilsson (Swe) 78 76 77, J Need (Eng) 81 74 76, P McLean (Sco) (am) 79 78 74, J Fox (am) (Irl) 75 77 79,
232 S Havelock (Eng) 76 83 73, J Ashton (Eng) 77 77 78, S Hemming (Eng) 75 80 77, M Griffiths (Wal) 80 76 76,
233 C Harkins (am) (Sco) 78 78 77,
234 G Hall (Irl) 86 75 73,
237 J Cheetham (Eng) 81 79 77,
239 P Badawy (USA) 77 81 81,
241 C McCalman (Sco) 83 78 80,
248 R Mestre (am) (Esp) 86 81 81,
** N Horrocks (Eng) 83 RT WD, S Fitzgerald (Eng) 87 RT WD, A Hanekom (RSA) 81 83 WD, M Evans (Eng) 82 77 WD,

CHART HILLS
(Top 21 qualify for Stage 2)
204 M Baldwin (Eng) 69 67 68,
206 J Busby (Eng) 67 68 71,
212 M Vandenberg (Eng) 71 70 71, B Jones (Eng) 74 69 69,
214 M Lowe (Eng) 75 74 65, O Turnill (Eng) 70 71 73, A Tarchetti (Eng) 70 73 71, T Prowse (Aus) 72 73 69, N Redfern (Eng) 69 73 72,
215 M Ford (Eng) 69 77 69, J McLean (Aus) 72 72 71, S Maurits (am) (Ned) 69 72 74, J Watts (am) (Eng) 74 71 70,
216 W Hefferman (Can) 69 75 72, J Ruebotham (Eng) 74 71 71, S Lee (am) (Eng) 72 74 70, J Abbott (am) (Eng) 72 75 69,
217 G Davies (Eng) 72 73 72, Y Ali (Eng) 74 72 71, J Hendry (Sco) 71 75 71, K Harper (Eng) 75 73 69, G Povey (am) (Eng) 70 76 71,
218 N Chaudhuri (Eng) 76 74 68, B Banks (Eng) 71 75 72, M Laskey (Wal) 71 71 76, R Jones (Eng) 71 78 69, B St John (Eng) 73 78 67, J Gallagher (Sco) 76 72 70, R Watkins (Eng) 71 76 71, J Webber (am) (Eng) 71 71 76,
219 F McGuirk (Eng) 71 73 75, D Lloyd (RSA) 70 74 75, C Gill (Eng) 77 71 71, I Winstanley (am) (Eng) 73 77 69,
MISSED THE CUT
220 R Surber (USA) 78 72 70, K Staunton (Eng) 72 76 72, M Feuerstein (USA) 73 76 71, J Smith (Eng) 76 73 71, P Appleyard (Eng) 71 70 79, R Buxton (Eng) 70 75 75, M Searle (Eng) 73 73 74, R Neil-Jones (Eng) 76 72 72,
221 J Barnes (Eng) 73 74 74, D Thomas (Eng) 76 75 70, J Kavanagh (Eng) 75 73 73,
222 J Hearn (Eng) 74 71 77, G Woodman (Eng) 75 72 75, R Edginton (Eng) 77 74 71, C Lockwood (Eng) 74 75 73, B O'Donoghue (Aus) 73 77 72, R Whitelock (Eng) 72 74 76,
223 D James (Eng) 76 73 74, S McCance (Eng) 73 77 73,
224 J Clarke (Eng) 74 73 77, M Bush (Eng) 72 78 74, K Shepherd (Eng) 77 74 73, P Maddy (Eng) 73 74 77, S Kemp (Bah) 78 75 71, C Simpson (Eng) 73 78 73, T Wood (Aus) 74 78 72,
225 R Harrison (Eng) 71 77 77, J Horn (Eng) 76 78 71,
226 C Wainwright (Eng) 72 77 77, R Gurney (Eng) 71 75 80, D Sugrue (Irl) 73 78 75,
227 B Collins (Eng) 77 71 79, T Coulson (Eng) 71 79 77, B Cummings (Eng) 78 76 73, M Barber (Eng) 77 77 73, J Winer (am) (Eng) 80 77 70,
229 K McDonald (Eng) 76 78 75, G Parker (am) (Eng) 77 80 72,
230 K Tilbury (Eng) 77 79 74, I Brown (Eng) 76 79 75,
231 A Thorpe (Eng) 70 77 84,
232 S Weale (Eng) 78 75 79,
233 W Wray (Eng) 75 80 78, R Leonard (Eng) 75 81 77,
234 M Colman (Eng) 83 76 75,
235 M Bell (Eng) 78 78 79,
236 R Wistow (Eng) 76 81 79, A Mayer (Aut) 80 79 77,
237 A Lauss (Aut) 80 82 75,
238 J Lamb (Eng) 81 76 81,
243 C Kares (Aus) 79 85 79,
** A Graham (Eng) 84 91 WD, K Rawal (am) (USA) 80 78 WD,
** J Shock (Ger) 91 RT 0,

PGA CUP at The Carrick on Loch Lomond

Gary Alliss determined GB&I club

pros will break U S stranglehold

FROM THE SCOTSMAN NEWSPAPER WEBSITE

By Martin Dempster
The cupboard is empty. The Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, Walker Cup, Curtis Cup and PGA Cup are all currently in the hands of the Americans.
Over the past few weeks, Europe's female professionals and Great Britain & Ireland's male amateurs have failed in their bids to get at least one of those trophies back on this side of the Atlantic and now, starting tomorrow at The Carrick on Loch Lomond, it's the turn of the club professionals.

"It's not much fun really when all that silverware sits on the other side of the pond," said Gary Alliss, captain of the Great Britain & Ireland team for the 24th PGA Cup.

The Americans completed their clean sweep when Paul Azinger's side regained the Ryder Cup at Valhalla almost exactly a year ago.

Brian Whitcomb, who was president of the PGA of America at that time, is the United States team captain this week. The 55-year-old from Oregon watched Azinger at close quarters as he managed to get the Americans excited about the Ryder Cup again following two consecutive heavy defeats and admits he's copying the 'pod system' that paid dividends for his compatriot in Louisville.

"During the preparation and playing of the 2009 Ryder Cup, I was able to spend quite a bit of time with Paul and both observed and learned a lot," said Whitcomb. "There was also a unique circumstance at Valhalla. There were two players on the team from Kentucky that added to it and we also had six rookies who were exuberant who hadn't experienced the downside that America had experienced the previous seven years.

"There was a youthful energy and Paul did a magnificent job of putting the two similar energy styles together in what he called his pod system. We've done the same thing this week. We've got two pods that you will see the pairings coming out of. One also includes Mike Small, who as well as being our national champion is also golf coach at the University of Illinois, and he's in there with some of the younger players for mentoring."

Alliss, son of golf commentator Peter and head professional at The Belfry, was also at the helm for the last match in 2007, when GB&I came so close to holding on to the trophy. They only lost by a single point at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia.

Although the US lead 15-5 overall, history is on their side this week. On the three previous occasions the match has been held in Scotland, GB&I have not been beaten. They won 14-6 at Muirfield in 1984, triumphed 12.5-8.5 at Turnberry two years later and, more recently, drew 13-13 at Gleneagles in 1994.

This week's team includes only one Scot, Falkirk Tryst's Craig Matheson (pictured above), and Alliss is hoping the experience of players like Paul Wesselingh, who is making his sixth successive appearance in the match, and Jeremy Robinson, who played on the European Tour for 15 years, will bear fruit.

"I believe these teams have similar amounts of experience," said the 55-year-old Englishman, who is hoping there is never any need for this event to follow the Ryder Cup down the route of being widened to encompass Europe.

"I think recent results have shown that we have stepped up our game," he added. "I hope that Brian and the PGA of America will see that we are giving them some decent games. I know we are part of Europe but I kind of don't get passionate about that."

According to Whitcomb, one of his main problems this week will be stopping his players from becoming distracted.

"The course is beautiful and my team has been very complimentary about it," he said. "The problem is what surrounds it takes their concentration away as they look at the loch and countryside."
*The full article above appears in The Scotsman newspaper today.

Play it again, Sam! Torrance ready to pounce

By MICHAEL GIBBONS, European Seniors Tour Press Officer
Sam Torrance will line up in this week’s Casa Serena Open on the European Senior Tour, looking for a performance which will go a long way to securing his third Order of Merit crown in five years.
The 56 year old former Ryder Cup Captain claimed the John Jacobs Trophy for topping the rankings in both 2005 and 2006 and is in a good position to repeat the feat in 2009.
An early season victory in Barbados, coupled with three top five finishes in his last four outings, sees the man from Largs go into this week’s event at the delightful Casa Serena Golf some 70 kilometres south east of Prague in the Czech Republic in second place on the Order of Merit.
Leading the way is Mark McNulty but with the former Zimbabwean, who now has Irish citizenship, absent and with the prize fund of €600,000 the biggest on the European Senior Tour outside the Majors, the chance is there for both Torrance, and third placed Ian Woosnam of Wales to make a significant move.
“It felt awesome to be Number One a few years ago,” said Torrance, who is a mere €261 behind McNulty. “It was something that I had wanted my whole life. It will be a huge challenge to win it for a third time, especially as there are so many good players reaching 50 every year, but I’m up for the challenge.”
Woosnam, and the in-form Tony Johnstone of Zimbabwe who won the last event – the Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters at Woburn a fortnight ago to move up to fourth place – will be a threat to Torrance’s ambitions but perhaps the biggest danger stands in the shape of the third former European Ryder Cup captain in the field this week – Bernhard Langer.
The 52 year old German captured the inaugural Casa Serena title last year and, understandably will begin his title defence as tournament favourite. Langer has won four times on the US Champions Tour in 2009 but has yet to taste victory on this side of the Atlantic, a statistic he admitted he was keen to address.
“I have been playing all right recently and fairly decent for most of the year to be honest,” he said. “I have performed well in the States but I haven’t won in my last five tournament outings, so it is time to win again!
“I would like to think that I would be in the mix come Sunday – obviously I would love to defend my title successfully but there are no guarantees. There are a lot of good golfers out here and I will have to make some putts, it often comes down to just that.
“There are a lot of players who can hit fairways and greens but it sometimes comes down to who makes the most putts and avoids making major mistakes who wins out in the end. Those are the guys who will play for the title and hopefully I will be one of them.”
The 54 hole Casa Serena Open will take place from Friday to Sunday with the winner picking up a cheque for €90,000.

Water baby Boyd breaks course record

FROM PAUL SYMES, Challenge Tour Press Officer
Some superb stroke-play as well as a hefty slice of luck helped England’s Gary Boyd to a round of 63 on the rain-affected opening day of the Kazakhstan Open, which carries the largest prize fund of a regular Challenge Tour event.
Boyd smashed the course record at the stunning Arnold Palmer-designed Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with nine birdies in a flawless round of golf.
That represents Boyd’s lowest round to par – his previous best was an eight under par 62 in Poland last year – in a fledgling professional career which has so far yielded one Challenge Tour victory.
With some of the afternoon starters still to complete their first rounds due to a two-hour delay caused by heavy rain, the Englishman currently leads the €400,000 event by three strokes from Sweden’s Oscar Floren and American Nathan Smith, who are tied for second place on six under par.
But Boyd’s advantage would have been reduced were it not for an outrageous slice of fortune at the ninth hole, where he thinned his third shot into the lake – only for his ball to skim across the surface of the water and onto the bank on the far side, from where he was able to save par with an up and down.
A slightly sheepish Boyd said: “I got off to a steady start, and then four birdies in a row from the fourth hole really got me going. Then I had a massive stroke of luck on the ninth hole when I managed to skim my third shot across the lake. I was just on the edge of the hazard and caught it thin, but it must’ve bounced on the water about ten times and ended up on the bank on the other side!
“It was unbelievable really. I managed to get up and down for par, and after that I thought it might be my day. I also holed a lot of crucial putts, which always helps. It’s my lowest round to par in my career, and it’s obviously set me up really nicely for the rest of the week – although there’s still a long way to go. But it’s a dream start – or even better than a dream in fact.”
Lloyd Saltman is currently in fourth place on five under par after completing 12 holes. The Scot, who posted three birdies and an eagle on the front nine, will return in the morning to finish his remaining six holes.
SCOREBOARD TO COME