PGA EuroPro Tour Report

Wallace Booth jumps into contention

with four-birdie start at Fairmont

By ANTHONY LEAVER
James Busby maintained his one stroke lead with a round of 67 to move to nine under par ahead of the final round of The PartyPoker.com International Open at Fairmont St Andrews on the PGA EuroPro Tour – the last event for players to claim top 60 places for the Tour Championship.
Busby (The Shropshire) held the overnight lead after opening the tournament with a round of 66 on Wednesday and turned in a faultless round with two birdies on the front nine followed by another on the 15th for his 67. He will tee off just before lunchtime with Daniel Brooks (Mill Hill) who began on the back nine and was level through the turn, before picking up four birdies in his last five holes to record his second 68 of the event to sit pretty on eight under par.
Rookie pro Wallace Booth, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, jumped into contention thanks to a fantastic start with four birdies in his first four holes after starting the day one under. He dropped a shot at the sixth but further birdies at the seventh, 11th and 12th to see the Walker Cup player from Comrie card a brilliant 66 to move to seven under for the tournament.
A birdie at 18 sees Lloyd Saltman (Aegon) join his fellow Scot on seven under, the sixth birdie of his round of 69 following an opening round of 68.
There’s a three shot gap from the duo tied in third to the pair in fifth at four under, with Craig Lee and Nicky Harris (Whitefield GC) the duo five shots behind Busby. Lee had to battle hard for his one under round of 71, starting with two bogeys and kicking off his back nine double bogey-bogey, but he managed six birdies in all with two in his last two holes to be in the mix on the final day. Harris started with a double bogey but he rallied with four birdies and an eagle to record back-to-back rounds of 70.
Jack Doherty (North Gailes) matched Booth’s round of 66 thanks to six unanswered birdies to lead a group of four players on three under. Former Ryder Cup winner Ronan Rafferty began the day at one under but started on the back nine and went through the turn two over for the day – but rolled back the years with four birdies in five holes to card a round of 70.
Nick McCarthy (Moortown) and Michael Collins (Mallow Golf Range) are the other two players who join Doherty and Rafferty thanks to rounds of 71 and 72 respectively.
Tom Haylock (Ground Construction Ltd) sits in second place on the Order of Merit but was unable to build on his four under par opening round, carding a 74 to drop to two under – with Daniel Gaunt (Burhill GC) matching him round-for-round and joining him in joint 11th place.
Fifty players made the cut at three over and the final round of The PartyPoker.com International Open at Fairmont St Andrews gets underway at 8.30am with the final pairing of Busby and Brooks teeing-off at 11.50am.
The full Leaderboard and live scoring from the final round is available at http://www.europrotour.com/ via the Score Updates link.
LEADING SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
135 J Busby 66 69.
136 D Brooks 68 68.
137 L Saltman 68 69, W Booth 71 66.
140 C Lee 69 71, N Harris 70 70.
141 M Collins 69 72, N McCarthy 70 71, R Rafferty 71 70, J Doherty 75 66.
Selected scores:
143 M Kerr 72 71 (jt 13th).
144 J Gallagher 72 72 (jt 18th).
145 L Kelly 70, 75, P Doherty 72 73, P McKechnie 72 73 (jt 23rd).
146 G Murray 71 75, L Harper 74 72 (jt 31st).
147 C Kelly 72 75, G Dear 71 76 (jt 44th).
MISSED THE CUT
148 G Wolstenholme 73 75, K McNicoll 75 73.
149 G Brown 73 76, Shaun McAllister 79 70.
150 B Hume 74 76, E Saltman 77 73, G Lornie 73 77.
151 Z Saltman 74 77, S Gray 75 76.
152 A Oldcorn 76 76, G Rankin 77 75.
153 A Purdie 74 79.
155 S Hume 81 74, F Valenti 76 79.
158 G Hutcheon 79 79.
164 S Mackie 83 81.

Ole ... Manuel Quiros takes lead with super

62 (10 under par) in Madrid Masters

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Manuel Quiros shot a sensational 10-under-par round of 62 at Centro Nacional de Golf to take a two-shot lead after the opening round of the Madrid Masters.
The World Number 1,076 is two clear of World No 8 Sergio Garcia, who had moved into the clubhouse lead earlier with a closing 15ft eagle putt.
But playing in the last group of the day Quiros blasted an incredible ten-birdie 62.
The 30 year old from Marbella, who earned a place in the event off the Spanish Order of Merit, has made six trips to The European Tour Qualifying School and only made it through once.
That was three years ago he has not managed a top 40 finish on The Challenge Tour this season.
Quiros, who won on the Spanish tour last week, said: "I had 12 chances for birdie and I made ten - unbelievable. "I think I was very lucky with the putter."
Third place is held by England's 21 year old Oliver Fisher, who came up through the amateur ranks with Rory McIlroy and was the youngest-ever player to appear in the Walker Cup.
Garcia has returned to action with new clubs. Next season a different rule governing grooves is being introduced - the aim is to make it more important to hit the fairways - and he said: "These are conforming and you definitely see a difference coming out of the rough.
"It's good to get a feel of it and see how it reacts so you're ready for next year. I love the clubs, so it's fine. The ball seems to jump all the time and it's just a question of how much."
Fisher, now working with Lee Westwood's coach Pete Cowen, commented: "I'm very pleased - it's nice to be at the top of the leaderboard for a change. At the end of the day you've just got to do your best, try as hard as you can and see what happens. It will pay off hopefully.
"There's so much golf to be played yet, so I'll just take it step by step. Pete obviously has a lot of experience and it's good to have his words of wisdom."
Compatriot Anthony Wall, who injured his left shoulder playing for Great Britain & Ireland against Continental Europe two weeks ago, played through the pain for a 66.
That saw him tied for fourth with Scot David Drysdale and three more English players - Ross McGowan and 2007 Walker Cup team-mates Danny Willett and David Horsey.
Wall said: "There are four trapped nerves in and around the shoulder. It's sore and it still hurts, but I can play. I've had plenty of prodding to try to get the blood flowing and get the nerves back in their rightful place."

European Tour Scoreboard
MADRID MASTERS
Centro National de Golf, Madrid, Spain
FIRST ROUND
Par 72
62 Manuel Quiros (Spa)
64 Sergio Garcia (Spa)
65 Oliver Fisher
66 Anthony Wall, David Drysdale, David Horsey, Danny Willett, Ross McGowan
67 Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Jorge Campillo (Spa), Marcel Siem (Ger), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), David Lynn
68 Rafael Echenique (Arg), Scott Drummond, Mark Brown (Nzl), Simon Khan, Lee Slattery, Gary Lockerbie, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Jamie Donaldson, Sam Little, Barry Lane
69 Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Luis Claverie (Spa), Peter Lawrie, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Alvaro Salto (Spa), Markus Brier (Aut), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Bradley Dredge, Michael Hoey, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Paul Waring, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Darren Clarke, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Gregory Bourdy (Fra)
70 Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Marc Warren, Stephen Dodd, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Santiago Luna (Spa), Pablo Martin (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Gareth Maybin, Andrew Coltart, Phillip Price, Seve Benson, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Brett Rumford (Aus), Paul Lawrie, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
71 Gary Orr, Branden Grace (Rsa), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Steven O'Hara, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Alexander Noren (Swe), Shane Lowry, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Paul Broadhurst, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Luke Donald, Pedro Oriol (Spa)
72 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), James Kingston (Rsa), Robert Dinwiddie, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Simon Wakefield, Graeme Storm, Callum Macaulay, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Gregory Havret (Fra), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Richard Bland, David Howell, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Richard Finch
73 Sam Hutsby, Richie Ramsay, Benn Barham, Taco Remkes (Ned), Miles Tunnicliff, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
74 Federico Cabrera (Arg), Anton Haig (Rsa), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Kenneth Ferrie, Marc Cayeux (Zim), Eduardo De La Riva (Spa), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Peter O'Malley (Aus)
75 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa)
76 Hennie Otto (Rsa), Miguel Angel Martin (Spa), Phillip Archer, Tano Goya (Arg), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)
77 Pedro Linhart (Spa), Stan Utley (USA)

LONG-TIME LEADER PATRICK IS PIPPED

Welshman Gareth is Wright on to win


Scottish Alliance championship

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
West Linton's Gareth Wright chalked up his second success in the space of five days – then thanked his stepdad for getting his game back in the groove.
The 27-year-old, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, carded a closing 65 over Gullane No.2 to win the Scottish Alliance Championship, pipping former Mortonhall man David Patrick by a shot with his total of 197, 13-under-par. It came hot on the heels of an equally-impressive victory by Wright, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who was born in Wales but has lived in the Edinburgh area for more than 15 years, in the Royal Dornoch Young Masters.
Three behind Patrick and East Renfrewshire's David Orr going into the final round at Gullane, Wright made his move by picking up three birdies on the front nine, just missing with an eagle putt at the ninth.
He moved to four-under for the round after hitting a 5-iron to eight feet for a 2 at the short 11th before getting up and down from 70 yards to save par at the 13th.
"That was the turning point as David took a bogey there after three-putting," said Wright afterwards. It was still all to play for when the new leader then dropped his first shot of the day after three-putting the 15th and Patrick holed a 15-footer there for a birdie.
That left Wright one in front with three to play and both players birdied their way in, Patrick, now attached to Elie, narrowly missing a 25-foot eagle attempt at the last to tie his playing partner.
Wright, who played for Wales in the Eisenhower Trophy in 2004, was based at Swanston New earlier in the year but is now back at West Linton, where stepdad Ian is the club professional.
That move has allowed Wright to work on his game more and he's enjoyed a strong finish to the season. He shot two 69s in a Callaway 36-hole event at Edzell and was then pipped in another Tartan Tour event at Dumfries & Galloway, where he shot 63 and 66.
Now Wright has pocketed just under £2,000 inside a week, earning £1,000 at Gullane to add to the £840 he earned up at Royal Dornoch."It's nice to have some confidence back and it's all down to Ian as he's helped me get my game back in the groove," said Wright.
"I was living in London for a spell last year and was working with Denis Pugh for a while. However, we didn't really click. I didn't feel comfortable with the changes he was making, even though he was doing what he felt was the right.
"London was great for my personal life but I realised just how much I rely on Ian as a golf coach. He's taught me since I was seven and my move back to Scotland and, in particular, West Linton has helped me get things back on track."
While Wright is doing his PGA training at the moment, he intends having another crack at beoming a Tour player once he has become qualified.
"Guys like Ian Poulter did what I'm doing and it's good to have something to fall back on, especially when I enjoy coaching," he added."I was out of £8,000 out of pocket after playing on the Challenge Tour last year, but I'll definitely be giving it another go once I finish my training."
Duddingston's Tom Buchanan was third in the Scottish Alliance championship behind Wright and Patrick with a 69 for 201 while Orr shared fourth place with Alan Lockhart (Ladybank).
Lothianburn's George Wither lifted the Margaret Caldwell Trophy for the best 36-hole scratch score by a senior (145), with John Fowler of Hayston claiming the Clydesdale Bank Quaich for the best 54-hole total by an amateur (level par 210).
With the best six scores counting – only three of them from pros – East lifted the Mountbatten Challenge Cup by 37 shots from Midlands.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 210 (2x71 Gullane No 2, 1x68 Gullane No 3)
Order of scores: Gullane No 2, No 3, No 2.
197 Gareth Wright (West Linton) 65 67 65.
198 David Patrick (Elie) 66 63 69.
201 Tom Buchanan (Duddingston) 67 65 69.
202 David Orr (East Renfrewshire) 69 60 73, Alan Lockhart (Ladybank) 68 67 67
205 Neil Colquhoun (Merchants of Edinburgh) 68 66 71.
206 Alan Reid (West Lothian) 72 62 72.
207 Lee Vannet (Carnoustie) 68 68 71.
208 Scott Catlin (Greenburn) 72 66 70, Andrew Marshall (Houston GR) 71 64 73.
209 Terry Mathieson (King's Acre) 72 66 71.
210 Brian Mason (Callaway Golf) 70 68 71, John Fowler (Hayston) 68 70 72.
211 Paul Cormack (Inchmarlo) 75 64 72, Calum Smith (Royal Musselburgh) 72 66 73, Stephen Lamb (Broomieknowe) 73 64 74.
212 James Smallwood (Fereneze) 71 69 72.
214 Ian Graham (Crow Wood) 77 68 69, Stewart Savagte (Dalmuir) 74 67 73.
215 Craig Everett (Caldwell) 77 66 72, Peter Mitchell (Hermitage) 72 68 75.
216 Ross Harrower (Boat of Garten) 72 71 73, Stephen Harrod (Ballumbie Castle) 72 71 73.
217 Hugh Fraser (Niddry Castle) 73 71 73.
218 Norman Forsyth (Peebles) 72 74 72.
219 Ian Fyfe (Musselburgh) 74 71 74, Mike Robson (Harrison) 72 72 75.
220 George Wither (Lothianburn) 74 71 75, Andy Fullen (Largs) 76 68 76.
221 George Finlay (Ballumbie Castle) 72 75 74, Richard Johnston (Glenbervie) 74 70 77.
222 Richard Fyvie (Pumpherston) 79 68 75.
223 Robert Denholm (Duddingston) 79 79 74, Derek Fish (Glenbervie) 77 72 74, Scott Knowles (Kingsknowe) 74 70 79.
224 Alan Mackay (Pumpherston) 73 75 76, Andrew Wight (Glencorse) 77 70 77, Steven Chalmers (Banchory) 72 72 80, John Nicolson (Auchmill) 71 72 81.
227 Wilson Morton (Dunbar) 80 72 75, Tommy Wilson (Glenbervie) 75 75 77, David Ferguson (Paisley) 79 71 77.
228 Paul Jamieson (Dunblane New) 79 74 75, Ian Rowlands (West Linton) 78 74 76, Keith Baxter (Buchanan Castle) 76 75 77.
230 Kenny Bisset (Prestonfield) 79 70 81.
231 Graham Milne (Aberdour) 76 72 83.
233 David Graham (Lochend) 81 72 80, Fergus Bisset (Banchory) 78 73 82.
234 William Laing (Prestonfield) 85 72 77, Keith Salmoni (Muckhart) 79 76 79, Albert Smith (Turriff) 78 73 83.
235 Ian Fraser (Duddingston) 81 72 82, John Black (Scotscraig) 80 73 82, Ian Jeavons (Dunbar) 77 74 84.
236 Michael Louden (Glencorse) 80 78 78, Brian Byrne (Bonnyton) 81 74 81.
238 Justin White (Harrison) 80 78 80, James Mooney (Kingscliff Golf Solutions) 81 75 82..
239 James Ingram (Boat of Garten) 80 78 81, Alister Mason (Thornton) 81 74 84.
242 Charles Cassie (Nigg Bay) 77 79 86.
243 Graeme Johnston (Glenbervie) 80 788 85, David Mackay (Newmachar) 81 77 85.
245 Jimmy Rankeillor (Baberton) 83 75 87.
246 James Murray (Banchory) 82 76 88.
251 John Sullivan (Gleneagles) 79 77 95.
NR Colin Rae (Pumpherston) 82 76 NR

McArthur and Whiteford like it hot in Toulouse

FROM PAUL SYMES, CHALLENGE TOUR PRESS OFFICER
Before a lightning storm brought a premature halt to the opening day’s play of the ALLIANZ Golf Open Grand Toulouse, Andrew McArthur and Peter Whiteford posted morning rounds of 65 to close to within one shot of clubhouse leaders Matthew Zions and Antti Ahokas.
Play was suspended just after 6pm local time, meaning the 33 players still out on the course will have to return to complete their rounds at 8.30am tomorrow morning. But McArthur and Whiteford can enjoy a sound night’s sleep after posting their lowest opening rounds of the season.
The two Scots suffered contrasting fortunes last week in Denmark, where McArthur missed the cut after being blown off course by high winds, whilst Whiteford finished in the top ten for the second successive week after he was the only player to shoot below par on the final day.
But both players took advantage of benign morning conditions at Golf de Tolouse-Seilh in south west France to move to seven under par, one shot shy of Ahokas and Zions, who both posted eagles in their rounds of 64.
McArthur and Whiteford also carded eagles, at the 11th and eighth holes respectively, which in McArthur’s case helped him come home in 30.
The Glaswegian, currently 19th in the Rankings and therefore hopeful of securing a European Tour card for the first time, credited the hot weather – and an even hotter putter – for his improved display.
His sole dropped shot came at the eighth, where he hit his drive out of bounds. But he soon recovered with a birdie at the ninth, where his approach shot actually landed in the hole, before bouncing out and stopping six feet from the pin.
He said: “I still hit a lot of bad shots today, but unlike last week you can get away with it a lot more on this course, because the rough’s not too penal. My putting was also tremendous today, so that got me out of trouble a couple of times.
"I think I probably only missed about three putts from inside ten feet all day. I putted really well here last year too, so I don’t know whether it’s just a course where you get a feel for the greens, but I can read the breaks really easily here for some reason.
“So I’m definitely enjoying here more than last week in Denmark. I’m not sure whether I’ve got bad circulation, but my hands get so cold when the weather’s bad. Because I can’t feel them properly, I can’t turn properly and my timing goes completely. I should probably be used to it living in Scotland, but if it’s cold back home I just don’t go out! So I was able to write last week of pretty quickly, and get myself ready for these last three weeks.
“Obviously I’m determined to finish in the top 20 this year, having come so close in previous years. But I can’t afford to think about it too much. I’ve just got to keep playing sensibly, attacking the flags where it’s possible, and just going for the middle of the greens where it’s not. If I can do that and not make too many mistakes here and in the last two weeks, hopefully it’ll be good enough.”
Whiteford has previous European Tour experience, having earned his card in 2008 after finishing 13th in the 2007 Challenge Tour Rankings thanks largely to two victories.
Currently 16th in the Rankings with earnings of €53,102, Whiteford has calculated he would probably need to collect another €12,000 to earn a second bit at the cherry.
He said: “I was very pleased with my final round in Denmark last week, so I carried the confidence that gave me into this week. I hit the ball very well today and only missed one green, so I never really looked in danger of dropping a shot at any point. Apart from the eagle at the eighth I didn’t take advantage of the par fives, so if I can do that tomorrow hopefully I can go low again.
“It was good to play well because it’s been a bit for a scramble for me over the past couple of weeks, although the pleasing thing is that I still managed to finish in the top ten. I set myself the goal at the start of the season of finishing in the top ten of the Rankings, but I’d definitely take top 15 now. You never know who’s going to do what, but if I can earn another €12,000 in the next couple of weeks, hopefully that should be enough. But I’m trying not to think too much about it, because you can tie yourself in knots thinking about the whys and wherefores. I’ve just got to shoot as low as possible over the next three days, and see where it takes me.”
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
64 A Ahokas, M Zions.
65 M Wiegele, P Whiteford, A McArthur, S Manley.
66 C Monastero, J Parry, A Marshall, M Reale, S Walker.
Selected scores:
73 Raymond Russell.
Also:
Jamie McLeary -2 after 15 holes completed.
Scott Jamieson -1 after 15 holes completed.

England v Ireland Under-16 boys at

Hunley Hall, Yorkshire this weekend

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Having fought out a 7½ – 7½ draw with the Scotland last Sunday at Arbroath, England’s Under 16s will hope to go one better and gain a second successive victory against Ireland Under 16s at Hunley Hall in Yorkshire this weekend (October 10-11).
Seven of last weekend’s team will be in action again with Max Orrin (North Foreland, Kent) being added to complete the team of eight.
The rest of the team is:
Oliver Carr (Heswall, Cheshire), Seb Crookall-Nixon (Workington, Cumbria), Sam Edwards (Bigbury, Devon), Liam Harper (Lydd, Kent - picture © Tom Ward), Nick Newbold (Kedleston Park, Derbyshire), Toby Tree (Worthing, Sussex) and Colin Walsh (Hayling, Hampshire, IoW & CI).
Orrin made his debut in the Under 16 victory over Spain in August and is the South of England Boys Champion. In the past two years he has also finished tied second and third in the Douglas Johns Trophy.
Three members of the team, Carr, Newbold and Walsh won both their matches against the Scots, while Tree secured a win and a half.
Edwards, the Devon Boy and Under 16 Champion, made his England debut at Arbroath, as did Newbold, Tree and Walsh.
Newbold lost out in the five-way tie for the McGregor Trophy this year, was runner-up in the Midland Boys Championship and fifth in the recent Dutch Junior Masters.
Tree was the English Under 14 Champion in 2008 and recently won the Douglas Johns Trophy and the Sussex Boys Championship, while Walsh won the Hazards Salver for the best performance by an Under 16 golfer in the Carris Trophy.
Carr, last year’s Cheshire Junior Champion, played in the Under 16 international with Spain at Heswall while Crookall-Nixon, the English Under 16 Champion for the past two years, and Harper, third in the recent Dutch Junior Masters, played against the Irish last year at Bury St Edmunds which England won 15-5.
Saturday’s play will consist of four foursomes and eight singles with another eight singles on Sunday

ASIAN TOUR REPORT AND SCORES

BLYTH BOLTS INTO LEAD IN HERO

HONDA INDIAN OPEN

New Delhi, October 8: Australian Adam Blyth, eager to win his first title on the Asian Tour, made a fine start in the US$1.25 million Hero Honda Indian Open after firing a first round eight-under-par 64.
The highly regarded 27 year old, who finished third in this event last year, fired eight birdies during a flawless round at DLF Golf and Country Club.
Korean Lee Sung is in outright second after firing a 65, while India ’s C. Muniyappa and Jason King from Australia both shot 66.
Sweden ’s Daniel Chopra, South African Keith Horne and Unho Park from Australia all carded 67s.
“It is my best round on the Asian Tour so I am delighted. I have been hitting the ball really well this year but the results have not been there. I played great in the Dunhill last week but it was just not really happening in terms of scoring. I knew if I kept patient it would come,” said Blyth , who turned professional in 2004 and started playing on the Asian Tour the following year.
He began his round on the back nine and birdied his first three holes. More birdies followed as he made the turn in five-under-par 31. His birdie run appeared to have dried up before he birdied six, eight and nine.
His score was one shot away from the course record set by Filipino Rodrigo Cuello in the 2000 Hero Honda Masters.
“I hit some nice shots today but it was all about the putting. I made all those crucial ones you have to hole from about 10 feet,” added Blyth , whose father Stephen is caddying for him.
In February, the Australian led the Malaysian Open with one round to go before eventually finishing joint 10th to add another high finish to his impressive record.
In 2007, he challenged Indian Gaurav Ghei for the Pine Valley Beijing Open title before finishing second, his best result on Tour.
Lee, the deaf golfer who recorded a popular victory in the 2007 Bangkok Airways Open, also returned a bogey free round and recorded a brilliant back nine of six-under-par 30.
US PGA Tour star Chopra, one of the pre-tournament favourites was happy with his opening salvo especially as he had to overcome losing his regular caddie, Scott Sajtinac, due to food poisoning.
He started on the back nine and made birdies on 12 and 15 but three putted the par-three 16th where his caddie was forced to head back to the clubhouse.
He made seven birdies and two bogeys in total to lie well placed in his bid to win India ’s national Open for the first time. Chopra was born in Sweden but moved to Delhi when he was seven.
Indian Arjun Atwal, who is fighting his way back from injury, came in with a 75 while New Zealand ’s Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion, shot a 76.
Leading first round scores and ties (Indian unless stated)
64 – Adam Blyth (AUS)
65 – Lee Sung (KOR)
66 – C. Muniyappa, Jason King (AUS)
67 – Unho Park (AUS), Daniel Chopra (SWE), Keith Horne (RSA)
68 – Digvijay Singh, Harinder Gupta, Arjun Singh, Kwanchai Tanin (THA)
69 – Raju Ali, Rahul Ganapathy, Arshdeep Tiwana (a), Pijit Petchkasem (THA), Panuwat Muenlek (THA), Antonio Lascuna (PHI), Marcus Both (AUS), Scott Hend (AUS), Darren Beck (AUS), James Kamte (RSA)
Selected scores
70 - Stephen Leaney (AUS)
73 - Gaganjeet Bhullar
75 - Arjun Atwal
76 - Michael Campbell (NZL)

Cheshire v Kent for English senior

men's county title at Tandridge

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Cheshire and Kent will meet in the English Seniors County Championship title-decider after both completed impressive second victories in atrocious conditions at Tandridge.
Despite continual rain, often heavy, over the Surrey hills, Kent beat Staffordshire 7-2, while Cheshire overcame Dorset 8-1. These two counties have dominated the championship since its inception in 2005 and the title has invariably rested between these great rivals and it will be no different this year.
Should the match finish in a tie then Cheshire would have the edge with their greater number of game points, 15-13. The other match will see Dorset and Staffordshire vying for third place.
Kent, winners in 2007 on the only occasion Cheshire failed to make the finals, won all three morning foursomes for the second successive day but, unlike the first day, they left nothing to chance in the singles.
Chris Reynolds, Dave Jessup, Sam Smale and Howard Moxon each claimed big wins as did Glyn MacBryde for the Midlanders, while Barry Whitehouse gave Staffordshire a second point with a 2 and 1 win over Ricky Moore.
“It’s about time we beat Cheshire,” said Kent captain Nick Allen. “They always seem to have the edge on us so we will be determined to put matters right tomorrow.”
Despite the rain, Reynolds was level par through the front nine to be 4-up on John Loader and apart from a double-bogey 7 at the long 12th, he recovered to win 5 and 4.
Jessup was ‘Steady Eddie’ in completing a 4 and 3 win over Ben Rhodes, while Smale was all square with Neil Portas through the turn then won five holes in a row to close out the match.
Moxon was also too good for Nick Copestick although the Staffordshire man’s chances were not helped when he suffered a penalty shot on the seventh green when he accidently dropped his ball causing his marker to move.
MacBryde played the best golf for Staffordshire to beat Roger Salmon 6 and 4 while Whitehouse came back from two down after three holes against Moore to grab a 2 and 1 win. Cheshire also completed a clean sweep of the foursomes then put out their ‘big guns’ first.
Phil Jones, the Welsh seniors international, took a few holes to impose himself on Brian Medlam but birdies at the seventh and ninth saw Jones three up at the turn while he also won the next three holes, one with a birdie, on his way to a 5 and 3 win.
Roy Smethurst, the England Seniors cap, was always in front against Dorset president John Smith although he was only one up at the turn. However, wins at the tenth and 11th proved decisive as the Cheshire man ran out a 3 and 2 winner.
With little break in the downpour, Cheshire underlined their supremacy with George Payne completing his fourth victory with a 3 and 2 win over Chris Dennis, Bob Walker defeated David Lock 2 and 1, whileDorset’s only consolation was a win for Rob Clapp by 2 and 1 over Steve Baker, inflicting the Cheshire man’s first defeat.
For more information, scoring, championship commentary and news updates visit the Championships Section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org.

COUNTY NEWS

Lanarkshire Youth Team to play Stirlingshire Youth team at Callender Golf Club on Saturday October 10th is:

Craig Ross: Kirkhill
Alan Welsh: Torrance House
Ian Anderson: Colville Park
Peter Scanlan: Hamilton
Jordan Gallagher: Crow Wood
Andy Steven: Easter Moffat
Graeme Duncan: Shotts
Eamon Bradley: Mount Ellen
Martin Scott: Hamilton
Jamie Lamb: Lanark

Willie Sharpe
Lanarkshire Golf Association

RENFREWSHIRE WIN SCOTTISH AREA TEAM TITLE

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY RENFREWSHIRE GOLF UNION
By Don Bremner: e-mail- donbremner@ranfurly9.freeserve.co.uk
It was an exciting weekend for Renfrewshire Golf Union’s top golfers when they travelled to Crail Golf Course to compete in the finals of the Scottish Area Team Championship.
First, their Saturday morning semi final match against the North East was abandoned when gale force winds made play impossible as balls were blown off greens.

Then in the rescheduled match on Sunday, they found themselves struggling to survive with four matches evenly poised and current Scottish Mid-Amateur champion Andrew Farmer from Kilmacolm GC four down at the turn against Peterhead’s Philip McLean. Andrew amazed everyone when he recorded five consecutive 3s from the tenth and went on to win at the last hole to give his team a narrow 3-2 victory.
Their opponents in the final were Dumbartonshire and Bryan Adam (Paisley) and Gordon Stevenson (Whitecraigs) set the pattern for the afternoon with a convincing 6 and 5 win. Not to be outdone, Craig Watson (East Renfrewshire) also won his singles match 6 and 5 and the title was clinched when Matt Clark (Kilmacolm) recorded a one up victory over Paul Betty. Ronnie Clark (Renfrew) and Andrew Farmer agreed with their opponents to call their games halved matches which allowed them to get back to the Crail clubhouse to join the celebrations.
Team Captain, Murdo Carmichael, was delighted with the victory especially with the spirit shown by the team in the semi final when all seemed lost.