Russell Knox and Robert McKnight have mixed luck in first round of US Tour School Stage 2 events US-based Scots pro golfers Russell Knox and Robert McKnight had mixed fortunes as the United States PGA Tour Qualifying School Stage 2 events began at six venues today. Competing in a field of 79 players at Hombre Golf Club, Panama City Beach in Florida, Inverness exile Knox finished the day in joint 18th position after a one-under-par round of 70 - six shots behind leader Garrett Osborn (US). Knox, who won on the Hooters Tour earlier this year, had the steadiest of rounds - a birdie at the eighth, a bogey at the 10th and 16 pars. Ayrshire man McKnight, 21, a former Caprington and Kilmarnock Barassie member now based in Weston, Florida, and who has also been a winner on the highly competitive Hooters Tour this past summer, shot a one-over-par 73 to be lying joint 43rd in a field of 75 at Deerwood Golf Club, Kingwood in Texas. Brandt Jobe leads the field by two shots at this venue with a 65. The number of qualifiers from each of the six Stage 2 venues will be in the mid-20s. They go forward to the US PGA Tour Final Qualifying School over six rounds at Bear Lakes, West Palm Beach, Florida from December 2 to 7.

TWO MURRAYSHALL PLAYERS FINISH IN TOP SEVEN

Gavin Dear, on the right of the trio, in front of the Alps Tour Q School leaderboard

Gavin Dear wins Alps Tour Qualifying School Final Stage

By AGATHE SERON

Scotsman Gavin Dear won the Alps Tour Final Qualifying School at Bari in southern italy.

Dear, 25 years old, shot a brilliant 65 to finish first on 13-under-par 201, three strokes clear of Spaniard Miguel Pujalte Sastre and four strokes ahead of young Italian Giorgio Del Boca.

Dear played today with his fellow Scot Steven Hume, both coming from same Perthshire Golf Club - Murrayshall. Hume also qualified well up - joint fourth on 206.

"I played very solid, I hit the ball at the right place and I holed a few putts. I have been playing on mini tour in Florida for the last month and I just came back to play here," said Gavin.

"I am going to train there (Florida) until the beginning of the season of the Alps Tour in Morrocco next year. I like to travel and I had a few good results as amateur in Europe so I say to myself 'Why not?

"Matthiew Cryer is a good friend of mine and he told me that the Alps Tour is run very well and that the courses are in good shape."

Many players from Great Britain succeeded in gaining their Alps Tour card for next year - 11 Englishmen and the two Scots I have mentioned.

For the first time also, Australian, Greek and a Northern Ireland player will be members on the Alps Tour.

The leading 35 players after 54 holes were rewarded with full membership of the Alps Tour for 2010.

The third Scot who made it through to the final day, Zack Saltman, the youngest of the three Lothians brothers, missed out with a total of 217 - four shots too many.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 214 (2x71, 1x72)

201
Gavin DEAR (SCO) 65 71 65 (1,000 euros).

204
Miguel PUJALTE SASTRE Spain 68 66 70 (800 euros)
205
Giorgio DEL BOCA Italy 65 67 73 (700 euros).

206

Carlos AGUILAR Spain 67 71 68 (450 euros).

Agus DOMINGO HOSPITAL Spain 68 69 69 (450 euros)
Steven HUME Scotland 69 67 70 (450 euros).

Farren KEENAN England 68 67 71 (450 euros)

208
Jason PALMER England 65 75 68 (250 euros)
209
Panagiotis KARANTZIAS Greece 71 70 68 (112.50 euros)

Olivier SERRES France (am) 70 71 68.

Andy SMITH England 70 71 68 (112.50 euros).

Giacomo TONELLI Italy 66 74 69 (112.50 euros)

Jason BARNES England 69 69 71 (112.50 euros)

210
Pedro ERICE Spain 75 68 67.

Romain SCHNEIDER France (am) 68 75 67.

Ricki NEIL-JONES England 69 70 71.

211
Sebastian GARCIA Spain 69 73 68.

Adrian CARRETERO Spain 69 73 69.

Matthieu BEY France (am) 70 71 70.

212
Pierrick PERACINO France 70 73 69.

Matthias MONTGAILLARD France 72 71 69.

David ANTONELLI France (am) 68 74 70.

Richard KILPATRICK Northern Ireland 72 69 71.

Alexander MUNRO Australia 71 70 71.

Max BRACKLEY England 70 71 71.

Lawrence DODD England 69 71 72.

213
Pol BECH Mozambique 74 69 70.

Mathieu BOZIO France (am) 69 74 70.

Jann SCHMID Switzerland 66 76 71.

Sergio GONZALEZ GARCIA Spain 68 74 71.

Luca BENEDUCE Italy 71 71 71.

Jamie HOWARTH England 68 73 72.
Nicholas MURTAGH England 71 70 72.
Mark HOOPER England 71 70 72.

Jordan SMITH England 68 72 73.

MISSED THE CUT FOR FULL ALPS TOUR MEMBERSHIP IN 2010
213
Ivan IRAZUSTA Spain 72 67 74 (eliminated on poorest last round of all players on 213).

214
Alexis WEIZMAN France 75 68 71.

Simon FERNOUX France (am) 71 72 71.

Peter JAMES England 74 68 72.

Jason KELLY England 70 72 72.

Mark DAVIES England 66 75 73.

Nunzio LOMBARDI Italy (am) 74 67 73.

Alfonso CASTINEIRA MARCOS Spain 71 70 73.

Juan BUENESTADO GALLEGO Spain 72 68 74.

Edouard PENIN France 72 68 74.

Ignacio SANCHEZ PALENCIA Spain 69 71 74.
Marc PEREZ GELMA Spain 68 69 77.

215
George LERICHE France 68 74 73.

Gerald GRESSE Belgium 72 70 73.

216

Jose Miguel ROSILLO Spain 67 76 73.

Alessandro GRAMMATICA Italy (am) 74 68 74.

Vincent CACHERA France (am) 73 69 74.

Luca GALLIANO Italy 70 72 74.

Laurent PONCELET France 73 69 74.

Matthew MARSH England 69 72 75.

Ismael CASTILLO Spain 72 69 75.

Thomas TANTOT France 69 71 76.

Philipp GENEV Germany 70 68 78.

217
Rory KIRWAN England 77 66 74.

Zack SALTMAN Scotland 68 75 74.

Jean-Vincent DAUDIGNON France 68 74 75.

Neil O'BRIAIN Ireland (am) 71 70 76.

218
Xavier RUIZ-FONHOF Netherlands 67 74 77.

Jose Manuel MANCEBO Spain 70 70 78.

219
Mathieu DELAY-TERMOZ France (am) 67 76 76.
220
Niccolo GIUSTI Italy 68 75 77.

222
Pablo HERRERIA Spain 69 73 80.

225
Stefano BONARDI Italy 73 70 82.

Retired:

Kim JOON Italy (am) 69 68.

Nicolo RAVANO Italy (am) 70 70.

MORE RESPONSES TO MARTIN DEMPSTER ARTICLE

E-mail from Graeme Leslie of Golf Data Lab

AmtoPro proposal would plug the financial gap

Hi Colin,
An interesting debate has been prompted by Martin Dempster's article (published in The Scotsman newspaper and also in http://www.scottishgolfview.com/ ... scroll down a day to read it)
Over a year ago, I attended a Cross Party Group on Golf meeting at Holyrood as a member of the public with an interest in the subject of golf. Whilst it is impressive enough that any individual in Scotland has access to the central government decision-making process, one of the items on the agenda was the formation of a proposal known as AmtoPro whereby it has already been identified that there is a funding shortfall the day our top amateurs turn professional.
From what I can gather, the SGU has long identified that there is limited (no) funding support for our amateurs once they turn professional.
I understand that many of the coaching and other services that the SGU provide to our amateurs are still provided to our rookie pros but unless there is any funding structure in place, we can not realistically expect Scotland to magic the money out of thin air.
The good news is that the AmtoPro proposal has been formulated and submitted and not having specific knowledge of the length of time required for the cogs and machinery of the Scottish government to turn, can not anticipate the timing of its approval or otherwise.
The government are being proactive in this regard and Tom McCabe MSP has given up many hours of his own time to chair these Cross Party Golf meetings. The problem has been identified. Hopefully the approval for this funding gap will be forthcoming imminently. That will depend on the will of our decision makers of course but many interested and qualified parties have been lobbying hard for this.
As regards the current generation, I agree with Kenny Hutton that Kevin McAlpine is an excellent golfer. Wallace Booth and Gavin Dear are also tremendous prospects for future success in the pro ranks, Gavin having won the Alps Tour final qualifying this morning. Chris Kelly is over 30 now but tee to green has stats and a game that the vast majority of the pros in Dubai tomorrow would pay millions for. He knows that the average age of the top 30 and ties a couple of years ago was nearer 32 than 31 and like Keir and Paul O'Hara - two rookie pros - will be hoping to get to final Tour school next week.
Craig Lee went through all three stages that year for the first time in his career and he had already tripped 30 years of age. Perhaps we expect too much too soon? This game can be a marathon, not a sprint.
Not every golfer has the strength of mind and strength of game that Richie Ramsay has, nor are the Rory McIlroys of this world every year phenomenons.
We have 23 golfers teeing it up at Q school Stage 2 this weekend It is certain that a good proportion of these will make to it to Final Q. There are some very talented Scots out there. It is my bet that the support for the Amateur to Pro transition is coming.
Regards,
Graeme Leslie
Golf Data Lab

Response from Colin Brooks
PGA Professional at Braid Hills Golf Centre, Edinburgh

Support should be available to all, not just the leading amateurs

Hi Colin,
I would like to respond to the very interesting debate going on at the moment, sparked by Martin Dempsters' article on the demise of our promising golfers over the last 20 odd years.
Martin is obviously very passionate about the situation we now find ourseves in, so I thought, as I was one of the names he talked about in his article, the least I could do was write in with my own thoughts.
As a former player and now coach to some of our top amateurs and professionals, I would like to say that the first three responses you posted on the site were in my opinion very good. I know both Kenny Hutton and Andrew Crerar personally and I thought they were spot on with some of their comments.
There is a very big jump between top-level amateur golf and playing on the European Tour and unless some of our players start getting some help (both financially and in other ways), then I fear that many of their careers may not even get off the ground.
The players with tour potential need to be identified and supported for a period of time. I also think it is worth pointing out that not all stars come through international amateur golf. Paul Lawrie had no amateur career to speak off but has gone on to have a great career.
My point is that the support should be available to all, not just top amateurs.
From a coaching stand point I think we need to be much more active in teaching the mental side of the game. We must understand that technical coaching on its own while neglecting the mental game is destined to fail.
One of the big challenges I have as a coach is to become more comfortable teaching this to my players. On the other side, sport psychologists and mind coaches must realise that without good technique the players with whom they work won't cut it on the tour today.
The Swedes have known this for many years. Annika Sorenstam says that she was taught mental techniques from a young age in the Swedish system. Tiger Woods worked with a mind coach at the age of 13.
The list of talented Scottish players who never made it on the tour is a very long one. All we can really do is coach them to the highest levels and support them through the early stages when they really need the help.
Many still won't make it but the list should be a little shorter in 20 years' time if we can do it right.
Best Wishes
Colin Brooks
PGA Professional
Braid Hills Golf Centre
Edinburgh

Fraser Mann has one hand on the key

of the door to 2010 Seniors Tour

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Musselburgh pro Fraser Mann boosted his hopes of winning a place on next year's European Senior Tour with an excellent round of five-under-par 66 in the third round at Pestana Golf Resort's Vale da Pinta course on Portugal's Algarve coast.
The Carnoustie man, pictured, who won both the Northern Open and the Scottish professional championship in 2002, is sharing seventh place on four-under-par 209 with one round to go. Ie he can finish in the top six, then Fraser will get the key of the door to almost every tournament on the over-50s circuit next season.
If he finishes between seventh and 14th, then he will still be able to rub shoulders with Sam Torrance, Ian Woosnam & Co but not so many times.
Dundee's Steve Martin and Aberdeen's Peter Smith have survived the 54-hole cut but their real target must be to make that seventh to 14th bracket with a score like Mann's today, i.e. 66 or better.
Martin and Smith both scored one-under-par 70s today which put Steve in 25th place on his own on 214 and Peter into a share of 26th place.
The three other Scots in the field- Anglo Billy McColl, Glasgow's Mike Miller and Kirkhill's Duncan Williamson failed to beat the cut which fell at 218 (five over par).
McColl was on 221 after 54 holes, Miller on 222 and Williamson on 226.

John Harrison increases lead to three strokes

STEVE TODD, European Seniors Tour Press Officer, writes:
John Harrison extended his lead to three shots going into the final round of the European Senior Tour Qualifying School as he closed in on a place on the Senior Tour in 2010.
Harrison fired a four under par round of 67 that included seven birdies, a bogey and a double bogey to move clear of Australian Graham Banister and Argentine Adan Sowa on ten under par 203.
The Englishman came flying out of the traps in his third round, carding four birdies in his opening five holes at Pestana Golf Resort’s Vale da Pinta. He suffered a hiccup with a double bogey on the seventh hole when he hit his drive out of bounds and had to get up and down for a six but recovered immediately with a birdie on the eighth before picking up another shot on the tenth hole.
The club professional from Matfen Hall Golf Club in Newcastle upon Tyne then rolled in a 30ft birdie putt on the 14th hole but dropped a shot on the 15th before a run of pars on the way in sealed his place at the top of the leaderboard.
Harrison – who turns 50 in May – is looking to follow in the footsteps of his brothers Philip and Steve who have both played on the Senior Tour.
With six players gaining full cards and those finishing in seventh to 14th place securing alternate cards for 2010, Harrison is in pole position to make it a family hat-trick, currently sitting seven shots better off than 14th position.
“I was really pleased with my round again today and I’ve improved my position from overnight so I’ve got to be happy with that,” he said. “I’m going to go out tomorrow and play exactly as I have for the first three rounds.
“You won’t see my hitting irons off the tee, not even the seventh which I double bogeyed when I perhaps pushed too hard. I’m a naturally aggressive player and it’s not in my nature to play it safe.
“Although there are some tricky holes there are a lot of birdie chances out there and if I can make four or five tomorrow I should be alright.
“No matter how well you are scoring there will be pressure out there. It’s the most stress I’ve felt on the course because it’s not like a tournament where if you blow out you just lose some money - we are playing for the whole of next year. I suppose I’d take a place in the top six right now but I’m going out there to win it.”
Chasing Harrison all the way will be Banister, who carded nine birdies in a round of 66 while Sowa posted six birdies in 13 holes but finished with back-to-back bogeys for a round of 67.
Sweden’s Peter Dahlberg fired the lowest round of the week so far to give himself a chance of securing a full card, improving by ten shots on his second round score.
Dahlberg, who led the qualifiers from Millride for The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard in July, carded an eagle on the 12th hole as well as six birdies for a round of 64, just one shot outside Guillermo Encina’s course record.
That moved him to seven under par and into a share of four place with compatriot Anders Johnsson, four shots off the pace going into the final round having started the day in a share of 23rd place.
He said: “It was a great round. I played really solid and hit nearly every green in regulation. My first round of 69 could have been a few shots better then I’m not sure what happened yesterday. My partner is caddying for me and she said she didn’t recognise me out there. I couldn’t explain it.
“Today was a lot better and I’ve given myself a real chance.”
England’s Ricky Willison is in sixth spot – the last to gain a full card – following a round of 71 which kept him on five under par. There are six players tied on four under par, including former World Cup winner Torsten Giedeon, while 40 players made the cut which landed on five over par.

THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3x71)
203 J Harrison (Eng) 68 68 67,
206 A Sowa (Arg) 68 71 67, G Banister (Aus) 71 69 66,
207 A Johnsson (Swe) 69 70 68, P Dahlberg (Swe) 69 74 64,
208 R Willison (Eng) 67 70 71
209 A Fernandez (Chi) 73 68 68, J Stuart (USA) 68 71 70, F Mann (Sco) 69 74 66, T Giedeon (Ger) 67 71 71, M Donald (USA) 69 68 72, J Gould (Eng) 71 68 70
210 J Sallat (Fra) 68 72 70, M Williams (Zim) 68 75 67, G Davies (Wal) 68 71 71
211 G Gunn (Can) 71 67 73, M Briggs (Eng) 72 69 70
212 T Burgoyne (Swe) 69 73 70, P Oakley (USA) 69 72 71, B Hardwick (Can) 72 69 71, M Belsham (Eng) 73 72 67
213 S Cipa (Eng) 71 70 72, G Towne (USA) 69 72 72, P Allan (Eng) 70 68 75,
214 S Martin (Sco) 76 68 70
216 J Stansberry (USA) 74 69 73, P Smith (Sco) 76 70 70, J Hall (Eng) 73 75 68, C Acutis (Ita) 73 72 71, M Aparicio (Esp) 68 78 70, M Gallagher (Eng) 72 74 70, D Johnson (USA) 69 75 72,
217 S Van Vuuren (RSA) 75 69 73, I Mosey (Eng) 75 68 74, M Kierstenson (Eng) 74 73 70, J King (Eng) 70 70 77, J Mills (am) (Eng) 73 71 73
218 G Ryall (Eng) 70 72 76, S Shields (Eng) (am) 74 72 72, K Worm (Den) (am) 74 70 74

MISSED THE CUT
219 M Thomas (USA) 77 71 71, M Moreno (Esp) 73 73 73, M Lord (Eng) 71 74 74, D Rios (Arg) 74 74 71, D Narveson (USA) 75 73 71, T Planchin (Fra) 76 74 69
220 S Stull (USA) 74 79 67, F Regard (Fra) 75 75 70, R Morris (Eng) 71 76 73, B Stevens (Eng) 75 73 72
221 J Davila (Esp) 72 73 76, B McColl (Sco) 75 75 71, J Seifert (Cze) 72 74 75
222 F Dhondt (Bel) 74 73 75, M Miller (Sco) 74 75 73, V Bueno (Chi) 75 71 76, C Grenier (Aut) 72 75 75, R Masters (Eng) 73 74 75, F Kiddie (Eng) 76 75 71, S East (Eng) (am) 76 72 74
223 D Regan (Eng) 77 73 73, S Bennett (Eng) 78 74 71, T Price (Wal) 76 75 72
224 T Jones (USA) 75 77 72, J Laforce (Can) 78 72 74, M Deeley (Eng) 76 78 70, D Young (Eng) 72 76 76
225 M Söderberg (Swe) 71 76 78
226 L Cooper (USA) 79 73 74, D Williamson (Sco) 71 77 78, P Dugeny (Fra) 75 77 74, N Clarke (RSA) 74 76 76
227 D Hammett (USA) 75 76 76, J Hoskison (Eng) 75 76 76
228 J Ackerman (RSA) 75 75 78, C Linstead (Eng) 80 73 75
229 G Krause (Eng) 76 80 73
231 R Uhlir (USA) 73 80 78
233 E Alessandrini (Ita) 76 75 82
234 S Bonham (Eng) 78 83 73,
Retired: V Garcia (Esp) 73 80 ret

McLean Magic - 29 for second nine - wins

NE Alliance over home Peterhead links

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
With Gavin Dear, Wallace Booth and Paul O'Hara - the backbone of the Scottish amateur international team - gone to the pro ranks, the chance will be there in 2010 for young men like Peterhead's Philip McLean to step forward to fill the gaps.

On the evidence of today's North-east Alliance competition over his home Craigewan Links at Peterhead Golf Club, 22-year-old McLean, a former Scotland youth cap but still waiting for a full honour and a +3 player, is ready to make a bigger name for himself next year.

McLean came storming home in six-under-par 29 to head a field of 94. His round of five-under-par 65 saw him finish a shot ahead of unattached professional Graham Gordon and Banchory +2 amateur Scott Larkin who has definitely come home from four years on the US college circuit a better all-round player than when he went there in the first place..

Philip McLean was not going particularly well, by his lofty standards, when he turned in one-over-par 36 after a lost-ball, double bogey 6 at the ninth, more than cancelled out a lone birdie at the seventh. It could have been even worse because he was plugged in a bunker at the eighth and had to hole a 20ft putt to salvage a par 5.

But it was a different story on the inward half. McLean showed his interntional class by birdieing the 11^th, 14^th, 15^th, 16th. And he finished with an eagle 3 at the 498yd par-5 18^th, where he got home in two blows and sank the putt to complete a memorable inward nine.

Philip's father commented: "He's the course record holder and he's had a lot of good scores over the course but I don't think he's ever come home in 29."

Philip McLean has an American trip to look forward to in the New Year. He is one of a group of players being sent by the Scottish Golf Union to play in the Jones Cup at Sea Island.

Graham Gordon had two halves of 33, which included seven birdies, for his 66 while Larkin, winner of the alliance fixture at Insch in mid-October, also went 33-33 with a bag of eight birdies, including the last three in a row.
Adam Dunton, for the second week in a row, was hampered by fading light and it's amazing that he managed to birdie the 15th, 16th and 17th before parring the last for 31 home and a 67, which gave him a share of fourth place with Billy Main (Murcar Links).

Give Adam the eagle 3 Philip McLean had at the 18th and they would both have been on 65 - that's how close the Ellon lad was to victory.

The conditions at Peterhead were fairly benign overhead - hardly a breath of wind - but the rough was punishing. Several players had No Returns after losing balls. Scottish senior match-play champion George Paterson (Northern) was a case in point. He lost a ball at the 313yd 17th and in the fading light did not go back to the tee to play another one.

LEADING SCORES (Par 70)

SCRATCH

65 P McLean (Peterhead).

66 G Gordon (unatt), S Larkin (Banchory).

67 W Main (Murcar Links), A Dunton (McDonald Ellon)..

68 A Bews (Murcar Links).

69 I Bratton ( Newburgh ), A K Pirie (Hazlehead).

70 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club), K Nicol (Fraserburgh), R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).

71 J Duncan ( Newburgh ), A Lindsay (Banchory), S Pert (Huntly).

72 S Finnie (Caledonian), D McKay (Caledonian), M Merchant (Newmachar).

73 D Corkey (Murcar Links), I Fowler (Royal Aberdeen ), R Bruce (Aboyne), C Law (Hazlehead).

74 K Nelson (Murcar Links), J Forrest (Northern), K Duncan (McDonald Ellon).

75 S Sharp ( Newburgh ), C Cassie ( Nigg Bay ), P McIntosh (Bon Accord), R Lamb (Newmachar), D Clark (Duff House Royal), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal).

76 H Love (Oldmeldrum), F G Gray (Newmachar), J Forbes (Aboyne), C Alexander (Murcar Links), A Innes (Murcar Links), F Bisset (Banchory).

77 D Philip ( Newburgh ), K Beveridge (Aboyne).

78 B Brooks (Meldrum House), B Harper (Newburgh), J Dalgarno (Hazlehead), H Roulston (Stonehaven), N Parker (Murcar Links), S Elrick (Kemnay), J Murray (Banchory), S Mackie (Kemnay)..

79 J Borthwick (Craibstone), J B D Smith ( Cruden Bay ), G Homer (Lumphanan), D Bisset (Banchory)..

80 L Roger (Royal Aberdeen ), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), J Scott (Peterculter).

HANDICAP

Class 1 – J Duncan (Newburgh) (5), D McKay (Caledonian) (6), L Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) (7), J Forrest (Northern) (8) 66; W Main (Murcar Links) (scr), A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), M Merchant (Newmachar) (5), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (3) 67; P McLean (Peterhead) (+3), S Larkin (Banchory) (+2), R Bruce (Aboyne) (5) 68.

Class 2 – N Parker (Murcar Links) (9), G Homer (Lumphanan) (10), M Booth (Kemnay) (12), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (12), C Sinclair (Aboyne) (14), M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (15) 69; I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (12), D Bisset (Banchory) (9), J Scott (Peterculter) (10), D Randall (Banchory) (15) 70; L Roger (Royal Aberdeen) (9) 71; S Kennedy (Craibstone) (13), W Forbes (Murcar Links) (13), R Alison (Deeside) (15) 73.

PETERHEAD SCORECARD: Par 70 (35-35). 6147yd
OUT: 4-3-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--35. IN: 3-4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5--35.

PHILIP McLEAN 65
OUT: 4-3-4-4-4-3-3-5-6--36. IN: 3-3-4-4-3-3-2-4-3--29

GRAHAM GORDON 66
OUT: 4-4-3-4-4-3-3-4-4--33. IN: 4-5-4-3-3-4-3-3-4--33

SCOTT LARKIN 66
OUT: 4-3-3-5-4-2-5-4-3--33. IN: 3-3-4-5-4-5-2-3-4--33

ADAM DUNTON 67

OUT: 4-3-4-5-3-3-5-5-4--36. IN: 3-3-4-4-4-3-2-3-5--31

BILLY MAIN 67

OUT: 4-3-3-5-4-3-3-4-4--33. IN: 3-3-4-6-3-4-3-3-5--34

NEXT WEDNESDAY'S FIXTURE IS AT PORTLETHEN G C

Inverness Fairways Target Golf Leagues Week 7

By Neil D. Hampton
Golf & Marketing Director, Loch Ness Golf Course, Inverness
Web: http://www.golflochness.com/

The final Monday night game before the split didn’t through up any real surprises although this season’s only unbeaten team suffered their first defeat. BM Trucks, without their star player who was out of action due to a groin strain (a common target golf injury), had their lowest score of the season in their game against the Juniors who had the joint highest score of the night.
This left the door open for the Parahandies to join BM Trucks at the top of the table but their game against Orion ended in a draw – a very unusual result in target golf, but Orion’s second of the season!
Because of this, Orion could have been pipped for the final spot in the top half by the Sainties if they could have beaten the Neverwillbees but it was the Neverwillbees who returned their best score of the season so far and scuppered the Sainties chances.
Three Men and a Caddy had the bye and the 2 points have taken them to within 3 of the Neverwillbees and the Sainties so the battle for the wooden spoon is not over yet.
Monday night results:
Orion 49 – 49 Parahandies
The Neverwillbees 65 – 42 The Sainties
BM Trucks 36 – 65 Loch Ness Juniors
Three Men and a Caddy (Bye) 30.

TUESDAY NIGHT LEAGUE REPORT

The dash for the top four ended in a frenzied battle on Tuesday night. With four teams vying for just two places someone was going to be heartbroken and on Tuesday is was the Mad Drivers. King Kenyon’s Klan had a two point advantage over the other teams in the mix and playing top team Fairways may have caused them some nerves but they came through with flying colours, sending the leaders to their first defeat of the season.
This left three teams for one spot in the top four and with two playing each other shots scored totals looked like making the decision, and so it turned out. The Mad Drivers beat the league’s unluckiest team, Fairhurst Fore (who seem to contrive new ways to lose each week) by just 2 shots and put themselves in pole position but the Muirton Marvels dispatched the Senior Moments tieing the Drivers on 8 points but the Marvels had the superior shots scored total and took fourth place.
Despite losing this week Fairways are still top of the pile although now just by having scored 4 more shots than the Luckless Leadbetters, who saw off a poor Coastguards team. Just one point behind them thanks to their win are King Kenyon’s Klan who look like they are coming into forma at just the right time.
At the other end of the table the unlucky Fairhurst continue to prop up the rest but must fancy their chances of avoiding the wooden spoon given the Coastguards lack of scoring in recent weeks.
Results:
Coastguards 0 – 30 Luckless Leadbetters
Fairhurst Fore 25 – 27 Mad Drivers
King Kenyon’s Klan 56 – 39 Fairways
Senior Moments 29 – 45 Muirton Marvels.

HOW THEY FINISHED
MONDAY NIGHT LEAGUE
1 BM Trucks 12pt
2 Parahandies 11pt
3 Loch Ness Juniors 10pt
4 Orion 8pt
5 Neverwillbees 6pt
6 The Sainties 6pt
7 Three Men and a Caddy 3pt.

TUESDAY NIGHT LEAGUE
1 Fairways 11pt
2 Luckless Leadbetters 11pt
3 King Kenyon's Klan 10pt
4 Muirton Marvels 8pt
5 Mad Drivers 8pt
6 Senior Moments 6pt
7 Coastguards 2pt
8 Fairhurst Fore 0pt

HOLE IN ONE BY JAMES BYRNE IN

ARGENTINA CHAMPIONSHIP

Three of the four Scots competing in the qualifying rounds of the Argentina men’s open amateur golf championship have made a very good start at Buenos Aires Golf Club.
Two stroke-play rounds will decide the 64 qualifiers for the match-play stages and Ross Kellett (Colville Park) and Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) were tied for fourth place with three-under-par 69s in the first round.
Stewart, who made the trip to Argentina from the United States where he is a second-year student at East Tennessee State University, raced to the turn in five-under-par 31 with birdies at the first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth. He had more bogeys than birdies at the turn, dropping shots at the 14th, 16th and 18th with only one additional birdie,a t the 15th, in a three-over-par inward half of 38.
Kellett was four under par at the turn with birdies at the first, second, eighth and ninth. He got down to five under with a birdie at the 13th but that was as good as it got for the Motherwell man who finished runner-up in the European individual amateur championship this year.
Kellett bogeyed the short 14th and long 15th in taking 37 shots for the inward half.
James Byrne (Banchory), who also made the trip to South America from the States where he is a student at Arizona State University, was sharing 10th place after a 70 which included a hole in one at the short fifth and an eagle 3 at the second.
Also in an outward half of four-under 32, Byrne, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, birdied the seventh and bogeyed the third. He came off the boil in an inward 38 with bogeys at the 12th and 16th.
Scottish men’s and boys’ champion David Law (Hazlehead) is sharing 55th place after a 75 (39-36). The Aberdonian’s only birdies came at the first and 10th in halves of 39 and 36. He bogeyed the third, fifth, sixth, ninth and 16th.
Argentina’s Julian Lerda led the first qualifying round by two shots with a seven-under 65.

FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND
Par 72
Leading scores
65 Julian Lerda (Arg).
67 Benedict Staben (Ger).
68 John Allen (Ger).
69 Martin Kim (Arg), Tomas Cocha (Arg), Ignacio Elvira (Spa), Ary Rodriguez (Arg), Ross Kellett (Sco), Michael Stewart (Sco).
Selected scores:
70 James Byrne (Sco) (jt 10th).
72 Eddie Pepperell (Eng), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) (jt 23rd).
75 David Law (Sco) (jt 55th).

Family strife blights Scot McKnight’s US Tour quest

FROM THE SCOTSMAN.SPORT.COM WEBSITE
By NICK RODGER
A young Scottish golfer will continue to pursue his goal of a place on the US PGA Tour this week despite his family’s own American dream turning into a nightmare.
Robert McKnight, a rookie professional from Kilmarnock, will tee-up in the second stage of the qualifying school at the Deerwood club in Texas today against a backdrop of personal turmoil.
The McKnight clan relocated from Ayrshire to Florida two years ago and built up an ice cream business, but their new life in the sunshine has been plunged into chaos due to a visa problem which has left the family separated for almost six months.
His mother and sister had returned to the UK to renew their US visa papers, but their application was rejected, leaving them an ocean apart from McKnight and his father and younger brother.
“I moved here to make a career for myself and be closer to my family, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way,” said McKnight.

Martin Dempster article sparks debate on Scots talent wasted

E-mail from Kenny Hutton,

Downfield Golf Club professional

Hi Colin
Just read Martin Dempster's piece on Scottish talent wasted (scroll down to read it). Very good article and quite true. Maybe I could add my thoughts as I feel that all the guys mentioned have tried their very best and just didn't quite make it for one reason or another, and many are well known to me personally.
Can you blame the likes of Steven Young etc for not returning to this climate!!! It's actually our biggest problem in my view. The likes of Steven stayed in a much more competitive place (USA) but again with little or no financial backing. Therefore, he tries his best living from hand to mouth for a few months, runs out of cash, has to get a job, then his golf suffers and he stops being able to even live from golf.
Kevin McAlpine is a friend of mine and a huge talent who wins amateur tournaments in this country regularly. He is now working full time (outside the golf industry) trying to fund himself and is still trying to fit in Tour School.


How many guys have a chance to get their tour cards while taking holidays from full time employment outside golf! Only some of the Scottish players would even try that and that's because they do want it very badly.


The Government are trying to look good by ploughing money into getting all Primary 5's hitting a golf ball and at least they are trying now. However, if they spent the same money trying to help the naturally gifted golfers get to the next level, then TV's of the future would maybe be showing more Scottish golfers winning trophies. Then kids will want to play golf, they will not have to be made to.
Here is an example of how this way can and does work.
Why is Jamaica producing wave after wave of sprinters? Coincidence? No. It's an easy answer. The kids see success on TV and in the Press and they want to emulate it. Then the naturally gifted get financial and coaching help to succeed by the Jamaican government and sports authorities. It's a cycle that will continue so long as they keep getting the right kind of help. Everyone wins.
Just my brief thoughts on a great subject.
Yours
Kenny Hutton


Downfield Golf Club.

P.S. Website is getting better and better. Well done to all.

Response to "Where did all the young stars go?"

E-mail from Ross McGuire

Colin,
Martin Dempster's piece (in The Scotsman and also Scottishgolfview.com) gets me on my soapbox about golf in Scotland and the lack of focus on driving talent forward to the next level. The SGU are fantastic in terms of amateur golf and ensuring that the elite squads and development players have access to coaching and most importantly, funding to help young talented golfers compete in tournaments worldwide.
That's a great grounding, however, as Andrew Crerar points out most of those golfers then have to fend for themselves when they turn pro.
Look at the example of Wentworth Golf Club, who have their own scholarship scheme which allows young golfers to be members of their club and to receive a certain amount of funding to help them on their way.
The main benefit no doubt being able enjoy first-class practice facilities that are good enough to be used by Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn as their home club! We have a plethora of fantastic golf clubs and facilties in Scotland which we have not opened up to our top amateur golfers (unless I have missed something) and even when they turn pro, there will still be some courses that are "out of bounds" to young pros.
Could we as a golfing nation not nominate a set of regional centres (as a minimum) where members of the Scottish squads would be able to utilise the facilities to work on their game at venues where Open championships and other large tournaments are played?
Turnberry, Dundonald, Gleneagles, Dalmahoy, Muirfield, Gullane and Carnoustie are some names of courses that spring to mind for this type of initiative. A more open approach would be to ask all SGU members clubs to provide courtesy of facilities to all Scottish squad members as is done for professionals.
I read recently that Keir McNicoll was invited to the Dunhill Links championship - he had no funding to become a European Tour member and as such any money he won could not count towards earning a tour card. Perhaps over the course of their amateur careers, our young players would not only earn ranking points but secure post amateur funding based on their performance as amateurs.
We have an order of merit and world rankings already and these could be used in some way to provide a post amateur fund for taking on the professional game, based on the amateur record of say the previous two seasons.
Using Keir as an example, he would be one of the top funded fledgling pros for the season where he has turned professional to ensure his talent is not cast aside as soon as the home internationals are finished.
The article also mentioned a lot of other extremely talented Scottish players, Barry Hume, Chris Kelly and many more who have the ability to be playing in tournaments at a higher level. It's also interesting that Andrew Crerar mentioned the Swedish team turning up at Tour School together as a group with an entourage of coaches, doctors and other support.
I'm not surprised, given I stayed at the same B&B as the Swedish amateur team one weekend. They had a similar set-up to that described for the Tour School, just fewer people. They had six players, a technical coach and a sports psychologist for an amateur tournament!
It seems that Martin's piece has stoked the fires of those of us in Scotland who care about how our young players progress - similar to the current plight of our football team (the main difference being our golfers have an abundance of talent!).
Hopefully though we won't put an Ernie Walker style think tank in place, but rather make positive chances to the set up of our game to ensure progress can be made quickly. The SGU would be the right people to put a framework for discussion in place and to facilitate the delivery of action on any recommendations that can help our talented players flourish again.
The funding may be a challenge to put in place overnight - some simple things like access to the best local facilities could be arranged very quickly.
Looking forward to seeing how this moves forward.
Ross McGuire

PS I haven't even mentioned my former home golf club, Colville Park!