Meitinger makes it two wins in a row in Turkey

By MATTHIAS LETTENBICHLER
One day after his 26th birthday, German professional Nicolas Meitinger won the Lykia Links Classic today and celebrated his second triumph in two weeks at the Renault EPD Tour's Winter Series at Antalya Golf Club, Belek in southern Turkey.
Last Saturday he won by eight strokes at the Montgomerie Classic. This afternoon, Meitinger had four strokes to spare at the head of the field with a nine-under-par total over the par-72 course of 207. That won him the tournament trophy and 4,814 Euros.
He had rounds of 74, 69 and 64, cramming nine birdies into his final round.
Second place was shared by Stephen Grant from Ireland and Bernd Ritthammer and Max Glauert, both from Germany. Max Kramer from Frankfurt, who had led throughout the first 36 holes, faded on the final day with a 76 - 12 shots more than the winner on the day - to finish joint fifth with another Germany Christoph Gunther and Germany-based son of an English club pro, Ben Parker.
The Lykia Links Classic was the fourth and last tournament of part 1 of the RENAULT EPD Tour Winter Series 2010 that took place in Belek, Turkey. Part 2 starts on February 23 when the professionals tee off at the Al Maaden Classic, the first of a row of three tournaments in Marrakech, Morocco.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72).
207 Nicolas Meitinger (Germany) 74 69 64 (4,814 Euros).
211 Stephen Grant (Ireland) 72 69 70, Bernd Ritthammer (Germany) 72 70 69, Maximilian Glauert (Germany) 74 70 67 (1950 Euros each).
214 Christoph Gunther (Germany) 70 75 69, Max Kramer (Germany) 68 70 76, Ben Parker (England) 71 73 70 (1205 Euros each).
215 Arwed Fischer (Germany) 75 70 70 (1044 Euros).
216 Reinier Saxton (Netherlands) 74 69 73, Benhamin Sigl (Germany) 73 70 73 (939 Euros each).
Selected scores:
218 Brian McElhinney (Ireland) 71 75 72 (jt 16th) (549 Euros).
219 Cian McNamara (Ireland) 77 70 72 (jt 18th) (455 Euros).
222 Richard Golding (England) 74 76 72, Tim Rice (Ireland) 79 71 72 (jt 30th) (255 Euros each).
223 Lee Corfield (England) 75 76 72 (jt 35th) (216 Euros).
225 Ben Welch (England) 76 75 74 (jt 37th) (193 Euros).
226 Simon Boyd (England) 72 79 75, Jay Taylor (England) 74 76 76 (jt 43rd) (180 Euros each).

RENAULT EPD Tour Order of Merit 2010 >>>
Schedule of the 2010 season >>>

SPANISH Hi5 PRO TOUR

Good Evans! Matthew's first pro win

worth 4,125 Euros and a watch

FROM THE Hi5 PRO TOUR WEBSITE
Matthew Evans, 34-year-old six-footer (6ft 2in to be precise) from England, achieved his second professional victory today at the first event of the 100,000 Euros Polaris Swing on the Spanish Hi5 Pro Tour with three closing birdies to finish with a four-stroke victory margin.
Evans, the 2007 British mid-amateur champion and beaten in the final of the English amateur championship the same year, started the day one shot behind 36-hole leader Jack Doherty of Scotland. However Doherty made bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes to see his lead slip away.
Evans' closing round of 69 was the second lowest round of the day in blustery cool conditions as most of Continental Europe is currently experiencing.
Evans' first pro win after moving into the paid ranks in July 2008 was in the 2009 Naples Open, which earned him Category 1 ranking on the 2010 Alps Tour.
Doherty finished alone in second place at seven-under-par, followed by last week's winner, Alex Belt of England, who ended the Polaris and Mar Menor Open at five-under-par.
Low amateur was Lasse Sonne Nielsen of Denmark at one-under-par.
Evans won 4,125 Euros prize money along with the “winners” official time piece from sponsor Thomas Sabo.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
205 Matthew Evans (England) 71 65 69.
209 Jack Doherty (Scotland) 71 64 74.
211 Alex Belt (England) 71 70 70.
213 James Ruth (England) 70 68 74, Lasse Jensen (Denmark) 73 64 76.
214 Kyron Sullivan (Wales) 76 73 65, Pete James (England) 77 68 69, Carlos Aguilar (Spain) 72 70 72, Eric Ramsay (Scotland) 70 71 73.
215 Barrie Trainor (Northern Ireland) 70 74 71, Lasse Nielsen (Denmark) (am) 73 68 74, Kevin Harper (England) 72 69 74, Jesper Lerchedal (Denmark) 73 67 75, Ake Nilsson Sweden) 70 70 75.
216 Dani Alonso (Spain) 75 70 71, James Busby (England) 75 70 71, Joachim Hansen (Denmark) (am) 69 67 80.
217 Jonathan Gidney (England0 79 68 70, Jonas Haglund (Finland) 72 71 74.
218 Paul Doherty (Scotland) 72 72 74, Christopher Mivis (Belgium) (am) 72 70 76, Carlos Garcia (Spain) 68 72 78, Kasper Jorgensen (Denmark) 73 67 68.
219 Stian Hansen (Norway) 74 75 70, Lindsay Mann (Scotland) 72 73 74, Sam Haywood (England) 73 71 75.
220 Geoffrey Loughrey (Ireland) 71 78 71, Angel Saura (Spain) 76 71 73, Michael McGeady (Ireland) 71 74 75.
221 Brad Clapp (Canada) 71 75 75, Robert Svensson (Sweden) 72 75 74, Ross Cameron (Scotland) 72 73 76, Miguel Angel Martin (Spain) 69 73 79.
222 Ryan Williams (Canada) 73 74 75.
223 Charlie Lidyard (England) 78 71 74, James Housby (England) 75 72 76, Richard Carter (England) (am) 76 69 78.
Selected scores:
225 Sam Boyes (England) 74 75 76, James Need (England) 75 71 79.
227 Liam Murray (England) 74 74 79, Mark Hooper (England) 72 72 83.

Alyth assistant Michael Rae wins Midland Alliance

at Carnoustie Buddon with a three-under-par 63

By LEE SUTHERLAND
This week’s Midland Golfers Alliance meeting was the William Hill Bookmakers Team competition over the Buddon Course at Carnoustie Golf Links.
Competitors took advantage of the calm but sometimes cold conditions and the scoring was excellent. Leading the way in the scratch was Alyth assistant professional Michael Rae with a three-under-par score of 63.
Ally Douglas (Caird Park) beat his age by a couple of shots scratch on the way the winning the handicap with a net score of 61 off 11.
Winners of the team competition were Montrose assistant professional Graham Brown, John Gray (Ladybank) (9) and Sandy Mitchell (St Andrews New) (12).
LEADING SCRATCH
63 M Rae (Alyth) ap.
65 A Lockhart (Ladybank) ap.
66 K Harper (Carnoustie), S O'Donnell (Balbirnie Park) ap, M Brown (Monifieth), A J Webster (Edzell) p.
67 G Milne (Aberdour), C Mathieson (Falkirk Tryst) ap.
68 G Brown (Montrose) ap.
69 I Henderson (Craigie Hill).
70 C Brunton (Monifieth), W Crosbie (Blairgowrie), R Stewart (Tulliallan).
LEADING HANDICAP
61 A Douglas (Caird Park) (11).
62 D Vicary (Bathgate) (11), G Milne (Aberdour) (5).
63 I Henderson (Craigie Hill) (6).
65 R Beatt (Scotscraig) (12), C Wallace (Caird Park) (10), W Crosbie (Blairgowrie) (5), G Paton (Dalhousie) (8), J Gray (Ladybank) (9), A McDiarmid (Crieff) (11), J Crawford (Dunblane) (6), C Brunton (Monifieth) (5).
LEADING TEAM SCORES
53 G Brown (Montrose) ap, J Gray (Ladybank) (9), S Mitchell (St Andrews New) (12).
54 I Butchart (Strathmore) (6), S Graham (Arbroath) (4), J Strathie (Milnathort) (10).
54 A Aitken (Ladybank) (12), A Douglas (Caird Park) (11), J Leddy (Bathgate) (9).
Qualifiers for the JTC Interiors Express Championship in April at Montrose Links
M Rae (Alyth) ap.
I Henderson (Cragie Hill) (6)
C Brunton (Monifieth) (5)

Next meeting: Wednesday, February 17 - Aberdour. Tee reserved: 9.30am to 1pm.

Marcel Siem leads in India with a 64 - thanks to tips from 16-year-old girl

David Drysdale gets in groove with a 68

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Germany's Marcel Siem put his success down to an unlikely source after an eagle at his final hole led to an eight-under-par 64 and secured a one stroke lead after the opening round of the inaugural Avantha Masters at New Delhi, India.
The 29 year old, searching for only his second win on The European Tour, produced a flawless round that included six birdies before nailing an eagle putt from almost 20 feet on the ninth hole - his last - to edge ahead of the rest of the field.
And Siem admitted he had taken putting tips from a local 16-year-old female player to help deal with the difference between the greens in India and Europe.
“They are a bit grainy which can be difficult for the Europeans to adapt to sometimes, but I got a pretty good lesson from Vani Kapoor yesterday,” said Siem. “She is a young, 16-year-old scratch player, probably the best young female player in India and she was so aggressive on the greens and she showed me the way. I have to say that she was my putting inspiration and she is a very good player.”
Chinese Taipei's Chan Yin-shin also produced an eagle on the ninth and is just behind Siem in second place after signing for a seven under 65 at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
Siem's last victory on The European Tour came six years ago at the Dunhill Championship and he is hoping his impressive performance could signal a change in fortunes.
"I played very solid today, didn't make a bogey and then finished it off nicely with a great eagle at the last," he said. "The iron play was really good and I putted well. I cannot remember the last time that I shot 64 to be honest with you. It must be at least three years ago so I am pretty happy with that. It's definitely my best round for a few years."
England's John Parry is in touch with the early pacesetters after shooting six birdies against one bogey for a five under 67.
The 22-year-old from Harrogate is tied third alongside compatriot Barry Lane, Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen, Lam Chih-bing of Singapore, Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant and Andrew Dodt of Australia.
"It was pretty solid out there today but nothing spectacular," said Parry. "It's a decent start and I am pleased with how I am playing. I probably got a little bit lucky at points out there today but nothing outrageous - it was a pretty fair score."
Lam was not expecting to go so low, especially given a bout of food poisoning ruined his preparations.
“I almost couldn’t walk on the course yesterday so I’m quite surprised with how I played today,” he said.
Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke finished one under following a 71 while World No 59 Jeev Milkha Singh - the highest ranked player at the tournament - endured a disappointing round with three birdies and as many bogeys, leaving him eight shots off the pace.
Siem birdied the 12th, 17th and 18th in his opening back-nine to reach the turn in 33.
The German continued to enjoy another blemish-free run in his homeward nine by carding another three birdies followed by the closing eagle.
“I can’t remember the last time that I shot 64. It must be at least three years ago so I’m pretty happy with that. It’s definitely my best round for a few years,” said a delighted Siem.
Chan, who won his maiden Asian Tour title at the season-ending event in Bangkok last season, overcame a sore back to get his title ambitions back on track in the new season.
The Chinese Taipei player mixed six birdies and an eagle three on the ninth hole to stay in contention for his second Asian Tour win this week.
“I’m happy with my score today, considering that I was getting some treatment for my sore back yesterday. I’m feeling fine now and I ready for the next three days,” said the ever-smiling Chan.

Lam got his Indian campaign underway with three birdies in his opening back-nine. He then birdied the fourth after the turn and dropped his only shot of the day on the par-4 fifth before going on to record two more birdies on the seventh and eighth holes.
“I only dropped one shot on the fifth hole but overall you gain some and you lose some. I’ll try to do what I’ve been doing today by hitting onto the fairways and then the greens and hopefully make some putts to stay in contention for the next three days,” added Lam.
Chapchai continued his Indian sojourn spectacularly when he returned with a blemish-free card that was marked with two birdies and an eagle.
The big-hitting Thai set a new world record when he shot a stunning 32-under-par 256 total en route to victory at the SAIL Open in India last season. Despite nursing a back injury, he is showing early signs of enjoying another memorable run in India again.
Chapchai posted two birdies in his opening three holes before reaching the turn in 34. However, it was his eagle three on the par-five sixth that moved him quickly to second place at one stage in the morning.
He parred his closing three holes to eventually sign for a 68.
“That eagle on the sixth was definitely the highlight of my round today. I hit it long onto the greens with my approach shot and it was a good putt from five feet for the eagle,” said the 26-year-old Thai.
“I had to skip several events early this year as I didn’t feel I would be ready with my back problem. I’m still feeling the effects of it even today and I guess I got lucky with my good score today,” added Chapchai.

SCOTSWATCH: David Drysdale from Dunbar led the Scots in the field with a four-under-par 68, which gives him back-to-back scores on the Tour, albeit four days apart, which suggests he has got the grooves business out of or maybe into his system.

Drysdale, out in 35 and home in 33, starts the second round in joint 10th place overall.

Andrew Coltart (36-33) and Steven O'Hara (35-34) had matching 69s to be joint 19th.

Kirkcaldy's Peter Whiteford did well to return a 70 (35-35) after taking a double-bogey 7 on the chin at the long ninth. He is sharing 26th place.

Richie Ramsay. who missed the cut last week, is lying joint 36th afteer halves of 36 and 35 for a 71.

Only Callum Macaulay, playing on a sponsors' invite, had few reasons to be cheerful among the Scots. The Tulliallan man needs something special to survive the Friday cut. He is lying joint 111th with only seven players behind him at the oment after halves of 38 for a four-over-par 76. A double bogey 5 at the short 16th was indicative of the kind of day Callum had.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72 (36-36). 7156yd
64 Marcel Siem (Ger)
65 Yin-shin Chan (Tpe)
67 Rahil Gangjee (Ind), Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), John Parry, Andrew Dodt (Aus), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Barry Lane
68 Ben Leong (Mal), Richard Bland, David Drysdale, Kwanchai Tannin (Hkg), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Wen-hong Lin (Chn), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
69 Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Joost Luiten (Ned), Richard Finch, Andrew Coltart, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), C Muniyappa (Ind), Steven O'Hara
70 Gurki Shergill (Ind), Peter Whiteford, Darren Beck (Aus), Gareth Maybin, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Jason Knutzon (USA), Lee Slattery, Oliver Fisher, Jamie Elson, Ashok Kumar (Ind)
71 Chris Gane, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Udorn Duangdecha (Tha), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Anthony Kang (USA), Shane Lowry, Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Ted Oh (Kor), Digvijay Singh (Ind), Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Gregory Havret (Fra), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Richie Ramsay, Darren Clarke, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn), Sung Lee (Kor), Keith Horne (Rsa), Mark Foster, James Kamte (Rsa), Kunal Bhasin (Ind)
72 Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Naman Dawar (Ind), Mukesh Kumar (Ind), Rhys Davies, Vikrant Chopra (Ind), George Coetzee (Rsa), Seve Benson, Mardan Mamat (Sin), Gary Lockerbie, Arjun Atwal (Ind), Mark F Haastrup (Den), Rashid Khan (Ind), Gavin Flint (Aus), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
73 Mars Pucay (Phi), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Harmeet Kahlon (Ind), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Scott Barr (Aus), Vijay Kumar (Ind), Pharendra Gupta (Ind), Shamim Khan (Ind), Peter Baker, Richard McEvoy, Julien Quesne (Fra), Mark Brown (Nzl), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Tony Carolan (Aus), Carl Suneson (Spa), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Angelo Que (Phi), Gaurav pratap Singh (Ind)
74 Andrew Tampion (Aus), David Gleeson (Aus), David Howell, Simon Griffiths, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Gary Murphy, Iain Steel (Mal), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Phillip Archer, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Danny Chia (Mal), Adam Blyth (Aus)
75 Danny Lee (Nzl), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Stephan Gross junior (Ger), Marcus Both (Aus), Kodai Ichihara (Jpn), Vishal Singh (Ind), Unho Park (Aus)
76 Arjun Singh (Ind), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Ranjit Singh (Ind), Raju ali Mollah (Ind), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Callum Macaulay, Scott Hend (Aus), Sanjay Kumar (Ind), Amandeep Johl (Ind)
78 Gaurav Ghei (Ind)
79 Rahul Ganapathy (Ind)
80 Himmat Rai (Ind), Andrew Butterfield, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)
82 Chris Rodgers
83 Steven Jeppesen (Swe)

Peter Whiteford's wait over as
-
he returns in India

FROM THE SCOTSMAN.SPORT.COM WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
Peter Whiteford has been kicking his heels in frustration since recording his best finish on the European Tour just under a month ago, when he tied for sixth place behind runaway winner Charl Schwartzel in the Joburg Open.
In all three of the events that made up the Tour's 'Middle East Swing', the 29-year-old Fifer fell agonisingly short of the cut-off point and missed out on the chance to build on that promising performance in South Africa.
Having regained his Tour card by graduating from the Challenge circuit last season – he won the year-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final – Whiteford, pictured above, knows his opportunities may be few and far between, so he's got to try and make the most of them.
Today he's one of six Scots teeing up in the opening round of the Avantha Masters at the DLFGolf & Country Club in New Delhi and is hopeful he can take up where he left off in Johannesburg.
"I'm looking forward to getting back playing again," said Whiteford, who opted to become a touring pro when he joined the paid ranks while his brother, Stewart, a former Scottish boys' champion, was left to run the family's golf range at Wellsgreen between Kirkcaldy and Leven.
"It was frustrating not getting into any of the Middle East events. In the week of the Qatar Masters, the Tour contacted me to say I was second reserve and, with two players struggling with injury, I had a good chance of getting in.
"Even if I got a last-minute flight, though, the earliest I could get there would have been the Thursday morning and that's no use. It's not the ideal way to prepare for an event and I wasn't willing to take that gamble."
He did travel out to Dubai last week but, as the Desert Classic was taking place at The Emirates, Whiteford was getting in some practice at Dubai Creek.
"I wanted to get some work in before heading here," he added. "It was good to be able to hit from proper grass – we've not seen a lot of that at home recently – so my game isn't quite as rusty as it could have been. Hopefully the money that cost me will pay off this week.
"I am obviously trying to take my form from Joburg into this event, though it would have been better if I hadn't had to wait a month for my next tournament to come around. I played in India when I had my card a couple of years ago and one of the most difficult things to adjust to is the grainy greens.
"My goal every week is to win. You have got to aim high out here (on the Tour]. I would love to put in a good performance this week as it's unlikely that I will be going all the way to Malaysia for one event, so I'll probably have three weeks off after this one.
"My season will really start in earnest in March – that's when I should be able to get a decent run of events. However, I am really looking forward to this week as well."
Callum Macaulay, who has received a sponsor's invite, is out in the first group today, while Richie Ramsay has been paired with Shiv Kapur, the player he beat in a play-off to win the South African Open in December. David Drysdale, Andrew Coltart and Steven O'Hara are the other Scots in the field.

Crisis-hit Irish golf clubs desperate for new members

FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
Golf club memberships in Ireland have plummeted by 25 per cent — and waiting lists at once exclusive clubs have now disappeared.
Crisis-hit clubs are now begging for new members and are dramatically reducing membership and green fees.
Kevin Mulcahy, from Golf Management and Marketing Services, says: “Membership numbers are down by about 25%. It ranges from 20 to 30%, depending on the golf club.
“Green fees are also down by the same amount.
“A busy golf club might have earned around €1m a year, but now they're down by €250,000, which is a huge cut off their income.”
Golf clubs are now “in a very serious situation” and the industry needs to change in order to adapt to the recession, according to the management expert.
He added: “The golf clubs that will be able to survive the recession are those that are reducing their fees and advertising attractive golf resort packages.”