North-east Alliance scores for Cruden Bay

Secretary Ron Menzies' focus was on the North-east Alliance 36-hole championship when the second round was played at Cruden Bay last Wednesday. But there were scratch and handicap prizes for Cruden Bay scores along.
Now Ron has released the leading scores for the Cruden Bay round.
SCRATCH
Par 70
68 Paul Cormack (Inchmarlo).
71 Ryan Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo).
72 John Mitchell (Fraserburgh), Brian Nicolson (Auchmill), Scott Larkin (Banchory).
73 Adam Dunton (McDonald Ellon), Laura Murray (Alford), Stewart Finnie (Caledonian).
74 Kevin Duncan (McDonald Ellon), Steven Chalmers (Banchory), Anthony Bews (Murcar Links).
HANDICAP
Class 1 - Laura Murray (Alford) (4) 69; B Nicolson (Auchmill) (2) 780; A J Fiddes (Deesidee) (3), J Mitchell (Fraserburgh) (scr), C Carnegie (Kemnay) (4) 72.
Class 2 - A Petrie (Oldmeldrum) (10), N Stewart (Northern) (12) 70; A Clark (Newmachar) (12), D Randall (Banchory) (14) 71; H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) (11) 72; D Bissett (Banchory) (9) 73.

Lanarkshire boys limber up at Hamilton for new season

Lanarkshire boys' team had a get-together today at Hamilton Golf Club to be presented with their medals for winning the 2009 West of Scotland Inter County Boys' League.

The medals were presented by Lanarkshire President Willie Sharpe.

The boys also enjoyed a round at Hamilton and a meal afterwards.The officials present also played a round in mixed teams to assess the boys' early season form.

The boys are looking forward to the Scottish boys championship in two weeks at West Kilbride.

Lanarkshire boys also have two friendlies to play soon against Fife boys at Balwearie on April 12 and against Lothians boys at Shotts on April 19.

The players and officials in the above photograph are (left to right):

Alan Wilson (Lanarkshire and SGU rep), Ross Gillan (Torrance House), Willie Sharpe (President, Lanarkshire GA), Jordan Gallagher (Crow Wood), Martin Scott (Hamilton), Jordan Bryce (Strathaven), James Stephen (Kirkhill), Stuart Houston (Kirkhill), Graham Duncan (Shotts), Scott Costello (Kirkhill), Ian Anderson (Colville Park), Laurie Hendry (Boys' convener), Billy Scott (Boys' committee).

Craig Ross (Kirkhill) and Alan Welsh (Torrance House) were unavailable as they were playing in the Junior Champion of Champions at The Duke's Course. Andrew Stephen (Easter Moffat), Nicky Clenaghan (Mount Ellen) and Eamon Bradley (Mount Ellen) had prior arrangements.

+Click on the image to enlarge it.

Behind the scenes story at the Transitions Championship

Ogilvy's Florida-Phoenix-Florida trip ... between rounds!

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — What a turnaround for Geoff Ogilvy.
The former U.S. Open champion shot a 6-under 65 on Saturday in the Transitions Championship, but more amazing was his inadvertent cross-country flight that preceded his low score of the year.
Thinking he had missed the cut, Ogilvy wound up flying home to Arizona and turning around within an hour to get back to Tampa in time for the third round at Innisbrook in Florida.
"It was worth coming back," Ogilvy said.
His odyssey began when he finished his 71 in the second round at 12:45 p.m. Friday and saw that he was tied for 83rd. With hardly any wind, Ogilvy figured there was no way he would make the cut, so he booked a first-class ticket back to Phoenix.
He was having a few beers in the airport, checking the scores, making little progress. As he was boarding the plane, his position suddenly improved to a tie for 72nd - the top 70 and ties make the cut - and he then began a desperate attempt to disembark.
Getting off the plane was easy. Getting golf clubs off the plane? No way.
"The only way to get my bags in Tampa was to fly to Phoenix," Ogilvy said.
The baggage handlers said the flight was too close to leaving, and to search for his luggage might mean some 50 passengers missing their connections in Houston.
Worse yet, he gave up his first-class seat to stay in Tampa, and when he realised his only choice was to fly to Phoenix, he was stuck in coach. At least they gave him an exit row.
During the layover in Houston, Ogilvy arranged for a private jet to take him back to Tampa. He landed in Phoenix a little after 10 p.m. and was on his way back under an hour later. He still had one more problem to solve, however.
Having done a Foot-Joy commercial during his two weeks in Florida, and getting restocked with shoes, Ogilvy decided to ship home all his golf shoes and golf balls.
"I shipped all the heavy stuff home. All my shoes and golf balls are in a UPS van somewhere," he said. His wife, Juli, had to make the hour drive to the Phoenix airport to meet him with a pair of golf shoes.
As for the balls?
"Does anyone use Titleist black?" Ogilvy said, referring to the Pro V1, when he showed up in the locker room Saturday morning. Nathan Green raised his hand, and Ogilvy then uttered something rarely heard on the PGA Tour.
"Can I borrow a sleeve?" he said.
Ogilvy was among 86 players who made the cut, bringing more uncertainty. Anytime more than 78 players make the cut, there is another cut to top 70 and ties on Saturday. It was possible Ogilvy could have gone to all that trouble, and still been sent home packing Saturday.
"I thought about that," Ogilvy said. "It was fair motivation to play well today. I didn't want to miss the Saturday cut, as well. The worst would have been had I been on the fringe and been on another flight. I could have tempted fate again."
No chance of that. He shot 30 on the back, running off three straight birdies on a difficult stretch. Ogilvy wound up sleeping for about an hour from the time he left Tampa until he returned. It didn't affect his play on the Copperhead course.
Why even bother coming back?
"It's the right thing to do, isn't it?" Ogilvy said with a shrug. "I never even considered not coming back."
And the moral of this story for Tour players is: Never take it for granted that you are going to miss the halfway cut!

Scottish Junior Champion of Champions' scores on www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk

Simon Fairburn (Craigielaw) and Alyson McKechin (Elderslie) won the 2009 Scottish Junior Champion of Champions' titles at the rescheduled competition over The Duke's Course, St Andrews today.
Switch over to our sister website, www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk, to see a picture of the two trophy winners, a report and all the scores.

Edinburgh-born Rhys Davies wins
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on European Tour for first time
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FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
with some additional words by Colin Farquharson
Rhys Davies secured his maiden European Tour title at the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco today as he overhauled Louis Oosthuizen to win by two shots.
The 24 year old Edinburgh-born Welshman, the son of a Welsh table tennis international, was two behind the South African going into the final round, but shot a seven-under 66 to Oosthuizen’s 70 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam to finish 25-under-par 266.
The Challenge Tour graduate had four successful years on the American college circuit as a student at East Tennessee State University, chose to take up golf professionally instead of cricket. He earns €229,160 for his Moroccan victory.
It completes a remarkable year for the former British boys champion, in 2003 after being beaten in the 2002 final, who a year ago by his own admission had “no status in Europe”.
Victory at last year’s SWALEC Wales Open on the Challenge Tour changed all that, and he then captured the Fred Olsen Challenge de España en route to finishing fourth in the rankings and earning his European Tour card.
“I was playing Asian Tour and comfortable and playing well. But I wanted to be part of The European Tour and play with the best players out here,” admitted Davies.
Having come third in the Maybank Malaysian Open and sixth in Abu Dhabi already this season, Davies now climbs to 12th on The Race to Dubai.
“I’m a little bit lost at the moment – this is all completely surreal to me,” said Davies.
“It’s all a bit of a blur. I just kept focusing on hitting the ball as close to the flag as I could and holing every putt and I nearly did just about that.
“I just felt like I could make every putt and I think that was the key. I had a good speed on the greens and when you have a good speed you hole a lot of putts. I had good control of my swing today. It was probably the best I’ve hit it all week.”
For Oosthuizen it was a fourth runners-up finish on The European Tour, while Frenchman Thomas Levet, Spaniard Ignacio Garrido, Finn Mikko Ilonen and another South African Thomas Aiken shared third place five strokes further back.
“I am disappointed, of course. I just struggled with my irons all day,” admitted Oosthuizen, who had shot consecutive rounds of 64 to top the leaderboard going into the final round.
“It just wasn’t happening for me at all with the irons. I didn’t put the ball close enough to the pin in order to give myself chances. Rhys played brilliantly so congratulations to him.”
A bogey on the short second left Davies three behind and facing an uphill task, but walking off the 11th green he had turned that into a one shot lead.
It was already pretty much a two-man fight by then and Oosthuizen's eagle on the next took him back in front.
But Davies rolled in a 22 footer at the 13th and went two ahead when he birdied again on the 206 yard 14th and Oosthuizen bogeyed from the sand.
Victory might have taken Oosthuizen back into the world's top 50 a week before invitations to the Masters Tournament are handed out, but he will now have to try for that again when The European Tour reaches European soil for the first time in 2010 in Malaga this coming week.
Levet completed a satisfying week with a 71 but admits those on the course never had a chance with the last pair out playing so well.
“I feel like I’ve won the tournament between the rest of the guys because the two in front were not playing real golf - they were unbelievable,” he said.
Davies is the first Welsh winner on The European Tour since Bradley Dredge in 2006, but refused to be drawn on suggestions he could make it into Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup side at The Celtic Manor Resort in October.
“No, that’s way out of my equation at the moment,” he added. “I don’t know, this is the first win – hopefully the first of a few – and it’s such a really cool atmosphere and very special and I’m just going to enjoy this.”
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Related Links
European Tour's official website
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SCOTSWATCH:
Stephen Gallacher finished the top Scot in a share of 19th place with weekend rounds of 71 and 72 for 281 but, after his great opening round of 66, Bernard Gallacher's nephew will be disappointed that he finished as many as 15 shots behind the winner. Stephen earned 15,382 Euros. A top five finish would have earned him about four times a much as that.
David Drysdale finished joint 29th on 283 with four rounds in the low 70s, compared with Davies who scored four rounds in the 60s. He earned 11,825 Euros.
Kirkcaldy's Peter Whiteford had a last round of 73 - which was par for the course - but it dropped him down to joint 38th on 285. Had he repeated his Saturday effort of 69 on Sunday, then Whiteford would have earned around 18,000 Euros instead of the 10,175 he received.

FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZE MONEY
Par 291 (3x73, 1x72)
Prize money in Euros)
1 DAVIES Rhys WAL 68 64 68 66 266 (229,160).
2 OOSTHUIZEN Louis RSA 70 64 64 70 268 (152,770)
T3 AIKEN Thomas RSA 67 68 67 71 273 (65,312.50)
T3 GARRIDO Ignacio ESP 67 67 69 70 273 (65,312.50)
T3 ILONEN Mikko FIN 71 69 67 66 273 (65,312.50)
T3 LEVET Thomas FRA 69 65 68 71 273 (65,312.50)
T7 NILSSON Christian SWE 71 68 70 66 275 (35,475).
T7 ROCK Robert ENG 71 67 67 70 275 (35,475).
T7 WILLETT Danny ENG 73 67 64 71 275 (35,475).
T10 LAWRIE Peter IRL 66 70 73 67 276 (25,483.33).
T10 MAYBIN Gareth NIR 72 69 66 69 276 (25,483.33).
T10 MOLINARI Francesco ITA 66 70 70 70 276 (25,483.33).
13 BJÖRN Thomas DEN 72 68 70 67 277 (22,137.50).
14 LUITEN Joost NED 70 65 73 71 279 (21,037.50)
T15 COLES Robert ENG 72 65 73 70 280 (18975).
T15 HAVRET Grégory FRA 70 67 71 72 280 (18,975).
T15 HULDAHL Jeppe DEN 73 67 70 70 280 (18,975).
T15 LYNN David ENG 69 71 70 70 280 (18,975)
T19 BLAND Richard ENG 69 73 68 71 281 (15,382.81)
T19 BOYD Gary ENG 71 72 70 68 281 (15,382.81).
T19 ECHENIQUE Rafa ARG 68 68 71 74 281 (15,382.81)
T19 GALLACHER Stephen SCO 66 72 71 72 281 (15,382.81)
19 HOWELL David ENG 70 70 73 68 281 (15,382.81).
19 KANG Anthony USA 70 69 72 70 281 (15,382.81).
19 LUCQUIN Jean-François FRA 68 72 71 70 281 (15,382.81).
19 WALL Anthony ENG 69 73 69 70 281 (15,382.81).
27 LITTLE Sam ENG 67 69 72 74 282 (13,268.75).
27 RUIZ Marco PAR 74 69 70 69 282 (13,268.75).
T29 CLÉMENT Julien SUI 69 71 72 71 283 (11,825).
T29 DRYSDALE David SCO 71 70 70 72 283 (11,825).
T29 GONZALEZ Ricardo ARG 66 75 71 71 283 (11,825).
T29 HORSEY David ENG 67 71 75 70 283 (11,825).
T29 ZANOTTI Fabrizio PAR 66 74 71 72 283 (11,825).
T34 BOURDY Grégory FRA 72 69 68 75 284 (10,175).
T34 BROADHURST Paul ENG 74 68 70 72 284 (10,175).
T34 DOUGHERTY Nick ENG 66 69 72 77 284 (10,175).
T34 WHITEFORD Peter SCO 72 70 69 73 284 (10,175).
T38 DODD Stephen WAL 70 70 71 74 285 (8,937.50).
T38 LANE Barry ENG 74 68 69 74 285 (8,937.50).
T38 MARTIN Pablo ESP 69 73 73 70 285 (8,937.50).
T38 PARRY John ENG 74 68 72 71 285 (8,937.50).
T38 RODILES Carlos ESP 71 67 73 74 285 (8,937.50).
43 CAÑIZARES Alejandro ESP 67 73 73 73 286 (7,425).
43 CLARKE Darren NIR 69 72 72 73 286 (7,425).
43 FASTH Niclas SWE 68 71 73 74 286 (7,425).
43 LIANG Wen-chong CHN 75 66 71 74 286 (7,425).
43 QUESNE Julien FRA 72 65 74 75 286 (7,425).
43 STORM Graeme ENG 73 69 71 73 286 (7,425).
49 LARRAZÁBAL Pablo ESP 73 68 73 73 287 (6,187.50).
49 WEBSTER Steve ENG 72 68 71 76 287 (6,187.50).
49 YANO Azuma JPN 70 68 75 74 287 (6,187.50).
52 GOYA Tano ARG 74 68 74 72 288 (5,500).
52 KAPUR Shiv IND 67 73 74 74 288 (5,500).
54 BUTTERFIELD Andrew ENG 71 69 73 76 289 (4,950).
54 DONALDSON Jamie WAL 73 70 74 72 289 (4,950).
56 BROWN Mark NZL 69 73 73 75 290 (4,152.50).
56 CHOWRASIA S S P IND 67 72 74 77 290 (4,152.50).
56 COLSAERTS Nicolas BEL 71 71 74 74 290 (4,152.50).
56 JACQUELIN Raphaël FRA 69 73 73 75 290 (4,152.50).
56 SERGHINI Faycal MOR 73 68 74 75 290 (4,152.50).
61 KHAN Simon ENG 72 71 76 72 291 (3,712.50).
62 EL HASSANI Younes MOR 71 72 74 75 292 (3,575).
63 LOCKERBIE Gary ENG 74 69 73 77 293 (3,437.50).
64 HACK Jhared US 71 68 76 79 294 (3,300).
65 BAKER Peter ENG 73 69 76 79 297 (3,162.50).

A few dollars more for Joel Hendry in North Carolina

Elgin-born Joel Hendry, Scottish youths champion in 1999 and 2000, earned $1,355 for a joint 45th place finish on Saturday in an ETour event, the Cabarrus Classic at Cabarrus Country Club, North Carolina.
Hendry, who lives in the United States, had rounds of 70, 73, 73 and 72 for a level par total of 288. Winner of the $34,726 prize was American Jason Kokrak with a 15-under-par total of 273 with rounds of 69, 69, 69 and 66.
Runner-up was another American, David Robinson on 274 (67-68-70-69), which earned him $1,240.
Englishman Christopher Cannon finished joint eighth on 279 with scores of 69, 70, 70 and 70 for a $5,261 pay-out.
This was the third event on the ETour. Hendry missed the cut in the second one and made roughly $1,200 in the opening competition.

Sunny day for Scottish junior champion of champions

The Scottish junior champion of champions' 18-hole tournament, washed out when it was originally due to be played on November, is under way on a sunny day at The Duke's, near St Andrews.We expect to have the scores on display for you on our sister website, www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk, around about tea-time.