Rose, Fisher on winning side in Tavistock Cup

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
English duo Justin Rose and Ross Fisher secured maximum points in the singles as Lake Nona beat Isleworth 17-13 in the Tavistock Cup.
Lake Nona led the host club 6-4 after the opening day four-balls, but with 20 points available in the cross singles it was all to play for at the Florida venue.
Nick O’Hern’s seven under in the opening group proved to be the best round of the day and captured two points for the American, but both Ernie Els (three under) and Graeme McDowell (five under) got the better of Englishman Brian Davis to leave the opening match squared 2-2.
Rose’s four under gave Lake Nona two points in the second match against Mark O’Meara and Stuart Appleby, with former Open Championship winner Ben Curtis taking a half off Appleby to further extend the lead.
The third match saw Isleworth fight back with two and a half points, Charles Howell III defeating South African duo Trevor Immelman and Retief Goosen, and John Cook snatching a half from former Masters Tournament winner Immelman.
Fisher, playing with Sweden’s Peter Hanson, took points off Lee Janzen and Arjun Atwal with his three under round, and Hanson’s win against Atwal ended Isleworth’s hopes.
Robert Allenby and Henrik Stenson were tied at level par in the final group, while 2008 Ryder Cup opponents Ian Poulter and J.B. Holmes went round in four under to split the final match 2-2.

Munro Ferries and Billy McBain with their North Alliance championship trophies. Images by courtesy of Robin Wilson.

Munro Ferries retains North Alliance Scratch Quaich

By ROBIN WILSON
Tain's Munro Ferries travelled to Reay last Sunday for the final North Alliance fixture of the season with a win at Golspie 24 hours earlier still showing on his belt and in Caithness he collected his trophy as the scratch leading player of the season.
The “slotted in” Golspie fixture on Saturday was not a success. Because of so many postponements of what has always been a popular venue it was decided to fit in a Saturday visit to Golspie before the season ended the following day but fewer than two dozen members bothered to turned up.
A 73 from Tain's Ferries easily took his number of scratch wins up to five from ten outings and left his 72 hole gross aggregate intact for Reay the next day where he retained the scratch Quaich for another year.
The member who benefited most from the Golspie fixture was Billy McBain from Durness. The Fishery Officer at Kinlochbervie was still requiring a mandatory fourth card to enter the race for the Mackintosh Salver (handicap scores), having already recorded two net 65s at Tarbat and Dornoch and a 71 at Durness.
McBain fished out a net 68 from Golspie to win his section and bring his 72 hole total to 269, now catching and overtaking the trophy holder Seann Sutherland (Bonar- Bridge/Ardgay) by four shots before the play began at Reay.
Reay's entry total was back to the season's average of over fifty, all enjoying the best day of Spring that permitted play for the first time in short sleeves and a clutch of excellent scores were returned, ten of 75 and better, and the best from the Alliance Secretary, Tony Gill of Brora
Four-handicapper Gill was denied a scratch success by Ferries in the opening fixture of the season at Durness, but satisfied himself with the leading net return in Class 1. At Reay, after a steady outward nine holes of 36, his card come to life towards the end of his round.
Gill was one under par over the first three inward holes before losing a ball from a wayward drive at the shortest par-4 on the course, the 13th, and taking a double bogey 6 before an eagle 3 on the next hole. The eagle ignited a run of 3s that did not end until the final green, giving him an inward 32 and 18 hole card of 68 (36/32).
At the same 14th hole where Gill went up a gear Ferries's game dropped down a gear when he played from the wrong tee to incur a two-shot penalty to end up with a double bogey 7. The +2 left-hander was back clubhouse with a one over par 70 (36/34), but he was not in second place. This was already taken by Wick's John Harper who made a score of 33 on the outward half with successive birdies on the sixth and seventh holes and after being only slightly more successful than Ferries on the 14th, a single bogey 6, got home in one over par 36 for 69 and second place.
Don A. Mackay, returning to the Reay fold, showed what a valuable asset he can be to any club with a gross 70, from equal halves of 35 and a share of third place with clubmate John O'Brien and Ferries. O'Brien's gross 70 (36/34) turned into the leading net 65 in Class 1 while Mackay's 70 was elevated to the second scratch prize.
O'Brien's net 65 was matched by four handicapper Harper but in the net card play-off the Wick member came out second best. A scramble of three net 68s followed from three Ross-shire members, Tain pair Alec Gunn and Steve Holmes and Tarbat's Hamish Skinner. After net inward half comparisons, the order was Gunn 31, Holmes 34 and Skinner 34.5.
The home players kept stacking up the net scores in Class 2 which would eventually see their club win the Alliance Shield for club team scores. Leading the way for the Hosts in Class 2 was their past captain Ian Ross, finishing with a birdie 2 for a super gross 76 net 65 followed closely by Gavin Gunn (10) 68, Gunn going behind with a bogey 4 at the 18th.
The homesters were followed by Durness pair Alistair McCowan (12) 70 and John Mackenzie (16) 71 the letter on the better inward half from Shaun Ashe (Brora) (13)71.
Billy McBain having taken his Salver winning net total to 269 at Golspie and not change after his Reay score then saw a new runner up emerge in the shape of the individual scratch winner, Gill. The Secretary's scratch 68 reduced to a net 64 wiping nine shots from his previous total and when combined with his three other best scores, 65 at Durness, 70 at Tarbat and 72 at Brora he came up with a new total of 271 to rob the Salver holder Seann Sutherland of second place by a shot.
Thurso's Alan Swanson was not in the frame until this month but after his 68 at Tarbat to add to his 69 at Dornoch last November he completed his March venue scoring with a two74s( Wick and Reay) for 285 and take the scratch runner's up place behind Ferries.
Brora with just the minimum four members at Reay put up a stout defence of the team trophy with a total of 275, Tony Gill 64,Robin Wilson 69, Shaun Ashe 71 and Peter Etheridge 71 for 275 but the home four, Ian Ross 65, John O'Brien 65, Don Mackay 68 and Gavin Gunn 68 for a total of 271 returned the team trophy to the Reay Clubhouse for the first time since season 1998/99.
The Alliance season completed there is the opportunity for 36 holes of competitive play in Sutherland this weekend when Golspie and Brora open their summer season with walk-on open competitions. Time can be booked in advance for Golspie on Saturday and Brora on Sunday.
ALLIANCE RESULTS
AT GOLSPIE
Scratch
M. Ferries (Tain)73. P. Sangster (Thurso) 75.
Handicap
Class 1 – S. R. Sutherland (BBA) (6) 71. A/ J. Gill (Brora) (4) 72. A. Gunn (Tain) (6) 73 Class 2 – B. McBain(Durness) (19) 68. S. Bremner (Thurso) (17) 73. S. Mackay (Durness) (15) 73.
AT REAY
Scratch
A. J. Gill (Brora) 68. J. Harper (Wick) 69. D. A. Mackay (Reay), M. Ferries (Tain), J. O'Brien (Reay) 70. S. Holmes (Tain) 72. A. Gunn (Tain), R. W. Taylor (Wick), W. Murray (Wick) 74. B. Ronald (Thurso) 75. R. J. Wilson (Brora), C. Burness (Thurso) 76. R. Barker (Wick) ,H. Skinner (Tarbat) 77.
Handicap
Class 1 – J. O'Brien (Reay) (5), J. Harper (Wick) (4) 65. A. Gunn (Tain) (6), S. Holmes (Tain) (4), H. Skinner (Tarbat) (9) 68.
Class 2 – I. Ross (Reay) (11) 65. G. Gunn (Reay) (10) 68. A. McCowan (Durness) (12) 70. J. Mackenzie (Durness )(16) 71.

JIMMY GUNN'S AMERICAN HOLE IN ONE

Royal Dornoch's exile Professional, Jimmy Gunn celebrated his second hole-in-one since joining the Gateway Satellite tour in America. Just a little over a year after his first American hole-in-one at Litchfield Park in Arizona Gunn scored his second ace on his way to victory in the Cancer Awareness Research and Education Pro-Am at the desert Mountain and Country Club in Scotsdale. He aced the par three 166 yard 12th hole on his way to an individual wining 65 and at the same time helping his amateur team to victory.

Tiger practising at Augusta National this week

By PGATOUR.COM staff
In anticipation of his seasonal debut at the Masters next month, Tiger Woods reportedly practised at Augusta National on Monday and had another session lined up for today.
While there was no confirmation from Woods on his website, several media outlets reported on Monday's practice session.
Tim Rosaforte reported on the Golf Digest website that Woods flew to Augusta on Monday morning and played 36 holes, "followed by a lengthy short-game session."
Rosaforte also said Woods has a similar practice session planned for Tuesday before returning to his home in Isleworth outside Orlando, Florida.
The Golf Channel also reported that Woods practised at Augusta, and ESPN confirmed the report, as did the local newspaper, the Augusta Chronicle.
Woods, a four-time Masters champion, will be making his return to the US PGA Tour at the season's first major following a Thanksgiving week incident that led to revelations of infidelity, for which Woods has apologized.
"I'm excited to get back and play," Woods told Golf Channel during an interview that was aired Sunday. "I miss the game. I miss playing, I miss competing."
Woods later added, "I'm starting to get my feel back. I know how to play the golf course and that helps a lot."

Scottish Champion of Champions Tee Times
Sponsored by John Smith’s
Leven Links
Saturday & Sunday, April 3 and 4.
This year's field includes David Law (Hazlehead), record-setting winner of both the Scottish boys and Scottish men's match-play championships last year, and also English Walker Cup player Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall) who won the Scottish open amateur stroke-play title at Murcar Links last season.
Title-holder Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie) and the young man he beat at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off, Philip McLean (Peterhead), are also among the select field. Later in the season McLean returned to the Leven links to win the Standard Life Leven Gold Medal.
Angus Cappi (Carnoustie), the Scottish youths champion in 2009, is in the field.

SATURDAY DRAW
08:00 12:30 Colin Martin Balbirnie Park/Colin Mundie Falkirk
08:08 12:38 Paul Betty Hayston /Chris Lawton Stirling
08:16 12:46 Daniel Sommerville St Andrews /Scott Borrowman Dollar
08:24 12:54 James White Lundin /David Law Hazlehead
08:32 13:02 Allyn Dick Kingsknowe /Greg Paterson St Andrews New
08:40 13:10 John Shanks Irvine /Ronnie Clark Erskine
08:48 13:18 Allan McDonald Crow Wood /Brian Graham Kelso
08:56 13:26 Matthew Clark Kilmacolm /Steven Rennie Drumpellier

09:04 13:34 Tommy Fleetwood Formby Hall /Ross Kellett Colville Park
09:12 13:42 George Reynolds Rothesay /David Gillie Torwoodlee
09:20 13:50 Ed Wood Crow Wood /Ross Bell Downfield
09:28 13:58 Paul Shields Kirkhill /Glenn Campbell Blairgowrie
09:36 14:06 Angus Cappi Carnoustie /Bobby Rushford Grangemouth
09:44 14:14 Bryan Fotheringham Forres /Gordon Yates Hilton Park
09:52 14:22 Philip McLean Peterhead /Craig Watson East Renfrewshire

10:00 14:30 Ross Coull Edzell /Gordon Stevenson Whitecraigs
10:08 14:38 Nicky Barr Craigie Hill / Jamie Aitken Alloa
10:16 14:46 Scott Brown Turnberry / Garry Duncan Carnoustie Caledonia
10:24 14:54 Mark Bookless Sandyhills / Kris Nicol Fraserburgh
10:32 15:02 Steven McEwan Caprington / Mark Hillson Cragielaw
10:40 15:10 Andrew Lynch Glenbervie / Michael Daily Erskine
10:48 15:18 Steven Robertson Sandyhills / Oliver Huish North Berwick
10:56 15:26 Paul Drake Pumpherston / Euan Brown Kilmarnock (Barassie)

11:04 15:34 Fraser McKenna Balmore / Iain Thomson Powfoot

Keith Nicholson new Baberton club manager

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Keith Nicholson, the Lothians captain and current county champion, is the new club manager at Baberton, where he has succeeded Bernard Flockhart.
Nicholson, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, had been out of work since his services in a similar role at Haddington were dispensed with due to cost-cutting measures."It is close on a couple of years since I left Haddington and I am delighted to get this job, particularly at such an interesting time for the club," said Nicholson.
That was a reference to Baberton having recently secured planning permission for a new clubhouse and efforts are now being made to finance that by finding a developer to build flats on the site of the existing clubhouse.
"Like most other clubs, we are trying to retain membership and, even since I started at the beginning of the month, we've had ten under-30s join, which is encouraging," noted Nicholson.
"Baberton are also in a fortunate position that a lot of the work has already been done on a major project for its greens. The club is spending between £600,000-£700,000 on putting in USGA greens and 15 have been done, so it is just a case of putting the final touches with the remaining three.
"Bernard and his committee have done a great job planning things out over a period of time and I feel fortunate to be taking up the reins from him."
Flockhart, who has been at the Juniper Green club for the past ten years,leaves at the end of the month.

Europeans play part as Lake Nona lead in Tavistock Cup

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Both all-European pairings were victorious on the first day of the Tavistock Cup as Lake Nona built a 6-4 lead over Isleworth on the first day at Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
The event between the two golf clubs in Florida saw the ten-man teams compete in five four-balls matches on the opening day, with two points for a win and one for a tie.
Isleworth actually got off to the better start – Australian duo Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby defeating South Africans Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman by a single stroke.
Mark O’Meara and John Cook saw of the challenge of England’s Ross Fisher and former Open Championship winner Ben Curtis in the second match to make it 4-0 to the home side before the tide turned.
Ulsterman Graeme McDowell and Swede Peter Hanson defeated Arjun Atwal and Lee Janzen by a five-shot margin, before another pair of European Tour Members, Retief Goosen and Henrik Stenson, defeated Brian Davis and Charles Howell III.
In the last game English duo Ian Poulter and Justin Rose – who were paired in the last Ryder Cup – saw off J.B. Holmes and Nick O’Hern.
The second round sees the teams compete in four-ball singles – the players are paired up but are essentially playing two singles games against both of their opponents at once.

Fife Golf Alliance to improve services

NEWS RELEASE
Fife golf courses and the tourism trade are being encouraged to take a bigger share of the golf tourism market by giving their views on the way forward for more collaboration, through a Fife Golf Alliance.
The aim is to improve services, facilities and the golf product, boost business, generate a bigger and better offer to visiting golfers and spread the benefits of golf tourism across the region.
With an estimated 1,200 golf related jobs in Fife, the market is increasingly competitive and new international destinations are investing heavily, so the planned Alliance would help protect and boost jobs too.
BTS consultants, appointed by Fife Council, are inviting the tourism trade – and the golf courses – to express their opinions through an open survey and online forum, found at: www.businesstourism.co.uk/fife_golf_alliance_consultation.html
(The link is live from March 25.)
Golf tourism generates around £220m for the Scottish economy. This includes the value of visiting golfers staying overnight (£187m) and a further £36m through expenditure by visitors to the major golf events (source VisitScotland). There are already good examples of local collaboration occurring in golf – through the St Andrews Links Trust, St Andrews Golf Development Group, First in Fife Golf pass, Links with History and Elmwood College for instance –and Fife Council believes that there are definite opportunities to be realised by further enhanced joint working

Nicklaus adds extra spice to playing in Morocco

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE
By COLIN BYRNE
A caddie on the European Tour and a weekly columnist for the Irish Times
We were in Rabat, Morocco last week for the 37th Hassan II Golf Trophy. It has been some time since this venue has hosted a regular tour event and this year the trophy is part of the European Tour schedule in its amended pro-am format.
The Royal Dar Es Salam courses outside Rabat are Robert Trent Jones senior golf treasures hidden amongst the giant gum trees and mature oak trees just beyond the embassies and diplomatic residences of the capital. Built in the early 1970s, the red and blue courses have withstood the test of time and the rapid advances in technology that have rendered so many old courses obsolete for professionals.
The reason the courses have survived is they are well designed with clever dog-legged fairways and small punishing greens. The main reason the scoring was so low last week was there was almost no wind and virtually no rough. The course was sensibly set up this way because it made it more playable for the amateurs.
Despite the inconvenience of playing alongside amateurs there was not much complaining. Normally there is a pro-am on the Wednesday before the event, there was none last Wednesday. Instead the amateurs got to play Thursday and Friday and it was only professionals at the weekend.
It is perhaps the way for the tour to combat the current economic difficulties in the future and introduce more semi pro-am events.
So we all congregated at the clubhouse to restart our seasons, many having enjoyed a three-week break. Some of the younger players were intrigued by the prominent notice on the board advising players that there would be a clinic the next day by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, accompanied by Tony Jacklin.
Apart from the usual exuberance of the younger players for just playing in an event there seemed to be an added amount of excitement about watching the 18-time major winner giving a clinic at the exotic location in North Africa. Some of them planned their practice rounds to fit in with the 10.30am appointment with Mr Nicklaus.
It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day as the stand behind the range started to fill, mainly with players and caddies, all in anticipation of the arrival of the 70-year-old Golden Bear. It got hot in the raised seats as we all waited. Most of the younger players positioned themselves directly behind the balls that had been laid out for Jack to hit. Others sat in the stand square to the prepared hitting zone in order to get the side on view.
The cameramen assembled, the crowd thickened, the journalists arrived and finally a polite ripple of applause trickled across the range as the legend made his way onto the practice area.
The host of the clinic was the ex-broadcaster Peter Kessler, who was ready to run Jack through a range of shots for the largely young professional gathering. “Hi Jack, great to see you, are you ready to hit some shots for us?” Kessler asked expectantly.
“I don’t have any clubs, no shoes, anyway I don’t play golf anymore,” was the legend’s response.
The young pros waited for the humorous aspect of the opening dialogue. It never came. Jack was serious. “I don’t have any clubs, I am not hitting any shots, I am here to promote the game of golf and make it grow in Morocco.”
Whoops, was the tacit look from the stand of young players.
Kessler is a seasoned broadcaster who is acutely aware of the dangers of getting on the wrong side of an irate, ageing superstar. He had worked for one of the big television channels in the US previously but lost his job due to comments that Arnold Palmer felt were inappropriate. He has since moved to radio commentary.
It seems Kessler has learned the importance of diplomacy, particularly with former giants of the game, because when Jack was adamant he was not hitting balls the compere did not attempt to force him.
Tony Jacklin made a timely entrance to the range as the clinic had got off to a non-start. He had his clubs with him, was happy to hit balls and Jack agreed to talk about the swing and his practice routine. Kessler had not lost his job over this little awkward situation, he had just had his momentum set back with Jack’s reaction to being asked to hit some shots.
I take it the organisers forgot to mention this to Nicklaus before his appearance on the range last Wednesday.
He softened somewhat as he talked about his practice regime and importantly, the difference between warming up for a competitive round of golf and a practice session. He maintained that before he played he was simply trying to warm his body up with hitting shots and the warm-up was based on the fundamentals of the game.
He had always left the course the previous evening with his mind clear about what he wanted to do on the course the next day. So the kinks were ironed out before he went home so that he could have some down time away from the course.
He continued that, in his warm-ups, he was preparing for the conditions of the golf course, so if it was windy he would hit shots accordingly. He always maintained that one of his main attributes was he was prepared to change his swing on the course if he felt he needed to. His coach Jack Grout, apart from guiding him, also helped him to be independent.
Having watched Tony Jacklin hitting balls Jack obviously got inspired, because he grabbed his driver, threw his sun glasses on the ground and started to hit some drives. The young pros who hadn’t gone back to their own practice sessions already had finally got to see the legend’s action live and were somewhat rewarded for shaping their strict regimes around a disappointing exhibition from Big Jack.
In the end Jack got to talk about course design in aspiring golf nations; it is business after all. Europe’s aspiring young pros at least got to see Jack swipe at a few drives and the announcer Kessler got to keep his job after what was looking like another prickly interlude with a golfing legend on the back of the range at the Royal Dar Es Salam Golf Club in North Africa.
After all, Jack Nicklaus was there primarily to build golf courses and not to endear himself to young golf pros.