Scots lose 8-4 to Ireland in Under-16 quadrangular

Wales, winners of both their matches so far, will go into their final day match against Scotland (one win, one defeat) as favourites to clinch the title in this Under-16 boys' quadrangular match at Nunspeetse Golf Club in the Netherlands.
Scotland, winners by 7-5 over the host nation on Day 1, lost 8-4 to Ireland today.
Wales, having beaten Ireland 8-4 on the opening day, made it two wins out of two with a 7-5 scoreline over Netherlands.
HOW THEY STAND
Wales 2 wins
Scotland 1 win, 1 defeat
Ireland 1 win, 1 defeat
Netherlands 2 defeats
FRIDAY'S MATCHES
Scotland v Wales
Ireland v Netherlands

TODAY'S RESULTS:

SCOTLAND 4, IRELAND 8
Foursomes (1-3)
Ewan Scott & Lawrence Allan halved with Kieran Lynch & Gavin Moynihan.
Craig Howie & Daniel Flannery halved with Alex Gleeson & Jack Leacey.
Callum Hill & Anthony Blaney lost to Timothy Jordan & William Russell 1 hole.
Greig Marchbank & Bradley Neil lost to Stephen McCarthy & Ross Young 6 and 4.
Singles (3-6)
Scott halved with Lynch.
Allan halved with Moynihan.
Howie lost to Jordan 4 and 3.
Flannery lost to Gleeson 5 and 3.
Marchbank lost to Russell 4 aqnd 3.
Neil bt McCarthy 2 holes.
Blaney lost to Leacey 6 and 5.
Hill bt Young 1 hole.

Other result:
WALES 7, NETHERLANDS 5

Mickelson made $1,350,00 for winning the Masters

It's considered not the done thing to mention prize money at the Masters but, if you dig into the US PGA Tour website's mountain of statistics you will find that the top 10 on Sunday at Augusta National earned as follows:

1 Phil Mickelson $1,350,000.
2 Lee Westwood $810,000.
3 Anthony Kim $510,000.
T4 K J Choi $330,000.
T4 Tiger Woods $330,000.
6 Fred Couples $270,000.
7 Nick Watney $251,250.
T8 Hunter Mahan $225,000.
T8 Y E Yang $225,000.
T10 Ricky Barnes $195,000.
T10 Ian Poulter £195,000.

+Bang goes my Press Pass for the 2011 Masters - Editor.

Jet-lagged Schwartzel still manages to share lead

Charl Schwartzel produced a two under par 70 to move into a share of the second round lead of the Vodacom Business Origins of Golf event at Gardener Ross Golf and Country Estate.
The South African, twice a winner on The European Tour this season, moved to seven under together with first round leader Vaughn Groenewald and qualifier PG van Zyl.
Schwartzel only flew into South Africa hours before his first round from the United States after making his debut in the Masters Tournament last week.
"Considering the state I'm in and how far I've travelled, I'm pretty pleased," he said. "If I can putt that badly and still be up on the leaderboard, maybe I can shoot a good score tomorrow."
He made three bogeys in his round, but he pulled things back with consecutive birdies on the 16th, where he hit a superb approach to inside two feet, and on the 17th where he finally got a putt to roll in from about ten feet.

Tiger enters Quail Hollow Championship at end of month

FROM THE PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
Tiger Woods, winner of the 2007 Quail Hollow Championship, committed today to play in the Quail Hollow Championship, scheduled for April 29-May 2.
Woods will be making his fifth appearance in the Quail Hollow Championship. In 2009, he finished solo fourth. He had to miss the 2008 edition due to knee surgery. Besides his victory in 2007, Woods finished T3 in 2004 and T11 in 2005.
This will be Woods' first appearance on the US PGA Tour since he finished tied for fourth at the Masters Tournament last week.
"We are very happy to have Tiger coming back," said Executive Director Kym Hougham. "Although we did not know if he was going to be able to make it this year, we have been preparing for another strong field and we are glad he will be a part of the Quail Hollow Championship again this year."
Woods' commitment also means three of the top-six ranked players in the world are scheduled to compete -- Woods (No. 1), Lee Westwood (No. 4) and Jim Furyk (No. 6).

Alastair Forsyth (69) top Scot in China

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

In-form American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin and Asian Number One Thongchai Jaidee set about chasing down first round clubhouse leaders Pablo Larrazabal and Liang Wen-chong at the Volvo China Open.
With Spain's Larrazabal and Chinese Number One Liang topping the leaderboard at Suzhou Jinji Lake Golf Club one shot clear of former champion Damien McGrane after carding opening rounds of six under par 66, Pavin and Thongchai quickly moved onto four under par.
Pavin, playing alongside Thongchai and Europe's Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, made the first move with a hat-trick of birdies in the middle of his front nine before beginning the links half of the Gary Player-designed course with a fourth gain of the day.
Thongchai, meanwhile, was showing no ill affects of the elbow strain which forced the Thai ace to pull out before the second round of the Masters Tournament last week and picked up four shots over the final five holes on the wetlands style front nine.
But with Pavin and Thongchai forging ahead in the cold conditions just outside Shanghai, Montgomerie endured a hit-and-miss first round which left the Scot level par through 13 despite four birdies.
Earlier, Larrazabal and Liang established a one shot lead midway through the first round.
With McGrane heading the chasing pack, US PGA Championship winner YE Yang, fresh from his eighth place finish at the Masters Tournament last week, Finland's Mikko Ilonen and Swede Henrik Stenson sat a further shot off the pace in the clubhouse at four under par.
With older brother and former British Amateur champion Alejandro on the bag, 2008 European Tour rookie of the year Larrazabal, 26, made his move with a "perfect" front nine after picking up five birdies and no bogeys.
The 2008 Open de France champion, who caddied for Alejandro during his British Amateur victory and at the 2002 Open at Muirfield and the 2003 Masters Tournament, eased off for the undulating and bunkered links set up of the back nine and made just two further gains against a solitary bogey.
"I played solid. I didn't sleep too much, only three hours last night as I was suffering a bit from jet lag. So I was up at 1am so when I teed off at 6.40am it felt like 10am so I felt very awake," said Larrazabal.
"I played perfect on the front nine and missed just one putt for birdie. But I missed the drive on the tenth into the bunker. Those bunkers are like links bunkers in Scotland, but I saved par.
"I then missed a five foot putt for birdie at 12 which would have put me at six under. I was not angry but disappointed and then made bogey at 13. I tried to be calm and I made birdie at the next par five then birdied 17 before making a great save at 18."
McGrane finished with three birdies in five holes to head the chasing pack after a bogey-free five under 67 from the 2008 champion.
"I played nicely from start to finish and kept the mistakes off the card," said McGrane, who posted his only European Tour success in Beijing two years ago.
"My short game was good and whenever I hit it close I made the putt. It all added up to a five under par and there was no stress, I just did the right things."

FIRST ROUND (before end of play)

Par 72. 7,326yd

64 Thonchao Jaidee (Thai), Do-hoon Kim (Chn).
66 Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Jamie Donaldson.
67 Damien McGrane, Corey Pavin (US) Peter Lawrie (Ire), Soon-sang Hong (Chn)
68 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Y.E. Yang (Kor), Johan Edfors.
69 Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Oliver Wilson, Alastair Forsyth, Graeme Storm, Mu Hu (Chn), Stephen Dodd, Nicolas Coltaerts, Mu Hu (am).
70 Stephen Gallacher, David Dixon, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Bradley Dredge, Peter Whiteford.
71 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Marc Warren, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Pablo Martin (Spa)
72 Sang-hyun Park (Kor), Gareth Maybin, Steven Bowditch (Aus), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Anthony Wall, Peter Hanson (Swe), Ewan Porter (Aus), Hao Yuan (Chn), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Colin Montgomerie.

73 David Howell, Rhys Davies, Oliver Fisher, Mardan Mamat (Sin), Josh Geary (Nzl), Brett Rumford (Aus), Danny Lee (Nzl), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Leigh Mckechnie (Aus), Hui Qiang Wang (Chn), Jae Hoon Jung (Kor), Joon woo Choi (Kor), Se Xiao (Chn)
74 Paul Lawrie, Stephen Dartnell (Aus), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Markus Brier (Aut), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Lei Shang (Tpe)
75 Robert Rock, Scott Hend (Aus), David Drysdale, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Jin-biao Yang (Chn), Zhi-Feng Qiu (Tpe)
76 Bi-o Kim (Kor), Chang-lei Zhang (Chn), Marcel Siem (Ger), David Horsey, Scott Strange (Aus), Tsung-yu Tsai (Tpe), Hyun-woo Ryu (Kor)
77 Shu Tao Gu (Chn), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Sam Little, Ashley Hall (Aus)
78 Xiong-hui Ye (Chn), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Wen-gen Zheng (Hkg), Andrew Dodt (Aus)
79 Ye Tian (Chn), Wei-Huang Wu (Chn), Hai-bao Cheng (Chn)
82 Jun Zhou (Chn)
85 Mitchell Brown (Aus)

Rhys Pugh receives the trophy from Peter McEvoy (image by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography)

Peter McEvoy Trophy
Under-18 boys' open stroke-play championship
COPT HEATH GOLF CLUB, SOLIHULL, WARWICKSHIRE

Pugh beats Lloyd in sudden-death play-off for title

Welsh youngster Rhys Pugh (Vale of Glamorgan) won the prestigious Peter McEvoy Trophy today when he beat Chris Lloyd (Kendleshire) with a par 4 at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off. They had tied on the excellent 72-hole mark of 11-under-par 273.
Leading Scottish player was Scott Gibson (Southerness) with two excellent Day 2 rounds of 67 for a total of three-under-par 281, which earned him a highly creditable fourth place.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71). CSS 72 71 71 71
1 Pugh Rhys (Vale of Glamorgan)70 70 66 67 273 (won play-off at second hole).
2 Lloyd Chris (Kendleshire) 68 69 67 69 273
3 Eason Gregory (Kirkby Muxloe) 71 73 65 70 279
4 Gibson Scott (Southerness) 74 73 67 67 281
5 Shinkwin Callum (Moor Park) 73 71 67 71 282
T6 Burnett James (Sleaford) 70 75 69 70 284
T6 Griffiths Curtis (Wentworth) 74 71 68 71 284
T6 Helyard Michael (Hessle) 74 70 71 69 284
T6 Lockwood Paul (Hessle) 70 72 69 73 284
10 Titlow Jerome (The London) 68 73 76 68 285
T11 Walsh Colin (Hayling Island) 74 72 72 68 286
T11 McDonald Jack (Kilmarnock Barassie) 71 70 74 71 286
T11 Wheeler Ben (Purley Downs) 71 68 72 75 286
T14 Blick David (East Devon) 72 74 71 70 287
T14 Crookall-Nixon Sebastian (Workington) 70 73 69 75 287
T14 Desmond Levi (Belton Woods) 71 72 72 72 287
T14 Heasman Jack (West Essex) 72 70 77 68 287
T14 Dunne Paul (Copt Heath) 72 69 75 71 287
T19 Tree Toby (Worthing) 71 74 71 72 288
T19 Bacon Matthew (Costessey Park) 73 70 70 75 288
T19 Kelly Patrick (Boston West) 72 69 76 71 288
T22 Orrin Max (North Foreland) 73 74 72 70 289
T22 Taylor Ben (Walton Heath) 74 70 73 72 289
T22 Dixon Alex (Chesterfield) 71 72 72 74 289
T25 Johnson Luke (Kings Lynn) 73 73 74 70 290
T25 Edwards Sam (Bigbury) 72 71 74 73 290
27 Selfridge Chris (Moyola Park) 74 71 72 74 291
T28 Redford Ian (St Andrews New) 70 77 71 74 292
T28 Colgate Jack (Rochester & Cobham) 73 73 73 73 292
T28 Harper Liam (Lydd) 76 69 74 73 292
T28 Plant Alfie (Rochester & Cobham) 73 71 73 75 292
T32 Sheridan-Mills Freddie (Walsall) 74 73 73 74 294
T32 Clements Thomas (Royal Norwich) 71 73 78 72 294
T34 Chapman Matthew (Wentworth) 76 71 74 74 295
T34 Kinnear Paul Formby 75 69 75 76 295
T36 Jones Steven (Canons Brook) 71 75 76 74 296
T36 Puddy Michael (Rochester & Cobham) 74 72 75 75 296
38 Ward Nick Redbourn 73 73 79 74 299
T39 Fisher-Ulliott Johnathon (Hornsea) 74 73 73 80 300
T39 Brockington James Henley 76 71 77 76 300
41 Downing Billy (Truro) 72 74 82 73 301
42 Carr Oliver (Heswall) 74 72 77 No Show for final round.

SGU Junior Tour event over 72 holes at North-east venue

TOP SCOTTISH BOY GOLFERS IN ACTION

AGAIN AT NEWMACHAR THIS WEEKEND

New Scottish match-play boys golf champion Grant Forrest (Craigielaw), pictured right by Andy Forman, failed to survive the halfway cut in the midweek Peter McEvoy Trophy boys' tournament at Copt Heath, as much through tiredness as anything else, but he is still in the field for the SGU Junior Tour event over the two Dave Thomas-designed courses at Newmachar Golf Club on Saturday and Sunday.
Seven of the eight quarter-finalists from last week's Scottish boys' championship at West Kilbride have entered for what will be the first 72-hole SGU Junior Tour event. Normally, they are two-round affairs.
They are: Grant Forrest (Craigielaw), Ian Redford (St Andrews New), Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie), Jamie Lynch (Falkirk Tryst), Conor O'Neil (Pollok), Calum Stewart (Brora) and Lawrence Allan (Alva).
The first 36 holes on Saturday will be played over the Swailend course with the final two rounds over the Hawkshill course on Sunday.
The SGU Junior Tour was launched in 2004 to provide leading Scottish boys (under 18 years) with additional opportunites to play in quality competitions and also to provide SGU coachiing staff and selectors with the chance to assess players and their development over challenging courses.
The first event on the 2010 SGU Junior Tour at Monifieth last month was won by Jack Scott (Deeside) who is also in the field at Newmachar.
The remaining SGU Junior Tour events, which count towards a Junior Order of Merit, are at Forrester Park (May 2), Brunston Castle (May 22) and Kilmarnock Barassie (June 13).

Oldcorn makes European Seniors

Tour debut next month

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY EUROPEAN SENIORS TOUR
Andrew Oldcorn makes his European Senior Tour debut in next month’s Handa Senior Masters presented by The Stapleford Forum determined to seize his second chance in the game with both hands.
The Bolton-born Scot, who turned 50 on March 31, has discovered a renewed enthusiasm for the game after admitting he suffered a lull following his finest hour – winning the PGA Championship in 2001.
Oldcorn was 41 years old when he held off Nick Faldo and Angel Cabrera down the stretch to capture The European Tour’s flagship title at Wentworth Club (that's him pictured above in his moment of triumph) and he is targeting more success late in his career when he is reacquainted with some old friends on the Senior Tour.
“I’ve been in this twilight zone of mid forties to late forties where your career is coming to an end on the main Tour and you are waiting for your second career on the Senior Tour,” he said.” It’s been difficult. I’ve also had a tough time away from the golf course – I lost my mother and had surgery on my eye – but I’m looking forward to getting back amongst my peers.
“The challenge of what is coming ahead for me is exciting. How I cope with it is anyone’s guess. I’ve prepared as well as I can. I’m a little bit circumspect in terms of I need to get a bit of confidence back in my game.
“I’ve kept an eye on how the Senior Tour guys have been performing for a couple of years now. I know that the likes of Sam Torrance, Ian Woosnam, Roger Chapman and Carl Mason have done really well. I draw a bit of encouragement from the fact that I competed against these guys when I was younger and had some success.
“I’m just hoping I can make the transition so I can go into a golf tournament and feel like I can win it again rather than just make up the numbers as I did towards the end of my career of the main Tour.”
Born in Bolton, Oldcorn has lived in Edinburgh for 42 years and plays under the Scottish flag. During his 26 year career on The European Tour he won three times, the Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucia in 1993, the Jersey Open in 1995 and the PGA Championship nine years ago.
That latter victory gave him a fighting chance of making Torrance’s Team for The 2002 Ryder Cup and although he pushed himself to the limit by playing 14 tournaments in a row, ultimately he came up agonisingly short.
“If I was to stop now and not play on the Senior Tour I would have to say I’ve had a good career,” he reflected. “I would be happy with what I achieved. I’m unfulfilled in some aspects – I never played in The Ryder Cup for one which I really wanted to do and never played in the Masters Tournament – but I won three times and a lot of people don’t even win once.
“Other than the time I had my illness in the mid-nineties I went the best part of 22 years without losing my card. All in all I think I have had a successful career. If it all stopped tomorrow I would probably give myself seven out of ten. It would be nice to round off my career though by filling in a few gaps I feel need to be filled in on the Senior Tour.
“We can’t escape the fact that we are lucky in being able to have a second career in what we do. That is unique to golf. Once I get my head down and meet the guys again and get into the swing of playing tournament golf again, instinct will take over. It’s how I manage my game from there as to how well I do.
“I’ve been looking forward to the Senior Tour for quite a well but now that it is here I feel like I have talked about it too long and I want to get started and see how I do.”
Oldcorn’s first appearance as a Senior will be at Stapleford Park in Leicestershire from May 12-14 and he is planning a visit to the course in advance of the £400,000 tournament to give himself the best chance of a debut to remember.
“I don’t know Stapleford Park so I’m going down for a scouting mission,” he revealed. “It’s my debut and I know I’m going to be nervous. I don’t want to go in there by the seat of my pants so I am going to prepare properly by going down a few weeks in advance so when I arrive on the first tee I’m not alienated by my first event.
“I’ve missed all the long haul events because of when my birthday has fallen. I’ve never been a great long haul traveller anyway so it has worked out great for me to make my Senior debut in the UK.”
The location of this year’s Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard has also fallen in his favour, with the 24th edition of the Championship being played over the Championship Course at Carnoustie – a short drive from his Edinburgh home.
“It’s unfortunate that I won’t have much golf under my belt before the first Major – the US Senior PGA Championship next month - but I will be well into the swing of things by the time Carnoustie comes around,” he said.
“The fact that it is local as well is a bonus as I can always nip up to Carnoustie for a game. I played a Tartan Tour event there the other day and I’ve played Carnoustie a lot. Even though I know the course really well I think it is one of those course you can never know too well.
“I think it is without doubt the hardest course on the Open rota and I think we will all be praying for good weather that week.
“I haven’t set myself any targets on the Senior Tour though. I think it will take me a month or six weeks to get an idea of how I’m playing. My short term target is to enjoy my golf again and enjoy being in an environment with people I know and just take any plusses that come.
“I’m sure once I get involved again my competitive nature will take over and any flaws that are in my game will be worked out. I’ve been lucky in that I have always got the best out of myself and I have been successful. If I can stay clear of injury and illness, who knows?”

Vandals start fires on at Carnoustie links

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By DAVID GUNN
A golf course due to host the Senior Open Championship was targeted by vandals today.
Fires were discovered at around 1.40am on Burnside Championship golf course at Carnoustie.
Tayside Fire and Rescue services extinguished the fires and no damage was caused to the greens or fairways.
Inspector Kenny Hart, in charge of policing in Carnoustie, said: "The Burnside Course here at Carnoustie is not only a local treasure, but one that is enjoyed by millions of golfers across the world who either travel to the area to play or who watch the Open and other golfing events on television.
"Sadly, inquiries to date would indicate that local youths may be responsible. I would urge parents to make sure they know what their children are doing at night and to know who they are associating themselves with.
"What might seem like harmless fun to them could have devastating consequences on every level and the stupid, reckless and thoughtless actions of whoever did this could have major ramifications."
The Senior Open Championship will take place at the course between July 22 and 25.

Rory McIlroy decides against taking a

-

break from tournament play

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE

Rory McIlroy says he has decided not to take a break from golf and will compete at the US Tour event at Quail Hollow which runs from April 29 to May 2.
The 20-year-old had hinted that he might take some time out after missing the cut at the Masters last week.
“I was just off the golf course when I made those remarks and I maybe just overreacted a bit,” said McIlroy. “I wasn’t really thinking straight, having just missed the cut in a major for the first time.
“I have played six majors and that was the first cut I have missed, but I have got a couple of weeks off now before I go back to the States.
“I will put in some good work in the next couple of weeks and should be in the right frame of mind go to America and improve on my performances.
“I have the tournament at Quail Hollow, then the Players’ Championship, followed by the PGA Championship at Wentworth.
“I will hopefully be refreshed and ready to play some good golf, as I want to get back into the top-10 in the world.”
McIlroy described his week at the Masters as “pretty frustrating” after finishing seven over at Augusta: “I felt as if I played okay but didn’t get much out of the week.
“There were some positives to take from it as I did hit the ball a lot better than I had been doing for the last few weeks. I just need to sharpen up around the greens and get my scoring back to where it was at the end of last year.
“I know I have the game to contend at tournaments and it is just a matter of going out there and shooting the scores.
“I haven’t been doing that, and I’ll just have to go back to the drawing board.”
Meanwhile, American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin is unconcerned by Tiger Woods’ inactivity this year after the world number one returned from his self-imposed exile with a top-10 finish at the Masters.
Woods finished tied for fourth at Augusta after five months out following his well-documented problems away from the course.
The 34-year-old has yet to indicate when he will next play after revealing he plans to take another break from golf, but will feature at the US Open in June.
“I was obviously glad to see him play again, but other things are way more important in his life,” said two-time Ryder Cup winner Pavin.
“He thought it was the right time to play again and I was delighted to see him play again and play well, and he moved into the top eight on our points list, which is a good thing.”