Up with the cup, Neil Hampton (left) and Colin Taylor with the Black Isle Foursomes trophy (image by Robin Wilson).

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Hampton, Taylor win Black Isle Foursomes for fifth time

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By ROBIN WILSON
Neil Hampton (Nairn) and Colin Taylor (Kinloss), the leading qualifiers for the match-play stages, twice came from behind to win the ICR Solutions Black Isles Foursomes championship for a fifth time at Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club.

Hampton, a one time Fortrose junior member, and his Kinloss partner are now only one win short of the record six recorded by Brora's Jimmy Miller and Jocky Thomson (Inverness) between the years of 1982 to 1991.

The title-holders, Inverness's Ewan Forbes and Alan Cameron, Cameron also a local member, had won on four previous occasions: 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2009 and were this year attempting to emulate the Miller/Thomson hat-trick of 1989-90-91.

Hampton and Taylor's rounds of 74 and 76 earned them top seeding status with a total of 150 in difficult windy conditions.

Four local couples went through to the handicap ties on Sunday morning led by Tom Cornwall and Robert MacKintosh but they went out on the final green in their semi-final tussle with Stuart Gammie and Stuart Hillis who in turn lost in the handicap final to the lowest handicap qualifiers, Alistair Tait and Garry Moore.
Second scratch seeds were local father and son Kenny and Chris Gaittens with cards of 75 and 76, and they met the holders, Forbes and Cameron, in the semi-finals. Level after 18 holes the first extra hole was halved but at the second extra hole the Gaittens short game failed with a fluffed green side chip, allowing Cameron and Forbes to win their way into the final.

Hampton and Taylor's place in the final came at the expense of former Fortrose greenkeeper, George Paterson, now Moray GC, and his local brother-in-law Johnston Bellshaw.

Hampton and Taylor won by 3 and 1 after their opposition were bunkered at the 17th hole.
Sunday's weather was an improvement, allowing a gripping final between the best two couples in the field. The final began well for Forbes and Cameron who were three up after only four holes.

The par-3 fifth was won by Hampton and Taylor with the first of many birdies that followed. The long sixth was shared in birdie 4 and after winning the ninth, Hampton and Taylor were just one behind.
Both couples bogeyed the first inward hole but in a run of sub-par figures Hampton and Taylor won the 11th with birdie to square but then found themselves behind again when Cameron and Forbes won the 13th and 14th holes with sub-par 3s. The par-4 15th was halved in 3s before the first chink in the Cameron-Forbes armour was revealed at the next hole.
The holders overclubbed and went into the bushes behind the 16th green and their lead was cut back to one. A huge drive left by Taylor from the 17th tee was lucky to find open space on the 15th fairway from where Hampton, playing blind to the green, ended up just four feet from the pin with a great second shot.
Eighteenth tee and the tie was as it started, level, and when the short hole was completed Hampton and Taylor were in the lead for the first time to collect the trophy after Forbes missed the green with his tee shot.
Alistair Tate and Garry Moore went into the handicap final against club-mates Stuart Gammie and Stuart Hillis on the back of a 16th green semi final result over Ian Morrison and David Lackie.

Retired Rosemarkie Academy teacher Tait in former years had already savoured both a scratch and handicap win. With new partner Garry Moore they held a two hole lead after nine and although pegged back to one hole Tate's birdie putt on the 15th green saw them lift the handicap cup a hole later by 3 and 2.
Qualifying Scores:
Scratch

150 N D Hampton (Nairn) & C J Taylor (Kinloss) 74 76.

151 K Gaittens & C Gaittens (Fortrose & Rosemarkie) 75 76.

156 R A L Cameron & E Forbes (Inverness) 78 78.

157 G Paterson (Moray) & J Bellshaw (Fortrose & Rosemarkei) 80 77.
Handicap

(All Fortrose & Rosemarkie)

145 T Cornwall & R Mackintosh (12).

149 I Morrison & D Lackie (14.5).

150 A Tait & G Moore (7).

151 S Gammie & S Hillis (9.5).
Scratch Match-play:

Semi-finals – Hampton & Taylor bt Paterson & Bellshaw 3 and 1, Cameron & Forbes bt K Gaitens & C Gaittens at 20th.

Final – Hampton & Taylor bt Cameron & Forbes 1 hole.
Handicap Match-play:

Semi-finals – Gammie & Hillis beat Cornwall & MacKintosh 1 hole, Tait & Moore bt Morrison & Lackie 5 and 4.

Final – Tait & Moore bt Gammie & Hillis 3 and 2.

TARTAN TOUR SCOREBOARD

The Duke of Roxburghe Challenge supported by Skycaddie
The Roxburghe GC, Kelso
FIRST ROUND
Par 72
66 Greig Hutcheon (Banchory), Edward Thomson (Senit Associates).
67 Craig Lee (Unatt).
68 Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle).
69 Lee Harper (Archerfield Links), Andrew Oldcorn (Kings Acre), Samuel Cairns (Colville Park).
70 Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), Graeme Brown (Montrose).
71 Gareth Wright (West Linton, Graeme Lornie (Paul Lawrie Foundation), Alan Lockhart (Ladybank), Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs Golf Range), Craig Ronald (Carluke).
72 Owen Leslie (Craigentinny), Stewart Savage (Dalmuir), Greg Paxton (Ralston), Michael Rae (Alyth).
73 Sean O'Donnell (Balbirnie Park), Ross Dixon (Renaissance Club), Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), Gordon Law (Uphall), Kenneth Hutton (Downfield), Stephen Gray (Hayston).
74 James Smallwood (Fereneze), Paul Wardell (Whitekirk), James McGhee (Turnhouse),
Christopher Russell (RAW Golf Course Design), Daniel Wood (Eyemouth), Ian Taylor (Drumpellier), Scott Henderson (Kings Links).
75 Andrew Erskine (Ratho Park), Ewan Davie (Dunblane New), Euan Cameron (Hamilton), Malcolm Isaacs (Nairn Dunbar), Colin Gillies (Playsport Golf), Stuart Kerr (Strathaven), Gary McFarlane (Clober), Neil Fenwick (Dunbar.
76 Alan E Reid (West Lothian), Stephen Lamb (Broomieknowe), Craig Gordon (Edinburgh Golf Centre), Fraser Mann (Musselburgh), Andrew Crerar (Panmure), Mark King (Kingsfield), Jonathan Lomas (Unatt), Mark Loftus (Adam Hunter Golf).
77 Ewan Hogarth (Peebles), Jonnie Cliff (Murrayfield), Scott Herald (Mearns Castle), Ronan Rafferty (Roxburghe).
78 Craig Montgomerie (Roxburghe), Craig Everett (Caldwell), Steven Duncan (Balbirnie Park), Stuart Reekie (Blairgowrie), Graeme Stewart (Gleddoch).
79 Ian Rowlands (West Linton), Andrew Fullen (Largs).
80 Ian Butcher (Kings Acre), Stuart Pardoe (Scottish Golf Centre), Michael Sweenie (Turnberry).
81 Heather MacRae (Gullane).
82 Ross Harrower (Boat of Garten), Stewart Smith (Golf 3000), Lewis Burnett (Mearns Castle).
83 Paul Malone (Braid Hills Golf Centre).
88 James Mooney (Kingscliff Golf Solutions)
91 Neil Colquhoun (Merchants of Edinburgh).
Retired - Gavin Cook (Prestonfield)
Disqualified - Nicholas Reid (Unatt).

*Official tour scoring and statistics provided by the
Professional Golfers' Association

Italian clubs that would not let
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Matteo Manassero on their
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courses when he was a kid
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FROM THE REUTERS WEBSITE
By Paul Virgo
Italian Matteo Manassero, golf's teenage hot prospect who became the youngest to play the U.S. Masters, will bring the sport back to the forefront of his country's consciousness when he makes his pro debut next month.
Manassero's bow at his national open will bring a wave of optimism to Italy's burgeoning golf scene -- and surely a red glow to the faces of some short-sighted members of local clubs who tried to keep him off their course as a tiny tot.
"I started when I was three and on some courses they wouldn't let me play because they said I was too little," Manassero, pictured above by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography, who turned 17 on Monday, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"They wouldn't accept that a child could play. So my parents had to argue at times with some people at golf courses so I could."
During a landmark week, Manassero sparked "Matteo-mania" at Augusta earlier this month when he became the youngest competitor at the season's opening major and made the cut for the weekend before finishing with a four over total of 292.
His father said nurturing a golfing prodigy was not always easy in Verona in the 1990s.
"There was one club in particular where I realised that a child's presence wasn't welcome and eventually we left," Roberto Manassero told Reuters.
"In the end we found another club. Now things have improved, but at the time it was really complicated to find somewhere open to children."
Matteo said he developed a passion for the sport by studying his father's golf videos when he was a toddler.
That early education paid off as he qualified for the Masters after becoming the youngest player to win the British amateur championship when aged 16 last year.
After the stir he created in Augusta, as a golfer and as a teenage heartthrob, Matteo will turn professional at the Italian Open in two weeks.
While prospective girlfriends will be disappointed he does not intend to hook up with anyone until "I become a full-time golfer", as a competitor he is already shaping up as one of the most exciting talents to emerge from Europe in many years.
What amazed golf fans was the way in which he kept a cool head while competing alongside seasoned pros.
"It's something I mask well but the pressure is there," he said. "You are nervous in such an important tournament, otherwise it would mean you don't care at all about what you're doing. I probably hide it well.
"I don't fear the expectations people may have of me," he said, adding that his short-term aim is to gain his card for the European Tour.
"If I manage to achieve my goals great, if I don't I'll be the first not to make a drama out of it and keep playing and training.
"In the long term I want to win some tournaments on the European Tour. A major is a dream. If you manage to win on the European Tour, it's possible things will go right for you during the week of a major."
While Matteo is rapidly having to adjust to life under the spotlight whenever he walks out of his parents house, behind closed doors he is determined to maintain a low-key life.
"I have my friends at school and in my city Verona but I don't go out much at night," he said.
"I prefer to go home and be tranquil. I've returned to normality, school and training. Nothing has changed in my family, nor with my dearest friends. I'm still my old self."
His father agreed, saying: "He hasn't altered a jot."
(Editing by Jon Bramley and Pritha Sarkar).

England name team to play France at Chantilly

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION
British and English Boys Champion Tom Lewis (Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire), is one of two new caps named in the England team to face France at Chantilly on Sunday 16th and Monday 17th May.
The other newcomer is Billy Hemstock (Teignmouth, Devon), while the rest of the team are seasoned internationals, most being members of the victorious line-up from last year’s Home Internationals at Hillside and of the team that retained the European Nations Cup in Spain last month.
They are: Jamie Abbott (Fynn Valley, Suffolk), Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall, Lancashire), Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham, Kent), Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale, Surrey), Matt Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire), Chris Paisley (Stocksfield, Northumberland), and Eddie Pepperell (Drayton Park, BB&O). Non-travelling reserves: Jack Senior (Heysham, Lancashire) and Tom Shadbolt (Mid Herts, Hertfordshire).
England captain Colin Edwards is expecting a close contest.
“I expect France to field a very strong side and we will have our work cut out to win over there,” he said. “The French supplied the top four finishers in the recent Portuguese Amateur and they have had other successes. But we won the European Nations Cup impressively and we have also had other fine individual early season performances. So I think it will be a tight match.”

Golfer's 'yips' like writer's cramp, says study

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By NICK ALLEN in Los Angeles
A golfer's "yips" are not down to the pressure of a crucial putt but are caused instead by a movement disorder similar to writer's cramp, according to a new study by neurologists.
Also known as the jitters, the jerks, the staggers, and "balky putter," the condition has affected some of the greatest names in the sport including Bernhard Langer, Ben Hogan, Harry Vardon and Sam Snead.
More than one quarter of all mature golfers are thought to experience it at some point and are left bewildered as involuntary twitches lead to easy 3ft putts sailing by the hole.
The so-called "golfer's curse" has led many of them to give up completely out of frustration and embarrassment at the state of their short game.
In the latest study researchers recruited 25 golfers, who complained of the yips and 25 who did not, and studied them making dozens of putts of varying lengths, measuring the electrical activity in their muscles.
They also wore a "cyber glove" which measures movements in the hand and their putting stroke was videoed.
The research, presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Toronto, showed 17 of the golfers made visible involuntary movements.
Of those, 15 were in the group with the yips, while two had never complained about the problem before and thought they were just bad putters.
The study suggested the condition is similar to the muscle rigidity or cramp which affects writers and has ruined the careers of concert pianists and guitarists.
Dr Charles Adler, a neurologist who led the research, said: "I believe that's the case in a subset of golfers. Identifying that subset is my goal." Sadly, he could not offer a solution and for the moment golfers will have to rely on the current "cures" which range from changing their grip to seeing a psychologist.
Despite the research some believe that nerves could still play a role. Dr Stewart Factor, a neurologist from Emory University in Atlanta, who was not involved in the study, said it would help to analyse twitching golfers "out on the course in real conditions."