Lanarkshire boys' team to play Stirlingshire on Sunday

Lanarkshire team to play Stirlingshire at Crow Wood GC on Sunday in the first West of Scotland inter-county fixture of the season is:
Under-18s
Martin Scott (Hamilton)
Eamon Bradley (Mount Ellen)
Jordan Gallagher (Crow Wood)
Craig Ross (Kirkhil)
Under-16s
James Steven (Kirkhill)
Calum Harrison (Carluke)
Cameron Graham (Hamilton)
Craig Boyd (Lanark)

Match will tee off at noon on Sunday.

Calcavecchia bowing out of US PGA Tour after 50th birthday

Former Open champion Mark Calcavecchia, who has his 50th birthday on June 12, is likely to play for the last time on the US PGA Tour in the Memorial Tournament.
He has teed it up 736 times on the US Tour, winning 13 tournaments and earning just under $24 million in a career that has not had very many dull moments.
Calcavecchia moved from Nebraska to South Florida when he was a teenager and immediately got involved in the junior golf scene. He competed throughout high school against Jack Nicklaus II, whose father often came out to their junior events.
"We lived about two miles from each other," he said.
Calcavecchia first played Muirfield Village in 1987, the year after his first US PGA Tour victory, and this will be his 24th consecutive year at the Memorial. The closest he came to winning was in 1995, when he tied for second behind Greg Norman.
"Someone asked me if I was excited to be going out there to the Champions Tour," Calcavecchia said. "I said I would be excited if the hole was bigger. But I think it's the same size out there, so I'm not that excited. I can miss 'em out there same as I can miss 'em out here."
It won't be the last time Calcavecchia tees it up against Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. He plans to go to St Andrews for the Open, where he is exempt for another 10 years.
Calcavecchia won a stroke-play play-off against Wayne Grady and Greg Norman at the conclusion of the 1989 Open championship at Royal Troon.

AMERICAN WINNERS IN SHORT SUPPLY
The US PGA Tour has gone four consecutive weeks without an American winner, the longest stretch since international players won seven straight events in 2008. That's an entire month without an American winner.
And that's nothing compared with the LPGA Tour.
Michelle Wie of Hawaii is the only American winner on the LPGA Tour over the past year, which covers 26 official tournaments (and does not include the U.S. victory in the Solheim Cup).
Angela Stanford had a chance to become the LPGA's first American winner this year until losing in the final of the Match Play Championship in New Jersey to Sun Young Yoo.
What to make of it?
"I don't make anything of it," Stanford said. "I think you guys make a lot out of it. We're a global tour, and I wasn't trying any less out there. If anything, I was trying harder because I know that it just kind of keeps coming up."

'Brave' move has helped Stephen

Gallacher to get back on track

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE

By MARTIN DEMPSTER

Stephen Gallacher, who produced his best performance in nearly five years to finish fourth in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on Sunday, has earned glowing praise from his uncle Bernard, the former Ryder Cup captain, for showing a positive attitude to bounce back from the lowest point in his career.
The 35-year-old, pictured right, virtually secured his playing rights for next season after winning just over £190,000 in the European Tour's flagship event in Surrey, meaning he'll head into the second half of the campaign feeling a lot better with life than he did 12 months ago.

Despite contracting a viral illness early in 2009, Gallacher struggled on but, after missing the cut in the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond in July, realised that he wasn't doing himself any favours and so didn't pick up a club again until October.

The former Walker Cup player was given a medical exemption to play in 11 events this season but, as a back up, also decided to head for the Tour School at the end of last year in Girona, where, in the circumstances, he produced an incredible performance to finish third.

Simon Khan, curiously, finished first in that event and, like Gallacher, the Englishman only received an invite last Monday for the BMW PGA Championship, which, of course, he duly won.

In his strongest showing since he came third in the 2005 Deutsche Bank Players' Championship in Germany, Gallacher finished just two shots behind, delighting his uncle, the long-time Wentworth professional and still living nearby at Ascot, in the process.

"The problem for Stephen last year was that he was playing with the illness before it was diagnosed and that was affecting his performances," said Bernard, who led Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup at the third time of asking at Oak Hill in 1995.

"He basically lost a year in terms of being competitive and it was a shame that it came at the peak of his career.

"However, I'm glad that he showed he's got a good head on his shoulders by doing two things. Firstly, he took advice from David Garland (the European Tour's Director of Tour Operations] and decided to stop playing in July, knowing he'd get a medical exemption in 2010. I think he got 11 spots through that, though I think he should have had a few more.

"Even more important, though, was the decision he took to go back to the Tour School, where he finished third behind Simon Khan. That was a brave decision and I'm not sure many others would have done that. I think they'd have taken pot luck with the medical exemption coupled with some invitations.

"What Stephen did showed a positive attitude and I hope he can kick on from here so that he can fulfil his potential."

Bernard, who, along with his wife, Lesley, used to have young Gallacher as a frequent house guest earlier in his career, is particularly keen to see his nephew play in this year's Open Championship at St Andrews, where Stephen won the Dunhill Links Championship – his sole European Tour success to date – in 2004, beating Graeme McDowell in a play-off over the Old Course.

"I spoke to Stephen on Sunday night and said his main aim now should be to play in The Open," he added. "He's too good not to be playing in an event like that (Gallacher has only teed it up three times in the world's oldest major in 18 years and one of those was an amateur]."

While it hit him badly at first, Gallacher, who has leapt 178 places up the world rankings to 213th thanks to his week's work at Wentworth, admits his enforced break last year was perhaps a blessing in disguise as he used the spare time to re-evaluate his career.

Using the excellent Kingsfield Golf Centre just outside Linlithgow, where he now lives with wife Helen and their two young kids, Jack and Ellie, as his base, he went back to basics, changed back to Titleist irons and augmented work with Bob Torrance (long game) and David Burns (short game) with some golf specific programmes from the Titleist Performance Institute.

Having also attracted some backing from local companies through GMI, his new management company who, coincidentally, also have Khan on their books, the former Scottish amateur champion returned to the European Tour at the start of this year with a fresh outlook and had been playing consistently enough, making eight cuts in a row, before turning his performance level up a notch or two in the biggest event of the season so far on the circuit.

"I'll be setting my goals a bit higher again and one of my aims is definitely to do well in the Race to Dubai," said Gallacher, who is in Madrid this week, Wales next week and then heads for Sunningdale to try and qualify for a third St Andrews appearance in the Open Championship. "Wentworth has whetted my appetite to play against the best players in Europe, if not the world."

Xltec Pro Golf Tour
Dalmahoy West and East Courses
May 25 and 26.

SCOREBOARD AND DRAW FOR ROUND 2
East Course
Par 68 for both male and female competitors
10.15
David Snodgrass (Hilton Park) 82
Nicola Melville (Nicola Melville Golf) 79
10.24
Ben Irving (Kirkcudbright) 76
Stuart Burns (unatt) 76
10.33
Chris Russell RAW Golf Course Design 75
Tracey Boyes (unatt) 74
Scott Pithie Carluke 74
10.42 ]
Craig Gordon (unatt) 73
Graeme Stewart (Gleddoch) 73
Stewart Savage (Dalmuir) 73
10.51
Sean O’Donnell Balbirnie Park 73
Mark Loftus (Adam Hunter Golf) 73.
Mark Bruce (Gullane) 72
11.00
Peter Mitchell Hermitage 72
Andy Fullen Largs 72
Alan Waugh Clydebank & District 71
11.09
Kevin McAlpine (unatt) 71.
Vincent Brown (Westerwood) 71
Oliver Morton (unatt) 71
11.18
Scott Garrett (Irvine Golf Club 70
Kenneth Glen (Royal Musselburgh 70
Ewan Davie (Dunblane 70
1127
Barry Campbell (Vale of Leven) 70
Scott Herald (Mearns Castle Golf Academy) 69
Euan Cameron Hamilton 69
1136
Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) 69
Kimberley Crooks (Ladies European Tour) 69.
1145
Jonnie Cliff (Murrayfield) 69
David Orr (East Renfrewshire) 68
Stephen Gray (Hayston) 68
1154
David Roger (Windyhill) 68
Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) 68
Stu Pardoe (Belmont Vauxhall) 68
12.03
James Smallwood Fereneze 68
Katy McNicoll Carnoustie Golf Shop 68
Scott Dixon Marriott Dalmahoy 67
12.12
Graham Rankin Drumpellier 67
Craig Ronald Carluke 67
Alan Lockhart Ladybank 66
12.21
Keir McNicol Carnoustie 65
Scott Henderson Kings Links 65
James McGhee Turnhouse 65
12.30
Greig Hutcheon Banchory 63
Graeme Brown Montrose Links 63
Chris Kelly Cawder 62

CHRIS KELLY (62) LEADS BY ONE FROM HUTCHEON, BROWN

In form Chris Kelly makes the running again in the Xltec Pro Golf Tour Event at Dalmahoy. The Cawder man had seven birdies in total, with his only blemish at the par 4 4th, for a 6 under par 62, over the resort “West” course. Hard on his heels is Challenge Tour regular Greig Hutcheon with a 5 under 63 which included a ball out of bounds at the relatively short par 4, 15th. Making his first appearance this year, East Renfrewshire’s David Orr was 5 under par with 3 holes left to play but found water twice on the par 3, 16th which resulted in a quadruple bogey 7 and finished on level par 68.
Keir McNicoll's younger sister Katy, last year's North of Scotland women's amateur champion, had the best ladies' score of the day - a level par 68 over a course 10 per cent shorter than that being played by the men.
There is a £400 bonus prize for the "leading lady" after 36 holes. Katy's main challenger for that reward is England's Kimberley Crooks with a 69.
Miss McNicoll's father, owner of the Carnoustie Golf Shop, was one of the 12 donors of £200 towards the "leading lady" bonus prize which is a feature of all the Xltec Tour events.
The second and final round will be over The Championship East Course

ANGUS COUNTY GOLF ASSOCIATION

GLAMIS QUAICH SCOREBOARD
Played at Brechin Golf Club

SUNDAY, MAY 23
CSS 71
1 STEVE HARROD (Ballumbie Castle) 68.
2 KRIS HARPER (Carnoustie) 70 (better last nine).
3 WILLIAM BREMNER junior (Edzell) 70.

SCRATCH & HANDICAP
1 DONALD G SMITH (Kirriemuir) (4) 68.
2 MARTIN JONES (Camperdown) (3) 69.
3 STEVE MCINTOSH (Brechin) (2) 70 (better last three).
CAMPERDOWN SHIELD
1 GARY OULTON (Arbroath Artisans) (9) 70.
2 PAUL WILLIAMSON (Brechin) (12) 74.

City of Aberdeen Foursomes Scoreboard
MAITLAND SHIELD
Played at Murcar Links Golf Club this week

FIRST ROUND RESULTS

Auchmill bt Stonehaven by five holes
S Scott and G Geddes 0, G Adamson and N Irvine 0
B Nicolson and A Swift 5, I Taylor and P Lindeman 0

Craibstone bt Nigg Bay by three holes
A Cooper and P Reid 4, R Young and K Daglish 0
S Davidson and A Carle 0, N Slater and I Welsh 1

Peterculter bt Northern by four holes
B Taylor and G Mead 0, G Paterson and I Watt 3
F Downie and M Bowman 7, S Slessor and C McBain 0

This evening's matches:

Bon Accord v Newmachar.
Deeside v Royal Aberdeen
Portlethen v Murcar Links

Wednesday evening:
Hazlehead v Caledonian

Thursday evening
Semi-finals

Friday evening
Final

Martin Laird wins Homecoming Trip to Open at St Andrews


NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R&A
25 May 2010, Plano, Texas. Scotland’s highest-ranked player, Martin Laird, has successfully qualified for the 150th Anniversary Open Championship through International Final Qualifying – America. The 27-year-old, who made his Open Championship debut on the Ailsa Course at Turnberry last year, posted an eight-under-par, 36-hole total of 132 to take one of eight places available yesterday at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, Texas.
The Glaswegian followed an opening round of 69, one under par, with a seven-under-par 63, the joint-best round of the day, around Gleneagles’ 6856-yard Queens Course to ensure his place on the Old Course.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Laird, whose second round began with an outward 29, six under par. “My parents live 15 miles away from St Andrews so I will stay there all week. St Andrews: that’s the place I always wanted to play as a kid.”
Leading the qualifiers was Tim Petrovic, who shot rounds of 64 and 65 for an 11-under-par 129. He will now look forward to making his fourth Open appearance, having first played at Muirfield in 2002, again at St Andrews in 2005 and, most recently, in 2008 at Royal Birkdale.
Bo Van Pelt signed for back-to-back, five-under-par 65s to finish one stroke behind Petrovic on 10 under. The 35-year-old from Indiana will return to The Open for the first time since competing at Royal Liverpool in 2006, his other two appearances coming at Royal Troon in 2004 and at St Andrews in 2005.
“I drove it pretty well, which kind of set up everything and I just took advantage of those short holes,” said Van Pelt. “I took advantage of the holes you could get at, then the tough holes just made pars on.
“I’ve played in three before. It has been a couple of years. It’s probably the biggest tournament in the world, so those are the ones you want to play in. Every guy that came here today obviously wanted to get in, so it’s exciting to get there.”
D A Points, who led the field after a round-one 63, was a further stroke behind Petrovic on a nine-under-par total of 131, comfortably qualifying for his first Open Championship.
“Qualifying means a lot,” said Points. “I’ve never played in an Open and I’ve never played at St Andrews.
“Today was the best golf I’ve probably played in 2010. I drove it pretty well, I hit some decent iron shots, putted really well and managed my game well. Even when I missed the green, I chipped it real close. So it was just a good day.”
The remaining four players that clinched one of the eight Open places available were Tom Pernice Jr, Glen Day, George McNeill and Australia’s Cameron Percy.
Percy defeated Bubba Watson and Charley Hoffman on the third play-off hole with a birdie-three. All three were battling for the one remaining berth on offer.
Davis Love III’s streak of 23 consecutive starts at The Open dating back to 1987 is in danger as he missed out at qualifying. There are, however, three routes available through which Love could still qualify.
Full hole-by-hole scores can be found on opengolf.com.
Results at Gleneagles Country Club, Plano, Texas:
Tim Petrovic USA 64 65 129 Qualified
Bo Van Pelt USA 65 65 130 Qualified
DA Points USA 63 68 131 Qualified
Martin Laird Scotland 69 63 132 Qualified
Tom Pernice Jr USA 64 69 133 Qualified
Glen Day USA 67 67 134 Qualified
George McNeill USA 68 66 134 Qualified
Charley Hoffman USA 66 69 135
Cameron Percy Australia 68 67 135 Qualified
Bubba Watson USA 70 65 135
Manuel Villegas Colombia 69 67 136
Roland Thatcher USA 66 70 136
Brandt Snedeker USA 71 65 136
Jeff Gove USA 69 67 136
Bryce Molder USA 69 68 137
Rory Sabbatini South Africa 70 67 137
Harrison Frazar USA 70 67 137
Woody Austin USA 66 71 137
Nathan Smith USA 68 69 137
Nathan Green Australia 69 68 137
Johnson Wagner USA 70 67 137
Ricky Barnes USA 68 69 137
Kevin Stadler USA 70 67 137
Jonathan Byrd USA 68 69 137
Jeff Overton USA 69 69 138
John Rollins USA 71 67 138
Omar Uresti USA 69 69 138
Cameron Tringale USA 68 70 138
Brendon De Jonge Zimbabwe 71 67 138
Ryan Moore USA 68 71 139
Chad Campbell USA 73 66 139
Rich Barcelo USA 71 68 139
Chad Collins USA 70 69 139
Troy Matteson USA 68 71 139
Cameron Beckman USA 67 72 139
Davis Love III USA 71 69 140
Derek Lamely USA 67 73 140
Andres Romero Argentina 71 69 140
Aaron Baddeley Australia 66 74 140
Fredrik Jacobson Sweden 70 70 140
Boo Weekley USA 67 73 140
DJ Trahan USA 68 73 141
James Driscoll USA 75 66 141
Tim Wilkinson New Zealand 73 68 141
Stephen Ames Canada 71 70 141
Stuart Appleby Australia 70 71 141
Brian Davis England 73 68 141
Paul Goydos USA 72 69 141
JJ Killeen USA 71 70 141
Andy Matthews USA 68 74 142
Bob Estes USA 71 72 143
Rickie Fowler USA 71 72 143
David Schultz USA 72 71 143
Graham Delaet Canada 71 72 143
Josh Teater USA 70 73 143
Ryan Palmer USA 71 72 143
Brad Adamonis USA 71 73 144
Lucas Lee Brazil 71 75 146
Troy Merritt USA 72 74 146
Leif Olson USA 75 73 148
Mathias Gronberg Sweden 67 NR NR
Arjun Atwal India 68 NR NR
John Merrick USA 71 NR NR
Steven Wheatcroft USA 71 NR NR
Daniel Chopra Sweden 72 NR NR
Scott Hend Australia NR NR NR
Alex Cejka Germany 71 Scr Scr
Jeev Milkha Singh India 72 Scr Scr
Robert Garrigus USA 72 Scr Scr
Scott Piercy USA 72 Scr Scr
Kevin Streelman USA 72 Scr Scr
Will MacKenzie USA 73 Scr Scr
Chris Tidland USA 73 Scr Scr
Tim Herron USA 73 Scr Scr
Kevin Chappell USA 74 Scr Scr
Webb Simpson USA 75 Scr Scr
Nicholas Thompson USA 76 Scr Scr
Rod Pampling Australia 75 Disq Disq