Tiger will defend Memorial Tournament title next week


By PGATOUR.COM staff
DUBLIN, Ohio -- Ending any lingering speculation, Tiger Woods will defend his title at the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley next week.
Woods, who is nursing a neck injury, informed tournament officials of his decision on Wednesday afternoon. Commitments become final on Friday at 5 p.m.
Also joining the current world No. 1 at Muirfield Village will be No. 2-ranked Phil Mickelson. Mickelson could unseat Woods at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking if he wins the Crowne Plaza Invitational at colonial this week.
In his last start, Woods had withdrawn after six holes during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship. He had an MRI the following week and was diagnosed with an inflammed facet joint in his neck. He started practicing again last week.
"The doctors advised me to take a week off and rest, which I did," Woods said on his website. "They prescribed physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medication and soft-tissue messages, which I'm continuing with. Although I'm not 100 percent, I feel much better and look forward to competing next week."
Woods, who beat Jim Furyk by a stroke at Muirfield Village last year, is the only four-time champion of the Memorial He has finished in the top-four on three other occasions in 11 starts at the event hosted by Jack Nicklaus.
Woods is also scheduled to play in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach two weeks after the Memorial, as well as the AT&T National July 1-2 and the Open at St Andrews from July 15-17.

James Byrne keeps his nerve and Arizona State squeeze through to

 next week's big college climax - the NCAA Championships

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Banchory’s James Byrne will be competing for Arizona State University in next week’s NCAA Men’s National Championships – the climax to the 2009-2010 US college golf season – at the Honors Course, Chattanooga in Tennessee.

But it was a close run thing in the Southeast Regional qualifier at Atlanta’s Capital City Club’s Crabapple course this week.
Only the leading five teams from a field of 13 qualified at the end of 54 holes and
Oklahoma State, Clemson and Georgia Tech had the top three places “locked up”
That left the five-man teams from Arizona State, Georgia Southern, Brigham Young and South Alabama neck and neck in the struggle to claim the last two qualifying spots at Chattanooga.
Byrne, by his own high standards – he’s a contender for a Walker Cup team place at Royal Aberdeen in 2011 – has not been playing well. He had disappointing scores of 76 and 75, running up two triple bogeys and two double bogeys, over the 7,182yd par-70 lay-out in the first two rounds at Capital City Club.
But when the pressure was on over the last few holes of the final round, Byrne was equal to the occasion and he parred the last six holes to be one of the heroes for Arizona State University’s cause.
James modestly told me in an E-mail this evening from Arizona:
"Although I did well to par the last six holes, two of my team-mates performed incredibly down the stretch as well. Our senior (4th year) Knut Borsheim birdied four of his last 5 holes. and Scott Pinckney - who you may remember played in Scotland for two months last summer  - birdied his last hole as our last man with a six-iron, for us to qualify by ONE shot.
"I have experienced individual successes over the years but this feeling, to finish the way we did and qualify the NCAA Championship, was as good if not better. Hopefully we can take that momentum into next week."
Arizona State tied with Georgia State for fourth place, both teams totalling 863 .. one shot ahead of Brigham Young and two clear of South Alabama. It was that close. The leading three qualifiers were Oklahoma State (841), Clemson (843) and Georgia Tech (845).
There is still time, of course, for Byrne to finish the US college season in style with a double whammy performance. Although the American coaches place great store on winning the team title, there is also the chance for Byrne to win individual championship if he hits the form that won him a clutch of tournaments on his summer holidays back in Scotland last summer.

PGA EUROPRO TOUR EVENT IN SURREY

Shaun McAllister shares lead with a 68 at Burhill

Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw), the 2006 Scottish boys’ stroke-play champion, is back in the limelight as joint leader of this week’s PGA EuroPro Tour event, the Pandora Open, at Burhill Golf Club, Surrey.

Early starter McAllister, pictured below by Cal Carson Golf Agency, posted a four-under-par 68 with birdies at the first, short fourth, long fifth, 10th, long l1th and 13th and the short 18th but bogeys at the third, sixth and 15th to be leader in the clubhouse for some time.

Then in the closing hour or two of play he was joint on the 68 mark by England’s Graham Benson (Leighton Buzzard), Martin Sell (Wrag Barn), Sean Doherty (Bury) and Welshman Tim Dykes (Wrexham).

Two others in the top 20 are Scott Henry (The Carrick at Loch Lomond), once rated one of Scotland’s finest prospects after he had been boys’ match-play champion in 2004 and 2005 and Scottish men’s open stroke-play champion in 2006, and Elliot Saltman (Aegon).

Both returned two-under-par 70s to be among 12 players sharing 11th place. Henry was out in 33 with six pars and birdies at the second, third and fifth but his only deviation from par on an uninspired inward half was a bogey at the 14th.
Henry would have led the field had he been able to procure Saltman’s score of 34 shots for the second nine.
Scott Henry’s brother John, Paul Doherty, Graeme Lawrie, Zack Saltman, Barry Hume and Lee Harper provided a Scotch Corner, tied for 34th place, on 72.
John Gallacher shares 49th place on 73 while Ross Cameron, Craig Lee rubbed shoulders with Ronan Rafferty and Gary Wolstenholme on the 74 mark which placed them joint 69th in the huge field.
Mark Kerr had a 77 (joint 117th), Stephen Clark a 78 (jt 129th), Mark Lawrence and Euan McIntosh, both from Newmachar, 79s (jt 141st), Stephen Duncan an 80 (jt 153rd) and Anglo-Scot Mark Lawrie an 85 which had him joint bottom of the heap on 85.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
68 Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw), Graham Benson (Eng), Martin Sell (Eng), Sean Doherty (Eng), Tim Dykes (Wal).
69 Jack Clarke (Eng), Lee Clarke (Eng), Michael McGeady (Ire), Nick McCarthy (Eng), Paul O’Hanlon (Ire).
70 Matt Allen (Eng), Daniel Gaunt (Aus), Scott Henry (The Carrick at Loch Lomond), Dan Seymour (Eng), George Cowan (Eng), Gary King (Eng), Matthew Ford (Eng), Alex Belt (Eng), Sean Whiffin (Eng), Jamie Little (Eng), Elliot Saltman (Aegon), Stuart Havelock (Eng).
Selected scores:
72 Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel), John Henry (Clydebank & Dist), Graeme Lornie (Paul Lawrie Foundation), Zack Saltman (Aegon), Barry Hume (Haggs Castle), Lee Harper (Archerfield Links) (jt 34th).
73 John Gallagher (Swanston) (jt 49th).
74 Ronan Rafferty (The Roxburgh), Ross Cameron (Saltire Energy), Craig Lee (Aspire Golf Centre), Gary Wolstenholme (Eng).
(jt 69th)
77 Mark Kerr (Dalmahoy) (jt 117th)..
78 Stephen Clark (The Carrick at Loch Lomond) (jt 129th).
79 Martin Lawrence (Newmachar), Euan McIntosh (Newmachar) (jt 141st).
80 Stephen Duncan (Carnoustie) (jt 153rd).
85 Mark Lawrie (Royal Wimbledon) (jt 166th).

Carrickvale's tough test in four in a row bid


FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Carrickvale are just three wins away from a fourth straight success in the Evening News Dispatch Trophy but have been warned that Riccarton, their quarter-finals opponents, will certainly not be scared when they head back up to the Braids tomorrow.
On a night when most matches went according to the form book, Carrickvale moved a step closer to retaining their vice-like grip on the trophy with an 8 and 7 success over Temple Seniors.
"We're warming up nicely," said Allyn Dick afterwards, but Riccarton, the 2005 winners, insist they'll have nothing to lose when they come up against the Carrickvale quartet.
"We know what this event is all about," remarked Grant McCall in reference to that triumph five years ago, "and someone is going to have to beat Carrickvale eventually."
Admitting their opening two ties – against Rhodes and Braids United – had been "tricky", the holders produced a solid display to win their latest encounter.
Hitting a lot of greens in regulation, Dick and David Ewen won six holes in a row from the eighth in finishing five up against Ian Macaskill and Iain Stavert, while Darren Coyle and Craig Elliot were three-under for the 14 holes they played against Ian Fraser and Hinton Bootland.
"That's 22 wins in a row – and 25 is the magic number," said Coyle, whose pink and blue outfit definitely wins the prize for the most colourful gear in this year's event, being staged in association with Edinburgh Leisure.
Riccarton beat Hailes 4 and 3 in their third-round clash – Stephen Marshall and Ian Gourlay finishing two up at the front and McCall and Dougie Waugh, the only change from that winning side, doing likewise at the back. A great pitch from Gourlay at the 14th, where Riccarton had been forced to take a penalty drop from the gorse, secured a crucial half before they won both the 15th and 16th in pars, while the back pair birdied the 11th, 14th and 16th as they recovered from being two down at the turn.
In tomorrow night's other tie in the bottom half of the draw, Cramond, semi-finalists two years ago, take on a Stewart's Melville side that looks as though they mean business this time around.
Cramond's top couple of Ian Doig and Paul Keddie were two up then one down after losing the tenth, 11th and 12th before recovering to finish one up, while Ian Randall and Craig Scott raced ahead early on at the back in a 7 and 5 win over Lochend.
Stewart's Melville, meanwhile, were delighted to come out on top in their tie with Watsonians, an eagle-3 from Kevin Cattanach and Alan Anderson in the top match proving one of the key points in a match that finished 4 and 3.
"It is always good to beat Watsonians," declared Cattanach. "We've had a lot of riendly battles over the years in various competitions and there was some cracking golf played out there."
In the back match, Andrew Hogg holed a 25-foot birdie putt across the slope to win the 15th for Watsonians and then watched his partner, John Nisbet, hit a 3-wood on to the edge of the green at the next but David Donaldson holed a swinging ten-footer for a half in birdies.
Earlier in the night, Stuart Smith had hit an even better tee shot at the 16th, the four-time Lothians champion leaving his partner, Keith Millar, with a two-footer for an eagle as they helped Temple come through a tight match with Heriot's. Despite losing the last to a par-4, Smith and Millar finished two up on John Liddel and Gregor Munro, with Temple's back couple of Gus Santana and John Shepherd heaving a sigh of relief as they halved the 18th to finish one down to David Campbell and Dougie Livingstone after being three up at the turn.
Temple, bronze medallists for the last two years, now take on RICS, who had Gary Middlemiss, a Sunday substitute for Mike Armstrong, to thank as they won through on the last green against FORE.
The Mortonhall member holed three successive clutch putts – from five feet, eight feet and three feet – at the business end of the match to restrict the damage at the back to three holes after Brian Tait and Stuart Agnew had finished four up at the front.
The remaining tie tomorrow will see Silverknowes take on BBT and both those teams look to be in good form. Taking up where they'd left off at the weekend, Silverknowes proved too strong for Longniddry 918, the three-times winners sweeping into the last eight with a 12 and 10 triumph.
BBT, a Turnhouse team, had to work a little bit harder but eventually had more than enough in the tank as they beat Thistle Thursday, in doing so ending the involvement of the Braids clubs in the 111th staging of the event.

JAMES BYRNE (No 30) CONTINUES TO HEAD
-
 11 SCOTS IN R&A's WORLD TOP 500 AMATEURS

Banchory’s James Byrne, a student at Arizona State University, continues to head the only 11 Scottish players who are in the weekly-updated top 500 of the R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Byrne, under pressure from Ross Kellett (Colville Park) for a spell earlier in the month, is now well clear of the Motherwell man. Byrne is ranked No 30, down five from last week, and Kellett is No 56, down six .
There is a big gap between Kellett and the third Scot in the WAGR. East Tennessee State University student Michael Stewart from Troon is ranked No 190, down three places from last week.

LEADING R&A WAGR
1 Peter Uihlein (US) (no change).
2 Nick Taylor (Canada) (no change).
3 Tommy Fleetwood (England) (no change).
4 Russell Henley (US) (up four places).
5 Victor Dubuisson (France) (no change).
6 Bud Cauley (US) (down two places).
7 Jonathan Randolph (US) (down one place).
8 Andrea Pavan (Italy) (down one place).
9 Patrick Reed (US) (no change).
10 David Chung (US) (up one place)

Scots’ positions in top 500
30 James Byrne (-5).
56 Ross Kellett (-6).
189 Michael Stewart (-3).
220 Stuart Ballingall (+58).
284 Kris Nicol (-21).
303 Glenn Campbell (-22).
351 James White (-12).
338 Mark Hillson (-29).
399 Phil McLean (-80).
408 Greg Paterson (+59).
429 David Law (-15).

THE CHARITABLE CHIELS’ TEXAS SCRAMBLE

A CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE IN A GOOD CAUSE
The Charitable Chiels are a group of lads, from Ballater, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, who, since 2001, have worked tirelessly to raise much funds in aid of their local community.
On June 11, 2010, they will be holding a Texas Scramble Charity Golf Day, hosted by Ballater Golf Club, with almost 75 teams of players competing for the Sandy Barclay Memorial Jug. This very popular, all-day event not only raises funds for local causes, but has the Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Research at Edinburgh University, as the main beneficiary.
In 2003, Sandy Barclay, who was secretary of Ballater Golf Club, started this Charity Golf Day to raise funds in aid of MND sufferers. In 2005, to make sure of its continued success, he joined forces with the well-respected Chiels, but in 2008, he passed away, after having lived with MND for six years.
Recently, the MND Research Centre kindly set up a Memorial Fund in his name. Since 2003, thanks to peoples’ generosity and assistance, this yearly golf event has raised over £175,000. Quite an achievement for a wee village!
Readers may like to know that apart from receiving many other generous auction items, The Chiels have two special Masters’ items to be auctioned at this event. They have secured a ‘once in a life-time offer’ of, A Package for Two people, which includes; much sought-after Tickets for the US Masters in April, 2011 for the last two days of the Tournament (when the famous Green Jacket gets presented), five nights' accommodation (twin-bedded room on a B & B basis) at a Marriot Hotel (or similar) in Columbia, two rounds of golf, over 2 days in an organised Competition, full hospitality at Augusta’s Northwood Club and from Airport to Hotel and to Course transfers (Please note that Flights are not included).
The reserve price for this unique item is £6,000.
For all of you Vijay Singh fans, The Chiels have yet another unique Item for Sale . Peter Alliss, the well-known Golf Commentator, has kindly donated and signed, from his own Private Collection, an original set of Score Sheets from when Vijay Singh won The Masters 2000 (a very important year).
Each set of the six sheets accurately depicts, for all four rounds, the scores of all of the Players. The score sheets, never having been copied before, must surely be of value to a Vijay Singh or Peter Alliss fan. The Chiels have also had them reduced in size (still to be framed).
The reserve price is a very modest £300.
The Charitable Chiels hope that the Masters’ items are of interest to folks out there and if anyone would like to place a bid for either of them, prior to the Charity Day, on the 11th June, please contact Andrew Thain on 07752532864 or E-mail your bid through to andy@distillery.freeserve.co.uk

TWENTY-EIGHT GOLFING GREATS DECLARE TO PLAY

IN  FOUR-HOLE OPEN CHAMPIONS’ CHALLENGE

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R&AOpen Champions with victories spanning over 50 years, from five-time winner Peter Thomson in 1954 right up to 2009’s champion, Stewart Cink, have confirmed their intention to participate in the Open Champions’ Challenge.
Twenty-eight of 32 champions have accepted the invitation to play four holes of the Old Course, the first, second, 17th and 18th, on Wednesday July 14, the day before the 150th Anniversary Open Championship gets underway.
Crowds of over 30,000 are expected to line the fairways to watch the event, which will see Seve Ballesteros return to the golf course after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008. The three-time Open Champion, who was the first to confirm his appearance in the Challenge, is set to return to St Andrews to a rapturous reception, 26 years after he famously triumphed on the Old Course in 1984.
Speaking recently, the Spaniard said: "I am happy and looking forward to playing the Champions' Challenge. I think I can do very well and say thank you to all my fans at St Andrews, where I have many great memories."
One year on from his phenomenal runners-up performance at Turnberry, five-time winner Tom Watson will join Ballesteros and 26 other legends of the game for what will be a nostalgic and memorable event for golf fans worldwide.
Tiger Woods, the current world number one and winner of the last two Opens at St Andrews, has also confirmed that he will be taking his place in the Challenge before commencing his bid to become the first man to lift the Claret Jug on the Old Course three times.
“We’re very pleased that there will be such a distinguished and full field for this special occasion,” said The R&A’s Chief Executive, Peter Dawson. “We have six more Open Champions taking part in this special celebration than there were a decade ago at the Millennium Open. It’s sure to be a wonderful celebration befitting the 150th anniversary of golf’s oldest Major.”
Sadly, 1946 Open Champion Sam Snead, who entertained the galleries so memorably with a tap-dance on the Swilcan Bridge during the Millennium Champions’ Challenge, and 1951 winner Max Faulkner, passed away in 2002 and 2005 respectively.
The oldest surviving Open Champion, Kel Nagle, along with Jack Nicklaus, Nick Price and Johnny Miller, is unable to take part.
Seven teams of four Open Champions will compete for a prize of £50,000, which will be donated to a charity of the winning team’s choice. The best individual score per team on each hole will count. In the event of a tie, the team with the highest average age will prevail.
The Open Champions’ Challenge will be streamed globally on Opengolf.com via a high-quality feed. The live feed will also be available on the Opengolf iPhone application, which will be launched at the end of June.
The BBC will broadcast highlights of the event at prime-time on the Wednesday evening. Coverage will also be televised in the United States and Japan.
Tickets for Wednesday’s play can be purchased for the price of £40 online at Opengolf.com or by contacting the Ticket Office on +44 (0)1334 460010. Concessions are available for senior citizens and youths.
The Open Champions’ Challenge will begin at 3.40pm and is expected to conclude by 6.00pm.
The Champions competing, together with the years of their victories, are as follows:
Peter Thomson (AUS)
1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965
Gary Player (RSA)
1959, 1968, 1974
Arnold Palmer (USA)
1961, 1962
Bob Charles (NZL)
1963
Roberto de Vicenzo (ARG)
1967
Tony Jacklin (ENG)
1969
Lee Trevino (USA)
1971, 1972
Tom Weiskopf (USA)
1973
Tom Watson (USA)
1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983
Severiano Ballesteros (ESP)
1979, 1984, 1988
Bill Rogers (USA)
1981
Sandy Lyle (SCO)
1985
Greg Norman (AUS)
1986, 1993
Sir Nick Faldo (ENG)
1987, 1990, 1992
Mark Calcavecchia (USA)
1989
Ian Baker-Finch (AUS)
1991
John Daly (USA)
1995
Tom Lehman (USA)
1996
Justin Leonard (USA)
1997
Mark O’Meara (USA)
1998
Paul Lawrie (SCO)
1999
Tiger Woods (USA)
2000, 2005, 2006
David Duval (USA)
2001
Ernie Els (RSA)
2002
Ben Curtis (USA)
2003
Todd Hamilton (USA)
2004
Padraig Harrington (IRE)
2007, 2008
Stewart Cink (USA)
2009




ENDS

The elevated 18th green as it looks now, image by Robin Wilson

Having a look at the new-look Wentworth West Course

By ROBIN WILSON
Our Brora man who went down to Wentworth last week for the BMW PGA championship.
Ernie Els and his re-design of the Wentworth West Course received a bit of stick from several of his fellow professionals competing in the BMW PGA Championship last weekend over the exclusive Virginia Water Estate golf course in Surrey.
Mainly his alterations were concentrated on and around the greens, bunkering, undulations and runaways for the not quite 100% approach shots. It was quoted millions of pounds were spent and all completed before the first ball was struck last Thursday morning at 7.30am.
Well, not quite - I arrived on the course at 10.15am and made directly to the the highly-publicised new-look 18th green, complete with Ernie's new water hazard, where, to my astonishment, the first thing I saw was a squad of Wentworth green greenkeepers hurriedly shoveling sand out of a bunker with 10 minutes to go before the first group of players were on the 18th tee, having started their round at 7.00am!
Then, an hour or two later, as I watched by £2 bet on twice Open champion Padraig Harrington disappear into the foliage from the 17th tee and his penalty shot recovery land at my feet up on the left hand side of the fairway I spied a relic from the 1960s.
Remember the Piccadilly World Match-play? Would you believe it, beside me was a spectator carrying her Piccadilly periscope from nearly forty years ago!

CITY OF ABERDEEN MEN'S FOURSOMES
MAITLAND SHIELD
Murcar Links Golf Club

Tuesday evening's results:

FIRST ROUND (continued)
Newmachar bt Bon Accord by one hole
C Simpson and M McKechnie 2, B Edmond and N Mitchell 0
R Barr and C Lamb 0, M Greig and J Annand 1

Royal Aberdeen bt Deeside by seven holes
M Halliday and B Barclay 3, A Campbell and R Evett 0
S Buchan and A Reith 4, T Rennie and G Hutcheon 0

Murcar Links bt Portlethen by three holes
A Bews and I Galbraith 0, G Esson and C Brechin 3
G Stewart and D Raitt 6, R Penny and G Innes 0