R and A extend BBC contract up to and including 2016 Open

The R and A has announced the extension of its deal with BBC, giving the network exclusive television rights through the 2016 Open.
Said Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R and A: “The R and A has enjoyed a special relationship with the BBC for more than 50 years. On the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of The Open Championship, we are very pleased to have ensured the continuation of that relationship.
“It is very important to The R and A that The Open remains accessible to as many people as possible and the BBC is an ideal partner in fulfilling this ambition across the United Kingdom.”
The new agreement also gives BBC coverage rights for radio, online, interactive and iPlayer. This year’s Open telecast, with more than 40 hours of coverage, was the first to be shown in high definition.
Barbara Slater, BBC’s director of sport, called the Open “one of our most important crown-jewel events.”
“We are delighted to have extended our partnership. . . (and) look forward to continuing to bring top-class golf coverage to the widest possible audiences through to 2016,” Slater said.

Lanarkshire men's match-play championship

Tonight's results at Hamilton were:

Mark O'Donnell (Hamilton) bt Wilson Bryson (Drumpellier) 4 and 2
Kevin Loughrie (Cambuslang) bt Gordon Robertson (Airdrie) 4 and 3.
Ed Wood (Crow Wood) w.o. Des Fearon (Colville Park) scratched (injured)
Robbie Main (Airdrie) bt Alistair Graham (Crow Wood) 3 and 2.

Neil Hampton to be Royal Dornoch

Golf Club's general manager

By ROBIN WILSON
Neil Hampton, currently Golf and Marketing Director of Fairways Leisure and Secretary to the Loch Ness Golf Club at Castle Heather, Inverness. is leaving his post at the end of August to take up the position of General Manager at the world famous Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Sutherland.
He was selected from over 50 applicants, many of which were of a very high calibre succeeding John Duncan who had been in the post for the lat sixteen yeara and who took early retirement in the Spring.
Coming from a golfing background, Hampton will take to Royal Dornoch, whose links course is ranked 15th in the World, a wealth of golf club management, having spent the last few years developing Fairways and its three golf courses, driving range, lounge bar and restaurant facilites.
Born in Burntisland, Fife in 1967, he was only one year old when his parents uprooted and moved to the Western Islands where his father, George, was appinted professional/greenkeeper and clubhouse steward to the Stornway golf club.
The family - he has an elder brother Graham - remained in Stornaway until his father took over as professional/greenkeeper at Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club in 1975 where Neil honed out his golf swing, considered by many as the truest in the North. Through the years, Neil dominated events at Fortrose and  Rosemarkie. He has won their open a staggering 10 times and the Black Isle foursomes six times.
In 1985 he became a trainee technician with the Highland Council before joining its Accident and Prevention Unit of the Roads and Transport Department. He later took up his post at Fairways.
When his parents moved from Fortrose to Pitlochry, where father George became the club professional, he and his brother set up house in Inverness and Neil became a member of the The Nairn Golf Club where with a scratch and at times better handicap rating he soon became a prominent scratch winner and automatic choice in the North District's team.
In 1995 and 2000 Neil was a member of the North teams who won the Scottish Area Team Championships at Edzel and East Kilbride and he twice won the North championship at Brora (1991) and Nairn (1995). Latterly he served a term on the North Executive with responsibility for developing the junior coaching programme.
Since the introduction of the Inverness four-day open tournament, Hampton has a record of being in eight finals, winning four of them plus also winning 36-hole opens from Forres to Brora and even making a nostalgic winning return to Stornaway one year.
A member of the James Braid Golf Society, Neil, and wife Fiona, a special events co-ordinator with Highland Council, and their seven-year-old son Max are looking forward to moving to Dornoch where they were married in 2000.
James Campbell, Captain of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club, is looking forward to working with neil in taking the club forward and Neil said after his appointment that he is looking forward to the challenges ahead where unlike Loch Ness he can expect up to meet and greet up to 9,000 visiting golfers each year, many of them from overseas.
Last word from Neil Hampton himself, which gives an insight into his decision:
"I am very honoured to be given the opportunity to take the helm at Royal Dornoch and help the existing staff and committee into the next stage of the club's evolution. Royal Dornoch Golf Club is steeped in history and tradition but thinks in the 21st century and this is what appealed to me. There are many challenges in golf at the moment but I think that together we can put the club and course back to where it belongs.
"It wasn't an easy decision to leave Loch Ness Golf Course and Fairways as I have had many happy years and put a lot of myself into it but Royal Dornoch was too big an offer to turn down and I look forward to applying myself just as much to this new role."

Downfield senior qualifying delayed by heavy rain

FROM THE R AND A WEBSITE

Twenty-two of the 33 qualifiers to this week’s Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard have sealed their places alongside the likes of Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Corey Pavin, Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle at Carnoustie.
Eleven players made it through each of the 18 hole qualifiers at Panmure and Monifieth but the Championship field will not be completed until tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon after inclement weather forced a suspension of play at Dowanfield.
Leading the qualifiers at Monifieth was American Kirk Hanefield, who carded a three under par 68 to finish one clear of Australian Graham Bannister.
At Panmure, Edzell's Alastair Webster led the way with a one over par 71, with Mark Balen of the USA joining the English duo of Steven Bennett and Barrie Stevens in a share of second spot.
Six amateur players came through qualifying at Panmure and Monifieth to seal a place alongside many of golf’s most legendary names at Carnoustie.

Monifieth Qualifiers:

68 Kirk HANEFELD (USA);
69 Graham BANISTER (AUS);
70 Carlo Alberto ACUTIS (ITA); Jeb STUART (USA); Fraser MANN (SCO);
71 Martin POXON (ENG); Steve CIPA (ENG); Randy HAAG (AM)(USA);
72 Lance TENBROECK (USA); Michael MERCIER (USA) (amateur), G.A. BELL (SCO) (amateur).;

Panmure Qualifiers:
71 Alastair WEBSTER (SCO);
72 Mark BALEN (USA); Stephen BENNETT (ENG); Barrie STEVENS (ENG)
73 John GOULD (ENG); Joe STANSBERRY (USA); Andrew REYNOLDS (ENG; John BENDA (USA); Steve ROGERS (AM) (USA); Andy STUBBS (AM) (ENG); David GILCHRIST (SCO) (amateur)
Downfield Qualifiers
Not known until Tuesday afternoon.

Heavy rain caused delays at qualifying for The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard, with play suspended at Downfield Golf Club..
Only 14 out of 30 groups completed their rounds at the Dundee venue.

US PGA Tour Scoreboard
RENO-TAHOE OPEN
Montreux G and CC, Reno, Washoe County, Nevada
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
277 Matt Bettencourt 66 68 75 68
278 Bob Heintz 69 68 72 69
279 John Merrick 69 68 73 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 69 72 69 69
280 Kent Jones 73 72 67 68, Robert Gamez 76 68 68 68, Kevin Stadler 70 67 73 70, Craig Barlow 69 72 67 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 72 68 69
281 Robert Garrigus 69 65 73 74, Bill Lunde 69 68 73 71, Paul Stankowski 71 70 70 70, Martin Flores 74 70 68 69, Chris DiMarco 67 71 72 71
282 Chad Campbell 69 69 71 73, Kirk Triplett 76 68 70 68, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 73 69 71
283 Will MacKenzie 68 72 71 72, Steve Allan (Aus) 69 74 68 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 69 68 73
284 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 69 67 76, Todd Fischer 69 70 75 70, John Mallinger 69 67 71 77, Mark Wilson 74 71 70 69, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 73 70 72
285 Jonathan Kaye 71 69 70 75, J J Henry 69 72 72 72, Ben Fox 73 71 69 72, Len Mattiace 78 65 71 71, Tom Gillis 73 72 73 67
286 Jeff Quinney 72 69 70 75, Steve Flesch 74 71 69 72, Graham Delaet (Can) 70 76 62 78, Kevin Streelman 69 72 76 69
287 Scott McCarron 70 69 67 81, Aron Price (Aus) 70 71 71 75, Vaughn Taylor 74 72 70 71, Guy Boros 72 73 75 67
289 David Lutterus (Rsa) 70 75 70 74, Kris Blanks 71 72 76 70, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 71 74 72 72, Woody Austin 69 72 73 75, Jim Carter 69 76 71 73, Steve Wheatcroft 74 67 71 77, Seung-su Han (Kor) 72 71 72 74, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 69 72 75 73, Johnson Wagner 75 72 69 73, Rich Barcelo 71 69 75 74
290 James Nitties (Aus) 72 74 70 74
291 John Rollins 71 72 73 75, Matt Hill 70 75 71 75, Greg Kraft 72 71 71 77, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 72 73 74 72
292 Josh Teater 74 72 72 74
293 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 69 75 77, Mark Brooks 74 70 74 75, Craig Bowden 68 72 75 78, Nicholas Thompson 72 75 72 74, 294 Willie Wood 76 70 73 75, Brent Delahoussaye 77 69 72 76, Omar Uresti 70 75 72 77, Ted Purdy 73 74 71 76, Skip Kendall 75 70 74 75
295 Charles Warren 70 75 75 75
297 Vance Veazey 75 71 70 81, Cliff Kresge 70 70 79 78
298 Robin Freeman 73 71 78 76, Roger Tambellini 71 72 78 77
299 Mike Small 73 74 76 76, Dicky Pride 72 69 76 82
304 Matthew Every 75 68 84 77

PETER SMITH TO JOIN PAUL LAWRIE TEAM ON

RETURN FROM NEWZEALAND

 IN MID-SEPTEMBER

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Former Northern Open champion Peter Smith is to join the Paul Lawrie Foundation backroom team when he returns to his native North-east from New Zealand in mid-September.
Smith, who won the NZ club professionals' title in 2003, came over to play in the recent PGA seniors championship and took the chance to make a flying visit to Aberdeen. He met Paul Lawrie by chance, as Paul explains:
"I bumped into Peter Smith at Deeside Golf Club during the two or three days he was back home. He explained while we played nine holes that he was coming back to live in Aberdeen.
"I immediatly offered him a coaching role within our Foundation. We will use Peter mainly with some of the older children, more on the playing side instead of the technical side. Peter is very good at what he does and we're very excited to have him coaching for us soon.
"He's experienced and has played at the top level."
Smith, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who has just turned 50, is going to the European Seniors Tour School on the Algarve, later in the year.
"If I win my card this time, it won't interfere with other commitments because I look on it as a part-time tour, plenty of time between tournaments to pursue other things," he said.
Smith is looking to set up a base at a private golf club in the Aberdeen area from where he could pursue a corporate golf outings business as well as individual coaching.

RandA have no plans to lengthen Old Course for next Open

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
There are no plans to make the St Andrews Old Course any longer when The Open is next played at the course - but officials do hope to see the Road Hole 17th playing tougher.
The tee on the Old Course's most famous and most difficult hole was moved back 30 yards for this year's championship, making it a 495-yard par 4, but the average score went up only from 4.63 in 2005 to 4.66.
It has not been announced yet when the Home of Golf next plays host but it usually gets the Open every five years and  2015 is the first available date.
 The RandA focus at the 17th is likely to be on the slopes on and around the green rather than the tee. "We would like to see more balls go in the Road Bunker," said Royal and Ancient Club chief executive Peter Dawson. "It's lost its ball-gathering capabilities."
The bunker itself is now easier to get out of than it was because the face is no longer the vertical wall that it once was.
On that, Dawson added: "We wanted to give players some sort of chance to get out rather than no chance."
He continued: "The new tee was a success in stiffening the test. I would have liked the rough on the left somewhat thinner, but it grew up rapidly in the last few weeks.
"We were hoping that lengthening the hole would bring the road behind the green back in play more and by gosh it did that.
"Overall I think the course is just fine and there are no plans for lengthening the course any more."
Dawson also defended St Andrews against criticisms that it lends itself to runaway winners and therefore a less exciting finish. Tiger Woods won by eight in 2000 and by five in 2005, and South African Louis Oosthuizen's victory came by a seven-shot margin.
"I think that's just coincidence," he commented. "You can get big margins on any course."
+The length of the Old Course for the Open was around 7,300 yards.

Oosty staying on European Tour for time being

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS WEBSITE
New Open champion Louis Oosthuizen has committed himself to the European Tour for the time being - starting with the Scandinavian Masters in Sweden this week.
The South African's seven-shot victory at St Andrews entitles him to US Tour membership, but looking remarkably fresh on Monday morning despite celebrating until 3am he was clear in his mind.
"At the moment I am playing my schedule like I would have," he said. "I think the only difference is I am in Akron (WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) now."
The WGC event gets under way in three weeks' time and it will be followed a week later by the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, where tradition dictates he will play the first two rounds with Masters champion Phil Mickelson and US Open winner Graeme McDowell.
Oosthuizen's brief sleep was with the Claret Jug alongside his bed, but while he will have to return that at the start of next year's championship at Sandwich, he also has in his possession a permanent reminder of his first major title.
As part of the celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the first Open in 1860, Oosthuizen was also presented with a replica of the red leather and silver buckle belt that was the original Open trophy.
The 27-year-old, a 250/1 shot before the event, is golf's newest major champion - but it has already given him the taste for more.
"I want a few more of them," he stated. "It would be great - after winning one you want to get to the second one and after the second one you probably want to get to the third. I'm going to work harder and get as many as I can."
Part of the key to his success was a red dot on his golf glove, the idea of sports psychologist Karl Morris to help him focus more with his pre-shot routine.
"It's the first time I've done it and I'm very happy with the way I did it the last nine holes."

PAUL O’HARA LYING JOINT

SIXTH IN GERMANY

Motherwell’s Paul O’Hara, seeking to follow up last week’s win on the EPD German Tour finished the first round joint sixth with a two-under-par 70 in the Pfaffing Classic at Golfanlage Pfaffing in Bavaria today .
O’Hara, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, got off to a flying start by birdieing the first three holes and added further birdies at the seventh, 12th and 17th but a double bogey 7 at the long 16th prevented him from finishing the day closer to Englishman Grant Jackson who set a course record seven-under-par 65.
O’Hara was out in 33 (three under par) and home in 37 (one over). He bogeyed the fourth and 14th.

FIRST ROUND LEADERS
Par 72
65 Grant Jackson (Eng).
68 Anthonio Rosado (Por).
69 Max Kramer (Ger), Max Tschinkell (Ger0, Jurrian Van Der Vaart (Net).
Selected scores:
70 Paul O’Hara (Sco).
71 Lee Corfield (Eng), Stephen Grant (Ire).
74 Ben Parker (Eng).
75 Matthew Brunyard (Eng), Emilio Dellanzo (Eng).

ends

GREAT SCOTT! HENDERSON WINS £2,116 AT GRAMPIAN

HOUSTON  JUNIOR TRIP PRO-AM

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
The Grampian Houston Junior Fund pro-am at Royal Aberdeen provided a home-town recipient – Scott Henderson (Kings Links) – for the biggest one-day prize of £2,116 on the Tartan Tour.
On a day, when the afternoon starters got the worst of the rain, Henderson made the most of a 10.10am tee time to lead the field of 42 pros with a two-under-par 69. He won by a single shot from David Patrick (Elie), PGA Cup player Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) and James McGhee (Turnhouse) whose 70 late in the day was a great effort.
Henderson, pictured left by Cal Carson Golf Agency, birdied the sixth and eighth in an outward half of two-under-par 34. He got to three under par with a birdie at the 10th before dropping his first shot at the 11th. He cancelled that one out with a fourth birdie of the day, at the 12th, but shed one shot to par, at the 17th in an inward 35.
American Mark O’Meara, winner of the Masters and the Open in 1998, finished a creditable sixth on 72, which included a triple bogey 7 at the seventh. He had birdies at the second, fifth, 10th and 12th and bogeys at the fourth and 13th in halves of 38 (two over par) and 34 (one under). That was not a bad effort, considering he had not seen the Balgownie links before.
O'Meara has had to cancel plans to play in the Senior Open at Carnoustie this week.
Rather fittingly, the team headed by River Oaks Country Club, Houston’s director of golf, Bruce Davidson, won the pro-am with a net total of 13 under par 58. His amateur partners were Americna Bill Transier (handicap 13) and two well-known names from yesteryear in North-east golf: John Savage, now playing off six, and Craig Thomson, a nine-handicapper these days.
Bruce Davidson from Banchory originally and the man who set up the Kings Links Golf Centre before he emigrated to Texas, started the biennial Grampian Houston Junior Trips a couple of decades ago to give a dozen promising boy and girl golfers in the North-east a taste of what golf is like in America and perhaps lead to scholarship offers from US college coaches
The Grampian Houston Junior Fund pro-am and in particular the post-tournament dinner held at The Marcliffe last night raises the money which funds the biennial trips.
PROFESSIONAL SCORES
Par 71
69 Scott Henderson (Kings Links) (£2,116).
70 David Patrick (Elie), Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), James McGhee (Turnhouse) (£1,305 each).
71 Chris Doak (unatt) (£762).
72 Mark O’Meara (US) (£635).
73 Steven Duncan (Balbirnie Park), Mark Finlayson (Edzell), Euan Cameron (Hamilton), Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle), Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs), Gary Forbes (Murcar Links) (£398 each).
74 Craig Lee (Aspire), Greig Hutcheon (Banchory), Stephen Bray (Hayston), Mark Kerr (Marriott Dalmahoy), Greg McBain (Royal Dornoch) (£232 each).
75 Lindsay Mann (Carnoustie), Bruce Davidson (River Oaks, Houston), Colin Gillies (Braid Hills), Chris Kelly (Cawder), Ross Cameron (McDonald Ellon) (£112 each).
76 Graeme Lornie (Paul Lawrie Foundation), Paul Girvan (Kings Links), Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) (£59 each)
77 David Ross (Royal Aberdeen), Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), Graham Fox (East Kilbride), Gordon Law (Uphall), David Law (Eastwood), Jonas Hedberg (Royal Aberdeen).
78 Mark King (Kingsfield), Christopher Russell (RAW Golf Course Design), Lee Vannet (Carnoustie Golf Links) (£59 each).
80 Iain Buchan (Craibstone) (£59).
81 Sandy Aird junior (McDonald Ellon) (£59).
83 Stuart Callan (Bathgate) (£59)
Retired: Charlie Epps (US) (£59).
Disqualified: David Brown (Kemnay), Ricky Lyons (US), Craig Ronald (Carluke), David Leslie (Craigentinny) (£59 each).
LEADING NET TEAM TOTALS
58 Bruce Davidson (River Oaks CC) (£234)
59 Craig Lee (Aspire) (£234).
60 Chris Doak (unatt) (£234)
63 Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), Gary Forbes (Murcar Links) (£234 each).

Tartan Tour Scoreboard

GRAMPIAN HOUSTON JUNIOR FUND PRO-AM
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.
PROFESSIONAL SCORES (before end of play)
Par 71
69 Scott Henderson (Kings Links).
70 David Patrick (Elie), Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst).
71 Chris Doak (unatt).
72 Mark O’Meara (US).
73 Steven Duncan (Balbirnie Park), Mark Finlayson (Edzell), Euan Cameron (Hamilton), Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle), Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs).
74 Craig Lee (Aspire), Greig Hutcheon (Banchory), Stephen Bray (Hayston), Mark Kerr (Marriott Dalmahoy).
75 Lindsay Mann (Carnoustie), Bruce Davidson (River Oaks, Houston), Colin Gillies (Braid Hills), Chris Kelly (Cawder).
76 Graeme Lornie (Paul Lawrie Foundation), Paul Girvan (Kings Links).
77 Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), Graham Fox (East Kilbride), Gordon Law (Uphall), David Law (Eastwood).
78 Mark King (Kingsfield), Christopher Russell (RAW Golf Course Design).

Retired: Charlie Epps (US).
Disqualified: David Brown (Kemnay), Ricky Lyons (US), Craig Ronald (Carluke).

Plenty of reasons to write off Tiger Woods as yesterday's man

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE

By Joe Posnanski
Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated
My good friend Michael Rosenberg wrote something last week that struck me as wrong, and I could not quite figure out why. He was writing about Tiger Woods, and it began with how sick he is of reporters asking Tiger about his personal life. I agree entirely with that. But then Michael wrote this:
"I have no idea how Woods will play this week. But I do believe two things:
"1 The people who write him off are dead wrong.
"2 Those people are doing him a favour."
Something about this just plinked off-key for me ... but I wasn't quite sure why. At first, I thought my disagreement was with his No. 2 statement: That people who are writing off Tiger Woods are doing him a favor. I don't see that at all.
Here's why: I've long thought that Tiger Woods (unlike many great athletes) does not feed off of being UNDERESTIMATED, but quite the opposite — he feeds off of being OVERESTIMATED. He has spent his entire golfing life building up an aura of invincibility — see his name come up on the leaderboard and (others) cower in fear.
When Woods is in the lead, golfers try too hard to pull off shots that are not in their bags because they know — they KNOW — that he won't give it up. That's his game. Rattle them. Intimidate them. Make them fear him.
I have no idea how Woods would handle being underestimated, and nobody else does, either, but I don't think it fits him at all. Tiger Woods is a front-runner, the best in the history of golf. Every major championship he has ever won — all 14 of them — he won from the lead.
He is Goliath. He has never shown even the slightest inclination for becoming David or, anyway, I haven't seen it. I don't think he's suited for a slingshot.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it wasn't Michael's second point that rubbed me wrong. No. It was No. 1. He wrote: "The people who write him off are dead wrong."
And I realised that my issue was this: As far as I can tell NOBODY is writing off Tiger Woods. And, frankly, by all the available evidence, we SHOULD be writing off Tiger Woods.
Look: Tiger Woods, by his standards, has played stunningly mediocre golf this year after taking off a few months to deal with his personal issues. He has not won a tournament — entering the British Open he was zero-for-six.
This might not sound like much, but Tiger Woods only plays in the tournaments he expects to win. This year marks the first time since 1998 that he has not won one of his first six tournaments of the year.
Anyway, it wasn't just that he didn't win, but that he never came close to winning. He missed the cut in Charlotte, at one of his favourite events. He withdrew from the Players Championship with some sort of neck thing that he has barely mentioned since. He finished an uninspired 19th at Jack Nicklaus' tournament in Columbus. He played stunningly bad and unfocused golf in finishing 46th as defending champ of the AT and T National.
Yes, people will point out that he finished fourth at both the Masters and the U.S. Open, and he did — nobody suggests that Tiger Woods will turn into a 12-handicapper. But even those fourth-place finishes said something was wrong ... he was never really a Sunday threat to win either tournament, even though Augusta National and Pebble Beach are two of his favourite golf courses, places he was meant to dominate.
Even two or three years ago, people pointed to 2010 as the year for a potential Tiger Woods grand slam because of those golf courses. Finishing fourth at Augusta (where he has won four times and set the course record) and Pebble Beach (where he won the 2000 U.S. Open by 10 shots) is hardly a sign that Tiger Woods is playing well enough.
Anyway, despite all this, he was STILL the prohibitive favourite to win the British Open. He was the betting favourite. He was the analysts' favorite. Even the people who thought that Tiger Woods was not going to win figured that he would contend (that was my feeling), and even those who thought he would not contend (if you could find any of them) didn't seem too sure of themselves.
When I ran a poll a couple of weeks ago, asking readers if Tiger Woods would break Nicklaus' record for most majors (he still has to win FIVE MORE majors, which is more than Phil Mickelson has won in his career), barely three percent checked "Definitely not." And I suspect that number would be even lower if people had to stake their reputations on it.
No, I don't think there is almost anyone out there who is writing off Tiger Woods. And frankly ... there's good reason to write him off. This may sound cruel but I actually mean it as the opposite of cruel: More people SHOULD be writing off Tiger Woods.
First, he will turn 35 at the end of the year. There has been talk that this means Woods will still be in his golfing prime for the next few years, but history tells a different story. Since 1970, the average age of major championship winners is 32, and things tumble off for golfers after age 35.
Fewer than a quarter of the major championship winners have been 36 or older. The only players since 1970 to win multiple majors after 35 are: Jack Nicklaus (4), Gary Player (4), Ray Floyd (2), Nick Price (2), Vijay Singh (2), Mark O'Meara (2), Angel Cabrera (2), Padraig Harrington (2).
More to the point, Woods has been dominant for a dozen years — which is a long time to dominate in golf. The greatest golfers have had a fairly short window of time when they dominate, and when that window closes, they stop winning major championships.
• Ben Hogan won all his majors from 1946 through 1953 and though he contended for years (finishing second four times in the next three years), he never won another one.
• Arnold Palmer won all his majors from 1958 through 1964.
• Tom Watson (more on him in a minute) won all his majors from 1975 through 1983.
• Sam Snead won all his majors from 1946 through 1954.
• Nick Faldo won all his majors from 1987 through 1996.
• Bobby Jones won all his majors from 1923 through 1930.
And so on. There are two notable exceptions — they are the two best old golfers of the last 50 years. Gary Player spread out his major championship victories over two decades — 1959-78. His endurance is a marvel, what makes him one of the greatest who ever lived.
The other, of course, is Nicklaus, who won his first major in 1962 and his last at Augusta in 1986 when he was 46 years old. Nicklaus' ability to overcome disappointment — from 1976 through '83 he finished second a staggering SEVEN times — and continue to maintain his will and enthusiasm for winning is part of what makes him one of the great sportsmen of the 20th Century.
Is Tiger like Nicklaus or Player? Maybe. But we don't know. And I don't know why we would just ASSUME that he is like Nicklaus or Player. Tom Watson seems a better comparison to me. Before Woods, the last guy to utterly dominate the US PGA Tour was Watson. He was PGA Tour Player of the Year six out of eight years from 1977 through '84. He won seven majors and a total of 35 events in those years — his high might not be quite as high as Woods's, but it's plenty high.
Watson was a wonder to behold. Nobody on earth hit the ball with the same authority (most people would rank Watson as one of the three best wind players in the history of golf) and nobody on earth had the same imagination and touch around the greens. He had (and still has) a great sense of golf history and his place in it. He was only 33 years old when he won his last major championship. After 1984, he barely won at all.
So what happened? Well, there are the familiar golf reasons. His putting went south - he stopped making the five- and six-footers that win and lose championships. His desire faded. Younger golfers emerged. Numerous other things. I've talked with Tom at some length about these things.
But there's something else that Tom talks about, and that something else is that maybe it just stopped being his time. The difference between good and great is a whisper - Watson still had obvious greatness in him. He will often say that he hit the ball better as an old man than he ever did as a young man. He finished second at two majors in 1984, finished in the Top 10 at the Masters nine out of 10 years from 1982 through '91.
Heck, as you know, he was a putt away from winning the British Open last year. But he did not win any of those, and Tom's overpowering line is: "I had my time."
How long can anyone expect to be the best in the whole world? Joe Louis faded. Willie Mays faded. Steffi Graf faded. Michael Jordan faded. Roger Federer fades. Time always wins.
Tiger Woods is showing obvious signs of age. His putting, for the first time in his career, is shaky — he used two different putters at this British Open and missed a lot of putts. He missed a lot of putts at the U.S. Open, too. Woods' greatness unfolds in many forms, but in the end, perhaps, his most fundamental genius has been his steely nerve over the 10-foot putts that he HAD to make.
If he stops making those putts more than the mere mortals around him, well, he becomes one of those mere mortals. That's just how it works.
It's more than just putting, of course. There have been his often-discussed swing issues. He has had numerous and major injuries. And, sure, he has also been dragged through a very public media flogging. All of it figures to take its toll.
Also, time goes on, and numerous younger and uniquely talented golfers emerge on the scene — golfers raised on Tiger Woods. We have no idea if this British Open winner — 27-year-old Louis Oosthuizen — will become a great golfer or if this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, but we do know that when asked to name his golfing hero, the man from South Africa who learned the game in the spirit of Ernie Els said: "Tiger Woods."
The fact that so many people — a virtual consensus of people, really — believe that Tiger Woods will come through all of this, return to himself, win a whole bunch more majors, still be the golfer he was in 2000 or 2002 or 2007 shows the huge impact that he has made on the sports world and our imaginations.
There's no realistic reason to believe it - we simply cannot imagine an aging Tiger Woods. There was no real reason to think that he had any chance to win this British Open. But people did expect it, and that's why his 23rd-place finish feels like a disappointment. You can bet that when the US PGA Championship comes around, he will be a favourite again.
That's why I say more people SHOULD write off Tiger Woods ... because if he actually comes back, wins five or eight or 10 more major championships, plays at anywhere near the level he was playing at in the past, it really would be something like a sports miracle.
I watched many, many hours of the British Open coverage this week - and it seems to me that the hero of the weekend was Curtis Strange. That's an odd thing for me to say because Curtis was always absurdly grumpy when I had to deal with him as a golfer. Still ... when Tiger Woods shot an opening-round 67 in preposterously easy conditions (Woods himself said it was like playing in a dome), the announcers were falling over each other to be the loudest to say "Tiger Woods is back!"
It was ridiculous — basically EVERYBODY shot 67 with the wind down on Thursday. But you know that in today's sports media frenzy we fall into the bad habit of picking the story line first and then build our reporting on that line ... we all do it. The story line was that this Open Championship could be the return of Tiger Woods, and an opening-round 67 fed the beast.
Only, there was Curtis Strange. And he said (not exact words): "I know everybody was impressed, but you know what? I didn't think Tiger was all that good. I thought he hit some errant shots and his putting was only OK."
It turned out to be prophetic. Woods shot two over par the rest of the way. But even if Strange's words had not proven so right, it was STILL a refreshing thing to hear. Tiger Woods is not a machine. Tiger Woods is not a story. Tiger Woods is not a movie, and he's not a fairy tale. Tiger Woods is not even the young man who played golf at a higher level than any man in the history of the sport.
No. Tiger Woods is a balding, 34-year-old man fighting his swing, his putter, his confidence, his past and his history. So many of us expect him to return to his previous dominance.
But I wonder if that really says more about us than it does him

GRANT GOES FOR DOUBLE ON HOME TURF

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest will have home course advantage to count on when his bid to add the Scottish Boys Stroke Play Championship to this year’s national match play title gets underway in East Lothian tomorrow (20 – 22 July).
The 17-year-old, who defeated Ian Redford in the final of the Scottish Boys Championship at West Kilbride in April, will be eyeing a unique treble having also won the Scottish Boys Area Team Championship last month with Lothians. Forrest’s home club of Craigielaw provides the setting for this week’s event, making the Scottish Boys’ internationalist strong favourite to add to his burgeoning trophy collection.
Scott Henry, who went on to win the Scottish Men’s Stroke Play Championship at Craigielaw, was the last player to achieve the ‘double’ back in 2004, while Forrest’s former club mates Lloyd Saltman and Shaun McAllister have also won the event, making the omens good for the Craigielaw youngster.
Among his challengers will be Kilmarnock Barassie’s Jack McDonald, the defending champion and the player Forrest beat in the semi-finals of the match play.
The young Ayrshireman birdied three of the final four holes to take the title at Ladybank twelve months ago and will be aiming to become the first golfer since European Tour star Stephen Gallacher in 1991-92 to win back-to-back titles in the event.
SGU Boys Order of Merit leader Simon Fairburn is also a member of the Craigielaw club and the Borders star goes into the event in fine form, with three junior circuit wins under his belt already this season. Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie) is another likely contender, having successfully defended his national U14s title last week fresh from finishing runner-up in the Scottish Boys U16s Championship the previous day.
As well as many of Scotland’s best young prospects, the 144-strong field features players from Australia, New Zealand, Belgium and Germany, with the leading forty players and ties qualifying from Thursday’s final two rounds.
Scoring from the Championship will be featured on the SGU’s website, http://www.scottishgolf.org/

French amateur ace Victor Dubuisson turns pro with IMG

NEWS RELEASE
French rising star Victor Dubuisson has turned professional and signed with leading global sports management company, IMG.
Twenty-year old Dubuisson turns professional after a glittering amateur career that saw him ranked No.1 in the Amateur world Rankings in 2009 and included a victory at the 2009 European Amateur Championship. This victory won him in invite to the 2010 Open Championship where he played alongside KJ Choi and Bubba Watson at St Andrews in his final tournament as an amateur.
A native of Cannes on France’s Côte d’Azur, Victor boasts an elegant golf swing that led his coach to nickname him ‘Mozart’ and a steely determination that belies his laid-back personality. He first came to prominence on the Amateur scene in 2008, with seven top-10 finishes proving both his ability and his consistency.
He continued to impress with four more top-10s in 2009 and three excellent results on the Challenge Tour whilst still an Amateur. His performance at the EurOpen de Lyon, contending for the title before finishing third, underlined his potential.
Victor commented, “I am very excited to be turning professional and am looking forward to working with IMG who manage so many of the players I have grown up admiring. Although I didn’t make the cut in the Open Championship after a tough first round, I learnt a lot from the week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing alongside the world’s best players. I can’t wait to get to work trying to secure my playing rights for next year.
!I am very grateful to the Scandinavian Masters for giving me an invitation to play my first tournament as a professional. I have heard wonderful things about the Bro Hof Slott Golf Course and am very excited to get off to a good start in Sweden this week. I would also like to thank my friend Stephane Damiano for all his help throughout my amateur career.”
Guy Kinnings, IMG’s Director of Golf, EAME, said, “Victor has had a fantastic amateur career and we believe he has all the attributes in place to become a world-class player and a future star of European golf. We are happy he has selected IMG to manage all aspects of his career both on and off the course around the world and very much look forward to this next, exciting stage of his career.”
Victor will be managed by Duncan Reid and Patrice Barquez and will play a combination of European Tour and Challenge Tour events for the rest of the season.

World No 7 to play in European Challenge Tour event

Rory McIlroy at the Open, meeting a group of Egyptian junior golfers on a trip to Scotland with Gerard Bent (right), golf manager of the Egyptian Golf Federation.

RORY McILROY TO PLAY IN 2010 EGYPTIAN OPEN

NEWS RELEASE
Northern Ireland’s world No 7 Rory McIlroy will be the star attraction when the European Challenge Tour stages its first official event in Cairo with the 2010 Egyptian Open at the J W Marriott, Mirage City Golf Club from October 20-23.
Tournament officials today confirmed the 21 year-old superstar – tipped by many as a future world number one – will join the cream of the European Challenge Tour at the penultimate event of the season. For McIlroy it will mean a short break from the European Tour just weeks after his expected debut in The Ryder Cup and a month prior to the end of the Race To Dubai.
“To have one of the world’s best players agree to join us for the 2010 tournament is a wonderful bonus after achieving full European Challenge Tour status,” said Egyptian Golf Federation Chairman Ayman Hussein.
“Having Rory McIlroy with us will help focus attention on Egypt, a country we firmly believe has a bright golfing future to match its reputation as the original home of the game in the Middle East. I am sure he will be guaranteed a warm welcome not only from Egyptian golf fans but also from the players of the European Challenge Tour.
Although this will be McIlroy’s first playing appearance in Egypt, the man from Holywood, near Belfast in Northern Ireland is no stranger to the region having picked up his first European Tour title at the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009 before finishing the year as runner-up at the inaugural Dubai World Championship.
McIlroy 2
“I’m very excited about the chance of playing in Egypt for the first time,” said McIlroy. “It’s not a country you would think about as a home for golf but I have heard about the courses there, the history of the Egyptian Open and the developments that are coming online. I can’t wait to see it for myself.”
McIlroy made a good start to 2010 finishing third at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, while in Dubai he ended up in a tie for fifth place just twelve months after clinching his maiden tour title in the emirate.
Despite a niggling back problem and some time off the course, he bounced back in sensational style recording his first PGA Tour win with a final round course record 62 at the Quail Hollow Championship – with it he became the first player since Tiger Woods to win a PGA Tour event prior to his 21st birthday.
In Cairo, McIlroy will join around 80 players from the European Challenge Tour as well as a selection of local and regional invites and qualifiers. In 2009, the event - while not part of the official European Challenge Tour calendar at the time – attracted an impressive field complemented by a guest appearance by European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.
“Last year’s event was very impressive for a first attempt and we expect the 2010 Egyptian Open to take the tournament to even greater heights both in terms of infrastructure and quality of play,” said Nick Tarratt, Director, The European Tour International, Dubai Office.
“Its position as an end-of-season event means it will command a strong field, while the appearance of one of the world’s most exciting players in Rory McIlroy underlines the massive steps taken by the Egyptian Golf Federation in putting golf in Egypt on the world map.”

EDINBURGH SUMMER LEAGUE

Simon Mackenzie's West Linton side rise to the occasion

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
West Linton and Dalmahoy secured the last two quarter- final places as the group phase of the UK Accident Repair Edinburgh Summer League came to a dramatic conclusion.
In winning well at the Merchants, West Linton clinched top spot in Group 2 on 'goal' difference ahead of Kingsknowe.
Bruntsfield Links had still be in the mix for one of the two places in that section but they lost at Craigmillar Park in their final game.
West Linton, whose reward is a home tie in the last eight against Duddingston, knew what was required when they travelled into the heart of the Capital.
And Simon Mackenzie's side rose to the occasion, winning 6½-1½ to pip Kingsknowe for that cherished top spot and also leave Bruntsfield licking their wounds.
Mackenzie himself lost to Dave Montgomery in the top match, but wins from Darren Coyle, Nick Barr, Graham Turner, Fraser Thain, John McWilliams and Scott Walker did the business. Thain is West Linton's rising star and he's done well since coming into the team this season.
"In awful conditions, this match was played in great frienship and spirit, displaying everything the Summer League has been about over the 28 years I have been playing in it," said Merchants man Andrew Boddie.
Unfortunately for Bruntsfield, that defeat at Craigmillar Park proved costly. Club champion Alan Anderson did his bit with a win in the top match, but the visitors could only muster two more points after that.
Youngster Willem Kerr rounded off his first Summer League campaign for Craigmillar Park with a fine win, while other victors for the home side were Peter Arnott, Innes Christie and Andy Utterson.
Dalmahoy clinched their place in the quarter-finals with a 6½-1½ home win over Glencorse, who had already secured top spot in Group 1.
Steve Smith, Dougie Hunter, Robert Carson, Tom Blennerhasset, Iain Thomson and Chris Brown delivered Dalmahoy's points and they're away to defending champions Royal Burgess in the last eight.
"It was a good display against a strong Glencorse side," noted Iain Campbell.
"All the games were generally tight throughout the match with the exception of the second and third ones thanks to strong performances from Dougie Hunter and Robert Carson. Chris Brown also had a good game in the anchor match beating Alistair Shanks."
Musselburgh, who were already through, lost in their last match at Baberton, where Andy Laurence, Paul Ferrier, Dougie Waugh, Scott Carmichael and Tom Cannon were triumphant for the home team.
In the same section, Turnhouse signed off with a win over Mortonhall thanks to the efforts of Steven Armstrong, Paul Pentland, David Marshall, Tommy Cadger and Steven Robb.
In finishing second in their group, Kingsknowe will now face a trip to Silverknowes in the quarter-finals, the last of which sees Glencorse take on Musselburgh.
The semi-finals have been scheduled for August 8 at Liberton.

Louis Oosthuizen uses new PING irons and wedges


to win The Open Championship

NEWS RELEASE
Phoenix, Arizona: PING pro Louis Oosthuizen’s Open Championship win at St. Andrews came less than a month after switching to PING’s new S56 irons and Tour-S Rustique wedges, the company announced today.
Both new clubs will be officially introduced on July 28, 2010 and will be available for golfers in mid-September.
“Winning a major championship with new clubs is the ultimate in product validation,” said John Solheim, PING Chairman and CEO. “We’re very proud of Louis's exceptional play at St. Andrews. Not only did he dominate the scoreboard, but his statistics for the week were incomparable.
"From tee to green, his game was nearly flawless. To have him bring PING its third major championship in just over three years is very exciting for our company.”
Finishing in second place was PING pro Lee Westwood, who claimed his second runner-up finish this year in a major championship. He completed the four rounds at 9-under-par.
The 27-year-old Oosthuizen, a member of PING’s Worldwide staff since joining the European Tour, switched to the new clubs at the U.S. Open. He also used a PING Rapture V2 driver at St. Andrews to lead the field in driving accuracy and finish 4th in distance. Several commentators praised his driving for the week, calling it the “best ever in a major championship.” A specially-designed Redwood Anser putter with an extra long hosel helped him to a tie for third in putting for the week.
“I’m very thankful to be part of the PING Tour staff,” said Oosthuizen. “The new irons and wedges gave me the confidence to play some very difficult shots around St. Andrews. I was also able to drive my ball long and straight. My entire game was under control this week and I attribute a lot of that to my PING equipment.”
Oosthuizen was joined by several other players who put the new S56 irons and Tour-S wedges in the bag leading up to the third major of the year. For the week, there were five sets of S56 and 15 Tour-S wedges in play.

For further information on PING please visit www.ping.com

Left to right: Front - Clackmannan county secretary Tommy Johnson presents the county championship trophy to Steven Horne (Tulliallan) with Mike Rust (Braehead), the runner-up, next in line. At the back is Dave Hedgecock, match-secretary at Tullian, and Scott Moffat (Alloa). Image by courtesy of Hugh Hunter.

STEVEN WINS CLACKMANNAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Home player Steven Horne added another title to the Horne family collection when he won the Clackmannan county stroke-play championship over the par-69 Tulliallan golf course. In tricky windy conditions, Steven took the title by two shots from Braehead’s Mike Rust.
In the first round, Steven held a narrow one-shot lead from Mike when he completed the course in a level par 69---- helped by birdie 3s at the last two holes. He went one better in the afternoon round also with a two-birdie finish - indeed that was where the difference lay between the two players - Mike was five shots worse over the same two holes.
County match-play champion Michael Robertson finished third but was awarded the prize for the best handicap aggregate. Steven last won the county title in 1998, and will take his place in the 2011 Scottish Champion of Champions event.
The entry of around 30 players was disappointing to county secretary Tommy Johnson: “The event clashes with the Open and the county Executive will be looking at the date for future years”

LEADING TOTALS
137 S Horne (Tulliallan)
139 M Rust (Braehead)
140 S Moffat (Alloa)
141 M Robertson (Alva)
144 G Chalmers (Dollar)
145 I Ross (Alloa)
146 A G Miller (Tulliallan)
147 M Crichton (Tulliallan)
147 A H Horne (Tulliallan)

2010 SCOTTISH CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

The Clackmannan county championship is used to decide the Clackmannan representatives in the Scottish Club Championship to be held at Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club to the north of Inverness on September 26.
Only three clubs could provide the three players needed to compete for the qualifier. The results are as follows, with the best two scores from three to count in each round
1. Tulliallan 279 (S Horne 69,68; M Crichton78,69; R Lyons 73,76)
2. Braehead 289 ( M Rust 70,69; P Macleod 73,77; A Watson 76, NR)
3. Alloa 295 ( I Ross 72,73; I Guthrie 78,78; D Milloy 76,74)

Tulliallan will be keen to try and repeat past successes where they won the Scottish final and progressed to the European Club Championship, to be held this year at the Estela Golf Club in Portugal from October 21-23.

MIXED NEWS FOR LAWRENCE
With two rounds of 77, Alva’s Lawrence Allan missed the cut by three shots at the English Under 16’s Championship held in difficult conditions over Princes Golf course in Kent.
The good news was that thanks to his fine performance in the Scottish Under 16’s event, his RandA world ranking has improved by 599 places to 3285 and overtakes Alloa’s Jamie Aitken at 3301. Scott Borrowman, at 1145th position. is still looking for some good form in National events

SCOTTISH AMATEUR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
The draw for the Scottish Amateur Golf Championship at Gullane has not really been kind to the four Clackmannan players entered.
Dollar’s Scott Borrowman is first in action against S McKechnie (Greenburn) at 7.17 on the first day, Monday, July 26, with the winner of the match probably meeting the top seed James Byrne in the second round.
Later, at 11.41, Alloa’s Jamie Aitken plays Peter Latimer (New Club) who recently won the East of Scotland Championship, and at 12.37 Scott Moffat plays Michael Grunwell (Powfoot). Dollar’s Darren Hulston has an early start on the Tuesday against Munro Ferries (Tain).