Scotland Aim for Seniors Glory at Crail




NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
The historic golfing town of Crail is the venue for next week’s Senior Home Internationals (14 – 16 September) with Scotland hoping for a repeat of their victory four years ago when the event was last staged on home soil.
The Scots veterans will face stiff opposition however, with Ireland chasing a hatrick of Senior Home International title victories and England buoyant after their victory in last week’s European Senior Men’s Team Championship in Fairhaven.
Scotland last won the title back in 2006 at Dunbar in East Lothian and finished runners-up to Ireland in 2009, who successfully defended their title twelve months ago at Westport. Six of the seven-strong Scottish team who will play next week clinched the bronze medal at the recent European Senior Men’s Team Championship, beating Sweden in the third/fourth place play-off after losing to Ireland in the quarter-finals.
Scottish seniors’ stroke play champion Scott Macdonald (Dunfermline) will make his Senior Home International debut, while he is joined by national seniors match play champion Tony Stafford (Dun Ochil), one of Scotland’s top performers last week in Lancashire.
Dave Jessup, who finished runner-up to Macdonald in the Scottish Seniors Championship at Pollok, heads a strong English challenge having been undefeated in the match play stages on route to European victory, while former Walker Cup player and captain Garth McGimpsey heads the Irish three-in-a-row title bid.
Euan Mordaunt, SGU Events Manager, looked ahead to the event:
“The Senior Home Internationals is a fantastic championship featuring some of the finest players to grace amateur golf. The event is played with great spirit and camaraderie but with great rivalry among the four home nations.”
“We have a superb venue in the Craighead course at Crail Golfing Society, with excellent facilities which I’m sure the players will thoroughly enjoy.”
The event gets underway on Tuesday morning, with three foursomes matches followed by six singles matches each day, played in a round robin format. Scotland play England on the opening day, while defending champions Ireland open their campaign against Wales in the first match.
Team Line-Ups:
Scotland
David Gardner (Broomieknowe)
Scott MacDonald (Dunfermline)
John McDonald (Cowglen)
Tony Stafford (Dun Ochil)
Ian Taylor (Royal Burgess)
Jim Watt (Edzell)
Captain - Gordon Macdonald


England
Doug Arnold (Copthorne)
Andrew Carman (Coventry)
Dave Jessup (Rochester & Cobham Park)
Chris Reynolds (Littlestone)
Philip Slater (Sandiway)
Roy Smethurst (Crewe)
Alan Squires (Oldham)
Captain - Richard Palmer


Ireland
Tom Cleary (Cork)
Billy Donlon (Birr)
Maurice Kelly (Killeen)
Garth McGimpsey (Bangor)
Adrian Morrow (Portmarnock)
Seamus McParland (Greenore)
Michael Quirke (Doneraile)
Captain – Barry Doyle


Wales
Robert Broad (Minchinhampton)
Paul Bloomfield (Chippenham)
Nigel Evans (St Mellons)
Basil Griffiths (Llanymynech
Keith Stimpson (Wenvoe Castle)
Jeff Thomas (Royal Porthcawl)
John Whitcutt (Burnham & Berrow)
Captain - Phil Jones

EUROPEAN TOUR SCOREBOARD

KLM OPEN
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 140 (2x70)
132 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 64 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 62 70
133 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 65, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 66 67, Todd Hamilton (USA) 66 67
134 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 65, Joost Luiten (Ned) 65 69, David Horsey 67 67, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 67 67, Danny Willett 67 67, Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 65, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 68 66, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 67
135 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 67 68, Damien McGrane 68 67, Paul Waring 67 68, Tano Goya (Arg) 65 70, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 66 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 65 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 68
136 Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 68 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 68 68, Kenneth Ferrie 64 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 66 70
137 Richie Ramsay 65 72, Steve Webster 69 68, Chris Wood 67 70, John Parry 70 67, Nick Dougherty 65 72, Peter Lawrie 69 68, James Morrison 68 69, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 65 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 68 69, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 72 65, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 68 69
138 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 68 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 68, Sion E Bebb 70 68, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70, David Lynn 67 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 69, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 69, Sam Hutsby 71 67, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 72 66, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 69, Sam Little 67 71
139 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 71, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 68 71, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 68 71, Ross Fisher 65 74, Robert Coles 67 72, Gareth Maybin 72 67, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 71 68, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 70 69, Darren Clarke 68 71, Graeme Storm 69 70, Danny Lee (Nzl) 67 72, Tim Sluiter (Ned) 70 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 71, Michael Hoey 72 67
140 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 68, Richard Bland 72 68, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 70, David Howell 69 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 72 68, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 68 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 67, Johan Edfors (Swe) 67 73, Gary Boyd 71 69, Jurrian Van der vaart (Ned) 70 70, David Dixon 71 69, Shane Lowry 71 69, Alastair Forsyth 66 74, Simon Thornton 69 71, Cameron Tringale (USA) 70 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 72
MISSED THE CUT
141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 71, Anton Haig (Rsa) 74 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 71, Peter Baker 70 71, Scott Drummond 73 68, Simon Dyson 70 71, Daan Huizing (Ned) 70 71, Jamie Elson 69 72, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 70, Richard Finch 72 69, Mark Mouland 72 69, Pablo Martin (Spa) 75 66
142 Tyson Alexander (USA) 69 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72, Andrew Coltart 71 71, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 72, Gary Lockerbie 68 74, Stephen Gallacher 71 71, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 71, Paul Lawrie 72 70, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 70, Ben Collier 74 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 71 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 74 68
143 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 70, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 75, Andrew Butterfield 71 72, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 72 71, Oliver Fisher 72 71, Rowin Caron (Ned) 67 76, Robert Rock 69 74, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 66 77, Marc Warren 68 75, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 72, Richard Green (Aus) 74 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 68 75
144 Sven Maurits (Ned) 71 73, Anthony Kang (USA) 72 72, Gary Murphy 71 73, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 71, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 72 72, Paul McGinley 71 73
145 Robin Kind (Ned) 74 71, Phillip Price 73 72, Richard McEvoy 72 73, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 72, Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 74, Steven O'Hara 71 74, David Drysdale 72 73, Marco Ruiz (Par) 67 78, Mark Foster 73 72
146 Stephen Dodd 73 73, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 74 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 74, Miles Tunnicliff 73 73
147 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 73, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 74 73, Mark Brown (Nzl) 77 70
148 Peter Whiteford 75 73, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 72 76, Phillip Archer 71 77
149 Robin Swane (Ned) 72 77, Johan Eerdmans (Ned) 76 73
150 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 73 77, Sven Struver (Ger) 74 76, Richard Eccles (Ned) 73 77
151 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 75 76, Bradley Dredge 75 76
152 Francesco Laporta (Ita) 78 74
154 Sander Van Dijn (Ned) 78 76
155 Fernand Osther (Ned) 80 75
157 Kevin Berger (Ger) 78 79
WD: 75 Simon Khan, 75 Barry Lane, 75 Marcel Siem (Ger)


RTD: 72 Anthony Wall


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Jamieson jumps into contention with

dazzling display


From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
A breathtaking front nine of 29 helped propel Scotland’s Scott Jamieson from joint 28th to tied third at the midway stage of the money-spinning Kazakhstan Open on the European Challenge Tour.
Jamieson, currently languishing in 71st place in the Challenge Tour Rankings and therefore in need of a strong showing at the €400,000 event, flew out of the blocks with seven birdies – including four on the spin from the sixth hole – to break 30 for nine holes for the first time in his Challenge Tour career.
He picked up one more shot on the more demanding back nine at Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to finish on 11 under par, two shots behind the joint leaders Federico Colombo of Italy and Australian Daniel Gaunt.
Jamieson said: “I got off to a great start with birdies at the first and second, then added another one at the fourth and four more from the sixth. At that point, the game felt pretty easy! You’ve got to make your score on the front nine out there – there are definitely more chances because the par fives are all reachable in two, and the par four eighth is also driveable. The two par fives on the back nine aren’t nearly as accessible, but I managed to pick up a birdie on the 14th and then just kept it nice and steady after that.
“It’s my joint lowest round to par on the Challenge Tour – I also shot an eight under par 62 in Poland last year. I wasn’t sure if I’d broken 30 on the Challenge Tour before, but now that I know I haven’t, I’m even more pleased with my day. The scoring’s probably so low because the course is in such great condition, especially the greens, which are absolutely perfect. At the same time if you do miss the fairways in the wrong places you can really come unstuck, because the rough is quite thick on some holes.
“If I keep playing the way I’ve been playing, hopefully I won’t be too far away. It’s obviously a massive weekend, but I’m going to try to enjoy it – and maybe the money will motivate me to do well! I’ve just got to try to stick to the same game plan, because it’s obviously worked for me so far. With the position I’m in at the moment in the Rankings, the most realistic goal for me is to finish in the top 45, to make sure I get into the Grand Final. Anyone who makes the Grand Final has a chance of earning their card, and the worst case scenario is that you go straight to the Qualifying School Final. So that has to be the aim, and a good week here would definitely help.”
Jamieson will be joined at the weekend by his fellow Scots Eric Ramsay (seven under par), George Murray, Elliot Saltman (both six under) Callum Macaulay (five under), Jack Doherty and Jamie McLeary (both four under).
But Andrew McArthur and Raymond Russell will both miss out after finishing on one under and level par respectively.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS131 F Colombo (Ita) 66 65, D Gaunt (Aus) 65 66,
133 S Jamieson (Sco) 69 64, A Velasco (Esp) 67 66,
134 C Ford (Eng) 70 64, J Clément (Sui) 68 66, P Gustafsson (Swe) 67 67, K Eriksson (Swe) 67 67, A Perrino (Ita) 67 67, B Evans (Eng) 68 66, A Gee (Eng) 69 65, A Ahokas (Fin) 66 68,
135 J Arruti (Esp) 67 68, P Edberg (Swe) 66 69, D Brooks (Eng) 70 65, S Manley (Wal) 69 66, A Wagner (Arg) 69 66,
136 J Zapata (Arg) 67 69, M Thorp (Nor) 66 70, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 65, F De Vries (Ned) 68 68, C Brazillier (Fra) 64 72, T Olesen (Den) 69 67, O Whiteley (Eng) 70 66, C Gane (Eng) 69 67, M Carlsson (Swe) 65 71,
137 S Buhl (Ger) 68 69, S Tiley (Eng) 71 66, A Kaleka (Fra) 71 66, A Tadini (Ita) 69 68, M Tullo (Chi) 70 67, M Higley (Eng) 71 66, E Ramsay (Sco) 70 67, R Kakko (Fin) 68 69,
138 M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69, L Gagli (Ita) 67 71, T Feyrsinger (Aut) 69 69, T Fleetwood (Eng) 73 65, G Murray (Sco) 70 68, E Saltman (Sco) 70 68, M Bothma (RSA) 68 70, W Ormsby (Aus) 67 71, A Haindl (RSA) 69 69, J Campillo (Esp) 68 70, B Grace (RSA) 71 67,
139 O Floren (Swe) 68 71, S Gross Jr (Ger) 69 70, A Bernadet (Fra) 68 71, C Macaulay (Sco) 71 68, V Riu (Fra) 70 69, R Kind (Ned) 69 70, P Relecom (Bel) 70 69, D Denison (Eng) 70 69, G Houston (Wal) 69 70, J Roos (RSA) 68 71, P Golding (Eng) 69 70, A Marshall (Eng) 70 69,
140 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 70 70, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 71, A Sjöstrand (Swe) 69 71, A Hansen (Den) 71 69, M Nichols (Eng) 71 69, T Whitehouse (Eng) 69 71, M Zions (Aus) 70 70, L Claverie (Esp) 67 73, J McLeary (Sco) 73 67, J Doherty (Sco) 72 68
MISSED THE CUT
141 M Quiros (Esp) 70 71, N Meitinger (Ger) 72 69, F Calmels (Fra) 71 70, A Willey (Eng) 71 70, J Sjöholm (Swe) 74 67, E Canonica (Ita) 72 69, S Davis (Eng) 70 71, R Steiner (Aut) 73 68, S Surry (Eng) 72 69, A Snobeck (Fra) 72 69, F Praegant (Aut) 70 71, I Van Weerelt (Ned) 70 71, J Grillon (Fra) 69 72, S Walker (Eng) 70 71,
142 D Whitnell (Eng) 70 72, J Little (Eng) 74 68, C Baker (USA) 70 72, N Lemke (Swe) 70 72, C Russo (Fra) 68 74, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 70, P Kaensche (Nor) 72 70,
143 D Vanegas (Col) 70 73, B Barham (Eng) 71 72, J Xanthopoulos (Fra) 73 70, T Stewart (Aus) 75 68, Y Ali (Eng) 73 70, A McArthur (Sco) 72 71, P Del Grosso (Arg) 75 68, M Baldwin (Eng) 69 74, J Moul (Eng) 72 71,
144 O David (Fra) 72 72, C Paisley (Eng) 72 72, E Dubois (Fra) 72 72, J Larsen (Nor) 71 73, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 74, R Russell (Sco) 72 72, W Besseling (Ned) 74 70, P Dwyer (Eng) 72 72,
145 Å Nilsson (Swe) 74 71, M Laskey (Wal) 75 70, B Chapellan (Fra) 71 74, L Bond (Wal) 75 70, L Goddard (Eng) 75 70, S Wakefield (Eng) 74 71,
146 F Henge (Swe) 72 74, L Kennedy (Eng) 74 72, G Rosier (Fra) 71 75, A Högberg (Swe) 74 72,
147 L Jensen (Den) 76 71, L Slattery (Eng) 75 72,
148 S Lewton (Eng) 72 76, C Del Moral (Esp) 73 75,
149 J Ruth (Eng) 74 75,
151 M Haines (Eng) 77 74, J Caldwell (Nir) 75 76,
152 C Günther (Ger) 75 77, J Billot (Fra) 75 77,
153 K Lifanov (Rus) 74 79,
163 A Mukhamedzhanov (am) (Kaz) 82 81,
166 A Lagay (Kaz) 86 80,
167 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 84 83,
177 N Makulbekov (am) (Kaz) 84 93,
180 I Savitsky (Kaz) 89 91,
182 A Vongay (Kaz) 91 91,
** J Makitalo (Fin) 83 WD,

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Matt Kuchar leads with a 64

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
LEMONT, Illinois (AP) — Already having his best season, Matt Kuchar got off to his best start of the year Thursday in the BMW Championship. A mystery season for Tiger Woods took another unexpected turn.
Kuchar, who won the opening FedEx Cup playoff event to position himself for the $10 million bonus, wasted no time putting his name atop the leaderboard. He finished with an 18-foot birdie putt for a 7-under 64 and a one-shot lead over Ryan Moore.

Ian Poulter of England, who has finished in the top 10 only once since winning the Match Play Championship in February, had a 66 for the best round of the afternoon despite opening with a double bogey.

Woods also started with a double bogey, but he never got those shots back.

With one last bogey on the 18th hole, he wound up with a 73 to leave himself in a big hole as he tries to advance to the final stage of the playoffs in Atlanta. It was his highest round at Cog Hill since he opened with a 73 in the 2005 Western Open. It also ended a streak of 11 consecutive rounds in the 60s on the public course in the Chicago suburbs where he has won five times.

Woods should be used to rough starts by now. His scoring average in the first round this year is 71.08, compared with 68.9 a year ago in the same tournaments.

Even so, it was peculiar to hear him discuss how much ground he has to make up - not against Kuchar, but the finish he needs to get into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings and advance to the Tour Championship.

"As of right now, I'm only five shots back out of that spot," Woods said. "That's not bad."

Everything is good with Kuchar at the moment, except his voice. He is playing so well - a winner at The Barclays, a tour-high 10 finishes in the top 10 this year - that there's really nothing left for him to say.

Not that he had a choice. Kuchar has laryngitis and begged off a series of interviews, letting his score speak for itself. It was the second-best start of his career, and the 21st time in 23 events this year that he broke par in the opening round.

"Just keep playing," Kuchar said to one question he felt good enough to answer. "I was driving it well. I was actually doing everything well. It felt very good. Last week was a little bit suspect, and this week I kind of figured some stuff out."

Something clicked for Moore when he least expected it.

Dressed in a black sweater and white golf shirt, with a tie hung loosely around his neck, Moore was 1 over for the round and in a bunker on the 11th. He holed that out for birdie, hit 3-iron to 5 feet for birdie, and after a par, finished with five straight birdies.

"I certainly wasn't expecting to do that," Moore said. "I hit a horrible tee shot on 11 with an even worse lay-up, and then I hit a terrible shot from there into a bunker and then holed out. I don't know. Just got a little positive momentum going from there."

Poulter had to find some quickly. He hit his opening tee shot to the right on the 10th hole, put his approach into a front bunker and then caught that clean and sent it over the green. He missed a 4-foot putt and took double bogey, although it helped that it's about a 250-yard walk to the next tee.

"Nice first round," he said. "Not a very nice first hole, mind you."

Retief Goosen and Charlie Wi were at 67, while the group at 68 included Dustin Johnson, Luke Donald and Justin Rose.

Phil Mickelson, not a fan of Cog Hill, ended with a bogey on the par-5 ninth hole for a 72. Mickelson swapped out playing in the pro-am to do a corporate function, and instead played Butler National on Wednesday, which he raved about.

He was asked if it was harder to play a course for which he has little affection.

"Yes," he replied.

Woods feels the opposite, although that was hard to tell by the way he played. He began by hitting a poor bunker shot, an even worse chip and a bad putt for a double bogey. He missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the ninth. With an iron into the par-5 15th, he hit it well left into a tree and had to settle for par.

"I just didn't have much today," Woods said.

He also was nine shots behind in 2005 when he opened with a 73, and Woods wound up in second place two shots behind. But he was a little more predictable back then. What gave Woods hope is that despite such calm conditions, no one went lower than 64.

"Guys aren't going low at this place because the greens aren't good enough to go low," he said. "Obviously, there's a couple of players that have played well today, but overall, the guys just aren't tearing the place apart."

Woods is No. 51 in the standings, and the top 30 make it to the Tour Championship. He likely needs to finish around fifth place this week to go to East Lake in Atlanta.

The good fortune of Andres Romero appears to have run out. The Argentine birdied four of his last five holes at The Barclays to narrowly advance to the second round, and he tied for 11th in Boston to make it to the third round. He is No. 68 in the standings, but made five bogeys in six holes to start his round and shot 80.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 71
64 Matt Kuchar
65 Ryan Moore
66 Ian Poulter (Eng)
67 Charlie Wi (S Korea), Retief Goosen (S Africa)
68 Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose (Eng), Brian Gay, Luke Donald (Eng)
69 Rory Sabbatini (S Africa), Paul Casey (Eng)
70 Steve Stricker, Nick Watney, Charley Hoffman, Zach Johnson, Vaughn Taylor, David Toms, Stewart Cink, Kevin Na, Vijay Singh (Fij), Anthony Kim, Bill Haas, Ernie Els (S Africa), Tom Gillis, Camilo Villegas (Col), Tim Clark (Rsa)
71 Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott (Aus), K J Choi (S Korea), Rickie Fowler, Heath Slocum, Matthew Jones (Aus), Kevin Streelman
72 Michael Sim (Aus), Jeff Overton, Greg Chalmers (Aus), Bubba Watson, Jason Day (Aus), Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Robert Allenby (Aus), Marc Leishman (Aus), Bo Van Pelt, Carl Pettersson (Swe)

73 Brian Davis (Eng), Tiger Woods, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Ricky Barnes, Jim Furyk, Tim Petrovic, Ryan Palmer, Martin Laird (Sco), Y.E. Yang (S Korea), Jason Bohn

74 Brendon De Jonge, Jason Dufner, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), John Senden (Aus), Bryce Molder, Stephen Ames (Can)

75 Sean O'Hair, Angel Cabrera (Arg), D.J. Trahan

76 Ben Crane, Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Brandt Snedeker, Scott Verplank
Stuart Appleby (Aus)
77 J.B. Holmes
80 Andres Romero (Arg)

John Gallagher set to pass Q School test

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
Swanston's John Gallagher is on course to pass stage one of the European Tour's qualifying school in Austria.
The former Scottish Amateur champion posted a two-under 70 for a four-under 212 to cement his place in the top-five with a round to play.


Gallagher sits in a share of fifth spot, seven shots behind Swedish leader Niclas Johansson, with the top 14 players after 72-holes progressing to stage two of the q-school marathon in November.


Perth's Steven Hume, who was in seventh at the start of day three, tumbled down to 21st with a damaging 76 for 219 and lags fours shots outside the current qualifying mark.


At Barbaroux in France, former European Amateur champion Victor Dubuisson opened up a six-shot lead over the field with a 73 for 208.

SCOTTISH SENIOR GOLFING SOCIETY

FINAL ORDER OF MERIT TABLE
(in reverse order)

Jim Paton Kirkintilloch 79 50.00 50.00
William Erskine Kinsyth Lennox 81 50.00 50.00
Keith Howie West Kilbride 78 50.00 50.00
Sandy Fairweather Caledonia 81 52.50 52.50
Les Fowler Royal Aberdeen 76 50.00 7.5 57.50
Mike Currie Glen 76 57.50 7.5 65.00
David Imrie Thornton 75 60.00 27.5 87.50
John W Johnston Royal Aberdeen 74 50.00 40 90.00
Jalil Aman Grangemouth 81 97.50 97.50
Allan Cameron Gourock 74 67.50 40 107.50
Lindsay Gordon Turnhouse 73 57.50 61 118.50
Phil Dempsey Tulliallan 74 100.80 40 140.80
Ken Davidson Musselburgh 73 85.00 61 146.00
Gordon MacDonald Callander 76 147.50 7.5 155.00
Derek Murphy Kinross 76 150.00 7.5 157.50
Keith Bruce Edzell 72 50.00 110 160.00
John Fraser Royal Burgess 73 102.50 61 163.50
Richard T Gray Cowglen 77 172.50 172.50
George Blair Haddington 79 177.50 177.50
Alistair Fiddes Deeside 73 125.00 61 186.00
James Kinloch Cardross 77 195.00 195.00
Stephen Ellis Innellan 76 243.30 7.5 250.80
Bob Stewart Tulliallan 77 252.50 252.50
Sandy Pirie Hazlehead 75 235.00 27.5 262.50
Lindsay Blair Grangemouth 78 285.00 285.00
Ian Taylor Royal Burgess 78 290.00 290.00
Ian Brotherston Dumfries and County 330.80 330.80
Alan O'Neill West Lothian 72 232.50 110 342.50
John McDonald Cowglen 78 352.50 352.50
David Gardner Broomieknowe 77 392.50 392.50
Jim Watt Edzell 76 413.33 7.5 420.83
Scott MacDonald Dunfermline 82 457.50 457.50
Tony Stafford Gleneagles Dun Ochil 73 440.00 61 501.00

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR

First round report from the Kazakhstan Open


From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
A stunning back nine of 31, capped by a birdie-eagle finish, saw Frenchman Christophe Brazillier surge to the top of the leaderboard on the opening day of the money-spinning Kazakhstan Open.
Brazillier, currently languishing in 100th place in the Rankings and with a highest finish of tied sixth at the 2007 Credit Suisse Challenge, outshone the Challenge Tour’s leading lights by compiling a stunning eight under par round of 64.
That saw the Frenchman finish day one of the €400,000 event with a one stroke lead over Sweden’s Magnus A Carlsson – who came home in 29 – and in-form Australian Daniel Gaunt.
After covering the first four holes in level par at Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty, Kazakhstan, there was little sign of the pyrotechnics Brazillier would produce. But six birdies in his next 13 holes, followed by a ten-foot eagle putt on the final green, saw Brazillier shoot his lowest ever round to par.
He said: “It was a great way to finish, with a putt on the last hole for an eagle. It’s probably been quite a long time since I finished with three threes! I putted very well today, and my irons were also very good. I hit 17 greens out of 18 today so I gave myself lots of chances, and luckily I managed to take quite a few of them.”
Carlsson’s campaign has been an equally mixed affair, with two top ten finishes offset by five missed cuts. The Swede’s outward nine was a steady rather than spectacular affair, but his round ignited after the turn with seven unanswered birdies.
The 29 year old, whose sole Challenge Tour victory came at the 2007 Challenge of Ireland, said: “My season has been a little bit up and down, but I’m working hard on my game and it seems to be turning around. If I can have a good week here and then another one in Russia next week, hopefully I can start climbing up the Rankings and into the top 20.”
That is also the goal of Gaunt, who currently sits in 28th place but is on course to improve his position in the Rankings after notching seven birdies in a flawless display of golf. Since his victory at the English Challenge in July, which secured him an instant promotion from the EuroPro Tour to the Challenge Tour, the man from Melbourne has finished inside the top 30 in every event in which he has teed up, with last week’s 12th place finish in Strasbourg his joint best performance.
Gaunt’s round of 65 continued his run of fast starts – incredibly, he is now an aggregate of 30 under par for his opening six rounds on the Challenge Tour this season, with a 74 on the opening day of the rain-affected SWALEC Wales Challenge the only occasion he has failed to break par.
He said: “It was a very good day. I got off to a pretty decent start, which always helps, and managed to carry the momentum through the rest of the round. I couldn’t really fault my play today – my playing partner Fredrik [Henge] asked me if I’d missed a shot all day and I couldn’t really remember any, though I’m sure there were one or two. But there’s no used getting carried away – being at the top of the board on Sunday is when it matters most. I’m in a good position and playing well. But I’ve got off to good starts in the last few weeks without managing to see it through, so hopefully this week will be different.”
Finland’s Annti Ahokas, Italian Federico Colombo, Sweden’s Pelle Edberg and Norwegian Marius Thorp share fourth place on six under par after posting rounds of 66.

FIRST ROUND
64 C Brazillier (Fra) ,
65 M Carlsson (Swe) , D Gaunt (Aus) ,
66 A Ahokas (Fin) , F Colombo (Ita) , M Thorp (Nor) , P Edberg (Swe) ,
67 J Arruti (Esp) , A Perrino (Ita) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , L Gagli (Ita) , A Velasco (Esp) , W Ormsby (Aus) , L Claverie (Esp) , J Zapata (Arg) , K Eriksson (Swe) ,
68 F De Vries (Ned) , J Roos (RSA) , S Buhl (Ger) , J Campillo (Esp) , J Clément (Sui) , O Floren (Swe) , M Bothma (RSA) , B Evans (Eng) , R Kakko (Fin) , C Russo (Fra) , A Bernadet (Fra) ,
69 J Grillon (Fra) , S Jamieson (Sco) , A Sjöstrand (Swe) , S Gross Jr (Ger) , R Kind (Ned) , P Golding (Eng) , T Olesen (Den) , S Manley (Wal) , M Korhonen (Fin) , T Feyrsinger (Aut) , A Gee (Eng) , A Wagner (Arg) , G Houston (Wal) , A Haindl (RSA) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , A Tadini (Ita) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , C Gane (Eng) , M Baldwin (Eng) ,
70 P Relecom (Bel) , C Baker (USA) , C Ford (Eng) , S Walker (Eng) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , G Murray (Sco) , R Dinwiddie (Eng) , M Tullo (Chi) , D Whitnell (Eng) , N Lemke (Swe) , F Praegant (Aut) , D Denison (Eng) , D Vanegas (Col) , E Saltman (Sco) , M Quiros (Esp) , D Brooks (Eng) , A Marshall (Eng) , E Ramsay (Sco) , O Whiteley (Eng) , S Davis (Eng) , M Zions (Aus) , V Riu (Fra) , I Van Weerelt (Ned) ,
71 A Kaleka (Fra) , S Tiley (Eng) , F Calmels (Fra) , A Willey (Eng) , B Barham (Eng) , M Higley (Eng) , A Hansen (Den) , G Rosier (Fra) , B Chapellan (Fra) , C Macaulay (Sco) , B Wiesberger (Aut) , J Larsen (Nor) , M Nichols (Eng) , B Grace (RSA) ,
72 A Snobeck (Fra) , M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) , P Kaensche (Nor) , F Henge (Swe) , E Canonica (Ita) , P Dwyer (Eng) , R Russell (Sco) , E Dubois (Fra) , J Moul (Eng) , A McArthur (Sco) , S Surry (Eng) , C Paisley (Eng) , N Meitinger (Ger) , O David (Fra) , J Doherty (Sco) , S Lewton (Eng) ,
73 J McLeary (Sco) , C Del Moral (Esp) , J Xanthopoulos (Fra) , Y Ali (Eng) , R Steiner (Aut) , T Fleetwood (Eng) ,
74 S Wakefield (Eng) , J Little (Eng) , A Högberg (Swe) , K Lifanov (Rus) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , W Besseling (Ned) , J Ruth (Eng) , L Kennedy (Eng) , J Sjöholm (Swe) ,
75 L Goddard (Eng) , C Günther (Ger) , T Stewart (Aus) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , L Bond (Wal) , M Laskey (Wal) , L Slattery (Eng) , J Caldwell (Nir) , J Billot (Fra) ,
76 L Jensen (Den) ,
77 M Haines (Eng) ,
82 A Mukhamedzhanov (am) (Kaz) ,
83 J Makitalo (Fin) ,
84 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) , N Makulbekov (am) (Kaz) ,
86 A Lagay (Kaz) ,
89 I Savitsky (Kaz) ,
91 A Vongay (Kaz) ,

PGA EUROPRO TOUR REPORT

GRAEME CLARK CLOSING IN ON

CHALLENGE TOUR RETURN

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE PGA EUROPR0 TOUR
GRAEME Clark is closing in on a return to the Challenge Tour as he shares the lead with one day remaining in the latest PGA EuroPro Tour event.
Clark, 34, is on 12-under along with Ireland ’s Paul O’Hanlon going into day three of the Brooks Bros 2010 Classic at the Five Lakes Golf Club in Essex .
Clark finished top of the Order of Merit in 2007 but after an unsuccessful spell on the Challenge Tour was back on the EuroPro Tour in 2009, winning at Tudor Park in Kent .
This season he has been an ever-present as he has competed in all 13 events and he currently stands 14th in the Order of Merit.
However, with £10,000 going to the winner at Five Lakes , Clark could push himself into fourth with only the end of campaign Tour Championships in Cyprus in October remaining.
If Clark (Doncaster GC) was to be in the top six on the Order of Merit at the conclusion of that tournament then he would regain his Challenge Tour card for next season.
He shot a five-under round of 67 on Wednesday but bettered that with a flawless score of 65 on Thursday.
O’Hanlon (Curragh) was another player to not drop a shot on Thursday and he is hoping for his best finish of the year after two tied fourth efforts.
Three players – Gary King, Barrie Trainor and Tim Rice - went round in 64 on Thursday with it being an incredible turnaround for Rice after he had shot 76 on the first day and looked likely to not make the cut.
Day one leader Mark Coppell ( Woodcote Park ) is still in contention for the victory as he is on ten-under, two shots behind O’Hanlon and Clark.
Coppell is joined in tied fourth by a number of other golfers including James Hepworth (Ilkley GC), James Freeman (Worksop GC), Jamie Abbott ( Fynn Valley ) and amateur Chris Lloyd (The Kendleshire).
The top 50 and ties have advanced to the third and final round, which starts at 7.30pm on Friday.
To see full scores go to the official website www.europrotour.com and click on ‘Score Updates’ on the right-hand side.

From: Chris Turner, Xltec Pro Golf Tour

MAR HALL EVENT CANCELLED

It is with great regret and disappointment that we must announce the cancellation of Sunday's Xltec Pro Golf Tour event at Mar Hall. This is due to low entry numbers and a particularly high volume of late withdrawals, which unfortunately means it is not viable to run the event as planned.
We hope to see as many of you as possible at our final event of the 2010 season on 11th and 12th October at The Roxburghe.
Please email me if you wish to enter.

Chris Turner
Golf Projects Manager
110sport Management Ltd

EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS
KLM OPEN SCOREBOARD
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 70
62 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel)
64 Shiv Kapur (Ind), Kenneth Ferrie
65 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Richie Ramsay, Ross Fisher, Joost Luiten (Ned), Nick Dougherty, Tano Goya (Arg), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
66 Mark F Haastrup (Den), Alastair Forsyth, Todd Hamilton (USA), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa)

67 Chris Wood, Paul Waring, Robert Coles, David Horsey, Danny Willett, Martin Kaymer (Ger), David Lynn, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Johan Edfors (Swe), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Danny Lee (Nzl), Rowin Caron (Ned), Marco Ruiz (Par), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Sam Little

68 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Damien McGrane, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Marc Warren, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Markus Brier (Aut), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Christian Nilsson (Swe), Darren Clarke, James Morrison, Gary Lockerbie, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Thomas Levet (Fra), Peter O'Malley (Aus)
69 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Steve Webster, Tyson Alexander (USA), David Howell, George Coetzee (Rsa), Peter Lawrie, Graeme Storm, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Jamie Elson, Brett Rumford (Aus), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Robert Rock, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Simon Thornton
70 John Parry, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Anders Hansen (Den), Soren Hansen (Den), Sion E Bebb, Peter Baker, Daan Huizing (Ned), Simon Dyson, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Jurrian Van der vaart (Ned), Tim Sluiter (Ned), Cameron Tringale (USA)

71 Andrew Butterfield, James Kingston (Rsa), Steven O'Hara, Gary Boyd, Alexander Noren (Swe), Shane Lowry, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Sven Maurits (Ned), Andrew Coltart, Julien Guerrier (Fra), Julien Quesne (Fra), Sam Hutsby, Gary Murphy, Carl Suneson (Spa), Stephen Gallacher, David Dixon, Phillip Archer, Paul McGinley

72 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Oliver Fisher, Anthony Kang (USA), Robin Swane (Ned), Anthony Wall, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Michael Hoey, Christian Cevaer (Fra), Richard Bland, Michael Campbell (Nzl), Gareth Maybin, Scott Strange (Aus), Richard McEvoy, David Drysdale, Richard Finch, Paul Lawrie, Ariel Canete (Arg), Mark Mouland

73 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Phillip Price, Scott Drummond, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Richard Eccles (Ned), Stephen Dodd, Miles Tunnicliff, Mark Foster

74 Anton Haig (Rsa), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Robin Kind (Ned), Sven Struver (Ger), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Richard Green (Aus), Ben Collier, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)

75 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Peter Whiteford, Marcel Siem (Ger), Pablo Martin (Spa), Bradley Dredge, Simon Khan, Barry Lane

76 Johan Eerdmans (Ned)

77 Mark Brown (Nzl)

78 Kevin Berger (Ger), Sander Van Dijn (Ned), Francesco Laporta (Ita)

80 Fernand Osther (Ned)