GOLFING THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks not if you won or lost
But how you played the Game

- by (Henry) Grantland Rice (1880-1954), one of America's most famous and influential sportswriters from his poem 'Alumnus Football.'

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US PGA TOUR QUALIFYING SCHOOL STAGE 2

KNOX HOPES NOSEDIVE IN ROUND 3

Inverness exile Russell Knox's hopes of making it on to the US PGA Tour receded considerably with a third-round, two-over-par 74 in the Qualifying School Stage 2 event at Southern Hills Plantation Club, Brooksville, Florida today (Friday, Local time).
Knox had begun with rounds of 68 and 72 which had him well within the top 19 and ties who will qualify for the Final Q event next month at Orange County National Golf Centre, near Orlando.
But a three-birdie, five-bogey card for a 74 dropped him to joint 29th in the field of 70-odd players with one round to go..
It's going to take a fourth-round score in the 60s on Saturday for the Florida-based Knox to keep his hopes alive.
Knox's three-round total of two-under-par 214 leaves him 11 shots adrift of the co-leaders, Bill Hurley from Maryland (69-67-67) and Scott Brown from South Carolina (65-68-70) on 203.
England's John Morgan is tied for 51st place on 218 with rounds of 72, 71 and 75.
Daniel Chopra (Sweden), twice a winner on the US Tour, is back in a share of 55th place on 219 with scores of 70, 77 and 72.

TO ACCESS THE US PGA TOUR'S QUALIFYING SCHOOL WEBSITE AND SEE ALL THE SCORES AT THE SIX VENUES,

PLEASE CLICK HERE


ends

SGU: Lothians to query why extra £1million is needed

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
The Scottish Golf Union will be quizzed next week over the additional £1 million it proposes to raise from an amalgamation with the Scottish Ladies Golf Association.
The matter was raised at last night's Lothians Golf Association annual meeting at Newbattle by Stuart Bruce of Broomieknowe. He pointed out that the amalgamation proposal included the per capita levy paid by every club golfer in Scotland being set at £11.

"That's a 100 per cent increase (for SGU affiliated members] and would mean income increasing from £1.3 million to £2.3 million," said Bruce. "How the (new body] propose to spend that money is something that needs to be addressed."

TO READ THE FULL STORY FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS,

CLICK HERE

Bettencourt leads Pebble Beach

Invitational with a 64

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE
PEBBLE BEACH, California. – US PGA Tour winner Matt Bettencourt shot an 8-under 64 at Del Monte to take a two-stroke lead in the Pebble Beach Invitational, while Annika Sorenstam opened with a 69 at Del Monte in a rare competitive start since her retirement in 2008.
Bettencourt, the Reno-Tahoe Open winner in July who finished 114th on the 2010 money list, had two eagles, five birdies and a bogey in the Callaway Golf-sponsored tournament that features 76 male and female players.

“I started slow, but hit a great shot on No. 9 from about 250 yards to 12 feet and got the eagle,” said Bettencourt, who tied for fourth in the tournament last year. “I didn’t know I was in the lead, but I knew 64 or 65 was out here. Del Monte on a day like today is a pretty benign course.”

Bettencourt birdied three of the final four holes, but missed a 15-inch birdie putt on the 14th.

“It was a good round, although I left some putts out there,” he said.

LPGA Tour player Morgan Pressel, PGA Tour veteran Bryce Molder and New York club pro Heath Wassen opened with 66s, also at Del Monte.

Five players, including Champions Tour player Tom Purtzer, shot 67s.

Ten of the top 11 opening-round scores were posted at Del Monte, which is used in rotation with Spyglass Hill and Pebble Beach for the first three rounds. The final round will be played at Pebble Beach.

Defending champion Mark Brooks, the only three-time Pebble Beach Invitational winner, had a 77 at Del Monte. Juli Inkster, who in 1990 become only female player to win the event, shot a 2-under 70 at Pebble Beach.

The winner will receive $60,000 from the $300,000 purse.

N E ALLIANCE SWITCH TO NEWBURGH

A flooded Newmachar Hawkshill course has already been declared unplayable for next Wednesday's scheduled North-east Golfers' Alliance competition. Newburgh's fast-draining links course is now the venue with the same starting times as had been arranged for Newmachar. A two-tee start is also possible at Newburgh.

Lyle, Oldcorn and Torrance all return 73s at Royal Perth

Peter has his Senior moments

in Aussie heatwave

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Peter Senior has stamped his mark on the Handa Australian Senior Open, firing a brilliant opening seven under par 65 at Royal Perth Golf Club in Western Australia.
In stifling conditions with the temperature reaching 39 degrees in Perth, the Queenslander hit an extraordinary 17 of 18 greens in regulation and finished without a bogey for a two-shot lead over fellow Australian Peter Fowler.

The Senior rookie made a birdie to begin his round on the reachable par-five ninth hole before Perth's searing heat took hold.

But while others came and went in the oppressive conditions, the 19-time winner on the PGA Tour of Australasia simply ploughed on through the tough back nine.

He then cashed in with three more birdies in his closing six holes, including a four foot putt on his last, the eighth, in front of an appreciative gallery.
A clear sign of how first-class his score was came when only two other sub-par rounds were posted in the morning. These came from evergreen Victorian Mike Clayton and Kiwi Craig Owen, both of whom signed for 71.

“Any time you shoot that kind of score you’re going to be pleased,” said Senior.

“The greens are going to get quicker. You can’t expect to hole everything on these greens. The guys out there can play so I’m not going to take anything for granted. I was disappointed last year as I played well until the final six holes. Hopefully I’ll do a little better this year.”

Hot on Senior’s tail from the afternoon groups was Peter “Chooky” Fowler. Fowler finished his blitzing round with a crowd-pleasing birdie on the eighteenth hole to sign for a 5-under 67.

“I’ve never played this course. It’s a very, very good course in fantastic condition,” said Fowler.

“It’s not the longest course in the world but it’s pretty demanding around the green, well maintained – the best I’ve seen for a long time. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

“It’s my first senior tournament in Australia. I’ve seen some guys I haven’t seen for a while so it’s good fun.”

Of the other big names from the European field, Welsh Major Winner Ian Woosnam appeared out of sorts but mixed five birdies with five bogeys for an even par 72, while jovial Scot and another past Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance fired a 73, the same score as compatriots Sandy Lyle and Andrew Oldcorn.
Bill Longmuir had a 74.
The leading player from Europe was Englishmen Kevin Spurgeon, who finished on one under alongside five Australians.
“It was pretty hot, but we had some cloud cover this afternoon. I quite like the heat but it does drain you”, said Spurgeon.
“I’m enjoying the course. I think it’s a great golf course. The fairways are tight and the greens put well. You’ve just got to keep out of the trees. The whole thing is set up really well.
“It’s my first visit to Australia and I’m loving every minute of it.”


SCOTS' SCORES:
73 Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance, Andrew Oldcorn.
74 Bill Longmuir.
TO ACCESS THE FULL SCOREBOARD FROM THE PGA OF AUSTRALIA WEBSITE,

PLEASE CLICK HERE

£140 for a round over Old Course next year

St Andrews Links Trust has announced its 2011 visitor green fees for the seven courses at the Home of Golf.
There will be small increases on some of the courses next year, following two years when the fees have been frozen.
The high season green fee for the Old Course will be £140, a £10 increase on last year.
The New and Jubilee courses will change to £70, a £5 increase.
The green fees for The Castle, Eden, Strathtyrum and Balgove courses will remain the same.

It's an earth-shaking 60 by

Ian Poulter as he leads

Hong Kong Open
NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
The earth shook literally at the UBS Hong Kong Open today when England ’s Ian Poulter rumbled to a magnificent 10-under-par 60 for a one-shot second round lead.
The flamboyant Ryder Cup star, pictured, put on a master-class performance at the Hong Kong Golf Club, sinking 10 birdie putts to lead the US$2.5 million showpiece sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour from back-in-form Anthony Kang of the United States , who fired an equally impressive 61.
World No. 10 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, playing alongside Poulter, looked set for the joint lead but double bogeyed the 18th hole after sending his poor approach into the watery grave for a 66 to lie two back with former Hong Kong Open champion Simon Dyson, who returned a 65.
Two-time Asian Tour No. 1 Jeev Milkha Singh of India and reigning number one Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand kept up the Asian charge with a 67 and 64 respectively for tied fifth place, three behind. US O pen champion Graeme McDowell shot his second straight 65 for fifth place as well.
World No. 14 Poulter was undoubtedly the star on a day when an earth tremour, which lasted several seconds, was felt by players, spectators and officials at the club. An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.8 on the Richter Scale was recorded by the Hong Kong Observatory at 2:42 pm.
But the way Poulter tamed the tricky Fanling course with his swashbuckling style of golf, it was no surprise that the earth literally shook. “I would rank it pretty high to be honest,” said Poulter of his lowest career round.
“I had a lot of chances. I could have holed a couple more but I mean, it's a good round of golf,” added the Englishman, whose effort would have been a new course record if not for the preferred lie ruling being in effect. It was also only the fourth ever 60 recorded on the Asian Tour.
An inspired Poulter turned in 29 with five birdies, including a 30-foot conversion on the ninth after McIlroy had spectacularly holed out with a seven iron for an eagle two.
When Poulter got to eight under through 14 holes, a first ever 59 on both Tours loomed but the Englishman parred the next three before rolling in an eight footer for birdie at the last.
“Yeah, mixed emotions. Five‑under on the front nine was a great score. I kind of felt there were plenty of chances coming in. So, you know, happy but slightly disappointed,” said Poulter, who has nine wins on the European Tour.
He said he wasn’t put off by the earth tremor. “I wondered what it was. I was just about to pick my ball up (on the 14th tee). I did feel a little tremor, It was a bit strange.”
Kang surprised even himself by shooting his career best round with nine birdies to charge into contention. The Korean-born American has struggled to find his best form since winning the Malaysian O pen early last year, missing far too many cuts for his liking.
Such was his sparkling form that the scorer went “wow” upon checking his scorecard. “Yeah, she's shocked. Every time I turn in a score to her, it's always like 74, 75. So it was a surprise to her. A surprise to me, as well,” smiled Kang.
Kang won his third Asian Tour title last year before venturing to Europe but has struggled to replicate his Asian form in the continent. “It was fun getting it on the green and hitting a good putt and watching it go in the hole. It was hap pen ing hole after hole and hopefully it will carry on,” said Kang, who will turn 38 on November 30.
McIlroy was disappointed with his late blemish. “Obviously a very disappointing way to finish but I played well up until that point so I can't really complain,” said the 21-year-old. “At one stage it looked like he (Poulter) could shoot 59, and it was great. He played really good. We were both hitting good shots out there. He's playing very well and he'll be tough to beat this week.”
Singh, battling tendinitis in his right shoulder, turned in 31 but took his foot off the pedal with three bogeys on his inward nine. He said he got ahead of himself, especially, with a bogey on the par five third hole.
“I tried to draw a three wood into that flag which is abnormal for me. I think I got ahead of myself there; management was wrong, and hit it in the water and made a bogey,” said the Indian, who was third at the UBS Hong Kong Open in 2006.
“When you put yourself in a good position like this, I think it gives you a lot of confidence and I think I'm feeling pretty good about it.”
Thongchai, holder of an unprecedented three Order of Merit titles, enjoyed a blazing finish with four closing birdies to end his round. And for the first time in months, his putter worked like charm throughout 18 holes.
“The putting was very good. We had long putts from more than 20 feet. My feeling is confident now with the putting,” said the Thai . “I think the same game plan tomorrow, make a lot of fairways and greens. If you have good putts, you are going to have a good chance.”
Title holder Gregory Bourdy of France shot a 66 and will enter the weekend rounds five behind Poulter.
SCOTSWATCH (by Colin Farquharson): Colin Montgomerie (69-68 137)  beat the cut - 138 or better qualified - reasonably comfortably but it was a tight squeeze for David Drysdale, Stephen Gallacher and Paul Lawrie, all of whom made it through to the weekend action on the limit mark.
Drysdale ahd rounds of 67 and 71, Gallacher 68 and 70, and Lawrie 68 and 70.
On his website, Paul wrote:
"Another very frustrating day on the greens (32putts) meant that I shot level par 70. I gave myself a lot of birdie chances but couldn't get the putts to drop. I've just got to keep at it and hope the putts will start to drop."
Lawrie was out in one-over-par 35 with a bogey at the ninth but got ahead of the game with birdies at the long 13th and 16th. A bogey at the 17th put him under pressure to get a par at the last to make the cut - which he did.
Aberdonian Richie Ramsay missed the cut for the second week in a row after her sterling third place finish among the stars at the HSBC Champions. How could Richie miss the cut in Hong Kong after an opening round of 66 in which he had gone out in 30?
Answer: Bogeys at the first, short eighth and ninth for 37 to the turn and then, after birdieing the 14th and 15th, a catastrophic double bogey 6 at the 18th for a 73 and a total of 139 - one shot too many.

FORSYTH JOINS WARREN IN TRIP TO Q SCHOOL

Alastair Forsyth, pictured, missed out on 142 with scores of 69 and 73. He had a bad run with a bogey at the sixth, a double bogey at the seventh and another bogey at the eighth to turn in four-over-par 38. Another bogey at the 10th meant he was really up against it and birdies at the 17th and 18th were too little, too late.
Forsyth, 34, will now have to join Marc Warren in heading for the European Tour Final Qualifying School at PGA Catalunya next month. Alastair has held a Tour card for the past 11 years but, occupying 127th position in the Order of Merit, he needed a top-six finish to climb into the leading 115.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 140 (2x70)
127 Ian Poulter 67 60
128 Anthony Kang (USA) 67 61
129 Rory McIlroy 63 66, Simon Dyson 64 65
130 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 63 67, Graeme McDowell 65 65, Anders Hansen (Den) 66 64, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 67 63, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 66 64
131 Soren Hansen (Den) 64 67, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 67 64, Kenneth Ferrie 65 66, Mark Brown (Nzl) 62 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 68 63
132 Jamie Donaldson 66 66, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 66 66
133 Michael Hoey 68 65
134 Gareth Maybin 67 67, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 67 67
135 Damien McGrane 65 70, David Howell 66 69, Sung Lee (S Korea) 67 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 66 69, John Daly (USA) 69 66, Tony Carolan (Aus) 70 65, Scott Barr (Aus) 68 67, Iain Steel (Mal) 69 66, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 69 66, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 66, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 66, Kunal Bhasin (Ind) 68 67, Y E Yang (S Korea) 68 67
136 Ben Leong (Mal) 68 68, Scott Strange (Aus) 68 68, Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe) 68 68, Rhys Davies 65 71, Darren Clarke 72 64, Peter Lawrie 70 66, Young Nam (Kor) 65 71, James Morrison 67 69, A Siddikur (Bd) 72 64, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 68 68, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 68, Joong Kyung Mo (Kor) 66 70
137 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 69 68, David Gleeson (Aus) 70 67, Colin Montgomerie 69 68, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 68 69, Graeme Storm 69 68, Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 67, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 68, Marcus Both (Aus) 67 70, Mark Foster 70 67, Paul McGinley 69 68, Bradley Dredge 67 70
138 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 70 68, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 66, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 68 70, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 69 69, David Drysdale 67 71, Stephen Gallacher 68 70, Paul Lawrie 68 70, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 67 71, Danny Chia (Mal) 70 68, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 69

MISSED THE CUT
139 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 71 68, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 68, Mars Pucay (Phi) 71 68, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 70, Udorn Duangdecha (Tha) 67 72, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 68 71, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 67 72, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 70 69, Richie Ramsay 66 73, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 72, Chris Wood 69 70, David Horsey 66 73, Nick Dougherty 70 69, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 71 68, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 73 66, Tano Goya (Arg) 66 73, Angelo Que (Phi) 70 69, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 71 68
140 Ben Fox (USA) 72 68, Oliver Wilson 65 75, Robert Rock 69 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 69, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 72 68, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 71, Steve Webster 69 71, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 71, Yih-shin Chan (Tpe) 69 71, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 71 69, Simon Khan 70 70, Brad Smith 69 71, Matthew Rosenfeld (USA) 70 70, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 66 74, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 69, Ross McGowan 71 69
141 Hirotaro Naito (Jpn) 72 69, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 69, Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 71 70, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 71 70, Simon Griffiths 68 73, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 70 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 70, Shane Lowry 68 73, Richard Finch 71 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 69, Ariel Canete (Arg) 71 70
142 Kwanchai Tannin (Hkg) 70 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 71, Shaaban Hussin (Mal) 74 68, Alastair Forsyth 69 73, Unho Park (Aus) 69 73, Wen-hong Lin (Chn) 74 68, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 68 74
143 David s Johnson (USA) 70 73, Darren Beck (Aus) 71 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 71, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 72 71, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 73 70, Shinichi Mizuno (Hkg) 73 70, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 71
144 In-choon Hwang (S Korea) 71 73, C j Gatto (USA) 75 69, Mark Purser (Nzl) 69 75
145 Himmat Rai (Ind) 71 74, Derek Fung (Hkg) 74 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 73 72, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 75 70
147 Gerald Rosales (Phi) 71 76
148 Timothy Tang (Hkg) 70 78, C Muniyappa (Ind) 73 75, Chris Rodgers 73 75, Gavin Flint (Aus) 79 69
152 William Fung wai kuen (Hkg) 76 76, Jovick Lee (Hkg) 72 80
153 Woon Man Wong (Hkg) 73 80
158 Alexander Cheng (Hkg) 82 76

Sullivan wins but Raymond loses in Argentina

England's challenge for the Argentina men's open amateur championship at Highland Park CC, Buenos Aires was halved at the end of the first round of match-play.
No 5 qualifier Andrew Sullivan reached the last 32 by beating the 60th qualifier, Francisco Aleman, by 7 and 6, but Neil Raymond, the 35th qualifier, lost by 5 and 4 to 30th qualifier, Ryan Matthew Dreyer (South Africa).
Romain Wattel (France) beat Ross Kellett (Colville Park) in last year's final.
The SGU did not submit any entries to this year's championship, preferring to take their Elite Squad to Dubai and then Abu Dhabi for four weeks' warm-weather training and practice.

North-east boy plays in £90,000 Sunningdale four-ball

FROM A CONTRIBUTOR

CHILDREN IN NEED: If you listened to the Chris Evans Show on Radio 2 yesterday you would have heard that someone gave £90,000, yes £90,000, for two people to play a round of golf at Sunningdale  with Evans and Lee Westwood.
One of those playing in the four-ball was Liam Allan of Longside Golf Club, Aberdeenshire.
Liam played for the North-east District boys' team last year.