Westwood and McIlroy get to play

one extra US Tour event

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) — Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy are among five international players who can play one additional US PGA Tour event next year if they are eligible for The Players Championship.
The policy board adopted the change at its quarterly meeting. It allows a player like Westwood,  pictured, who ordinarily could have played no more than three regular US PGA Tour events, from having to choose between The Players Championship and another tournament.
Westwood said the tour informed him of the change last week.
Players who resign their membership or fail to play the minimum 15 events face a five-year period of playing only 10 tour events. Westwood gave up his U.S. membership in 2008 when he played only 10 times, while McIlroy decided recently to resign his membership.
Westwood prefers to play the Honda Classic (situated between two World Golf Championships), the Houston Open (the week before the Masters), and the St. Jude Classic, where he is the defending champion. Throw in The Players Championship, which has the deepest field and offers the highest purse in golf, and he would have to decide.
"That adds up to 11," Westwood said in Dubai, according to the London-based Guardian newspaper. "I would then have to pick between the Players and Memphis, and I don't think anyone would have wanted that - not the US PGA Tour or the sponsors."
US PGA champion Martin Kaymer said Tuesday he would not take up US PGA Tour membership, but since he has never been a member, he can play 12 tournaments and the new policy would not effect him.
Along with Westwood and McIlroy, the policy could alo help David Howell, Darren Clarke and Patrick Sheehan of Australia. That would depend if they are in the top 50 in the world and eligible for the four majors, three WGCs and Players Championship.
McIlroy is the defending champion at Quail Hollow. The new policy will enable him to play in the Honda Classic and the Memorial, along with The Players Championship.
TOUR BALLOTS: One way players could decide on their vote for player of the year would be to ask themselves this question: "Who's season would I trade for mine?" That yielded this answer from Tiger Woods.
"Just about anyone else's," he said with a self-deprecating laugh.
The ballots have been mailed to US PGA Tour members, who have until next Tuesday to submit their votes.
According to one player studying the ballot, the tour has offered up five candidates for player of the year - Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson is the only major champion (Masters). Furyk figures to be the favourite with three victories, including the Tour Championship and Transitions Championship against a strong field, and the FedEx Cup. Johnson and Els won twice, with Johnson twice playing in the final group of a major; while Kuchar captured only one tournament, but led the money list and won the Vardon Trophy.
Four players are on the ballot for rookie of the year, and while it would seem to be an easy choice - Rory McIlroy, who won at Quail Hollow and finished in the top three of two majors - it will be interesting to see how the membership regards his status as a rookie, and his decision not to join the US Tour next year.
The other candidates are Rickie Fowler (No. 22 on money list, Ryder Cup team), Puerto Rico winner Derek Lamely and Alex Prugh.
As for comeback player of the year, the popular choice is likely Rocco Mediate, who won the Fry's.com Open after starting the year with only past champion's status. He's on the ballot with Greensboro winner Arjun Atwal and Stuart Appleby.
 PRICE IS RIGHT: Among those who have decided to take one-time exemptions on the US PGA Tour for being in the top 50 in career money was a former No. 1 player in the world - Nick Price.
Price, who turns 54 in January, is not expected to play much on the US PGA Tour. There are enough gaps in the Champions Tour schedule that he wants to have the opportunity to play regular tour events to stay sharp, likely on courses where he feels he can still compete.
Three other players taking one-time exemptions from the top 50 are Tim Herron, Chris DiMarco and Steve Flesch.
Herron thought about taking his exemption last year, but decided to try to earn his card back through sponsor exemptions and his status as a past champion. He started the year at No. 42 in career earnings and slipped to only No. 44.

 BIG WEEK OF GOLF: The strongest week in golf after the majors might be the week right after Thanksgiving, with two tournaments halfway around the world.
Phil Mickelson will be the only player from the top 10 in the world not playing. The two fields have combined to produce 25 of the top 30 in the world, with the others on the sidelines being Francesco Molinari, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and K.T. Kim.
Most of them will be at the Chevron World Challenge, hosted by Tiger Woods. The field at Sherwood Country Club features 13 of the top 20 in the world. Over in South Africa is the Nedbank Challenge, which has new No. 1 Lee Westwood. All but two players in its 12-man field - Tim Clark and Anders Hansen - are among the top 30.

MAJOR ENCORE: It's been a tough year for the most recent batch of major champions. Angel Cabrera (Masters), Lucas Glover (US Open) and Stewart Cink (Open) have failed to win a tournament since capturing their majors in 2009. Y E Yang (PGA Championship) went 17 events without a trophy until he won the Volvo China Open a week after the Masters, and he recently added the Korea Open for his second win this year.
Even so, none of the major winners from last year is among the top 35 in the world ranking. Yang is the highest at No. 40, followed by Cink (46), Glover (52) and Cabrera (53). They have combined to earn 343.11 world ranking points in 2010, which is 2.7 points more than Martin Kaymer has earned by himself.

+Non-members Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy are omitted from the 2010 money list on the US PGA Tour website. In fact Westwood should be No 5 with earnings of $4,239,934 from 19 events and McIlroy 24th with $2,804,280 from 18 tournaments.

MIDLAND ALLIANCE

McLeod and Lockhart tie at Balbirnie Park

By LEE SUTHERLAND
This week the Midland Golfers’ Alliance held their meeting at Balbirnie Park in Fife. There was a tie for first scratch between Monifieth professional Gordon McLeod and Ladybank assistant pro Alan Lockhart with one-over-par scores of 72. John Rankin, who plays off nine at Scotscraig, won the handicap prize with a net score of 69.
LEADING SCRATCH
Par 71
72 G McLeod (Monifieth) p, A Lockhart (Ladybank) ap.
73 P Jamieson (Dunblane New) p, C Armstrong (Burntisland) ap, S Clark (Elie) ap, M Brown (Monifieth).
74 K Bruce (Edzell).
75 K McGowan (Burntisland) ap, J Craig (Carnoustie).
76 R Stewart (Tulliallan).
77 C Ferguson (Muckhart).
78 J Rankin (Scotscraig), A Martin (The Duke's) ap.
79 J Crawford (Dunblane New), R Barton (Alloa), L Sutherland (Ballumbie Castle) p, R Baldie (Crieff).

LEADING HANDICAP
69 J Rankin (Scotscraig) (9).
70 R Barton (Alloa) (9), J Stevenson (Dunfermline) (8), D Patrick (Dunfermline) (11).
71 D Vicary (Craigie Hill) (11), K Bruce (Edzell) (3).
72 R Baldie (Crieff) (7), A Herd (Scotscraig) (11).
73 K. McKenzie (Crieff) (7), D Adams (Carnoustie) (7), N Henderson (Scotscraig) (12), J Craig (Carnoustie) (2), C Marr (Glenrothes) (13), C Ferguson (Muckhart) (4).
74 J Crawford (Dunblane New) (5), G Muir (Burntisland) (7), I McMurray (Downfield) (10), G Crighton (St Andrews) (6).

Qualifiers for the JTC Interiors Express Championship in April at Arbroath Links

C Armstrong (Burntisland)
S Clark (Elie)
K McGowan (Burntisland).
Qualifier for the JTC McQueen Shield at Arbroath Links in April
J Rankin (Scotscraig)

Next Week’s Meeting
Drumoig Golf Course
A. Duncan Powakaddy Team Competition
Tuesday, November 30.
Tee reserved: 8.30am – 12.15pm

Harrington in form for Dubai

World Championship

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington steered his BMW 3 team of Tom Barry, Mike Tracey and Mike Sim to victory in the Rolex Pro Am, curtain raiser to the 2010 Dubai World Championship presented by DP World.
Ryder Cup hero Harrington, who currently lies 18th in The Race to Dubai, proved to be in top form in a 28 team event, which saw the stars of the European Tour give their amateur partners a day to remember over the championship course.The Irishman and his amateur partners combined to shoot a winning score of nineteen under par, three shots ahead of runner-up Francesco Molinari and his playing partners Ramesh Prabhakar, Moshe Kohli and Sandeep Singh in the BMW 2 team.
They took second place on a countback from Ian Poulter’s Emirates 3 team of Bob Atkins, Peter Jackson and Mathew Warren on sixteen-under.
“Padraig was wonderful to play with,” said amateur partner Tom Barry. “Whenever one of us had a chance to score, he would spend time reading the putts and helping us get the best score we could. He was a real team player.”

FOR ALL THE PRO-AM SCORES,

PLEASE CLICK HERE

No sponsor but Irish Open is on 2011

European Tour schedule

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE
The Irish Open will remain part of the 2011 European Tour schedule despite mobile communications company ‘3’ withdrawing as title sponsors of the country’s blue riband golf event.
For many years the national championship has struggled to reach the dizzy heights and appeal it once had in the 1970s and 80s when the world’s top players competed in Ireland.
Economic constraints such as uncertainty over sponsorship, lack of venue, unsuitable date on the European Tour schedule and untimely inclement weather have been just some of the factors to have hampered the Irish Open in recent years.
When "3" came on board a genuine sense of optimism prevailed, especially after this year’s event in Killarney, in it’s new slot over the August Bank Holiday weekend, was generally very well received.
However, in recent weeks "3" opted out of their three-year sponsorship deal with one year to run, which caused immediate concern for the tournament’s future.
However, the European Tour and Failte Ireland confirmed the Irish Open will remain on the 2011 schedule – due to be announced later today at the season-ending Dubai World Championship – with European Tour officials keen to retain the Irish event.
Next year’s Irish Open is due to take place from July 28 to 31 with the key focus now set on finding a new headline sponsor of the event. When the schedule is released a "TBC" (to be confirmed) will sit alongside the Irish Open in the venue column.
“The Irish Open will go ahead because it is an integral event of the European Tour schedule and given also the exemplary strength of the Irish players on the Tour at the moment,” explained Keith Waters, European Tour director of international policy, noting there has been difficulty in confirming venues for other events on the new schedule.
“It is early days yet as it was only recently we were without a sponsor for next year, and obviously we hope to find another one. So yes, the Irish Open is continuing with full details to follow.”

PAUL McGINLEY TO PLAY IN INDIAN OPEN

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOURNew Delhi: Paul McGinley, the golfer whose name is synonymous with Ryder Cup glory, will compete in next week’s Hero Honda Indian Open.
The Irishman will be making his debut in India’s flagship tournament, which is being played at Delhi Golf Club from December 2 to 5.
He will be a popular addition to the tournament and joins an impressive line-up of star players that includes all of the country’s top players such as Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, Daniel Chopra, Jyoti Randhawa, and Shiv Kapur.
The Hero Honda Indian Open boasts prize money of US$1.25 million and is the joint richest full field event on the Asian Tour.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for me to experience playing in one of Asia’s most special and popular national Opens. The Hero Honda Indian Open is a premier tournament on the Asian Tour with a long and fascinating history. I am really looking forward to the trip and I hope to put in a strong performance that will help draw my season to a successful conclusion,” said 43-year-old McGinley.
McGinley is most famous for holing the winning putt for the European team in the 2002 Ryder Cup. It was the start of a remarkable stretch for the Dubliner as he was part of the winning team in 2004 and 2006.
This season he was one of the non-playing vice captains and played an important role in marshalling Europe to another victory.
McGinley turned professional in 1991 and has triumphed four times on The European Tour. His best season came in 2005 when he claimed the Volvo Masters and finished third on the Order of Merit.
His love for team golf also came to the fore when he partnered Padraig Harrington to victory in the 1997 World Cup of Golf. He also has a brilliant record in the Seve Trophy - which sees Great Britain and Ireland compete against Europe. He played for the winning team in 2002 and 2005 while last year he was the non playing captain and led his team to victory.
“Paul McGinley is one of the most popular and recognizable players in the game of golf and he will be a wonderful addition to this year’s Hero Honda Indian Open. It is important that we are able to welcome players of his calibre to our national Open so that we can show what huge progress professional golf is making in our country,” said Mr. Pawan Munjal, Managing Director & CEO, Hero Honda Motors Ltd.
Defending champion C. Muniyappa from India will also bid for honours next week. He triumphed last year after beating Lee Sung from Korea on the first extra hole. The former caddie from Bangalore drained a 10 foot birdie putt on the par-five 18th to win at DLF Golf and Country Club.
This year will mark the 47th staging of the event and the 23rd occasion it has been held at Delhi Golf Club. The inaugural Indian Open was staged at Delhi Golf Club in 1964 when Australian Peter Thomson took the title.