PETER LATIMER ENTERS DIXIE AMATEUR


East of Scotland Open winner Peter Latimer, a member at St Andrews New GC and Lundin GC, is the only home-based Scot among the entries for the Dixie Amateur Championship, to be played at Heron Bay Golf Club, Coral Springs in Florida from December 17-21.
Latimer was a winner more than once on the American college circuit during his four years at Guilford College, Greensboro in North Carolina.
Also in the field is Scottish-born Greg Duncan who has lived in the States for the past few years.
Winning the Dixie Amateur title in 2008 was one of the highlights of Gavin Dear's amateur career. He was the first Scot to win the prestigious event since it was first played 80 years ago.
Other winners include Frank Stranahan (1940), Lanny Wadkins (1971), Hal Sutton (1978-79) and Jesper Parnevik (1986).
American student Peter Uihlein, the No 1 amateur in the world according to the RandA World Rankings, won the Dixie Amateur last year.

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Barclays become title sponsors of Kenya Open


NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE EUROPEAN TOUR
Barclays has announced its three-year title sponsorship of the Kenya Open, the longest-running event on the European Challenge Tour Schedule.
The 2011 Barclays Kenya Open will be played from March 31-April 3 at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi, Kenya, the venue for the last two editions of an event which was first played back in 1967 and joined the Challenge Tour Schedule in 1991.
Previous winners of the €190,000 event include the 2007 champion Edoardo Molinari of Italy, who after topping the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2009 subsequently ran up two victories on Scottish soil at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and The Barclays Scottish Open, one of two Barclays-sponsored events on The 2010 European Tour Schedule.

Harrington clickety-clicks to lead at Sun City

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Padraig Harrington carded a six under par round of 66 to lead the Nedbank Golf Challenge by one stroke after a rain-affected first day at Sun City, South Africa today. The Irishman, pictured, fired seven birdies and had just one bogey blemish as he produced an excellent back nine to move ahead of English duo Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood, on five and four under respectively.
Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez was also on four under, with last year's winner Robert Allenby two shots back after shooting a one under 70, the same score as England's Justin Rose.
The South African contingent were slightly off the pace at the Gary Player Country Club with Ernie Els and Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen on one under, along with Edoardo Molinari.
Earlier, Fisher was looking good for the overnight lead, but just as lightning and rain arrived to force a two-hour delay, he mishit his tee shot at the par-4  17th and ended with a double-bogey 6.
He was on seven under before that, but then slipped to five under with Harrington making the most of the opening.
"It's just one of those things," Fisher said. "I guess six was as good as I could have done.
"At 18 it would have left a sour taste if I ended with five and didn't end with the par. I mean finishing four under would have felt like 76 for the way I played.
"So I was relieved to have knocked that putt in and five under's a good start."
After the resumption, three-time Major winner Harrington sank a 12 foot putt for birdie on 15 to claim the lead.
He then had his only bogey of the round on 17, but a fine second shot out of the rough - the ball flew over the trees to within two feet of the cup - allowed him to birdie the last for a one-shot lead.
World No 1 Westwood had made a poor start to the day and was one over through six, before a turn in fortune helped him make headway up the leaderboard.
"I struggled to hit the greens in the first five or six holes and you know what it's like when you get stuck in the fringes," he said. "You're just not sure how it's going to come out.
"I didn't give myself any birdie chances and then three-putted six. So it was a slow start, but I picked it up after that."
And he admitted that he was always confident he would improve as the round progressed.
The 37 year old added: "I'm playing well at the moment, I'm confident. There is no panic in me because I'm confident in my ability, so I just have to be patient and let things happen."
South African Retief Goosen and Dane Anders Hansen were on level par after 72s, while the 12-man line-up was propped up by Tim Clark's 73.
FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 72
66 Padraig Harrington (Ireland).
67 Ross Fisher (England).
68 Lee Westwood (England).
69 Miguel Angel Jiménez (Spain),
70 Justin Rose (England), Robert Allenby (Australia).
71 Edoardo Molinari (Italy), Ernie Els (S Africa), Louis Oosthuizen (S Africa). 
72 Retief Goosen (S Africa), Anders Hansen (Denmark).
73 Tim Clark (S Africa).

Andrew Shinie (left) and Hector Emslie, the men behind Scottish Golf Trails, will be hoping for better weather than they experienced for the launch of the enterprise at The Marcliffe Hotel and Spa near Aberdeen. 

Major New North-east Golf Tourism

Initiative Tees Off


NEWS RELEASE
Despite weather not normally associated with golf, a major new initiative to attract more golf tourists to north-east Scotland officially teed off at Aberdeen’s Marcliffe Hotel yesterday.
Working in partnership with some of the area’s top golf courses and accommodation providers to offer tailored stay and play golf holiday packages, Scottish Golf Trails aims to attract UK and overseas golfers to north-east Scotland. It is also hoped the initiative can increase the area’s share of the lucrative £220million Scottish golf tourism market.
Scottish Golf Trails has brought together 17 of north-east Scotland’s finest golf courses to establish two trails, the Carnoustie and Aberdeen Links Golf Trail and the Royal Deeside Golf Trail. These will be marketed in conjunction with 10 of the region’s select accommodation providers to offer integrated golfing holidays.
The scheme has received the backing of 1999 Open winner Paul Lawrie and includes the course where he famously lifted the Claret Jug, Carnoustie, and Banchory where he was assistant pro between 1986 and 1990.
Filling a gap in the golf tourism market, the initiative addresses one of the findings of a report into golf tourism published in 2009 by Scottish Enterprise which identified the lack of a marketing alliance to attract golf tourists to north-east Scotland.
Similar regional initiatives are already in place in other parts of Scotland, but this is the first to offer such a tailored and packaged product. The project has also received the support of VisitScotland and secured £12,000 of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding.
Hector Emslie, Scottish Golf Trails’ director, said: “This is the first initiative of its kind in north-east Scotland to bring together golf courses and accommodation providers, and market them under one umbrella. The region has over 70 golf courses, some of which are among the finest in the world, but they are often overlooked in favour of their more famous cousins in central Scotland.
“Current estimates put the value of golf tourism to Aberdeen City and Shire at around £5million each year, but there is potential for this to be far greater. As it stands, the area is well placed to benefit from golfers travelling from Scandinavian and northern European countries, and also from the increasing "staycation" trend which is seeing more UK golfers taking golf holidays at home. The north-east has a huge amount to offer golf tourists and it is time for us to shout about it.”
Tourism is one of the industry sectors which has been identified as playing a key role in the future economic prosperity of Aberdeen City and Shire. The sector currently supports approximately 19,000 jobs in north-east Scotland, a figure set to increase as major new golf developments come on stream.
Mr Emslie adds: “Golf in North-east Scotland has received a large amount of international exposure over recent years, thanks to the British Seniors Open being staged at Royal Aberdeen in 2005 and all the golf developments planned for the area. We hope to capitalise on this interest and look forward to potentially working with these new developments as they are completed.
“Scottish courses will attract significant interest over the coming years as they host a number of major golfing events and we anticipate there will be a spin off from this as well.”
Future high-profile golf events to be staged in Scotland include, the Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen in 2011, the Curtis Cup at Nairn in 2012, The Open at Muirfield in 2013, and in 2014 the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
Golf is considered to be one of Scotland’s key tourism product assets and golfers are amongst the highest spending tourists, on average spending twice as much as other visitors. Scotland’s 550 plus golf courses are estimated to support around 7,000 jobs.
Shona Anderson, VisitScotland’s regional director for Aberdeenshire, said: “Scotland is world famous as the Home of Golf, with the sport generating around £220 million for the Scottish economy every year. Partnerships are essential to the future of tourism in this country.
"Scottish Golf Trails, which received money from VisitScotland’s Growth Fund, is an excellent example of this and I am sure this latest initiative will help to encourage many more people to see what this part of the country has to offer.”
Scottish Golf Trails, based in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, is a new alliance partnership between existing businesses Golfers Scotland Limited, The Marcliffe Hotel and Spa, and Cruden Bay Golf Club, offering tailored stay-and- play golf packages.
The alliance partnership was established in April 2010 by Hector Emslie and Andrew Shinie and draws on their 30 years of golf and tourism experience. Based around two golf trails, the partnership includes 17 golf courses and 10 accommodation providers.
Courses included in the Links Golf Trail are: Carnoustie, Royal Aberdeen, Murcar Links, Newburgh-on-Ythan, Cruden Bay, and Fraserburgh. The Royal Deeside Trail includes: Peterculter, Banchory, Inchmarlo, Aboyne, Tarland, Ballater, and Braemar golf courses.
An editor’s choice of select must-play courses – Newmachar, Meldrum House, Edzell and Moray Old – are also part of the initiative. More information about Scottish Golf Trails can be found at www.scottishgolftrails.co.uk or telephone 01330 822226.

Craibstone Golf Centre goes into

liquidation

FROM TODAY'S PRESS AND JOURNAL NEWSPAPER
By ROSS DAVIDSON
The company behind a golf course near Aberdeen has gone into liquidation with debts of more than £500,000.
London and Scotland Golf Courses (LSGC), which owns the Craibstone Golf Centre, near Bucksburn, has received a winding-up order after a judge appointed provisional joint liquidators to step in.
It is understood the Clydesdale Bank, which the golf firm owes £500,000, and LSGC director, Stephen Harrod, agreed the company should go into liquidation and successfully applied at the Court of Session in Edinburgh for the order.
Administrators Begbies Traynor have been brought in to try to sell LSGC which is based at Letham Grange, Angus, as a going concern.
The company's only golf course is the centre at Craibstone which was bought from the nearby Scottish Agricultural College in 2006.
According to the golf centre's website, LSGC had proposed to extend the clubhouse and build a driving range and private houses at the site. It said plans had already been submitted and the firm had hoped to start building work at the end of next year's golf season.
The club, which opened in 2000, currently has around 425 members, but this is described as a "limited membership" and there is normally a waiting list, according to the website.
Neil Dempsey, senior insolvency manager for Begbies Traynor in Aberdeen, said: "We are looking to trade the business in the short-term while we endeavour to find a buyer who will be in a position to continue running the centre as soon as possible.
"We would ask any parties interested in purchasing the centre to contact our Aberdeen office as a matter of urgency."
A spokesman for the administrator added the 127-acre, 18-hole course and centre will remain open "for the foreseeable time," and said all five full-time employees have been kept on in their greenkeeping, bar and catering positions."
Iain Buchan is the PGA professional based at Craibstone Golf Centre.
+The next North-east Golfers' Alliance competition is due to be held at Craibstone on Wednesday, January 5.

KIM UPSTAGES BIG GUNS AT HERO HONDA

INDIAN OPEN

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
New Delhi: South Korea’s Kim Hyung-sung made it a memorable first visit to the US$1.25 million Hero Honda Indian Open by taking the first round lead with a flawless five-under-par 67 on Thursday.
The 30-year-old, who has struggled with a shoulder injury for most of the year, shot five birdies at the venerable Delhi Golf Club to lead by one from Asian Tour newcomers Namchok Tantipokakul of Thailand and Korea’s Baek Seuk-hyun, Australia’s Marcus Both and in-form South African Jbe Kruger.
Sanjay Kumar was India ’s best performer, also with a 68, in what is the joint richest full field Asian Tour event.
The tournament’s big guns, Shiv Kapur and Arjun Atwal of India , Sweden ’s Daniel Chopra and Irish star Paul McGinley failed to take advantage of ideal scoring conditions.
Kapur, who rued a cold putter, and McGinley shot 71s, Atwal, the first Indian winner on the US PGA Tour, returned a “rusty” 73 while Chopra, a two-time winner in America, carded a 74.
A bogey free card ensured that Kim hogged the opening day’s limelight at the Hero Honda Indian Open . “It’s my first time to India and after today’s good score, I think I like this course,” smiled Kim, who has three wins in South Korea.
“My putting was very good. I holed three long putts from about 10 yards at the 17th, 18th and third holes. It was good to keep the card bogey free. It’s a difficult course and your tee shots need to be good.”
The powerful South Korean was aggressive off the tee, taking his driver out on 10 occasions on a tight course which pen alizes errant driving due to its tree-lined fairways. “I finished top of the driving accuracy last year in Japan and second this year,” he said.
“When you drive it good here, the second shots are easier.”
Namchok, who at 23 is one of many emerging Thai prospects on the Asian Tour, enjoyed a mix day with eight birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey. He is hoping to live up to his name which means “lucky”.
“I played well here at the start of the year in the SAIL Open (where he finished joint 12th.) I love the golf course, and that’s why I played well again,” said the young Thai.
Earlier this year, Namchok learned to become a monk with a group of friends, spen ding eight days in an Indian monastery. He said, taught him to be patient. “A lot of golfers are hot tempered and become moody when things go wrong,” said Namchok. “After the trip to India , I feel calmer and play golf better.”
The slightly built Kruger, who has three runner-up finishes this season including at last week’s King’s Cup in Thailand , nearly pulled out of the Hero Honda Indian Open after learning that his sister suffered a miscarriage earlier in the day.
“This score is dedicated to her (Analize) and her little girl. She had less than a month to go in the pregnancy,” said Kruger. “Every shot, I thought about her. Every single shot. I almost went home but my father said just play for them. So if it can be, I want to win this tournament (for them).”
Both, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, birdied three of his last five holes to charge up the leaderboard late in the day. “I just tried to take myself out of the position where you are going to hit big numbers around here. If you keep the ball in play you will never be too far away,” said the Australian.
“Recently my form has been really good. I have been working hard and it’s starting to work. If you have a look at my results, this does seem to be my time of year. I won the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open this time last year and I defend the title next week.”
Leading first round scores
67 - Kim Hyung-sung (KOR)
68 - Namchok Tantipokakul (THA), Baek Seuk-hyun (KOR), Marcus Both (AUS), Jbe Kruger (RSA), Sanjay Kumar (IND)
69 - Shamim Khan (IND), Ashok Kumar (IND), Ranjit Singh (IND), Hwang Inn-choon (KOR)
70 - Ben Fox (USA), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA), Gaurav Pratap Singh (IND), Pasamet Pogamnerd (THA), Manav Jaini (IND), Richard Karlberg (SWE), Himmat Rai (IND), Chiragh Kumar (IND), Mukesh Kumar (IND), Lu Wen-teh (TPE)
71 - Ali Sher (IND), Firoz Ali (IND), Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Paul Mcginley (IRL), Shiv Kapur (IND), Kim Young-jin (KOR), Panuwat Muenlek (THA), Simon Griffiths (ENG), Gavin Flint (AUS), Martin Rominger (SUI), Danny Chia (MAS), Thaworn Wiratchant (THA)
SELECTED SCORES
71: Shiv Kapur (Ind), Paul McGinley (Ire)
73: Arjun Atwal (Ind)
74: Daniel Chopra (Swe)

Arizona match-play final cut to 18 holes in future

The Arizona-based "World" Match Play Championship's final is to be cut from 36 holes to one round, starting next year.
US PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said the policy board approved the change last week, although it remains subject to TV approval. NBC Sports televises the weekend of the Match Play Championship.
Under the change, the quarter-final matches will be played on the Saturday, with 18-hole semi-finals on the Sunday morning, followed by the championship match on Sunday afternoon.
Previously, the championship match was 36 holes.
Only twice in 12 years of the tournament has the player leading the final after 18 holes failed to win -- Davis Love III in 2004 against Tiger Woods, and Andrew Magee in 1999 against Jeff Maggert. Two other championship matches were tied after 18 holes.
The thinking behind the move is that US TV audiences get bored with 36 holes of match-play between two players. With the semi-finals and the final now being condensed into the Sunday programme, NBC will be able to hold on to their viewers all day. 

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