McDOWELL DEFENDS DECISION TO CHANGE TO SRIXON

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
PRESS TENT: By STEVE BRESLOW

Ok, you're a professional golfer who just had a career year that included two European Tour wins, a major championship, and capturing the winning point for your Ryder Cup team in dramatic fashion.

What do you do next? If you're Graeme McDowell, you change equipment sponsors. The reigning U.S. Open champ rang in the New Year by switching from Callaway to Srixon, a move that has raised some eyebrows.

"I'm sure people are scratching their heads," McDowell says. "But sometimes things come to end and I feel really good about the start of a new era with some fresh energy coming at me from some new guys.

"The golf ball is probably one of the things that attracted me the most, the Srixon ball is pretty impressive. I was messing around with it at the end of last season and I realized it was a golf ball I could get to the next level with."

This is a pretty bold move by McDowell, and if he has a slow start to the season (his first full year on the US Tour) he's going to be hearing this question an awful lot.

I won't get into the Callaway vs. Srixon debate, but it's probably a safe assumption that when a young pro has an absolute dream season and then decides to completely change out his bag, it has less to do with golf balls and "energy" and more to do with dollar signs.

Phoning it in
Technology-addicted golf fans rejoice! The US PGA Tour has been dropping hints that it will be easing restrictions on cell phone usage and after a few tests runs last year they're finally following through with it...on a limited basis, of course (you know--just to be safe).

Spectators at this month's Farmers Insurance Open will be allowed to bring mobile phones to the course and use them in designated areas, the US PGA Tour said this week.

The shift in policy is part of an ongoing experiment by the Tour to enhance the overall fan experience at events on the circuit. Spectators will be allowed to use their mobile phones to send and receive e-mails and text messages, check on-course data and make calls in designated areas during the January 27-30 Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but it's got wider implications than being able to send your wife an "OMG, Phil just hit me with his ball and gave me his watch FTW!" text.
As of a few years ago, the Celtic Manor Ryder Cup was supposed to be filled with all sorts of technological wonders that never materialized once organisers realised that patrons can't be access features on smartphones that they aren't allowed to bring onto the course.
A crowd with phones is the perfect target for applications like mobile scoreboards, player finders, weather alerts, and who knows what else to make the tournament experience that much better.

NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE TEE TIMES FOR PETERHEAD, Wed, January 12

EVERYONE STARTS FROM THE FIRST TEE

08.15 - A Campbell - B Main - free.
08.22 - C Buchanan - P Farnan - free.
08.29 - G Geddes - C Ord - S Scott


08.36 - B Harper - C Cassie - C Carnegie.
08.43 - C Nelson - J Dalgarno - P Anderson.
08.50 - J Hamilton - D Corkey - M Rendall.
08.57 - D McKay - G Allen - L Prouse.

09.04 - J Borthwick - S Kennedy - J Thomas.
09.11 - D Wood - I Grant - M Smith.
09.18 - M Forrester - P McIntosh - D Phillips.
09.25 - M Brown -  R Brown - J Duncan.

09.32 - I Bratton - D Davidson - G Paterson.
09.39 - J McIntosh- J McPherson- T Slater.
09.46 - D Fleming - A K Pirie - L Fowler.
09.53 - A Graham- K Beveridge - M Ord.

10.00 - N Stewart - J Forrest - free.
10.07 - B Lumsden - J Lumsden - G Homer.
10.14 - H MacNaughton - I Strachan - D Lawrie
10.21 - J Lumsden junior - P McLean - C Farquhar
10.28 - J Hopwood - R O’Donnell - free

10.35 - G Munro - W Shaw - F Bisset
10.42 - J Murray - D Bisset - D Randall
10.49 - S Elrick - M Rogers - S Davidson
10.56 - J Roberts - K Duncan - J Reid

11.03 - S Chalmers - C Stewart - C Brindley
11.10 - D Bingham - J Turner - K Nicol
11.17 - N Parker - D Lesley - free
11.24 - T Collie - M Lawrie - D Brown

11.31 - S Finnie - J Gall - M Booth
11.38 - J Jessiman - A Petrie - free
11.45 - 3 x free
11.52 - 3 x free
11.59 - P Cornfield - B Nicolson - S Mackie

12.06 - J  Nicolson - R Lamb - M Merchant
12.15 - D Wilson - S Lawrie - M Jenkins
 

The booking sheet will now be handled by Dave Wilson only as there were at least five double bookings on the sheet. Please make sure that if someone else is booking a time for you it is only done once. Thank you

MIDLAND ALLIANCE RESTARTS NEXT TUESDAY

The Midland Golfers' Alliance is due to restart its winter programme at Charleton Golf Course on Tuesday, January 11 (reserve tee times: 8.45 - noon).
The following week the competition will be at Drumoig Golf Course on Tuesday, January 18 (tee reserve 8.30am to 12.15).
.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR ALLIANCE WINNER IAN BRATTON

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Newburgh Golf Club professional Ian Bratton cashed in on his local knowledge to head a star-studded field on a bitterly cold day for the resumption of the North-east Golfers’ Alliance season over his home course today.
Bratton, pictured, lifted the £100 prize with a par-matching 72 from a field of 77 that included Walker Cup candidates James Byrne (Banchory), Kris Nicol (Fraserburgh) and Philip McLean (Peterhead) and a GB and I team player of 1967 vintage, Hazlehead's Sandy Pirie.

Although the sun shone, the temperature barely rose about one degree all day and that, coupled with the fact that quite a few of the field had not had a golf club in their hands since the last Alliance competition on November 17 before the bad weather closed in, helped to explain a total of 17 No Returns.

Starting at the 10th, Bratton birdied the 12th and 15th before he dropped is first shot of the day at the 18th, turning in one-under-par 35. He then had a bit of a wobble with three bogeys in a row from the first to the third before finishing strongly with birdies at the seventh and the ninth for one-over-par 37 and a 72.

Bratton won by a shot from joint runners-up Byrne and McLean with Inverurie’s scratch man, Greig Ingram, on 74, the only other player to get under the 77 mark.

Arizona State University student Byrne, accustomed to temperatures in the 80s and even 90s for most of the year, had six 3s on his outward half of par-equalling 36, birdieing the first, fourth, sixth and seventh but running up a double bogey 7 at the third and also dropping shots at the eighth and ninth.

Two more birdies, at the 10th and 15th, nullified a bogey at the 11th and Byrne stood on the 17th tee needing to finish with two pars for a 71 to beat clubhouse leader Bratton by a shot. Instead, the Banchory man, who has a handicap of +6, had a double-bogey 6 at the 17th and a par at the 18th for 37 home and a 73.
Did James enjoy his holiday round? "Not really!" he was honest enough to answer, possibly through chattering teeth.McLean’s eagle 2 at the 382yd seventh and a birdie at the third almost made up for bogeys at the second, fourth, eighth and ninth in an outward, one-over 37 but, after further bogeys at the 12th and 17th, offset by a birdie at the 15th, the Peterhead man had to hole a 30ft putt at the last for a birdie 4 to join Byrne in a share of second place.

Kris Nicol, partnering Byrne and McLean at the end of the field, finished with a disappointing 77 (41-36) which included a double bogey 6 at the seventh and a quadruple bogey 8 at the eighth. He also had a double bogey 6 at the 10th. Newburgh-on-Ythan Golf Club.
Just harking back to the 17 No Returns for a moment, Golf Monthly writer Fergus Bisset (Banchory) could so easily have been No 18 in this department. But give him a big hand for toiling on to the end to return a 92 - and Fergus is a two-handicap player.
"That's the worst I've played for many years. I lost six balls in all," he said.
There was another player, who shall remain nameless, who ran up a 13 at the 12th hole.
Newburgh is a short course by modern standards - "only" 6,423yd off the back tees and the host club did the Alliance the honour of allowing them to play off the very back tees and on the "proper" greens. OK, so balls had to be played off mats and most golfers hate doing that but it's a small price to pay for otherwise getting the "real" course to play in the depths of winter.
It's the whins that line the fairways at most holes that are so penal. You don't need to hit a ball very far off line to lose it. Just ask Fergus Bisset!
The leading senior was the former Scottish seniors' match-play champion, George Paterson (Northern), with a 79, two shots ahead of John Hamilton (Murcar Links) and three in front of Les Fowler (Royal Aberdeen and Mike Jenkins (Duff House Royal.


LEADING SCRATCH

Par 72

72 Ian Bratton (Newburgh) p. 

73 James Byrne (Banchory), Philip McLean (Peterhead).

74 Greig Ingram (Inverurie).

77 Sandy Pirie (Hazlehead), Kris Nicol (Fraserburgh).

78 Brian Harper (Newburgh), Steve Scott (Auchmill), Andrew Campbell (Deeside), Martin Forster (Cruden Bay).

79 George Paterson (Northern) s, Euan McIntosh (Newmachar) p, David Fleming (Auchmill), Gordon Munro (Banchory).

80 Craig Carnegie (Kemnay), David Leslie (Westhill), Sean Lawrie (Portlethen), John Nicolson (Auchmill).

81 Joel Hopwood (Skibo Castle) p, John Hamilton (Murcar Links) s.
82 Laurence Prouse (Hazlehead), Les Fowler (Royal Aberdeen), Mike Jenkins (Duff House Royal) s, Stewart Finnie (Caledonian), Brian Nicolson (Auchmill), Scott Mackie (Kemnay), David Philip (Newburgh).
83 Charles Cassie (Nigg Bay), Bill Shaw (Banchory).
84 Gary Geddes (Auchmill), John Borthwick (Craibstone).
87 Colin Ord (Auchmill).
88 Davie Wilson (Duff House Royal).
89 Michael Rogers (Kemnay) s, Sandy Elrick (Kemnay), Dave Nelson (Aboyne) s.
91 Mike Booth (Kemnay).
92 Jackie Forrest (Northern), Gary Homer (Lumphanan), Raymond Brown (Inverurie), Fergus Bisset (Banchory).
93 Mike Brown (Inverurie).
94 David Bingham (Newburgh), Derek Randall (Banchory).
96 Chris Brindley.
97 Jim Lumsden (Auchmill), J Gall.
98 Peter Cheyne (Meldrum House).
103 Benny Lumsden (Northern).
112 Benny Lumsden junior (Northern).

LEADING HANDICAP
Class 1 – M Forster (Cruden Bay) (6) 72; B Harper (Newburgh) (5) 73; S Scott (Auchmill) (4), D Fleming (Auchmill) (5) 74; A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), D Leslie (Westhill) (5), D Philip (Newburgh) (7) 75.
Class 2 – M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (15) 74; M Brown ((Inverurie) (18) 75; R Brown (Inverurie) (14) 78; M Booth (Kemnay) (11) 80; G Homer (Lumphanan (11) 81.

LEADING SCORECARDS
NEWBURGH GC PAR 72: OUT 4-3-5-4-3-4-4-4-5--36. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5--36

IAN BRATTON 72
(Started at 10th but figures given in scorecard order)
OUT: 5-4-6-4-3-4-3-4-4--37. IN: 4-4-3-4-4-3-3-5-5--35.

PHILIP McLEAN 73
OUT: 4-4-4-5-3-4-2-5-6--37. IN: 4-4-5-4-3-4-3-5-4--36.
JAMES BYRNE 73
OUT: 3-3-7-3-3-3-3-5-6--36. IN: 3-5-4-4-4-3-3-6-5--37
GREIG INGRAM 74
OUT: 5-4-5-4-3-4-3-5-4--37. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-3-5-5--37

KRIS NICOL 77
OUT: 4-3-4-4-4-4-6-8-4--41. IN: 6-3-4-4-4-4-2-4-5--36


 Next Wednesday's NE Alliance competition is at Peterhead GC, weather permitting.

TODAY'S UPDATED R and A WORLD AMATEUR RANKINGS' TOP 20

1 David Chung USA 1341.51
2 Peter Uihlein USA 1332.14
3 Alex Ching USA 1229.09
4 Kevin Tway USA 1220.00
5 David McDaniel USA 1212.50
6 Patrick Cantlay USA 1201.96
7 Scott Langley USA 1157.53
8 Eugene Wong CAN 1144.62
9 Blayne Barber USA 1137.50
10 T J Vogel USA 1136.59
11 Chris Williams USA 1134.48
12 Harris English USA 1127.12
13 Russell Henley USA 1122.06
14 Henrik Norlander SWE 1120.00
15 Bobby Hudson USA 1113.79
16 Patrick Reed USA 1108.70
17 James Byrne SCO 1106.78
18 Yoshinori Fujimoto JPN 1092.11
19 Paul Cutler IRL 1091.11
20 Daniel Miernicki USA  1089

+There was no movement in the top 20 positions from last week.

GRAEME McDOWELL WORLDWIDE EARNINGS NO 1 LAST YEAR

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE
US PGA champion Martin Kaymer won the Race to Dubai on the European Tour, but that still wasn’t enough for the 26-year-old German to rank among the top 10 in worldwide earnings for 2010.
In a list tabulated for the annual “Year in Professional Golf,” U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell was No. 1 with $7.37 million. He was followed by Lee Westwood of England ($6.5 million) and Ernie Els ($6.3 million).
The world money list does not include bonus money from the Race to Dubai or the FedEx Cup on the US Tour. It counts money at events that have at least four players and is contested over at least 36 holes.
The top American on the list was Dustin Johnson at $5.54 million, while FedEx Cup champion and three-time winner Jim Furyk finished seventh at $5.1 million.
Kaymer was 11th at slightly more than $4.6 million.

McDowell making £1million a month in endorsement deals

FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Frank Brownlow
Graeme McDowell is on course to become Ulster’s richest-ever sportsman after his stellar year which climaxed with a US Open triumph and Ryder Cup glory.
The 31-year-old Portrush golfer, awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List, has signed three lucrative new sponsorship deals that will earn him an estimated £1m a month.
The new endorsement deals come at the end of a year which saw McDowell move into the sporting superstar bracket thanks to his Ryder Cup heroics — his putt clinching victory for Europe against America — and US Open success at Pebble Beach. ‘G-Mac’ also won a play-off against Tiger Woods in the Chevron World Challenge in California last month and earlier in the year laid the foundations for the Ryder Cup win when he secured the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, also the venue for Europe’s clash with the Americans.
McDowell is now up to fifth in the latest world rankings — the highest position ever for a Northern Ireland player — and competes in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the traditional season-opener on the US Tour, at the Kapalua resort in Hawaii, starting tomorrow.
McDowell is the highest ranked player in the 34-man tournament, which has no cut.
The Ulsterman’s worldwide success over the past 12 months make him an obvious target for the major sponsors, given his global marketability.
McDowell will make his seasonal debut in Hawaii as the new face of golf equipment company Srixon, replacing Jim Furyk — the US Tour’s player of the year — who has moved to TaylorMade. The multi-year deal is worth a reputed €2.25 million annually to McDowell, who was a Callaway player when he won the US Open last June.
McDowell has also signed deals with Mastercard and shoe manufacturer Ecco.
He has existing arrangements with Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piquet, Middle East business empire Al Naboodah, Dublin tailor Louis Copeland and private jets company Marquis Jet.
But despite the megadeals McDowell is determined to keep his feet on the ground.
He said: “It’s important I re-adust my focus and take the positives and confidence out of this year and pour it back into next season.”
McDowell spent Christmas at home in Portrush, re-charging the batteries for a crack at the US Tour.
His fellow Ulsterman Rory McIlroy, whose win at Quail Hollow last year earned him a place in the Hawaii field, has decided to wait until the Abu Dhabi HSBC tournament on January 20 before making his competitive return.
McIlroy may not have had the major success of McDowell but the Holywood, Belfast youngster is a major draw for sponsors. He can count golf giants Titleist and Footjoy in his portfolio and also has deals with Dubai-based hospitality company Jumeirah and the Lough Erne Resort.

SO WHO'S PLAYING WITH WHAT IN NEW SEASON?

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITEMUSICAL CLUBS: Typical of a new season, some players arrived on Hawaii with new clubs after their previous deals expired. The most noteworthy, perhaps because of the monstrous year he had, was U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell switching from Callaway to Srixon.
He will use Srixon irons and golf balls and Cleveland wedges. McDowell will wear a Srixon hat and glove and carry the logo on his bag.
Players champion Tim Clark, meanwhile, has left Srixon for Titleist.
Jim Furyk, who had an endorsement deal with Srixon, will continue using its irons. But he has switched to a TaylorMade bag. The FedEx Cup champion will be using the TaylorMade driver and ball
Not in the field is former Masters champion Trevor Immelman, who has left Nike for Callaway. Kevin Streelman has signed with Wilson.

LEE WESTWOOD HEADS QATAR MASTERS LINE-UP

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY PRESS OFFICER ALAN EWENSDoha (QATAR): Now firmly confirmed as World Number One, England’s Lee Westwood will head an all-star line-up when the 2011 Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy gets underway from February 3-6.

Westwood, who tied for third place four shots behind eventual winner Robert Karlsson last year, will be making his sixth consecutive appearance at the 7,388-yard Doha Golf Club as he battles for his first ever title in Qatar.

It gives the 36 year-old Englishman the chance of making up for his disappointment in 2010. Going into the final round, Westwood was just one shot off the lead but after cracking the face of his driver he found it hard to find the fairways using a new club on a course he firmly believes to be suited to his style of play.
“It’s a golf course that suits me down to the ground really,” he said. “When you get rough like Doha, you would say it's a good driver's golf course so I would expect it to suit me. It's almost like a major championship setup - a US Open - with firm greens and thick rough. With its firm greens, you can get close to the flags – but you need to be mentally strong as it is a thinking man's golf course.”
Obviously proud to be World Number One and with no doubts as to his mental fortitude, Westwood will once again go into 2011 intent on landing his first Major having watched fellow European Tour stars Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell lift three of golf’s big four titles in 2010.
“Lee’s consistency over the past two years has taken him to the top of the world rankings and we are delighted and proud that we will have the World Number One teeing off in Doha,” said Hassan Al Nuami, President of the Qatar Golf Association (QGA), organisers of the event alongside the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Commercialbank.
Westwood’s position at the top of the world game was cemented at the end of a year that saw him play a pivotal role in helping Europe win The Ryder Cup, finish second in both The Masters and The Open Championship and fight back from a niggling calf injury.
“Lee Westwood has been knocking on the Majors’ door for a few years and it’s surely only a matter of time before he adds one or more to what is already an incredible golfing CV,” said Commercialbank Group CEO Andrew Stevens.
“Last year in Doha he played in the same pairing as our eventual champion Robert Karlsson, himself – like Lee – a former European Number One. It underlines the quality of the field we continue to attract to the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, which I’m sure will be reflected in the quality of golf on show next month.”
Westwood and Karlsson will be two of the star names competing for a share of the US$ 2.5 million prize money on offer at Doha Golf Club with more big names expected as the countdown continues.

More information on the 2011 Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy, is available at the official website www.qatar-masters.com.