MYSTERY AS DUSTIN JOHNSON PULLS OUT OF SONY OPEN

Dustin Johnson has withdrawn from this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii and returned to South Carolina. A relationship with LPGA player Natalie Gulbis was revealed last weekend during the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Maui.
“He sent me a text saying he had to go home and take care of a couple of personal issues,” Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, said.
Johnson tied for 16th at the 2010 Sony and 10th in 2008, the first event of his rookie season on Tour. He declined comment on his relationship with Gulbis.

AMATEUR DICK WALKER'S PLACE IN NORTHERN OPEN HISTORY

Picture of Dornoch contemporaries of the 1930s. Left  to right: Professional Danny McCulloch, James Macrae, unknown, unknown, Duncan Fraser and Bert Sinclair. Picture was supplied by Hamish Macrae, present club captain of Royal Dornoch and son of James Macrae.

By ROBIN WILSON
Having previously reflected upon James Braid's Open championship success of 1910, when he became the first five-time winner of the Claret Jug, I decided to look ahead a further 25 years through the archives of the "Northern Times" in search of a significant golfing event from 1935.
To my surprise I found that over the golf course Braid had designed for Brora in 1924 a professional golf tournament had been held.
There was scant reference to the tournament in the minute books of the Brora club other than recognition of the event being held on the Brora course and that the club would contribute £25 to the prize fund.
But there was a comprehensive coverage in the "Northern Times" of May 2, 1935.
The North and Midland Professional Golfers Association had seized upon the opportunity of having many of their members in the county at the end of April 1935 taking part in the Northern Open professional and amateur championship at Royal Dornoch to stage the Midland Association's first 36-hole competition of the year at Brora at the end of the Northern Open week.
The Northern Open Championship was inaugurated at Royal Aberdeen some four years earlier by a committee of North and North-east entrepreneurs on the idea of Inverness golfer Jack Bookless, the Scottish amateur champion of 1929.
Mr Bookless was the championship's first secretary and he had managed to raise a sum of £60 prize money for the professionals taking part at Royal Aberdeen. This had risen to £100 when the event came to Royal Dornoch for the first time.
The Dornoch competition had begun on Wednesday, April 24 with the first of two 36-hole days followed up by another 36 holes on Thursday.
By the time the field moved on to Brora on Friday and the Northern Open extending into a third day for an 18-hole play-off, just seventeen competitors stayed on to play at Brora.
The professionals at Brora competed for a silver bowl put up by the North British Rubber Company. Older readers will recall with affection playing with a North British golf ball produced in their Edinburgh factory at Fountainbridge up until 1966 when the company changed its name to Uniroyal.
In their existence the Edinburgh-based company were generous supporters of golf and donated “North British Cups” to many golf clubs throughout Scotland. Their gift to Brora Golf Club in 1939 is still one of the prized cups played for by the members.
Winner of the Midland Silver Bowl at Brora in 1935 was the professional from Cruden Bay, James Forrester, who returned two cards of 72 to finish three shots ahead of James Lawson (Forfar), both these golfers finishing in the top ten the previous day at Royal Dornoch.
The first day's play in the Northern Open at Dornoch attracted a field of 54, amongst them the defending champion, James Forrester, following his win at Inverness the previous year. The county was well represented by the local professional Danny McCulloch and three other local amateurs, James Macrae, John Alec Thomson and Neil Murray.
The Brora professional Tom Ainslie was accompanied by Brora amateurs, Tommy Ross, John George Sutherland and Willie G Sutherland. R F “Bert” Sinclair was the only amateur entry from Golspie.
Lanark professional William Spark led at the end of the first day with with a two-round tally 147 (71-76) with the holder in second place on 149 (73-76). Danny McCulloch scored 78 and 74, five off the pace and just below him came the leading amateur, R S “Dick” Walker (Cruden Bay), who, on Day 2 would storm through the field to be involved in Friday's play-off.
Brora professional Tom Ainslie (77-81) was well of the pace and other than the Dornoch amateur James Macrae (77-80) none of the remaining county players came close to the top of the leader.
Overnight leader Spark saw his chance of an outright 72-hole win disappear in a three-putt-cluttered third round of 80 and getting within striking distance of the leader was Brora's Ainslie with a third round 75.
The best of the third-round scores was a 72 from William Anderson (Murcar)which would see him eventually finish as the third placed professional.
Spark's final round 71, a repeat of his first round, got him back on top of the leader board to win the professionals winning cheque of £100.

But, saving his best to the last, amateur Dick Walker carded the tournament's lowest score of the week, a 70, that tied his 72-hole total of 298 with Spark, forcing a play-off for the title and championship cup.

This took place the following day and Walker, pictured right in the 1930s, emulated the feat of the first amateur winner in 1933, Jack MacLean (Hayston), with a score of 75 to Spark's 76. Walker was an Aberdeen University student who had become the Scottish Universities champion for the first time in 1934. Then, after his rise to prominence in the Northern Open championship, Walker represented Scotland in the Home Internationals of 1935 and 1936.
MacLean and Walker are not the only amateurs to have won the Northern Open but Walker, who died in 1992 at the age of 81, remains the only amateur to have beaten the professionals two years in a row by retaining the title at Deeside the following year.
Walker missed out on the G B and I Walker Cup selection of 1936, maybe afterwards reflecting with a wry smile that the players who were selected were on the receiving end of a 9-0 thrashing by the United States that year.
Selected final totals in the 1935 Northern Open at Royal Dornoch.
298 W Spark (Lanark) 71 76 80 71, R S Walker (Cruden Bay) (am) 78 76 74 70 (Walker won 18-hole stroke-play play-off the following day).
300 W Anderson (Murcar) 74 76 72 78.
302 A Jamieson (Poloc) (am) 75 75 74 78, J Forrester (Cruden Bay) 73 76 78 75, T Ainslie (Brora) 77 76 75 74.
Selected Local Scores;
307 D G McCulloch (Royal Dornoch) 78 74 77 78.
310 J Macrae (Royal Dornoch) (am) 77 80 77 76.
322 J A Thomson (Royal Dornoch) (am) 82 78 86 76.
325 T Ross (Brora) (am) 80 85 78 82.
329 J G Sutherland (Brora) (am) 89 77 77 86.
339 W G Sutherland (Brora) (am) 89 83 87 80.
345 R F Sinclair (Golspie) (am) 86 88 81 90.
353 N Murray (Royal Dornoch) (am) 90 88 89 86.

James Forrester, the Sam Torrance of the

1930s, died tragically at age of 30

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

James Forrester, Cruden Bay GC professional from 1932 to 1936 - mentioned above in Robin Wilson's article, died tragically at the age of only 30 in Belgium.

Following his victories in the 1934 Northern Open and the 1936 Scottish professional championship at Lossiemouth,the Glasgow-born Forrester, pictured right, was invited to succeed Henry Cotton as professional at the Royal Waterloo Golf Club, Belgium.
These tournaments were much more highly regarded in the 1930s than they are now perhaps because there was no British or European Tour. In fact, there were not nearly so many professional tournaments.
The modern-day "tour pro" did not exist in the 1930s. All the professionals were professionals at clubs which is why even the Open championship used to be played from Wednesday to Friday (36 holes on the final day) so that the professionals could get back to base to look after their members' needs in the Saturday competions.
So James Forrester had been the Sam Torrance of his day. He would have peaked in his 30s and might well have been a contender for the Open championship but he was operated on for appendicitis in June 1938.
Complications set in and after another operation, for an ulcer on the brain, James Forrester died in a Brussels hospital on June 23, 1938.
His younger brother Bill Forrester had gone with him to Belgium and he returned to the North-east to win the 1946 Northern Open at Murcar, the first Northern Open after World War II. He was listed as playing out of Royal
Club de Belgique. Bill Forrester later went to Portugal to become club pro at Estoril.

James Forrester's son, James junior, was only 18 months only when his father died. His widowed mother emigrated to the United States within months and the son went on to become a US Air Force hero - he was awarded the Legion of Merit - in the evactuation of the US army from Vietnam. James Forrester, junior, qualified as a doctor and has been a senator in the North Carolina legislative chamber for many years. Dr Forrester is pictured on right.

His dad would have been proud of him.

MIDLAND ALLIANCE AT CHARLETON NOW THURSDAY

This week's Midland Golfers Alliance competition, due to be played at Charleton Golf and Country Club, Colinsburgh, Fife on Tuesday (January 11)has been put back to Thursday (January 13) due to another fall of snow.
Tee is reserved from 9am to 12 noon.

DEESIDE GC TO HOST PAUL LAWRIE INVITATIONAL IN MID-JUNE

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH PGA

The Gleneagles Scottish Championship again takes pride of place on the PGA Scottish Region calendar for this year, but a new 54-hole invitational tournament will join it, inspired by the 1999 Open champion, Paul Lawrie.

To be held at Deeside Golf Club, Bieldside in the western surburbs of Aberdeen (where Paul Lawrie lives and is an honorary member of the golf club), this will join the other four-round championship, the Aberdeen Asset Northern Open, again being played over Meldrum House, Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire.

The date for the Paul Lawrie Invitational event will be mid-June, while the Northern Open, being defended by Greig Hutcheon, moves to late August (August 30-September 2).
Said PGA Scottish Secretary, Michael MacDougall “Paul has already negotiated sponsorship involving Aberdeen Asset Management, Marcliffe Hotel and Saltire Energy as well as TV coverage on Sky for the £25,000 invitational event.”
“Paul has been a long-term supporter of the PGA in Scotland and has been thinking for some time of how best he can use his influence for the benefit of his fellow professionals”.
“The field of 66 players will consist of Tartan Tour regulars, hopefully some European Tour campaigners, and those players who find themselves in limbo, not playing the top tour,” added MacDougall.
The Gleneagles Scottish Championship will again be played in October albeit this time from Monday through Thursday, October 10 to 13, as opposed to traditional Thursday - Sunday.

PGA officials had hoped to move it to the last week in September, but that slot has been filled by the European Tour’s Dunhill Championship at St Andrews. It is intended that the Championship will again be televised.

“We’re delighted to have Gleneagles Hotel supporting our flagship event (this will be the 13th successive year of the championship being played there). It will again be on the King’s Course, following the format established last year, with a field of 66 starters.”

Defending champion will be Chris Doak.

Other Order of Merit events on the year’s schedule are the indbuild Deer Park Masters (August 2-3), and Kerr Investments at Dumfries and Galloway (September 3-4).

Dates and venues have still to be finalised for the WaterAid 36-hole event.

The successful Sprint Series (four 18-hole outings) culminating in a 36-hole final will this year boast Order of Merit status. There will also be a minimum of two Pro-only 36 Hole Order of Merit events. Dates and venues for these and the Sprint Series to be confirmed.

The Young Professionals’ Championship returns to West Lothian (Sept. 6-8), and the Royal Dornoch Young Pros’ Masters (Sept. 24-26) renamed the “Sandy Pipey Memorial Masters” returns to the schedule.

In addition, there will be a new 36-hole Young Professionals Order of Merit Pro-Am at Craigielaw (April 14-15), which brings the total of Young Pros' Order of Merit events to six.

In terms of one day pro-ams, there are new events at Aberdour Golf Club, Fife,  and Moray Golf Club, Lossiemouth with Strathaven and Esporta Dougalston returning after being off the schedule in recent seasons.

US SENIORS TOUR TO WELCOME BACK THORPE AFTER PRISON

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE
By Jeff Rude
When Jim Thorpe gets out of prison – perhaps as soon as this month – he’ll have his old job waiting for him.
Thorpe, imprisoned since April 1 for failing to pay income taxes, can return immediately to the Champions Tour, president Mike Stevens told Golfweek.
“He can start playing the minute he’s able,” Stevens said. “Thorpie has always been a great personality – great with fans and pro-am partners and sponsors. I’m sure he’ll be equally as good when he comes back. We’ll welcome him back with open arms.”
That could be soon, according to the pastor of the church that Thorpe attends in Lake Mary, Florida.
“He’ll get out a little early; that’s the plan, anyway,” Keith Wilkins, senior pastor at Crossings Community Church, said. “It could be this month.”
Wilkins said he learned the news from Thorpe’s wife, Carol, and agent, Mike Lewis. Phone and e-mail messages left with Lewis were not returned.
Thorpe, 61, a 13-time winner on the Champions Tour, was sentenced to one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to two misdemeanour counts of failing to pay more than $2 million in back taxes, interest and penalties. He also was sentenced to two years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. As part of his plea, Thorpe agreed to repay the money.
Thorpe has served time at the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp located on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
He had been under suspension by the Tour since February, after he was sentenced. Thorpe plans to resume his career on the over-50 Tour upon being released, Wilkins said.

McDOWELL FINISHES SHOT BEHIND PLAY-OFF WINNER BYRD

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Jonathan Byrd had a silver trophy at his side and a lei draped around his neck, a winner Sunday in the Tournament of Champions, even if the play-off didn't end the way anyone imagined.
"Pretty overwhelmed," he said.
The emotions went beyond his victory in the PGA Tour's season opener when Robert Garrigus, the biggest hitter on tour, missed a 3-foot par putt on the second extra hole at Kapalua.
Just over three months ago, Byrd thought he might lose his card for the first time in his career. He was outside the top 125 on the money list, and not much was going his way.
Then came a hole-in-one in near darkness to win Las Vegas in a play-off, getting him to Maui for the Tournament of Champions. He made it two straight wins by closing with a 6-under 67, and winning despite the length advantage for Garrigus in the playoff.
"I can't sit here and not think about where I was toward the end of the season last year, fighting for my card," he said. "I'm just thankful, I'm overwhelmed, I'm grateful, all of the above."
Garrigus - his name might as well be "gregarious" - was thankful, too, despite a tough way to lose. He had a 12-foot eagle putt on the last hole in regulation that would have been enough to win. He failed to take advantage of his length on the par-5 18th in the playoff, hitting a poor chip that fooled him. And with a 9-iron to the green on No. 1 in the playoff - Byrd his 3-iron - he couldn't get it closer than 40 feet.
Garrigus ran it 3 feet by the hole, and tried to jam it in from there and caught the right lip.
"If you had told me this - I'd have been in a playoff with one of the best players in the world - I'd have said, 'Hey, bring it on and we'll get 'em next week," said Garrigus, who also shot 67. "It was a great week. I've lost about 133 golf tournaments, and it's not that big a deal. I get a nice check, and I get to go next week and relax and have fun."
They finished at 24-under 268.
Byrd had an 18-foot birdie putt in regulation to win. He had a 10-foot birdie on the 18th in the playoff to win. No putt came closer than his 50-foot effort on No. 1 in the playoff, the ball just touching the high side of the hole. He tapped in for par, and standing to the side of the green, began planning his next shot in the playoff at the par-3 second.
Garrigus put a sad end to it all.
"He just gave it a little too much gas, and missed the next putt coming back," Byrd said.
Byrd won for the fifth time in his career, and this was the biggest. He had never won on tour earlier than July. He had never beaten a field this strong, with only PGA Tour winners from last year. And this one came with some perks. Byrd earned an automatic invitation to the Masters, and with his second win in the last two months, he is exempt for the U.S. Open.
Graeme McDowell nearly joined them in the playoff. The U.S. Open champion, coming off a dream season, matched the Plantation Course record with an 11-under 62 and finished one shot behind. McDowell had a 10-foot birdie putt on the last hole that just missed.
But McDowell almost joined them in the play-off after a final round 62 that included 11 birdies.
"I'm very happy with the day's work," the 2010 US Open champion said.
McDowell, who changed his clubs at the start of the week, was six shots behind the leaders at the start of the day, and had a chance to join them in the play-off only to miss that birdie putt at the last.
"Obviously when you go into a final round that far back and you know the scoring is going to be good, there's nothing you can do really but just put the head down and try to have a great day yourself," he added after finishing 23 under par for the tournament.
"When I birdied 13 through 16, I kind of started to think that maybe I had an outside shot.
"I really look back at the first three rounds as the problem for me. I didn't finish the golf course very well at all here during the week."
The 31-year-old, ranked fifth in the world, hit earlier rounds of 71, 68 and 68, but his superb last round at the Kapalua Resort included six birdies before the turn and five on the back nine.
"It's great to come out and answer all of the questions this week," he said.
"I realised it was going to be a difficult way to start the season, with new equipment in the bag coming off the back of last year."
McDowell started the final round six shots out of the lead, and he told one of the locker room attendants that he probably would need a 59 to have any kind of chance.

He gave it quite a ride. He ran off four straight birdies early in the round to make the turn in 30 and get within range. After scolding himself for missing an 8-foot birdie try on the 12th, McDowell responded with four straight birdies, including a 20-footer down the slope on the 15th after playing a safe pitch.
"I never looked at the leaderboard," McDowell said. "I knew the guys were going to go low. I just kept my head down. When I birdied, 14, 14, 15, 16 ... I said, 'Hold on.'"
But with another dose of Kona wind - that's when Kapalua is at its longest - the 17th and 18th are not easy. McDowell can't reach the par-5 18th in two, but hit a risky pitch that flew toward the pin and checked up 8 feet short. His firm putt didn't catch all the break, and he had to settle for par for the fourth straight round.
"It was just a fun day out there," McDowell said. "This golf course is just 'green light' all day. You can see from the scoring, there's a lot of birdies, and it's a lot of fun."
Steve Stricker, tied with Byrd and Garrigus going into the final round, shot 71 and tied for fourth with Carl Pettersson (68).
It wasn't much fun for Stricker, who didn't stay in the lead very long.
Stricker chipped poorly on the first hole and made bogey, three-putted for par on the fifth, then hit two very tentative putts on the seventh hole for another three-putt bogey that left him four shots behind.
Ian Poulter closed with a 66 to tie for sixth - he hasn't finished worse than that in his last five tournaments. He was joined by Matt Kuchar, who shot a 69.
The other Englishman in the field, Justin Rose, finished joint 12th.
The tournament ended with a bizarre twist, much like the rest of the week went.
It started with two-time defending champion Geoff Ogilvy having to pull out with 12 stitches in his finger from a freak injury in the ocean. The next day, Camilo Villegas was disqualified because of a rules violation that was reported through Twitter.
It ended with the first American winner at Kapalua in 10 years, something Byrd was made aware of earlier in the week.
"I said it was about time for an American to win," Byrd said. "I just didn't know it would be me."
FINAL TOTALS
Par 292 (4x73)

1 Jonathan Byrd 66 68 67 67 268 (won play-off at second extra hole). ($1,120,00).
2 Robert Garrigus 69 63 69 67 268 ($635,000).
3 Graeme McDowell 71 68 68 62 269 ($412,000).

T4 Carl Pettersson 66 67 71 68 272 ($286,500).
T4 Steve Stricker 69 67 65 71 272 ($286,500).
T6 Ian Poulter 70 68 70 66 274 ($201,500).
T6 Matt Kuchar 69 70 66 69 274 ($201,500).
8 Bill Haas  68 70 69 69 276 ($182,000).
T9 Dustin Johnson 71 66 73 68 278 ($162,000).
T9 Jim Furyk 68 68 72 70 278 ($162,000).
T9 Jason Day 73 66 69 70 278 ($162,000).
T12 Justin Rose 75 67 69 68 279 ($132,000).
T12 Arjun Atwal 72 69 68 70 279 ($132,000).
T12 Bill Lunde  70 68 70 71 279 ($132,000).
T15 Francesco Molinari 69 67 74 70 280 ($107,000).
T15 Ryan Palmer 70 72 68 70 280 ($107,000).
T17 Tim Clark 72 68 73 68 281 ($87,000).

T17 Ernie Els  72 64 74 71 281 ($87,000).
T19 Anthony Kim  69 71 74 68 282 ($75,500).
T19 Matt Bettencourt  73 70 70 69 282 ($75,500).
T21 Ben Crane 67 70 74 72 283 ($71,000).
T21 Adam Scott 73 67 70 73 283 ($71,000).
T23 Zach Johnson 71 73 69 71 284 ($67,000).
T23 Cameron Beckman 72 71 70 71 284 ($67,000).
T25 Hunter Mahan 70 70 78 67 285 ($62,000).
T25 Bubba Watson 70 70 73 72 285 ($62,000).
T25 Charley Hoffman 68 75 67 75 285 ($62,000).
T28 Heath Slocum  70 74 72 70 286 ($58,500).
T28 Jason Bohn  72 72 72 70 286 ($58,500).
30 Stuart Appleby  69 75 73 72 289 ($57,000).
31 Rocco Mediate 79 70 75 71 295 ($56,000).
32 Derek Lamely 72 76 78 70 296 ($55,000).
Disqualfied: 32 Camilo Villegas 
Withdrew: 32 Geoff Ogilvy

DRIVING AVERAGE
1 Dustin Johnson 307.9yd
2 Derej Lamely 296.5yd.
3 Jason Day 293.4yd.