THURSO'S THORBURN WINS NORTH ALLIANCE AT TARBAT

By ROBIN WILSON

Thurso's highly-rated scratch golfer Dougie Thorburn took a step nearer winning the North Alliance Scratch Quaich for four best scores with his fourth individual winning score at Tarbat Golf Club in the North Golf Alliance fixture on Sunday 

The Caithness golfer returned a one-under-par 67 to win by three from his Ross-shire rival, Tain's Munro Ferries, the current holder of the Quaich. Thorburn shot a three-under-par 31 for his first nine holes over the nine hole course with five birdies, 2nd, 4th, 7th 8th and two dropped shots, at the 3rd and 6th holes, to sweep into a five-shot lead over Ferries who had scored 36 at his first attempt.

As the wind speed strengthened Thorburn's momentum slipped a bit on his second time round carding a two over par 36 which allowed Ferries creep closer to him with a par matching second nine of 34 for 70. The Thurso member's excellent effort reduced his previous best four score aggregate by five shots to 276 and now leads Ferries by eleven when his four score aggregate only dropped by three to 287.

Following Thorburn's feature score was a wonderful gross 70, matching rounds of 35, from Reay nine handicapper Alister Gunn whose nett 61 romped away with the Class 1 handicap section leaving Tain's Raymond Lockie floundering in second place after a worthy nett 66, off 8.
Thurso's Fraser Sparling , winner on this section last time out at Reay, was back in the frame with a third place from his nett 68, off 7, beating the local greenkeeper Mike Keay on the inward half.
Willie Allan (Reay) completed the trio of firsts for the stalwart Caithness travellers when he headed the high handicap section with nett 65, four in front of clubmate Ian Ross but having to be a bit quieter in the car on the homeward journey, after only managing a fourth place, was the Class 1 section winner's son, Gavin with net 70.

After their previous postponement Wick Golf Club have confirmed they will take the fixture this weekend.
RESULTS
Scratch
67 D Thorburn (Thurso).
70 M Ferries (Tain), A Gunn (Reay).
74 B Ferries (Tain), R Lockie (Tain).
75 R Sparling (Thurso).
Handicap
Class 1 – A Gunn (Thurso) (9) 61; R Lockie (Tain) (8) 66; R Sparling (Thurso) (7), M Keay (Tarbat) (8) 68.
Class 2 – W Allen (Reay) (15) 65; I Ross (Reay (11), A Melville (Tain) (12) 69; G Gunn (Reay) (11) 70.

FERGIE LEADS TRIBUTES TO LAWRIE AT SCOTS GOLF'S BIG NIGHT

Paul Lawrie and Alastair Forsyth centre stage at the XOS Scottish Golf Awards night in Glasgow (Image by courtesy of Kenny Smith and SGU).

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Sir Alex Ferguson led the tributes to Paul Lawrie as the former Open Champion and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the XOS Scottish Golf Awards in Glasgow.
Lawrie and Montgomerie became the first recipients of the Scottish Golf Union’s Lifetime Achievement Awards as they joined ten other prize winners from the amateur game in front of a sell-out crowd of 460 guests at Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The Manchester United manager recorded a special video message paying tribute to Lawrie’s career and in particular the work with his Junior Foundation, which celebrates its tenth year in 2011, much to the surprise of an emotional Lawrie.
“The personal video tribute was a fantastic gesture from Sir Alex who has always been very supportive of me throughout my career and capped a superb evening. It was nice to be presented with my Award by my fellow professional Alastair Forsyth and I also appreciated the video messages from Stephen Gallacher, David Law and Philip McLean” said Paul.
“The Scottish Golf Union did a great job in organising the event and I hope the presence of Colin and I can help inspire the next generation of young golfers to more Scottish success in the future. There’s some good talent coming through and with the support from the likes of Aberdeen Asset Management and Scottish Hydro in place I’m sure we’ll start to see the benefits,” he added.
Montgomerie was presented with his Award from PGA Chief Executive Sandy Jones and Aberdeen Asset Management’s Stephen Docherty, while the eight-time European Tour Order of Merit champion was on hand to present Scotland’s leading female amateur golfer Kelsey MacDonald with her prize.
“I was thrilled to receive my Award from Colin Montgomerie and it’s fantastic to see our leading professionals supporting the amateur game so much. Last year was a great season for me individually as well as for the Scotland Ladies team so it was good to be recognised for our achievements,” said the SLGA Order of Merit winner.
“Hopefully I can continue to progress in 2011 and keep building towards my goal of playing in the GB and I Curtis Cup in my home town of Nairn next year,” added MacDonald.
MacDonald joined her victorious Scottish Ladies Home Internationals team-mates to receive the Team of the Year from former Scotland rugby captains Gavin Hastings and Andy Nicol with Blairgowrie youngster Bradley Neil picking up the Developing Talent award from Lawrie.
Palacerigg’s Frank Anderson took the honours in the inaugural Volunteer of the Year Award category for his efforts in increasing the club’s junior section from 7 members to more than seventy, receiving a £400 sponsorship for his club from Xerox Office Solutions, while Orkney were awarded the Junior Club of the Year in recognition of their work in growing the game.
Other winners were:
Conor O’Neil (Pollok) – SGU Boys Order of Merit.
Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) – SLGA Girls Order of Merit.
Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) – SGU Order of Merit.
James Byrne (Banchory) – SGU Amateur Golfer of the Year.
Tony Stafford (Dun Ochil) – SGU Seniors Order of Merit.

+The XOS Scottish Golf Awards were sponsored by Xerox Office Solutions and event partners Aberdeen Asset Management.

+SWITCH OVER TO OUR SISTER WEBSITE, www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk, to see a picture of Kelsey MacDonald receiving her SLGA Order of Merit winner's trophy from Colin Montgomerie.

BUCKPOOL TO STAGE ROUND 2 OF NE ALLIANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
The second round of the North-east Golfers' Alliance 36-hole championship has been switched from Banchory to Buckpool on Wednesday, March 16. The waterlogged Banchory course, meantime closed, may not re-open in time and, in any case, the "traffic" of a field of around 100 competitors might not be advisable on a very soft course.
The first round is at Duff House Royal, as scheduled, on Wednesday, March 9.
The North-east Alliance fixture on Wednesday, March 2 will be played at Newburgh as per fixture card.
Newburgh was substituted for Craibstone for the first competition of 2011 and at the time it was thought that Craibstone would take over Newburgh's March 2 spot.
But the situation at Craibstone Golf Centre - which is for sale - is not considered ideal to take an Alliance meeting there at the moment and so Newburgh will be the host club a week on Wednesday.

WORLD TOP 50 RANKINGS UPDATED

1 Lee Westwood, Eng 8.21 377.79 46 -51.42 4.26
2 Martin Kaymer, Deu 7.54 369.67 49 -46.29 60.16
3 Tiger Woods, USA 6.46 258.52 40 -60.99 4.25
4 Graeme McDowell, Nir 6.36 343.24 54 -29.86 39.60
5 Phil Mickelson, USA 6.27 275.78 44 -53.22 40.82
6 Paul Casey, Eng 6.03 271.54 45 -41.39 47.61
7 Rory McIlroy, Nir 5.67 305.96 54 -41.42 39.60
8 Steve Stricker, USA 5.57 239.65 43 -47.13 23.98
9 Luke Donald, Eng 5.27 273.81 52 -36.76 0.00
10 Jim Furyk, USA 5.23 251.27 48 -43.96 9.20
11 Ernie Els, Zaf 4.97 278.39 56 -38.66 5.64
12 Ian Poulter, Eng 4.83 250.91 52 -33.33 11.44
13 Matt Kuchar, USA 4.78 243.53 51 -30.84 27.30
14 Dustin Johnson, USA 4.50 220.34 49 -31.67 25.93
15 Retief Goosen, Zaf 4.40 246.16 56 -35.82 28.29
16 Francesco Molinari, Ita 4.38 232.37 53 -24.87 15.44
17 Robert Karlsson, Swe 4.30 189.03 44 -15.92 18.12
18 Hunter Mahan, USA 4.13 223.25 54 -30.89 39.78
19 Bubba Watson, USA 4.03 189.22 47 -20.75 52.73
20 Louis Oosthuizen, Zaf 3.81 198.08 52 -23.36 23.85
21 Alvaro Quiros, Esp 3.80 209.22 55 -19.72 88.19
22 Tim Clark, Zaf 3.76 191.54 51 -24.65 28.13
23 Miguel A Jiménez, Esp 3.65 204.47 56 -24.10 26.57
24 Edoardo Molinari, Ita 3.60 201.74 56 -27.41 5.32
25 Charl Schwartzel, Zaf 3.57 192.74 54 -22.94 33.83
26 Robert Allenby, Aus 3.48 194.89 56 -30.40 15.29
27 Adam Scott, Aus 3.33 170.06 51 -19.05 3.13
28 Geoff Ogilvy, Aus 3.24 162.22 50 -26.97 8.51
29 Justin Rose, Eng 3.23 177.90 55 -24.03 20.98
30 Nick Watney, USA 3.21 163.86 51 -28.36 26.53
31 Zach Johnson, USA 3.21 166.93 52 -29.77 5.55
32 Kim Kyung-Tae, Kor 3.19 165.93 52 -15.84 0.00
33 Rickie Fowler, USA 3.18 133.46 42 -14.94 9.97
34 Anthony Kim, USA 3.14 147.76 47 -23.79 16.62
35 Padraig Harrington, Irl 3.09 172.85 56 -29.22 1.21
36 Peter Hanson, Swe 3.07 147.41 48 -17.81 26.50
37 Ross Fisher, Eng 2.93 149.47 51 -25.23 8.32
38 Ben Crane, USA 2.91 151.16 52 -20.36 11.32
39 Ryo Ishikawa, Jpn 2.85 159.55 56 -20.62 0.00
40 Jason Day, Aus 2.82 121.06 43 -16.33 9.85
41 Martin Laird, Sco 2.75 148.50 54 -16.14 22.52
42 Ryan Moore, USA 2.73 139.04 51 -20.70 15.29
43 Camilo Villegas, Col 2.64 139.90 53 -24.96 1.34
44 Yuta Ikeda, Jpn 2.64 147.63 56 -16.96 0.00
45 Bill Haas, USA 2.62 146.60 56 -15.18 38.30
46 K.J. Choi, Kor 2.59 134.91 52 -18.51 13.85
47 Bo Van Pelt, USA 2.53 141.44 56 -20.28 3.63
48 Y.E. Yang, Kor 2.51 140.64 56 -27.54 8.34
49 Vijay Singh, Fji 2.48 121.58 49 -11.66 59.69
50 Hiroyuki Fujita, Jpn 2.41 132.34 55 -15.41 0.00

DRAW FOR ACCENTURE WORLD MATCH-PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

FROM THE SKYSPORTS.COM WEBSITE
The draw for this week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona has been confirmed with top seed Lee Westwood heading a 64-man line-up.

Japan's Toru Taniguchi - ranked 64th in the world - is the only absentee from the world's elite after suffering a neck injury, his place taken by Henrik Stenson.

The Swede who won the title in 2007, takes on Westwood in the first round on Wednesday.

Ernie Els is expected to be fit to take on American Jeff Overton after he was advised to miss last week's Northern Trust Open with a stiff neck.

World number two Martin Kaymer takes on South Korean talent Seung-yul Noh, while Tiger Woods starts out against recent Qatar winner Thomas Bjorn.

Ian Poulter will launch the defence of his title against former Open champion Stewart Cink, while Francisco Molinari will take his place in the field despite recently becoming a father.
Draw
1-Lee Westwood (England) v 64-Henrik Stenson (Sweden)
32-Nick Watney (U.S.) v 33-Anthony Kim (U.S.)
16-Retief Goosen (South Africa) v 49-K.J. Choi (South Korea)
17-Francesco Molinari (Italy) v 48-Ryan Moore (U.S.)
8-Steve Stricker (U.S.) v 57-Matteo Manassero (Italy)
25-Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) v 40-Ryo Ishikawa (Japan)
9-Luke Donald (England) v 56-Charley Hoffman (U.S.)
24-Edoardo Molinari (Italy) v 41-Martin Laird (Scotland)
4-Phil Mickelson (U.S.) v 61-Brendan Jones (Australia)
29-Rickie Fowler (U.S.) v 36-Peter Hanson (Sweden)
13-Matt Kuchar (U.S.) v 52-Anders Hansen (Denmark)
20-Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) v 45-Bo Van Pelt (U.S.)
5-Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) v 60-Heath Slocum (U.S.)
28-Robert Allenby (Australia) v 37-Ross Fisher (England)
12-Ian Poulter (England) v 53-Stewart Cink (U.S.)
21-Alvaro Quiros (Spain) v 44-Yang Yong-eun (South Korea)
2-Martin Kaymer (Germany.) v 63-Noh Seung-yul (South Korea)
31-Zach Johnson (U.S.) v 34-Justin Rose (England)
15-Robert Karlsson (Sweden) v 50-Hiroyuki Fujita (Japan)
18-Hunter Mahan (U.S.) v 47-Sean O'Hair (U.S.)
7-Rory McIlroy (Ireland) v 58-Jonathan Byrd (U.S.)
26-Adam Scott (Australia) v 39-Ben Crane (U.S.)
10-Jim Furyk (U.S.) v 55-Ryan Palmer (U.S.)
23-Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) v 42-Yuta Ikeda (Japan)
3-Tiger Woods (U.S.) v 62-Thomas Bjorn (Denmark)
30-Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) v 35-Padraig Harrington (Ireland)
14-Dustin Johnson (U.S.) v 51-Mark Wilson (U.S.)
19-Bubba Watson (U.S.) v 46-Bill Haas (U.S.)
6-Paul Casey (England) v 59-Richard Green (Australia)
27- Kim Kyung-Tae (South Korea) v 38-Jason Day (Australia)
11-Ernie Els (South Africa) v 54-Jeff Overton (U.S.)
22-Tim Clark (South Africa) v 43-Camilo Villegas (Colombia)