KRIS NICOL NO 2 SEED AT SOUTH AFRICAN AMATEUR CHPIONSHIP

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Fraserburgh's Kris Nicol, pictured, has earned the No 2 seed position at the end of the 36-hole stroke-playing qualifying for the South African amateur golf championship at Vaal de Grace Golf Estate.
Nicol had rounds of 66 and 68 for a total of 134 - two shots behind the leading qualifier, South African Brandon Stone (64-68).
Other Scots among the 64 players in a field of 135 competitors to qualify for the match-play stages were:
Paul Shields (140), Michael Stewart (142), David Law (143), Ross Kellett (143), Jordan Findlay (143), Greg Paterson (143) and Scott Gibson (143).
Philip McLean (Peterhead) missed the cut by three shots with rounds of 72 and 74 for 147.
Stirling University student James White (Lundin) was five shots over the limit with scores of 73 and 76 for 149.
LEADING QUALIFIERS
132 Brandon Stone (SAf) 64 68.
134 Kris Nicol (Sco) 66 68.
Other Scottish qualifiers:
140 Paul Shields 75 65.
142 Michael Ste4wart 72 70.
143 David Law 69 74, Ross Kellett 72 71, Jordan Findlay 71 72, Greg Paterson 68 75, Scott Gibson 69 74.
MISSED THE CUT (144 or better qualified).
147 Philip McLean 72 75.
149 James White 73 76.

TO VIEW ALL THE QUALIFYING SCORES ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN WEBSITE

CLICK HERE

TO SEE THE DRAW FOR THE FIRST ROUND OF THE MATCH-PLAY

CLICK HERE

PAUL O'HARA MISSES CUT IN MOROCCO'S AMELKIS CLASSIC

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Paul O'Hara's bad run of form in Morocco continued on the EPD Tour (PGA of Germany) when he missed the 36-hole cut in the 30,000 Euros Amelkis Classic at the Amelkis course, Marrakech today.
O'Hara had two rounds of one-over-par 73 for a total of 146 - one shot outside the limit qualifying mark for the final round.
The man from Mothwell had five birdies in his round - at the long second, the fifth, sixth, long ninth and 12th. But he also had a triple bogey 7 at the 16th and a double bogey 5 at the short third as well as a single shot dropped to par at the opening hole in halves of 35 and 38.
No surprise that fellow-Scot Neil Fenwick missed the cut with rounds of 80 and 77 for 157.
Good for the future of golf in Morocco that one of their home-grown professionals, Faycal Serghini is leading the field with a nine-under-par total of 135, made up of rounds of 70 and 65.
He leads by one shot from England's Ben Parker (69-67), Germany's Allen John (69-67) and Belgium's Giullaume Watremez (69-67).

MOROCCO GOLF FESTIVAL - PLAY FIVE COURSES IN MARRAKECH AREA

+YOU TOO CAN PLAY THE AMELKIS COURSE - AS WELL AS FOUR OTHER COURSES IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF MARRAKECH - IN THE 2ND MOROCCO GOLF FESTIVAL FROM OCTOBER 8 to 15. DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE BY CLICKING ON THE APPROPRIATE LETTERING AT THE TOP OF THE LEFT HAND COLUMN ON THE HOME PAGE OF THIS WEBSITE.
FAILING THAT, LOG ON TO MENARA TRAVEL'S WEBSITE, http://www.morocco4golf.com/, AND ALSO FIND OUT DETAILS ABOUT THE INAUGURAL MOROCCAN INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR MEN/SENIOR MEN, WOMEN/SENIOR WOMEN AND BOYS/GIRLS TOO IF THEIR HANDICAPS ARE LOW ENOUGH TO MEET THE CRITERIA.

THIS WEEK'S WORLD MEN'S PRO RANKINGS

1 Martin Kaymer, Ger 8.36
2 Lee Westwood, Eng 8.16
3 Luke Donald, Eng 6.64
4 Graeme McDowell, Nir 6.44
5 Tiger Woods, USA 6.32
6 Phil Mickelson, USA 6.23 
7 Paul Casey, Eng 6.02
8 Rory McIlroy, Nir 5.65
9 Steve Stricker, USA 5.49
10 Matt Kuchar, USA 5.20
11 Jim Furyk, USA 5.16
12 Ernie Els, SAf 4.96
13 Ian Poulter, Eng 4.77
14 Dustin Johnson, USA 4.47
15 Bubba Watson, USA 4.37
16 Retief Goosen, SAf 4.36
17 Robert Karlsson, Swe 4.34
18 Francesco Molinari, Ita 4.27
19 Hunter Mahan, USA 4.23
20 Miguel A Jimenez, Spa 3.86

LEADING SCOTS
42 Martin Laird 2.75.
70 Stephen Gallacher 1.91.
118 Michael Sim 1.34.
133 Richie Ramsay 1.22
223 David Drysdale 0.76
240 George Murray 0.71
247 Paul Lawrie 0.68.
316 Peter Whiteford 0.54.
368 Scott Jamieson 0.45.
387 Raymond Russell 0.42.
416 Colin Montgomerie 0.376.
440 Simon Yates 0.3.5.
456 Marc Warren 0.33.
459 Steven O'Hara 0.33.
467 Gary Orr 0.31.

SGU NAME BOYS SQUAD FOR QUADRANGULAR IN ITALY

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Scottish boys champion Grant Forrest will lead a six-strong Scotland team this week when they face the host nation Italy, France and Sweden in the 2011 Boys Quadrangular at the Acaya Golf Resort in Pugilia (3 – 5 March).
Forrest, who defeated Ian Redford 3 and 2 in the national match play final at West Kilbride last year and defends his title at Dunbar next month, was also one of Scotland’s top performers at last year’s Boys’ Home Internationals taking four points from a possible six.
He is joined by former Scottish Boys Stroke Play Champion Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie), a first year Applied Maths student at the University of Stirling, and Dumfries & County’s Liam Johnston, who finished runner-up in the SGU Boys’ Order of Merit last season and was a quarter-finalist in the Scottish Amateur Championship at Gullane.
Blairgowrie’s Bradley Neil, winner of the Scottish and English Boys Under-14s Championships in 2010, makes his eagerly anticipated step up to Under 18s level while another former winner of the English Boys Under-14s Championship Ewan Scott – twice a winner during the SGU’s Junior Winter Series this season – also earns a place in the side.
Dubai resident Daniel Hendry, who won the Emirates Golf Federation’s Junior Order of Merit last year, is also in the side having performed well on his Scotland debut during August’s Boys’ Home Internationals as well as finishing fourth in the Scottish Boys Stroke Play Championship at Craigielaw.
Former Open Championship silver medallist Stuart Wilson will provide his experience to the young Scots as non-playing captain while National Under-18s coach Neil Marr will also accompany the side.
“The Boys Quadrangular Match is a great way to start the season for our leading boys and we’ll face some very strong competition from Italy, France and Sweden who all have fantastic records in developing excellent young golfers in recent years,” said Marr.
“We have a very talented squad with a good blend of players who are experienced at this level as well as two of our most promising youngsters in Ewan and Bradley, who have both shown they can compete against strong fields. Scotland has a good record in this event and the boys are all really looking forward to the challenge.” he added.
The team will practise on Tuesday and Wednesday before the opening match of the series gets underway on Thursday.
Team:
Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie)
Grant Forrest (Craigielaw)
Liam Johnston (Dumfries and County)
Ewan Scott (St Andrews)

Daniel Hendry (United Arab Emirates)

Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie)

Non-travelling reserve:
 Alasdair McDougall (Elderslie)

SENIOR OPEN RETURNS TO TURNBERRY NEXT YEAR

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE EUROPEAN TOUR
The Senior Open Championship will return to the spectacular setting of Turnberry on the Ayrshire coastline from July 26-29, 2012, continuing the Scottish resort’s rich history with the prestigious Championship which began with the inaugural staging in 1987.
It will be the seventh occasion that Turnberry’s Ailsa Course has hosted The Senior Open Championship, the most of any venue on the roster, surpassing the six editions played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
The classic links hosted the first four Senior Open Championships, with Neil Coles wining the inaugural Championship in 1987, Gary Player capturing the title in 1988 and 1990 and Bob Charles lifting the trophy in 1989.
Tom Watson, whose own career is so closely aligned with Turnberry’s proud heritage, then held off the European Senior Tour’s leading career money winner Carl Mason in a play-off when the Championship returned to the Ayrshire Coast in 2003, before fellow American Loren Roberts captured his first Senior Open title in 2006.
Turnberry has also hosted The Open Championship on four occasions with Watson featuring prominently in 1977, when he memorably defeated Jack Nicklaus in what became known as ‘The Duel in the Sun,’ and in 2009 when he lost in a play-off to Stewart Cink at the age of 59.
David Hill, Director of Championships for The R and A, said on behalf of the Championship: “We are delighted to announce the return of The Senior Open Championship to Turnberry in 2012, a venue that is steeped in the history of both The Senior Open and The Open.
“The Ailsa Course has provided some of golf’s most memorable moments over the years and hopefully we will once again experience the magnificent support of the Scottish golf fans, just as we did the last time The Senior Open Championship visited the Ayrshire coast in 2008 when we had record crowds at Royal Troon.”
Stewart Selbie, General Manager of Turnberry, said: “Turnberry is delighted to welcome The Senior Open Championship back to the Ailsa course in 2012. Following the success of The 2009 Open, it is entirely fitting that our next Major should be the Senior Open, a tournament which has such a strong connection with the Ailsa course over the years. This announcement confirms Turnberry’s position as a great venue for major Open Championships”

LUKE DONALD IN UNBEATABLE MATCH-PLAY FORM ALL WEEK

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By KEVIN GARSIDE, Golf Correspondent
iT was not the week to run into Luke Donald. The Englishman made a runner-up of newly-minted world No 1 Martin Kaymer to claim the Accenture Matchplay Championship by 3 and 2.
Donald will have to come back next year to walk the 18th hole. He had no need of it in six matches here at Marana, Arizona.
Victory was only Donald’s second tournament win in five years but enough to take him to world No 3. As that statistic suggests, Donald has no problem trading with the worlds top ten, his difficulty has been landing the killer punch.
The subordination of Kaymer in conditions that played to the German’s strengths augurs well for a golfer widely respected but, hitherto, not feared enough.
“I have not won in America for five years. It has been a lot of sweat and tears to get this to this point. It feels great. Hats off to Martin for reaching world No 1. That’s quite an accomplishment, and makes this win a lot sweeter,” Donald said.
No need for iceman anologies on Sunday. Kaymer and Donald woke to snow covered fairways. Two hours before play started the organisers were clearing the practice range with squeegees.
Donald tweeted a photo to his followers. Mountains provided an apposite backdrop, one golfer reaching a rare peak and the other the week’s most dramatic climber.
There was ice on the range when they left it and hail the size of frozen peas as they reached the fourth. On the opening day Stewart Cink was in the greenside rubbish off the 4th tee. That is a wallop of 390 yards.
On Sunday, after a five-minute delay to allow the green to revert from white to green, Kaymer and Donald had six irons into the pin.
Donald was faithful to the template of the previous rounds, bolting into an early lead. Birdies at the second, fourth and fifth took him three clear.
Kaymer can not spell panic. Imposing the authority befitting the world No 1 Kaymer had scrubbed the deficit by the turn. Birdies at six and eight got inside Donald’s head.
A 7 by the Englishmanat the ninth was proof of that after a fat approach anchored in an unplayable lie.
Donald left the ninth punch drunk, a boxer in need of a stool. Fate obliged at the tenth, where Kaymer’s birdie putt to take the lead for the first time in the match slid a fraction to the right.
At the 11th Kaymer missed by the same margin to fall a hole behind. Sport turns on a sixpence. Donald re-established a two-hole advantage at the short 13th, courtesy of a Kaymer bogey. Luke was impregnable from there, maintaining his position of never being behind all week.
“I was trying everything I could, but even a decent round was not enough,” Kaymer said. “I was relaxed when I went to the first tee.
"It was a great feeling waking up knowing I was world No 1. I was a little tired but there is no room for tiredness in this game.
“Luke played well. I was three down after five and was thinking maybe I can get back level by 12 or 13. I managed it by the turn.
"He was in the dirt at 10 and I had a putt for birdie. We ended up halving the hole and that was my chance gone.
"He is one of the most consistent players in the world and is short game is probably the best. I used to think Phil Mickelson was great but Luke's is better.”
Kaymer will get over it. Twenty-fire years after Bernhard Langer became the first to top a formal rankings list Kaymer bookended it for Germany with his semi-final victory over Bubba Watson.
The win ended Lee Westwood’s 17-week reign as golf’s premier force. It had been coming.
Kaymer, at 26, is the second youngest to achieve the distinction after Tiger Woods, who planted his flag at the summit at 21.
He follows Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Sir Nick Faldo and Westwood as the Europeans to reach the head of the table.
There will be no dissent in this part of the world. Kaymer is not caught in the contentious issue of majorless No 1s that dogged Westwood’s reign. This was just not his day.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ANOTHER LOOK AT SUNDAY'S PLAY, INCLUDING THE THIRD AND FOURTH PLACE PLAY-OFF BETWEEN MATT KUCHAR AND BUBBA WATSON.