CHRIS PAISLEY LEADS BY THREE SHOTS IN EL PLANTIO OPEN

Former Walker Cup player Chris Paisley has taken a three-stroke lead with one round to go in this week's Spanish Hi5 Pro Tour event, El Plantio Open, in the Murcia region of south-east Spain.
Paisley has shot 66 and 71 for seven-under-par 137 and has a Belgian amateur, Cedric Van Wassenhove, as his nearest rival.
LEADING TWO-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
137 Chris Paisley (England) 66 71.
140 Cedric Van Wassenhove (Belgium) (amateur) 66 74.
142 Tim Sluiter (Netherlands) 69 73).

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NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND DRAW

DUFF HOUSE ROYAL GOLF CLUB, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

08.15 A Campbell - R Fitzpatrick - P Morrison
08.22 G Leslie - C Cassie - B Harper
08.29 S Scott - G Geddes - C Ord
08.36 free - free- free (available) 
08.43 free - free -free
08.50 L Prouse – J Dalgarno - C Nelson
08.57 Laura Murray - K Beveridge - J Callum

09.04 J M Hamilton - M Rendall - H Roulston
09.11 D Mackay - G Allan - A J Smith
09.18 S Higgins - J Short - M Ord
09.25 R Brown - S Davidson - M Brown
09.32 J Scott - I Bratton - G Munro
09.39 J Mackintosh - T Slater - J McPherson.
09.46 D Phillip - P McIntosh - J Duncan
09.53 A K Pirie - L Fowler - D Fleming

10.00 J Roberts - J Reid - K Duncan
10.07 N Chisholm -  S Elrick - C Duffus
10.14 J Borthwick - S Kennedy - J Thomas.
10.21 J Forrest - N Stewart - D Leslie
10.28 B Lumsden - G Homer - B Lumsden junior
10.35 J Lumsden - C Farquhar - P Cheyne
10.42 H McNaughton - I Strachan - D Lawrie
10.49 J Jessiman - A Petrie - M F R Rogers
10.56 G Ingram - M Smith - I Grant

11.03 F Bisset - S Larkin - I D Smith
11.10 D Bisset - J Murray - D Randall
11.17 T Collie - M Lawrie - D Brown
11.24 J Turner - C Carnegie - I Mundie
11.31 R Lamb - M Merchant - J Duff
11.38 W McKenzie- D Bingham - D Nelson
11.43 S Chalmers - C Stewart - A Graham
11.52 N K Parker - G Stevely - G Brown
11.59 D McKay - J L Gall - S Finnie

12.06 J Nicolson - B Nicolson- P Cornfield
12.15 Steve Lawrie - M Jenkins - M Booth
12.22 D Wilson - Sean Lawrie - C Law
12.30 R O'Donnell - J Hopwood - free
12.37 free- free- free
12.44 free- free- free

FRASER McKENNA BEST OF SCOTS IN SPANISH QUALIFIER ROUND 1

Balmore's Fraser McKenna is the best placed of the four Scots in the big field at the conclusion of the first stroke-play qualifying round of the Spanish international men's amateur championship at Real Club de Golf El Prat today.
McKenna had a two-over-par 74 to be in joint 19th postion - five shots behind the joint leaders, Germany's Marcel Schneider and Spain's Adrian Otaegui.
Peter Latimer (St Andrews New) had a 76 which leaves him in joint 39th position in the scramble to make the qualifiers for the match-play stages.
Kingsknowe's Ally Dick had an 81 for a share of 87th place while Scott Larkin (Royal Aberdeen) has the proverbial mountain to climb after an 83 left in sharing 96th position.
LEADING FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND SCORES
Par 72
69 Marcel Schneider (Germany), Adrian Otaegui (Spain).
71 Antonio Hortal (Spain).
Selected scores:
72 Tom Lewis (England, Stiggy Hodgson (England) (T4).
74 Fraser McKenna (Scotland), Laurie Canter (England), Alan Dunb ar (Ireland), Darren Wright (England (T19).
75 Paul Dunne (Ireland), Andrew Cooley (England), Jack Senior (England), Rhys Pugh (Wales), Craig Hinton (England), Chris Selfridge (Ireland) (T28).
76 Paul Lockwood (England), Dermot McElroy (Ireland), Peter Latimer (Scotland), Alex Christie (England), Paul Cutler (Ireland) (T39).
77 James Frazer (Wales), Luke Lennox (Ireland), Eddie Pepperell (England (T48).
78 Jonthan Bell (England) (T57).
79 Tyrrell Hatton (England), Oliver Farr (Wales), Steven Brown (England) (T67).
80 Nick Newbold (England, Wayne Telford (Ireland) (T80).
81 Richard O'Donovan (Ireland), Allyn Dick (Scotland) (T87).
83 Scott Larkin (Scotland), Jeff Hopkins (Ireland) (T96).
84 Andrew Hogan (Ireland) (102nd).
89 Sam Claridge (England) (107th).
90 Ross Mitchell (England) (108th).
Retired: Jonathan Hurst (England).

TO VIEW THE COMPLETE SCOREBOARD

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To find out out how the Scots girls fared in the first round of the Spanish international women's amateur championship at Sherry Golf, switch over to our sister website, http://www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk/

STEWART, FINDLAY, SHIELDS IN SOUTH AFRICAN QUARTER-FINALS

FROM THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Scotland will have three representatives in Thursday's quarter-finals of the South African Amateur Championship after Michael Stewart, Jordan Findlay and Paul Shields all reached the last eight on day two of the match play at Vaal de Grace today.
Reigning Scottish Amateur Champion Stewart remains on course for an historic double after seeing off the challenge of team-mate Kris Nicol in the second round this morning with a hard fought 2 and 1 win before dispensing of Kyle Basson by a narrow one-hole margin in the third round.
The Troon man, who celebrates his 21st birthday on Sunday, now faces Muzi Nethunzwi in his last eight bout with the incentive of a possible semi-final against Jordan Findlay, the man he beat in the Scottish final at Gullane last year.
“It was a tough day but I’m delighted to get through. I struggled a bit against Kris this morning but I putted very well and holed out nicely. I turned it around this afternoon however and played some great golf including eight birdies, although I still left a few out there,” said Stewart, a member of the provisional GB and I Walker Cup squad.
“It’s great that we have three players in the last eight and I would love to play Jordan (Findlay) in the semi-finals, but I’m fully focused on my match tomorrow morning. Jordan and Paul are both playing fantastic golf too and hopefully we’re repaying some of the investment in our winter training with these results.” he added.
Kirkhill’s Paul Shield continued his excellent form with an impressive 19th hole win over Haydn Porteous, the number four ranked South African, who finished fourth in the Scottish Boys Under 16s Championship last summer. Earlier in the day Shields overcame team-mate Scott Gibson with a 2 and 1 victory and takes on Aubrey Barnard in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
Former British Boys Champion Jordan Findlay demonstrated his title credentials with a comfortable 3 and 2 second round over Andre Huysamen before sweeping aside Kevin Sharp 5 and 4 with an excellent performance. The Fraserburgh star faces C J du Plessis in the quarter-finals ahead of a potential rematch with Stewart if both Scots win.
Colville Park’s Ross Kellett, who earlier defeated Burger Heckroodt 2 and 1, looked like making it four Scots in the last eight when he led Stephen Peinaar by two holes with three to play, but came unstuck on the closing stretch to let the South African sneak past him with a one hole win.

For second and third round results from the match play stages:

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The Scotland Men’s Elite Squad trip to South Africa is supported by Aberdeen Asset Management and Johann Rupert Rupert.

MONTY PLAYS IN INAUGURAL SICILIAN OPEN THIS MONTH

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE EUROPEAN TOUR

Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning captain Colin Montgomerie will headline the field at this month’s Sicilian Open.

Montgomerie will be among the star names at the stunning Donnafugata Golf Resort and Spa from March 17-20 as he looks to win a remarkable 32nd European Tour event and reignite his career after guiding Europe to Ryder Cup victory in Wales last October.

The 47-year-old Scot believes new events such as the Sicilian Open are hugely important to the continuing development of The European Tour in its home continent and hopes this month’s inaugural event can help continue the development of an already booming Italian golf scene due to the continued heroics of Matteo Manassero and the Molinari brothers on the world stage.
“I’ve always been a great supporter of new events on The European Tour and I’m looking forward to visiting Sicily,” said Montgomerie.
“Italian golf is in a strong position at the moment and hopefully this tournament will help with this development.
“I’m delighted to lend my support to it and hopefully I will be able to contend as well. My game has been improving this year and this will be another opportunity for me to try to win another European Tour title.”
Montgomerie will meet stern competition from a host of European Tour winners in Sicily, with the likes of SSP Chowrasia (recent winner of the Avantha Masters), Nick Dougherty, Thongchai Jaidee and Jeev Milkha Singh among the favourites to contend for the Sicilian Open trophy.

The €1million Sicilian Open will be the first event of the 2011 International Schedule to be played on the Tour’s home continent as the European golf season warms up.

The magnificent Donnafugata Golf Resort and Spa will serve as the perfect location to begin the Tour’s home run in Europe, offering two championship courses (the Parkland Signature Course designed by Gary Player and an 18-hole Championship Course designed by Franco Piras) and superb all-round facilities.

BRIAN NICOLSON, RYAN FITZPATRICK SHARE HONOURS WITH 78s

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Six-over-par rounds of 78 were good enough to put Inchmarlo Golf Centre staff pro Ryan Fitzpatrick, pictured right, and one-handicap Auchmill amateur Brian Nicolson at the top of the leaderboard in today's North-east Alliance competition in bright but very breezy conditions at Newburgh Golf Club.
It was so windy that 36 players out of a field of 87 had No Returns, something of a record for the Alliance.
"It was a five-club wind," said Keil Beveridge, teaching pro at Inchmarlo Golf Centre.
Joel Hopwood, the staff professional from Carnegie Club, Skibo Castle, came in late with a 79 to finish third. Joel thought putting in a wind as strong as that - with some challenging pin placings on slopes on the greens - was just as difficult as moving the ball accurately through the air.
"I three-putted the sixth from just about 12 feet because of the pin placement rather than anything else," said Joel who was out in 41 and home in 38. He had one birdie, at the long ninth.
Kemnay pro David Brown thought that it would have been impossible to play in the summer when there would have been less grass on the putting surfaces and the balls would have been blown away before a player could putt.
David might well have joined several other pros in the "No Returns" ranks after starting with a four-putt triple bogey 7, followed by a double bogey 5 at the second and bogeys at the third and fourth.
But he soldiered and actually covered his last 10 holes in level par - which was some going.
Brown birdied the long ninth to turn in eight-over 44 but came whistling home in 37 with a 2 at the short 17th and bogeys at the 11th and 18th.Fitzpatrick started double bogey, bogey but got down to damage limitation after that in halves of 39, which included birdies at the seventh and 14th, while Nicolson kept a double bogey off his card - no mean feat - in halves of 40 and 38. He had one birdie, at the 12th.
I have no doubt that if the European Tour had been running today's Alliance they would have made allowances for the severity of the wind before the start of play by reducing the length of the course by some 600 yards, using the forward tees rather than the back tees which were in operation, and easing the pin placements.
All of these moves are standard European Tour practice if the wind is blowing over 25mph at one of its tournaments. But European Tour pros are playing for big money; the North-east Alliance is a homespun organisation, lacking the manpower even to have an official starter, but it is none the worse for that. I like to think of them as a band of golfing brothers.

NEWBURGH A TOP LINKS LAY-OUT WHEN WIND BLOWS
All links courses need a wind to make them really difficult and Newburgh, even though at 6,423yd off the back tees it is a lot shorter than some of the "major" links lay-outs, would test an Open championship field with a wind like today blowing.
In fact, I would suggest that Newburgh's 18th hole is one of the best finishing holes on any links course, and I am well aware of the last at Lossiemouth. From the magnificent vantage point of the elevated clubhouse, Newburgh's 18th fairway looks as wide as the Pittodrie football pitch but the number of shots that land in the whins that border both sides of it is considerable.
Several players marked up scores for each the first 17 holes today - and then had No Returns because the 18th was a double-figure job for them!
Speaking of the view from the Newburgh clubhouse. The sands on the other bank of the Ythan looked stunning in the sunshine. TV golf producers would give their eye teeth for a backdrop like that.

CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS NEXT WEDNESDAY
The first round of the 36-hole North-east Alliance championship will be played at Duff House Royal next Wednesday with the second round at Buckpool the following week.

All Today's Scratch Scores
Par 72. Yardage 6,423
78 B Nicolson (Auchmill), R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo) p.
79 J Hopwood (Carnegie) p.
80 I Bratton (Newburgh) p, S Finnie (Caledonian).
81 D Brown (Kemnay) p, R O’Donnell (Oldmeldrum).
82 F Bisset (Banchory), W Skene (Deeside)..
83 J Nicolson (Auchmill), D A Fleming (Portlethen), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal) s.
86 G Geddes (Auchmill), K Beveridge (Inchmarlo) p.
87 G Paterson (Northern) s.
88 C Cassie (Nigg Bay), L Prouse (Hazlehead), Laura Murray (Alford).
89 P McIntosh (Newburgh), D Leslie (Westhill).
90 B Harper (Newburgh), S Elrick (Kemnay),
91 D Phillip (Newburgh), S Kennedy (Craibstone).
92 M F R Rogers (Kemnay) s, D McKay (Caledonian) s.
93 Alistair Graham (Banchory).
94 J Roberts (Cruden Bay), N K Parker (Murcar Links) s.
95 G Allan (Newmachar), R Brown (Inverurie), D Randall (Banchory) s.
96 T Collie (Kemnay).
97 D Nelson (Aboyne) s, C Duffus (Kemnay).
98 H McNaughton (Cruden Bay), D Bisset (Banchory) s, G Stevely (Murcar Links).
100 J Mackintosh (Auchmill).
101 D Lawrie (Inchmarlo).
103 B Lumsden (Northern), J Forrest (Northern) s, J L Gall (Caledonian) s.
104 S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen) s, I Mundie (Newburgh).
108 M Rendall (Stonehaven), J Lumsden (Auchmill).
109 J McPherson (Auchmill), C Farquhar (Northern).
114 N Stewart (Northern) s.
115 B Lumsden junior (Auchmill).

PRIZEWINNERS
SCRATCH
1st B Nicolson and R Fitzpatrick.
3rd J Hopwood.
4th I Bratton and S Finnie.
HANDICAP
Class 1 (0-9)
73 W Skene (Deeside) (9).
78 R O'Donnell (Oldmeldrum) (3) and D A Fleming (Portlethen) (5).
80 F Bisset (Banchory) (2), J Nicolson (Auchmill) (3) and G Geddes (Auchmill) (6).
Class 2 (10-18)
77 M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (15)
81 S Kennedy (Craibstone) (11), R Brown (Inverurie) (14).
82 A Graham (Banchory) (11).
83 D Randall (Banchory) (12).


LEADING SENIORS (55 years or over)
SCRATCH
83 Mike Jenkins (DHR).
87 George Paterson (Northern).
92 Mike Rogers (Kemnay), Dave MacKay (Caledonian).
94 Nigel Parker (Murcar Links).
95 Derek Randall (Banchory).
97 David Nelson (Aboyne).
98 David Bisset (Banchory).

NEWBURGH SCORECARD - 72 PAR
OUT: 4-3-5-4-3-4-4-4-5--36. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5--36

BRIAN NICOLSON 78
OUT: 5-3-5-4-3-5-5-5-5--40. IN: 4-4-3-5-4-5-3-5-5--38
RYAN FITZPATRICK 78
OUT: 6-4-5-4-3-4-3-5-5--39. IN: 4-5-5-4-3-5-3-4-6--39.
JOEL HOPWOOD 79
OUT: 5-3-5-4-4-6-5-5-4--41. IN: 4-4-5-4-4-5-3-4-5--38.
IAN BRATTON 80
OUT: 6-3-5-3-4-3-4-5-7--40. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-5-3-6-7--40.
DAVID BROWN 81
OUT: 7-5-6-5-3-5-4-5-4--44. IN: 4-5-4-4-4-4-2-4-6--37.
ROBERT O'DONNELL 81
OUT: 6-3-6-5-4-4-4-4-6--42. IN: 4-6-4-4-3-4-4-4-6--39.

GOLF TOURISM COULD GENERATE £300m FOR SCOTTISH ECONOMY

FROM THE HERALDSCOTLAND WEBSITE
http://www.heraldscotland.com/
Bu Helen McArdle
Golf tourism could generate £300 million for the Scottish economy by the end of the decade, according to a new study.
A potential 30% growth in the value of Scotland’s homegrown sport emerged from research looking at the potential growth and economic impact of the market in Scotland over the next 10 years.
The study, An Assessment of Golf Tourism’s Future Growth Potential to 2020, was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise with support from Visit Scotland and Golf Tourism Scotland.
It found that despite the recession and continuing economic challenges, the golf tourism market has remained relatively resilient, with nearly 80% of respondents to its survey expecting to see positive growth over the next decade.
Director of tourism at Scottish Enterprise Eddie Brogan said: “Golf tourism offers huge possibilities for the Scottish economy and this study gives businesses real ideas of how to maximise this potential.
“But to achieve the predicted growth rate of nearly 30%, public and private sectors need to work closely together to identify and take advantage of the opportunities available. Many other countries are developing golf tourism with the aim of raising their market share, and despite Scotland’s accolade as the home of golf we need to work hard to secure this position in the global marketplace.”
The study says that, in the next 10 years, the largest growth in visitor numbers is expected to come from Germany, France and Holland, as well as emerging markets such as India and China.
The more mature markets of North America and Scandanavia are expected to see slightly weaker growth. The UK, however, will continue to be the largest market for golf in Scotland.


TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON THE HERALDSCOTLAND  WEBSITE,

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MEMBERS BID TO RE-OPEN COURSES AT LETHAM GRANGE

FROM THE SPORT.SCOTSMAN.COM WEBSITE
http://sport.scotsman.com/golf/
A bid  by members to re-open and operate the two golf courses at Letham Grange Hotel, Arbroath is to be discussed in detail later this month.
All  the club's members are being asked to attend a meeting, to be held at the Meadowbank Inn in Arbroath on March 14 (7.30pm), to see if they support the committee's business plan.
"In the last few weeks we have had great support from Angus Council, the Scottish Golf Union, and an array of others, that has allowed us to make this key step forward," said golf club secretary Gardiner Arthur.