COST OF PETROL WILL INFLUENCE NE ALLIANCE CHOICE OF VENUES

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
When the North-east Alliance joint secretaries sit down shortly to map out the venues for the 2011-2012 season, they will be well aware that the ever-increasing price of petrol is making trips to places such as Buckpool - a round trip of more than 120 miles for Aberdeen-based members - an expensive day out.
The field for today's meeting was only 83 compared with over 100 for the previous Wednesday at Banff. Now that may well have been due to players who had poor scores in the first round considering it was not worthwhile playing in the second round, although there were stand-alone prizelists for both Wednesdays.
Buckpool, because it remains in a very good condition throughout the winter months, should survive on next season's list but with only one visit, not two as was the case in the second half of the fixture list.
Expect the 2011-2012 set of venues to lean heavily towards a 20/25-mile radius of Aberdeen. Places like Stonehaven, Portlethen, Westhill, Kintore, Inverurie, Banchory, Alford, Insch and Oldmeldrum - none of whom housed an Alliance fixture in 2010-2011 - would fit the bill.
There is good news in that direction. I hear that Craibstone Golf Centre has been bought by a not-so-far-away but unrelated company and will re-open soon. Watch this space.
In the days when I played in the Alliance, I can certainly remember one fixture at the Kings Links, Aberdeen and possibly others at Hazlehead and Nigg Bay.
Perhaps the powers-that-be who manage the city's municipal courses these days would not accept the much reduced visitor green fees paid by the Alliance to the host golf clubs. But surely a guaranteed cheque for £400-£500, maybe more, maybe less, depending on the size of the Alliance field, is better than what they would get from the public at large on a Wednesday in the winter. 
Just a thought.
Any comments from NE Alliance members? E-mail them to Colin@scottishgolfview.com 

TIGER SAYS HE WILL PLAY AT PALMER INVITATIONAL NEXT WEEK

Tiger Woods has confirmed his intention to play in next week's Arnold Palmer Invitational. It will be his final tune-up ahead of the US Masters next month.
Woods, who has not won a tournament since the Australian Masters in 2009, will try to end the title drought on one of his all-time favourite lay-outs. He has won six times at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge.

"I've always loved playing there," Woods said. "It's just so cool. It's as good as it gets."

Woods, who is undergoing another torturous swing overhaul, posted his first top-10 finish in a US PGA Tour event since June at Doral last week when he tied for 10th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

LAW, McLEAN, STEWART, GIBSON IN SOUTH AFRICA LAST 16

FROM THE SGU WEBSITE
Hazlehead’s David Law finished top qualifier for the match-play stages of the Northern Amateur Open in Randpark, South Africa and leads a Scottish quartet featuring Philip McLean, Michael Stewart and Scott Gibson who have progressed to the last 16.
A total of seven Scottish players came throughd the 54 hole qualifying stroke-play, cut short from 72 holes due to adverse weather conditions. South African Amateur Championship runner-up Paul Shields together with Kris Nicol and Ross Kellett were defeated in their round of the last-32 matches.
It is former Scottish men's amateur and Scottish boys' championship winner Law who leads the Scottish charge at Randpark. He was an impressive 12 under-par in the stroke-play qualifying.
Quick on the heels of his historic win in the South African Amateur Championship, it is shaping up to be another successful event for Troon Welbeck’s Michael Stewart who finished third in the stroke-play on 10 under-par. The Ayrshireman notched a 3 and 1 victory in his last-32 match in what was four narrow victories for the Scottish contingent that progressed.
He was followed through by top qualifier Law, who won by one hole, with Philip McLean and Scott Gibson also having to go down the final hole. Both won by two holes to join Law and Stewart in the  last 16.

NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE MATCH-PLAY DRAWS

MURCAR LINKS - NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY (March 24-25)

PRO-AM FOURSOMES (for Evening Express Shield)

FIRST ROUND
9.30am
Peter Smith (Deeside) and Sean Lawrie
v Keil Beveridge (Inchmarlo) and Craig Carnegie (Kemnay).
9.37am
Ryan Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo) and Jamie Reid (Cruden Bay)
v Patrick Lovie (P1 Corporate) and Mike Jenkins (Duff House Royal).
9.44am
Euan McIntosh (Newmachar) and Kevin Duncan (McDonald Ellon)
v Craig Stewart (Kippie Lodge) and Scott Larkin (Royal Aberdeen).
9.53am
David Brown (Kemnay) and Adam Dunton (McDonald Ellon)
v James Calam (Myrus Driving Range) and Brian Nicolson (Auchmill).

HANDICAP FOURSOMES (Press and Journal Shield)

FIRST ROUND
09.00am
Fergus Bisset (Banchory) (2) and Steve Kennedy (Craibstone) (11)
v John Roberts (Cruden Bay) (6) and Norman Stewart (Northern) (13)
09.07am
Dave Mackay (Newmachar) (6) and Mike Booth (Kemnay) (11)
v John Duff (Newmachar) (+2) and Mike Brown (Inverurie) (18).
09.14am
Charles Cassie (Nigg Bay) (6) and Paul Cornfield (Auchmill) (15)
v David Nelson (Aboyne) (7) and Grant Leslie (Newburgh) (11).
09.21am
David Leslie (Westhill) (5) and Derek Randall (Banchory) (12)
v Manson Merchant (Newmachar) (5) and Hamish McNaughton (Cruden Bay) (11)

SEMI-FINALS ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON; FINALS ON FRIDAY MORNING.
===================================================================
+The North-east Alliance mobile telephone (07801 819746) will be switched on from 10am to 4pm every day between now and the start of the foursomes next Thursday.
+It is very important that any player, should he have to pull out of the foursomes for whatever reason, notifies the joint secretaries without delay, so that a substitute can be called in off the reserve list to take his place.
+Nothing worse than only three players turning up to play a foursomes match-play tie!
===============================================

LARKIN WINS NE ALLIANCE CHAMPIONSHIP BY 10 SHOTS

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com  Royal Aberdeen's Scott Larkin, an outsider in the reckoning for a Walker Cup team place over his home course in September, showed his international class in winning the North-east Alliance 36-hole championship by 10 shots at Buckpool Golf Club today. After a 65 at Duff House Royal last week, Larkin, a  +3 handicap player, added a bogey-free, three-under-par 67, including birdies at the ninth, 15th and 16th,  over the Buckie links course. His two-round tally of six-under-par 132 saw him win by a double-figure margin - very likely a tournament record - from the runner-up, Deeside teaching pro Peter Smith (71-71), a former Northern Open champion. Newmachar tour pro Euan McIntosh (74-71) and Portlethen amateur Sean Lawrie (68-77), 18-year-old nephew of Paul Lawrie, tied for third place on 145. "I had no bogeys and my short game was quite good but the longest putt I holed was around 12ft," said Larkin who aims to break into the previously-named Great Britain and Ireland short-leet with impressive performances in national early-season events before the selectors name their 10 to face the Americans at Balgownie in the autumn. Larkin, who played four years on the US college circuit, was runner-up to Greig Hutcheon in the Northern Open last year when he also won the Leven Gold Medal 72-hole open tournament. Why he was not selected by the SGU for its Elite Squad eight-week sojourn to South Africa is a mystery. Peter Smith had the same amount of birdies as the winner (three: at the first, third and 13th) but he had four bogeys, at the fourth, fifth, 10th and 15th in halves of 35 and 36 for 71 and a total fo 142. Euan McIntosh put together his best score for some time, a 71, which included a double bogey 6 at the fourth and bogeys at the sixth and 10th in halves of 36 and 35. The Newmachar tour pro birdied the second, fifth and 17th. Young Sean Lawrie had something like eight three-putts in his birdie-less 77, made up of 37 out and 40 back. Kings Links specialist Stewart Finnie (Caledonian) did well to salvage a 72 and fifth place on 146, considering his start at Buckpool: double bogey 6, double bogey 6. At one of the holes he four-putted. Hazlehead shop pro Colin Nelson started the day in contention after a 69 at Duff House Royal but he slumped to a 79 for 148. He had double bogeys at the fourth and 1th in halves of 40 and 39. By common consent the Buckpool greens did not live up to their reputation as the best anywhere during the Alliance winter season but, in fairness to the greenkeeping staff, the Alliance does not normally play Buckpool in March and it is very likely that the greens were being treated with a view to getting them tip-top for the new season. The course, like most places in the North-east, had had a lot of rain over the past two days but it drained away very well. Considering the snow on the hills - and in the fields - on the drive north from Aberdeen past Huntly and Keith, I think the field of 83 can count themselves fortunate to have such a lovely sunny day under blue skies for their game, although a cool breeze did get up for the later starters ... although it did not bother Scott Larkin. When you are playing as well as Scott, it's a case of "Wind? What wind?"  SCRATCH AGGREGATES Round 1, Duff House Royal; Round 2, Buckpool. Par 138 (68-70) 132 S Larkin (Royal Aberdeen) 65 67. 142 P Smith (Deeside) 71 71. 145 E McIntosh (Newmachar) 74 71, Sean Lawrie (Portlethen) 68 77 146 S Finnie (Caledonian) 74 72. 148 R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo) 72 76, C Nelson (Mackenzie Club) 69 79, A Dunton (McDonald Ellon) 72 76. 149 C Carnegie (Kemnay) 73 76, D Brown (Kemnay) 75 74. 150 P Lovie (P1 Corporate) 75 75. 151 B Nicolson (Auchmill) 79 72, K Duncan (McDonald Ellon) 75 76. 152 M Jenkins (Duff House Royal) 75 77. 153 J Reid (Cruden Bay) 75 78, J Calam (Myrus DR) 75 78, F Bisset (Banchory 73 80. 154 K Beveridge (Inchmarlo) 79 75. 155 J Duff (Newmachar) 76 79. 156 C Cassie (Nigg Bay) 81 75, C Stewart (Kippie Lodge) 77 79. 157 D Leslie (Westhill) 78 79, D McKay (Newmachar) 78 79, M Merchant (Newmachar) 77 80. 158 D Nelson (Aboyne) 77 81. 159 L Prouse (Hazlehead) 79 80. 160 J Roberts (Cruden Bay) 79 81, S Kennedy (Craibstone) 79 81. 161 J Forrest (Northern) 77 84, R Lamb (Newmachar) 77 84. 162 W Skene (Deeside) 86 76. 164 Samantha Leslie (Westhill) 80 84, J M Hamilton (Murcar Links) 81 83, I D Smith (Hazlehead) 83 81. 166 D Phillip (Newburgh) 84 82, J Dalgarno (Hazlehead) 82 84, M Booth (Kemnay) 84 82. 167 P Cornfield (Auchmill) 86 81, D Randall (Banchory) 86 81, M Lawrie (Kemnay) 82 85., D McKay (Caledonian) 84 83. 168 G Leslie (Newburgh) 88 80, J Thomas (Craibstone) 81 87. 169 H Roulston (Stonehaven) 82 87, H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) 80 89, N K Parker (Murcar Links) 83 86. 170 A B Clark (Newmachar) 82 88. 171 P Cheyne (Northern) 88 83. 172 B Harper (Newburgh) 86 86, N Stewart (Northern) 86 86, A Graham (Aboyne) 88 84. 173 A Petrie (Oldmeldrum) 87 86. 174 N Chisholm (Kemnay) 86 88. 175 J Borthwick (Craibstone) 89 86 178 R Brown (Inverurie) 89 89. 179 B Lumsden (Northern) 88 91, G Homer (Northern) 90 89. 184 M Brown (Inverurie) 90 94, S Davidson (Northern) 91 93. 185 M Rendall (Stonehaven) 96 89. 187 M F R Rogers (Kemnay) 96 91. 190 D Bingham (Newburgh) 93 97. 199 I Grant (Insch) 96 103. LEADING HANDICAP TOTALS CLASS 1 138 *Scott Larkin (Royal Aberdeen) (+3) 68 70. 141 Craig Carnegie (Kemnay) (4) 69 72. 143 Sean Lawrie (Portlethen) (1) 67 76. 144 Charlies Cassie (Nigg Bay) (6) 75 69, Dave Nelson (Aboyne) (7) 70 74, Willie Skene (Deeside) (9) 77 67. 145 Dave Mackay (Newmachar) (6) 762 73, Jackie Forrest (Northern) (8) 69 76. 147 David Leslie (Westhill) (5) 73 74, Manson Merchant (Newmachar) (5) 72 75. 148 John Roberts (Cruden Bay) (6) 73 75. 149 Brian Nicholson (Aurchmill) (1) 78 71, Jamie Reid (Cruden Bay) (2) 73 76, Fergus Bisset (Banchory) (2) 71 78, Laurence Prouse (Hazlehead) (5) 74 75. *No player can win more than one prize so Scott Larkin's victory in the scratch section would take precedence over him having the best Class 1 handicap net score, i.e. Craig Carnegie is the winner of this section. CLASS 2 137 Paul Cornfield (Auchmill) (15) 71 66. 138 Steve Kennedy (Craibstone) (11) 68 70. 143 Derek Randall (Banchory) (12) 74 69. 144 Mike Booth (Kemnay) (11) 73 71. 146 Grant Leslie (Newburgh) (11) 77 69, Norman Stewart (Northern) (13) 73 73. 147 Hamish McNaughton (Cruden Bay) (11) 69 78. 148 Mike Brown (Inverurie) (10) 72 76. 149 Nigel Parker (Murcar Links) (10) 73 76. LEADING SENIOR AGGREGATES +The following are not prizelists, merely leading totals SCRATCH 152 Mike Jenkins (Duff House Royal) 75 77. 158 Dave Nelson (Aboyne) 77 81. 161 Jackie Forrest (Northern) 77 84. 164 Ian Smith (Hazlehead) 83 81, John M Hamilton (Murcar Links) 81 83. HANDICAP Class 1 144 Dave Nelson (Aboyne) (7) 70 74. 145 Jackie Forrest (Northern) (8) 69 76. 150 Mike Jenkins (DHR) (1) 74 76. 152 John M Hamilton (Murcar Links) 6) 75 77. Class 2 143 Derek Randall (Banchory) (12) 74 69. 146 Norman Stewart (Northern) (13) 73 73. 149 Nigel Parker (Murcar Links) (10) 73 76. 150 Alastair Clark (Newmachar) (10) 72 78. PRIZEWINNERS FOR ROUNDS AT BUCKPOOL TODAY ALONE SCRATCH 1 S Larkin 67. 2 E McIntosh, P Smith 71. 4 B Nicolson, S Finnie 72. HANDICAP - Class 1 1 W Skene 67. 2 C Cassie 69. 3 C Carnegie 72 4 D Mackay, P McArthur 73. HANDICAP - Class 2 1 P Cornfield 66. 2 G Leslie, D Randall 69. 4 S Kennedy 70. 5 M Booth 71. TODAY'S BEST SCORECARDS BUCKPOOL PAR IS 70: OUT 4-4-5-4-4-3-4-3-4--35. IN 4-4-4-3-4-3-5-4-4--35

SCOTT LARKIN 67
OUT: 4-4-5-4-4-3-4-3-3--34
IN:   4-4-4-3-4-2-4-4-4--33

PETER SMITH 71
OUT: 3-4-4-5-5-3-4-3-4--35
IN:   5-4-4-2-4-4-5-4-4--36

EUAN McINTOSH 71
OUT: 4-3-4-6-3-4-4-3-5--36
IN:   5-4-4-3-4-3-4-4-4--35

STEWART FINNIE 72
OUT: 6-6-3-5-3-3-4-3-3--36
IN:    5-4-4-4-4-3-5-3-4--36

+Sorry, we didn't get Brian Nicolson's scorecard for his 72 today.
DAVID BROWN 74
OUT: 4-4-5-4-4-4-6-3-3--37.
IN:    4-5-3-3-4-5-5-4-4--37

EUROPEAN TOUR NOW BANS PLAYERS, CADDIES FROM BETTING

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
PALM HARBOR, Florida (AP) — The European Tour has a new policy in its regulations this year that forbids a player or a caddie to place a bet on any golf tournament in which they are participating.
That's the letter of the law. But it's not the intent.
"It's a completely new regulation for us," said David Garland, director of tour operations. "We just feel that looking at other sports, and instances of gambling scandals in other sports over here, we didn't have a policy. It's been a little topical at the moment."
Betting, particularly in Britain, is almost a sport unto itself. Garland said golf is the fourth-most popular betting sport in the United Kingdom. During some of the major championships, there can be bets on who will have the lowest score among a particular group, or even as simple as who will place in the top 10.
The first section of the policy is that no player or caddie can either directly or indirectly bet or be involved in a bet in a competition they are playing or have any influence. Another section forbids players or caddies to provide information in which either has inside information.
That kind of stuff would appear to go on all the time.
"I don't think the $20 bet is a problem," said Thomas Bjorn, chairman of the tournament committee. "We've had big scandals in cricket and there's stuff going on in snooker. You have to protect yourself against the inside stuff."
So is this policy directed mainly at caddies?
"Not at all," Garland said. "We know the caddies have a range of small bets. It's just making them aware that it can lead to other things. They've got to realise caddies are an integral part of the golfer's team. They can influence, and they need to be aware of this policy."
Garland said the tour essentially needed to protect itself with a policy, especially in light of other scandals. Unlike the anti-doping policy, in which a six-month education process preceded the policy taking effect, the tour put it in the books immediately and will spend the next year talking to various people involved to make them understand.
"What we've seen in other sports is that it's the individual who's not at the top of the game that gets involved," Garland said. "It starts with information. Then it goes to, 'Can you do this for me and do that for me?' In the world of illegal gambling, these are high numbers people are talking about, and it may become tempting.
"We want to get this over to players, caddies and everyone connected on the tour about the dangers involved."

TOP RECOGNITION: Martin Kaymer can still make his way through airports and shopping malls without being recognized as the world's No. 1 player, although he did get a taste of his growing fame in Arizona.
After moving to the top of the ranking, Kaymer said he was finishing up dinner at a steakhouse in Scottsdale.
"We got a free dessert from the restaurant and on the cake it said, 'Congratulations, No. 1 in the world,'" Kaymer said. "I get recognised a bit more than in the past."

TWITTER AND TEXT: Lee Westwood has taken to Twitter and his followers quickly grew to some 135,000 during his 17-week reign as No. 1 in the world ranking. He is active, having put out more than 3,000 tweets.
Westwood, however, appeared to go silent when Martin Kaymer replaced him at No. 1 in the world.
That wasn't the case. Westwood just went "old school" and sent Kaymer a text message. It was his agent, Chubby Chandler, who explained to him the phenomenon of Twitter.
"Sometimes you can see some of the guys on it, they don't quite get what they're achieving," Chandler said. Lee has 135,000 followers, and when he wasn't No. 1, I said to him, 'I think you should congratulate Martin.' He said, 'I already have. I sent him a text.' And I said, 'You've got 135,00 people who don't know you've done that.'"

STICKY GRIPS: Geoff Ogilvy was curious about a new style of grips that he made the switch to when he was home in Australia late last year.
What's so unusual about the leather grips from The Grip Masters?
For starters, they're made of kangaroo skin- but that's an Australian thing.
What intrigued Ogilvy is that the more the grips get moist, the more tackier they become. He says he can control that by how much he wipes them down with a wet towel.
"I got addicted to the tackiness straight away," Ogilvy said of the one-piece leather grips.
As for the kangaroo? The grips also are made from the leather of cows, and even deer and sea snakes.
"Everything (Rory) Sabbatini has on his belt, you can get for a grip," Ogilvy said. "I just thought kangaroo would be cool. I'm sure I'd like a cow just as much. But everyone has cows. We're the only country that has kangaroos."

DIVOTS: Now that Butch Harmon no longer works with Stewart Cink, he has added another client to his stable - S K Noh, the talented teenager from South Korea. Harmon says Noh approached him in Abu Dhabi, and he came to see Harmon in Las Vegas on his way to the Cadillac Championship. Harmon says he'll be working with him on a limited basis.
The USGA is moving its US Amateur and U.S. Women's Amateur events in 2012 to earlier in the year to avoid conflicts with going back to school/university.
Lee Trevino, 71, shot a 70 in the first round of last week's Toshiba Classic. It was the first time he had scored under his age in competition.

TAKE OFF YOUR TURBAN AIRPORT ORDER UPSETS SINGH COACH

The coach of Indian golf star Jeev Milkha Singh blasted Italian airport officials for insisting he remove his turban before boarding a flight, comparing it to being ordered to strip in public.
Amritinder Singh was about to fly from Milan to Sicily with the player for this week's European Tour event when he said he was forced to take off his turban for security reasons.

"It is a personal insult as I have travelled all over the world and even though security officials put their detectors around my turban, I have never had to remove it," said Amritinder in a statement.

"For me it is like being asked to strip in public. I also told them that they could look at my passport and see that I am a sportsperson and have never been humiliated like this but they refused to comply.

"I even told them that this is not security but harassment. I belong to a country whose prime minister wears a turban, and I feel that my nation should take up such issues with other countries."

The coach said that Jeev Milkha Singh had told him to stand his ground and refuse to comply with the demand.

"My father wears a turban and I would be horrified if he was told to remove it unnecessarily and unrespectfully in front of hundreds of people," said the player.

Jeev Milkha Singh, 39, is currently ranked 176 in the world and has won three European Tour events - the Volvo Masters and China Open in 2006 and the 2008 Austrian Open.

He also has six victories on the Asian Tour. His Volvo Masters win was at a co-sanctioned event.

SCOTTISH GOLF SUPPORT LTD NAMES FIRST BENEFICIARIES

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY SPORTSCOTLAND
Four of Scotland’s most promising young golfers, Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan), Krystle Caithness (St Andrews), Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) and Kylie Walker (The Carrick on Loch Lomond) were today announced by Scottish Golf Support Limited as the first recipients to benefit from a share of a £1m funding package to be invested over the next five years to help promising young Scottish golfers realise their talent and ambitions in professional golf.

SWITCH OVER TO OUR SISTER WEBSITE, www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk, TO READ THE FULL NEWS RELEASE