JIMMY WALKER TIES HOUSTON OPEN COURSE RECORD WITH A 63

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
HUMBLE, Texas (AP) — Jimmy Walker didn't make every birdie putt he saw during the first round of the Houston Open at Redstone Golf Club on Thursday.

It only seemed that way.

Walker tied the course record with a 9-under 63 to take a two-shot lead over Josh Teater and Nick O'Hern. He needed only 23 putts, the fewest of any player on the first day, to make up for several erratic tee shots.

"I'm not going to say like, 'Oh, every time I hit the green, this one is going in,'" Walker said. "I just kept stroking it. I felt like I kind of got back to feeling that stroke that I was using earlier in the year, when I was putting so good and playing so good."

Walker hit only five of 14 fairways, ranking 136th out of the 142 players who started on a warm, placid day at Redstone. He matched the scoring record set by Johnson Wagner and Adam Scott in the first round of the 2008 tournament. Wagner went on to win that year.

Walker started on the back nine and quickly realised that he had the touch, sinking 17-foot birdie putts on Nos. 14 and 16. He holed two 15-footers on Nos. 4 and 6 to reach 8-under par, then knocked in an 8-footer on the par-5 8th.

The San Antonio resident changed putters at the start of the season, and he's made six cuts in eight starts and already has three top-10 finishes this year. His round Thursday matched the lowest of his career.

"When you putt well," Walker said, "it cures a lot of ills, for sure."

Chris Kirk was three back after a 66, and Steve Stricker, John Rollins, Nathan Green and Brendan Steele shot 67s and were four behind.

Tournament organisers lured many top players by grooming the course to simulate conditions at Augusta - light rough, shaved mounds, fast greens and fairways mowed toward the tee. And most of the big names scored well, as they fine-tune their games for next week.

Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington were in the large pack of players at 4 under, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen were at 2 under and former Masters champions Angel Cabrera and Fred Couples were 1 under.

Mickelson was 3-over after seven holes, then appeared to crack his driver hitting his tee shot on the par-5 8th. But Mickelson said the club was only marked, not damaged, and he hit it well the rest of the day.

He made six birdies the rest of the way to match his third-lowest round in four starts at the Tournament Course at Redstone.

"The course has got to be the best manicured course I think we play on tour, outside of maybe Augusta," Mickelson said. "The greens, they're just pristine. If you get the ball tracking on the right line, you know it's in."

Stricker, ranked No. 10 in the world, said he's devoted to playing in Houston every year, no matter where it falls on the schedule, to return a favour from tournament director Steve Timms.

Stricker finished 162nd on the money list in 2005, and needed a sponsor's exemption from Timms to play in the Houston event the following year. He shot a 66 in the final round to finish third, the first of seven top-10s in 2006, and was later named the tour's comeback player of the year.

"This tournament means a lot to me," Stricker said. "The confidence level and my game have come a long way since '06, but this was a stepping stone. It gave me a lot of confidence, and I ran with it and I've been playing well ever since."

Calm conditions yielded low scores all day. A total of 32 players broke 70 and 87 players shot even-par (72) or better.

Like Walker, Teater and Rollins also need victories to earn invitations to Augusta next week. And as long as they're in town, they're both hoping to see their favorite college basketball teams take home a trophy, too.

Teater is a die-hard Kentucky fan and Rollins is the only VCU graduate on the PGA Tour. Both have tickets to Saturday's Final Four games - Butler-VCU and Connecticut-Kentucky - at Reliant Stadium, about 25 miles from the course.

And both are hoping they have a tough decision to make on Monday - fly to Augusta to get ready for the Masters or stay in Houston an extra day to see their team play for a national championship.

"I don't want to cross a bridge that I haven't gotten to," Teater said. "If it comes to that, I'll probably stay for the game. But Monday night, it would be nice to be there, celebrating with everybody else."

Teater wore a blue shirt and a white belt with a "UK" logo on his belt buckle during his round. He went to Morehead State in Kentucky, but grew up rooting for the Wildcats.

"I've been a fan since I could walk and talk," Teater said. "It goes back as far as I go back."

Rollins' connection to VCU is more personal. The Richmond native is a long-time friend of Athletic Director Norwood Teague and has built a friendship with Rams coach Shaka Smart, who's played in Rollins' charity golf event the past two years.

Rollins has missed three cuts in his last five starts, and says he's drawing inspiration from VCU's surprising run.

"This could be exactly what I needed for my golf game," Rollins said. "This could be something that I need to kind of get a little bit of a spark under me to get me going and just kind of maybe wake me up or whatever."

FIRST-ROUND LEADERS
1st prize: $1,044,000
Par 72
Players from USA unless stated
63 Jimmy Walker
65 Nick O'Hern (Australia), Josh Teater.
66 Chris Kirk.
67 Steve Stricker, John Rollins, Nathan Green (Australia), Bendan Steele.
Selected scores:
68 Lee Westwood (England), Padraig Harrington (Ireland) (T9).
69 Francesco Molinari (Italy) (T21).
70 Phil Mickelson (T33).
71 Brian Davis (England), Ernie Els (S Africa), Ross Fisher (England) (T49).

 CHECK OUT ALL THE SCORES ON THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE AND THE LIVE SCORING SERVICE FOR THE REST OF THE TOURNAMENT


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ENGLAND LEAD NATIONS CUP, SCOTLAND LYING THIRD AT HALFWAY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
England have surged to the front at the halfway stage of the European Nations Cup men's amateur international tournament at Sotogrande on the Costa del Sol, Spain.
England lead with a best two from three 36-hole total of 424. They are one ahead of Spain with Scotland (428) in third place.
Ross Kellett again top-scored for the Scots with a 68. Michael Stewart and Kris Nicol both had 73s. Philip McLean had the non-counting round today.

MEN'S TWO-ROUND TEAM TOTALS
424 ENGLAND (Tom Lewis 67, Laurie Canter 70, Andy Sullivan 71. Non-counter Jack Senior).
425 SPAIN
428 SCOTLAND (Ross Kellett 68, Michael Stewart 73, Kris Nicol 73. Non-counter: Philip McLean).
431 FRANCE, IRELAND (Dermot McElroy 71, Paul Cutler 72, Rory Leonard 76. Non-counter: Alan Dunbar).
433 DENMARK.
434 AUSTRIA.
436 ITALY.
440 GERMANY.
443 BELGIUM.
444 WALES (Oliver Farr 73, James Frazer 74, Rhys Pugh 74. Non-counter: Rhys Enoch).
445 Sweden, Portugal.
446 Finland, Netherlands.
456 Switzerland.
456 Switzerland.
460 Turkey.
464 Norway.
471 Slovenia.

WOMEN'S TWO-ROUND TEAM TOTALS
292 SPAIN.
296 BELGIUM
303 WALES (Chloe Williams 73, Amy Boulden 74. Non-counter: Becky Harries).
304 SWEDEN, ITALY.
306 GERMANY.
307 FINLAND
313 FRANCE
314 NETHERLANDS
315 SLOVENIA

ROOKIE PRO CHRIS LLOYD LEADS FROM ANDREW COLTART

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
Young Englishman Chris Lloyd enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a sparkling round of 65 on the opening day of the Barclays Kenya Open on the European Challenge Tour.
The 19-year-old from Bristol made light of some heavy morning rain showers at Muthaiga Golf Club, on the outskirts of Kenya’s bustling capital Nairobi, to notch six birdies in a flawless round of golf.
His birdie tally was matched later in the day in fast-fading light by Tyrone Mordt, though the South African was only able to complete 12 holes before darkness descended, and so will return on Friday morning to complete his opening round.
Having relinquished his amateur status at the end of last year, Lloyd is playing only his second event as a professional in his debut Challenge Tour season, but betrayed few signs of inexperience with a mature display to lead by one stroke from South African Michiel Bothma, former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart of Scotland and Ireland’s Niall Kearney, one of 30 players unable to finish their rounds.
Lloyd has already experienced his fair share of ups and downs in his fledgling pro career, having narrowly missed out on earning his card at last year’s Qualifying School Final Stage and then been forced to withdraw from the last Challenge Tour event in Colombia after suffering second degree burns on his shoulders.
But the two-time Junior Ryder Cup player now hopes that a season spent sharpening his competitive instincts on the Challenge Tour will lay the foundations for a long and prosperous career.
Lloyd said: “It was obviously really disappointing to miss out on my card at Qualifying School last year, but looking back it might’ve been a bit of a jump into the deep end. And it would’ve also been much harder to plan my Schedule, whereas out here my category will get me into pretty much every tournament, so it makes life much easier. It’ll be a great learning experience for me to play on the Challenge Tour this year, then if and hopefully when I get my card on the main Tour, I’ll be much better prepared for it.”
At the other end of the experience spectrum, Coltart first joined The European Tour in 1993, before making his first and only Ryder Cup appearance six years later. By his own admission Coltart, who has two European Tour titles to his name, has struggled to reproduce his best form in recent years, but the Scot took encouragement from his round of 66.
He said: “I was delighted overall, because my short game was good whenever I missed the green, and my putting was good whenever I found the green. A little bit of tiredness crept in at the end, because it’s been a long day with the rain delay. It’s my first time to Kenya and I was expecting it to be an easy course, but that was by no means the case because it’s very tricky. The scoring today was fantastic as usual, which is testament to the strength of the Challenge Tour.”
Coltart’s round of 66 was matched late in the day by Bothma, who would have held the lead outright were it not for a double bogey on the 13th hole, where he mishit his tee shot into the water.
Home hero Nicholas Rokoine is in a tie for fourth place on four under par alongside another Scotland’s Marc Warren, who won the Challenge Tour Rankings is 2005, and Englishman Tom Whitehouse. Warren suffered a neck injury earlier in the week, but gave further credence to the phrase “beware the injured golfer” by notching four birdies in a flawless round of 67.
The two-time European Tour champion said: “I wasn’t 100 per cent, but the physio did a great job so there weren’t really any issues with the neck. I played very solid golf and hit 16 greens, which is the aim of the game out there. If I can do the same again tomorrow, I’ll be a happy man. It’s important not to get too aggressive, because I feel I’m hitting my mid-irons well enough, so I don’t have to be within wedge range to hit it close.”


FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 71
65 C Lloyd (Eng)
66 M Bothma (RSA), A Coltart (Sco) 
67 M Warren (Sco), T Whitehouse (Eng), N Rokoine (Ken) 
68 J Cunliffe (RSA), B Akesson (Swe), B Grace (RSA), T Feyrsinger (Aut) , G Jackson (Eng), C Russo (Fra) , F Calmels (Fra) , S Tiley (Eng) , S Walker (Eng) 
69 J Lagergren (Swe), J Lima (Por), J Roos (RSA) , G Snow (Ken), B Barham (Eng)
70 E Dubois (Fra) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , N Lemke (Swe) , C Brazillier (Fra) , A Willey (Eng) , R Kind (Ned) , C Lee (Sco) , F Colombo (Ita) , J Campillo (Esp) , C Gane (Eng) , M Lundberg (Swe) , M Ford (Eng) , A Pavan (Ita)
71 I Keenan (Eng) , R Santos (Por) , A Bihan (Fra) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , A Marshall (Eng) , A Tadini (Ita) , D Denison (Eng) , D Wuensche (Ger) , J Estevez (Arg) , K Eriksson (Swe) , W Besseling (Ned) , M Higley (Eng) , P Njagi (Ken) , M Carlsson (Swe) , M Kieffer (Ger) , M Both (Aus) , A Ahokas (Fin) 

72 D Greene (RSA) , M Palm (Swe) , J Lorum (Ken) , J Heath (Eng) , G Dear (Sco) , A Grenier (Fra) , J Quesne (Fra) , N Meitinger (Ger) , N Cheetham (Eng) , T Fleetwood (Eng) , M Cryer (Eng) , G Oyebanji (Ngr) , R Hjelm (Den) , M Rominger (Sui) , J Clément (Sui) , D Vancsik (Arg) , D Indiza (Ken) , A Snobeck (Fra) , J Okello (Ken) , M Kramer (Ger) , M Delpodio (Ita) ,

73 A Bruschi (Ita) , E Kofstad (Nor) , D Wakhu (Ken) , A Hansen (Den) , C Ford (Eng) , T Ferreira (RSA) , S Davis (Eng) , N Bertasio (Ita) , G Lockerbie (Eng) , S Hutsby (Eng) , C Macaulay (Sco) , M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) , D Brooks (Eng) , S Ngigie (Ken) 

74 A Shah (Ken) , F Ohlsson (Swe) , A Butterfield (Eng) , C Rodiles (Esp) , J Hepworth (Eng) , C Doak (Sco) , P Archer (Eng) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , S Little (Eng) , S Jeppesen (Swe) , B Evans (Eng) , L Kennedy (Eng) , S Andersen (am) (Ken)

75 J Doherty (Sco) , J McLeary (Sco) , M Evans (Eng) , J Robinson (Eng) , P Golding (Eng) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , D Opati (am) (Ken) 
76 Å Nilsson (Swe) , B Njoroge (Ken) , R Charania (Ken), D Odhiambo (Ken), K Timbe (Ken) , N Alibhai (am) (Ken) 
77 S Bebb (Wal) , L Lasisi (Ngr) , J Palmer (Eng) , N Mudanyi (am) (Ken) ,
78 J Kagiri (Ken) , M Baldwin (Eng)
79 G Murphy (Irl) , A Kimani (Ken) , S Drummond (Sco) , C Thethy (Ken) , M Chiluba (Zam)
81 H Thethy (Ken) 
83 J Kiondo (Ken)
85 C Geraghty (Eng)

IT'S ANOTHER LAWRIE - PETER - IN THE LEAD IN MOROCCO!

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Last weekend it was Paul Lawrie the victor on the European Tour. This week it's another member of the Lawrie clan to the fore - Irishman Peter Lawrie.
Peter Lawrie fired a superb round of 64 to establish a two shot lead after the opening round of the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco.
The Irishman's eight under par effort on the Golf Du Palais Royal - the field are split across that and the Golf De L'Océan course in Agadir for the first two rounds - left him with a healthy lead over England's John Bickerton.
Bickerton was the only player in the top four to tackle the De L'Océan layout, firing a bogey-free 65 to sit one ahead of defending champion Rhys Davies and India's Shiv Kapur.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW...


FIRST-ROUND LEADERS
+Two courses are being used, one with a par of 71, the other with a par of 72. In the interests of brevity, we have lumped them all together. Easier to sort them out if you log on to the European Tour scoreboard

CLICK HERE

64 Peter Lawrie (Ireland).
66 John Bickerton (England).
67 Rhys Davies (Wales), Shiv Kapur (India), David Horsey (England), Lloyd Saltman (Scotland, George Coetzee (S Africa), Oscar Floren (Sweden).
68 Jaco Van Zyl (S Africa), Mark Tullo (Chile), Joost Luiten (Netherlands).

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES

69 Peter Whiteford.
70 Richie Ramsay.
71 George Murray, Steven O'Hara.
75 Ross Bain.
76 Scott Jamieson.

THE MASTERS: Where you can be ejected for sitting on the grass

Augusta National clubhouse (image from the Masters Tournament website).

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN
I wonder if I have heard the voice on the sat-nav system correctly.
“Continue on Interstate 20 for the next 132 miles.” Rumpled after 16 hours’ travelling to Atlanta, via Paris, I suspect it is more than I can take. But in those tenebrous forests of eastern Georgia, the name illuminated on each destination board proves sufficient to sustain me. Augusta.
The highway to Augusta is a desolate place, a laser-straight slab of asphalt boring remorselessly through the pines. The place that greets you is no Damascus, either. As I stop at a Drive-Thru Taco Bell for some horrifically overstuffed midnight burrito, I look down Washington Road at the hoardings for Krispy Kreme, Days Inn, Outback Steakhouse: all signposts to the grim geography of Main Street, USA.
Evidently, there is a sharp disjuncture between Augusta, hick Deep South town, and Augusta National, the mythologised golf course to which I am paying a first pilgrimage. But their narratives have become shared. On the home stretch, in search of the single-storey ranch house where I am staying for the week, I cross a series of evocative intersections: Glenwood Drive, Azalea Drive, Magnolia Drive. Now we are talking.
It is the classic question to put to any Masters debutant: How will you feel about your first journey up Magnolia Drive? Martin Laird, Scottish-born winner at Bay Hill last weekend, says simply: “I can’t wait to get there.”
Rickie Fowler, the 21 year-old who always looks as if he should be riding the Hawaii surf rather than seen anywhere near a fairway, talks of it being a childhood dream. Those words are uttered under the cover of a back-to-front pink baseball cap. The Green Jackets can hardly know what it is about to hit them.
For while the Masters next week shall surely serve up the grandest, most florally-framed scenes in golf, it is also an event trapped inside its draconian rulebook.
The whitewashed gates that separate the public parking lots from Augusta’s fabled greensward are, in every respect, portals to a different universe.
Patrons, as one must always refer to those blessed or rich enough to secure an admission badge, can be ejected merely for sitting on the grass. Woe betide anyone, too, who is spotted with a mobile phone. The punishment for it ringing out on Tiger Woods’s backswing scarcely bears thinking about. Georgia still has the death penalty, you know.
Twelve months ago, the city of Augusta remained riven by recession. It was difficult to move 100 yards without encountering notice of a clearance sale, or an advert for debt consolidation.
But the signature golf club did not, as you might expect of an institution counting Bill Gates among its members, buy into a culture of national parsimony. Needing another car park to replace the one they had just carpeted over with a practice ground, the governors bought up every house on a street and flattened them.
Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National, rules his domain with no apologies for excess. When Woods chose the Masters as his comeback stage last year, Payne chose the eve of the tournament to launch a pompous peroration on how Woods had disappointed not merely his hosts, but a generation of children, by his philandering. Remember, though, that we are deep in Bible-belt territory. Sanctimony is never delivered in small doses.
Clues as to the setting are seldom less subtle than at Augusta Country Club, where the European Tour hosts its annual media dinner. In a scene straight from To Kill A Mockingbird, hors d’oeuvres are brought out on to the balcony while cicadas thrum in the thick evening air. We could not be an environment any more southern than if we were kicking back with a cloudy lemonade.
From such moments does a certain beauty spring. No occasion can match the Masters for the sheer richness of its ambience — not even a hushed Centre Court with Roger Federer on the bill. To stand by the sunlit first tee here is to enjoy a harbinger of the sporting summer to come.
To have a second bite next week at the toughest ticket in sport, where touts can command over £10,000 a throw is, I appreciate, a privilege. But many more drives up I-20 await if I am ever to match Art Spander, esteemed former golf correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle, fast approaching his 47th Masters. He has, quite rightly, been given his own parking space.

TEAM IRELAND GIVE GOLF GRANTS TO HELP PROS

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE
By PAUL GALLAGHER
Golf grants totalling €157,000 have been  awarded to 15 Irish professionals by the Team Ireland Golf Trust in an effort ease the financial burden of competing in faraway places and often away from the lucrative main tours.
The scheme, in its 12th year, has provided €2.75 million to date but this year’s allocation is down from 2010 when €199,834 was awarded to 17 golfers and the top grant of €20,000 compared to €15,000 this year.
Team Ireland received 24 applications from players (men and women), with representatives from the PGA, GUI and ILGU on the Team Ireland Trust committee.

Five top grants of €15,000 were awarded to Rebecca Coakley and Martina Gillen, both competing on the Ladies European Tour, Jonathan Caldwell and Niall Kearney (Challenge Tour) and Niall Turner (Asian Tour).

“My plan is to secure a European Tour card,” said Kearney. “I will concentrate mainly on the Challenge Tour and play up to 23 events. The financial support I receive will go a long way towards covering my expenses for the season.”

Coakley, who is competing in Agadir, Morocco, this week and has enjoyed the backing of the Golf Trust over the years, observed: “The grant this year will have a huge impact on me not only financially but mentally. It allows me to focus on my goals for the year . . . and hopefully make the Solheim Cup team.”

Four €10,000 grants were awarded to four players, including Simon Thornton, who lost his main European Tour card in 2010, plus a further six grants of €7,000 for players competing on the Europro and Alps Tours.

Payments are made quarterly with expenses submitted to the Irish Sports Council (ISC).
Dara Lernihan and Richard Kilpatrick will compete mainly on the Alps Tour, which now spans eight countries with 16 events on the 2011 schedule.
2011 Team Ireland grant allocations
€15,000 – Martina Gillen (Ladies European Tour), Rebecca Coakley (Ladies European Tour), Jonathan Caldwell (Challenge Tour), Niall Kearney (Challenge Tour), Niall Turner (Asian Tour).
€10,000 – Simon Thornton (Challenge Tour), Tara Delaney (LET Access Tour); Gareth Shaw (Challenge Tour), Séamus Power (E Golf Tour, United States).
€7,000 – Michael McGeady (Challenge Tour), Richard Kilpatrick (Alps Tour); Paul O’Hanlon (Europro Tour); Brendan McCarroll (Europro Tour); Dara Lernihan (Alps Tour); Cian Curley (Europro Tour).


Total: €157,000

RAIN DELAY IN CHALLENGE TOUR'S KENYA OPEN

Bad weather seems to be hitting every second tournament all over the world these days and the Challenge Tour's Kenya Open, which began today, has been no exception.
Play resumed at 8.30am local time after a suspension at 07.12am due to the course becoming waterlogged. There is an official delay of 1 hour 20 minutes to all remaining first round morning tee times at Muthaiga Golf Club.
There are nine Scots in the field.