RENFREWSHIRE BOYS TOO STRONG FOR STIRLINGSHIRE

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY RENFREWSHIRE GOLF UNION
donbremner@ranfurly9.freeserve.co.uk
The season got underway for the boys of Renfrewshire Golf Union at Caldwell Golf Club where the first challenge was to get full points in their home match against Stirlingshire.
There was disappointment for Erskine’s Ross Clark who hoped to make his first appearance at county level when Stirlingshire’s first player failed to show, resulting in a walk over for Ross. This left 15-year-old Steven Wilson of Whinhill to set the standard for the team. He certainly did that with a two- hole win and this inspired the rest of the boys who went on to record a further four wins and two halved games for a great 7-1 win.
County stroke-play champion Stuart Watt from Old Ranfurly showed that he is also strong in match play and had a narrow win over a very talented opponent. All the games were close and the quality of the golf on both sides was very high.
Team manager Graham McGee said that while it was a promising start to the campaign to win the West League, he sympathised with Ross who had been looking forward to his match. Hopefully he will get his chance in the next match at Ranfurly Castle on June 19 against Ayrshire.
RESULTS:
Ross Clark (Erskine) w.o. A N Other scr.
Steven Wilson (Whinhill) bt Blair Carnegie (Dunblane New) 2 holes.
Colin Edgar (Cochrane Castle) halved with Andrew Wood (Glenbervie).
Paul Dorrian (Greenock) bt Stuart Irving (Falkirk) 1 hole.
John Scott (East Renfrewshire) halved with Dariusz Kunecki (Callander).
Paul Reilly (Lochwinnoch) bt Euan Douglas (Dunblane New) 2 holes 
Stuart Watt( Old Ranfurly) bt Charlie Linton (Dunblane New) 1 hole.
Alasdair McDougall (Elderslie) bt Cameron Buist (Dunblane New) 2 and 1.

HORSES FOR COURSES - McCREADIE WINS ON HOME PATCH

Jason McCreadie, playing over his home course, won the £1,211 top prize in the Buchanan Castle Golf Club pro-am. He shot a four-under-par 66 to win by a couple of sots from Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) and James McKinnon (Irvine) who both earned £947.

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FIFE AND NORTH-EAST, THE BEST TWO AREA TEAMS IN SCOTLAND

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Fife's heroes with the Scottish area team championsip trophy after beating North-east, the holders, in the final at Prestwick on Sunday. Tournament sponsored by Moneygate. Picture by courtesy of Andy Forman and the Scottish Golf Union.

Champions last year, beaten in the final this year: That's the proud record of the North-east District team picture above at Prestwick. Image by courtesy of Andy Forman and the Scottish Golf Union.

Hugh Hunter's Clackmannan County News

ALLOA TAKE COUNTY FOURS GOLF TITLE


Alloa cruised to a win in the 2011 Clackmannan County Club Foursomes tournament at Dollar, finishing five up against the home team. In the semi-final ties, Alloa beat Braehead 3 up--- the match was tight for the first nine holes, but Alloa forged ahead over the inward nine In the other semi-final, Dollar (who beat Tulliallan in a first round tie) came through at the first extra hole against Alva thanks to a 12 ft birdie putt by Scott Borrowman.
Andrew Whitelaw, the Alloa team captain, was delighted with the win “The Alloa team played well to retain the title---they deserve many congratulations---- a special thanks to reserve Andrew Main who turned up faithfully on each match night”


MATCH RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
ALLOA BEAT BRAEHEAD 3 UP (Alloa names first)
1. Jim Allan and Robert Hume halved with Scott Moffat and David Finlay
2. Ian Guthrie and John McLaren lost to David Finlayson and Scott McChristie 2 holes
3. David Milloy and Jamie Aitken beat Ross Benvie and Sandy Douglas 5 holes.


DOLLAR TIED WITH ALVA; ( Dollar names first)
1. Darren Hulston & Scott Borrowman beat Lawrence Allan and Michael Robertson 3 holes
2. Steven McPherson and Ken Christie lost to Allan Flanagan and Gregor Kennedy 3 holes.
3. Vic Allan and Charlie Murray halved with Steve McIvor and Allan Aitken.


Dollar won at 1st extra hole.


FINAL
ALLOA BEAT DOLLAR 5 UP
1. Jim Allan and Robert Hume beat Vic Allan and Charlie Murray 3 holes
2. Ian Guthrie and  John McLaren beat Steven McPherson and Ken Christie 5 holes
3. David Milloy and Jamie Aitken lost to Darren Hulston and Scott Borrowman 3 holes
IT'S A DOUBLE DOUBLE AT DOLLAR IN BOYS' GOLF

History was made in the County Boys Match Play championships when both the Junior and Senior Stroke Play Boys Champions went on to take the Match Play titles as well. In the under 14 final, between two stylish golfers, Braehead’s Brian McAdam took on Alloa’s Angus Boyd….. Brian looked to have the match comfortably in his grasp standing 4 up with 6 to play—Angus had other ideas and fought back winning three quick holes, and just missed out taking the match down the last hole. In the senior Boys event, Alva’s Lawrence Allan wasted no time with a sub par performance against Braehead’s Rikky Alexander, winning on the 12th green to retain his 2010 title


RESULTS
ANDERSON TROPHY McAdam beat Boyd 2/1
PONTON SHEILD Allan beat Alexander 8/6


GOOD PERFORMANCE FROM COUNTY GOLF TEAM


The six man county team travelled to Prestwick last weekend, and put Clackmannanshire on the golfing map of Scotland……again. In difficult windy conditions and competing against the other 15 golfing areas, the County team could hold their heads high with an 8th equal position… not bad for the smallest golfing area in Scotland. County President George Kay was delighted with the result “ Over the shorter Prestwick St Nicholas course, the team returned the 4th best team score of the day--- just a pity that bogeys at the last hole cost both Darren Hulston and Scott Borrowman sub par rounds.” Bill Hatley was very pleased…” There was a good team spirit and it was good to see Scott Borrowman finding some form--- on the longer Prestwick course he was below par on the outward nine but dropped shots after that. Nevertheless his aggregate of 145 (70, 75) gave him an 8th placing out of 96 in the individual event. The top four Area scores qualified for the final, so the Wee County was not too far away---- well done boys!!”


RESULTS
 TEAM EVENT (best 5 scores from 6 to count)


8= Clackmannan 762 (398 at Prestwick; 364 at Prestwick St Nicholas)


INDIVIDUAL SCORES (Old Prestwick scores first)
Scott Borrowman (Dollar) 145 (70, 75)
Lawrence Allan (Alva) 156 (75, 81)
Ian Ross (Alloa) 156 (73, 83)
Jamie Aitken (Alloa) 156 (76, 80)
Darren Hulston (Dollar) 157 (70, 87)
Scott Moffat (Braehead) 158 (79, 80)


In the play off for the 2011 title---- Fife area won beating the North East in the final.




WELL TRAVELLED COUNTY GOLFERS.


With the golf season well under way, Clackmannan county golfers are packing their golf clubs and moving out to play in several events. LAWRENCE ALLAN will be playing at the Rowallan course at Kilmaurs in Ayrshire in the 72 hole Junior tour event this weekend. This new course with a par of 71 stretches to 6709 yards and is the first course designed by Colin Montgomerie in the UK---- uniquely it has a proper golf 19th hole!
BOB STEWART and PHIL DEMPSEY compete in the Scottish Seniors Spring Open at Montrose; SCOTT BORROWMAN is one of the 14 Scots playing in the Welsh Open Stroke Play this weekend at St Pierre, South Wales…. And don’t forget the local golf administrators who play in the Belhaven Captains and Secretaries Regional finals—at Dunfermline this week, with TULLIALLAN ( James Maley and Robert Nimmo) and DOLLAR ( Dugdale Bradley and Douglas Caren) competing . For the rest of the Wee County golf club members, there are always the SUMMER MEETINGS at Tulliallan and Alloa on Saturday…. Late entries are being accepted, even on the day of the competition.

BROTHERSTON IS GREAT SCOT IN FRENCH SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

Ian Brotherston (Dumfries and County), one of Scotland's leading senior amateur golfers, scored a notable victory on the Continent at the weekend.
Ian, who has a handicap of +2, won the French senior amateur international championship by four strokes at Golf Club de Granville, La Baule with rounds of 71, 74 and 76 for 221.
Brotherston stole a march on the field of 127 with an outstanding, sub-par first round and it looks as if the last two rounds were played in bad weather, judging by the high scores.
But the Scot, well used to conditions far from perfect, ploughed on in the lead to finish four shots clear of joint runners-up Jean-Max Megroz (France) (74-75-76) and England's Robert Messervy (73-75-77).
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
221 Ian Brotherston (Scotland) 71 74 76.
225 Jean-Max Mergroz (France) 74 75 76, Robert Messervy (England) 73 75 77.
233 John Whitcutt (Wales) 77 82 74.
Selected totals
236 Clive Woodford (England) 75 81 80.
238 Philip Platten (England) 78 78 82.
239 Alan Hewison (England) 77 83 79. 

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K J CHOI BEATS TOMS IN US PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
By Cameron Morfit, Senior Writer, GOLF Magazine
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — All week, the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass looked like it might come down to the handful of highly ranked players who were in position to enhance their careers. As it turned out, the tournament came down to 44-year-old, 75th-ranked, slightly arthritic David Toms trying to play 31 disaster-free holes in one day with the Tank, 34th-ranked Korean K.J. Choi, right on his heels.
Choi made par on the first hole of sudden-death, the island-green 17th, and Toms three-putted from just inside 23 feet. Choi collected $1.71 million for the victory, his eighth on the US PGA Tour.
"For some reason, I felt very comfortable out there," said Choi, who made his acceptance speech in English but used a translator with the press.
"He plays good, focused golf on tough courses," said Andy Prodger, Choi's caddie for a dozen worldwide victories. "I put it in his head that he was going to win this week because he's been playing very well."
Coming into the Players Championship, where his best result was  tie for 16th place in 2006, Choi had tied for third in New Orleans, tied for eith at the Masters and tied for sixth at Bay Hill. Said Steve Bann, his Australian swing coach for the last six years, "A win was coming."
Toms led for most of the day but, clinging to a one-shot lead, opened the door by going for the green in two on the par-5 16th hole, only to watch in horror as his utility wood from 226 yards found the water.
"I probably should have laid up and hit a wedge up there and made par at the worst," Toms said. "But I felt like I could get it on the green and take maybe a two-shot lead there and put a lot of pressure on him. So that was the mindset, and I just hit a bad shot."
Toms bogeyed, and Choi pulled even with a par. He took his first lead with a birdie putt on 17 from just outside 10 feet that swung hard from left to right and dove into the cup on its last revolution. That set the stage for Toms to force the playoff with an improbable birdie on the difficult 18th hole, where he hammered a 180-yard approach out of a sand-filled divot to 17 feet and holed the putt. Choi caught the left edge with his five-foot par putt, and the players were shuttled back to the 17th tee for the playoff.
"When David Toms made that putt on the 18th for birdie, it was as loud as something you'd hear at the Masters," Choi said.
Choi and Toms both shot 70 after beginning the final round a shot behind 54-hole leader Graeme McDowell, who imploded with a 79.
In the playoff, Toms and Choi both found the green with their tee shots on the nerve-racking 17th, but Toms hit his birdie try too hard. He never gave the six-foot comebacker much of a chance, and Choi tapped in to win. "As a fellow player, I know how that feels," Choi said. "I felt bad for him."
The victory was Choi's first since the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Paul Goydos, the glib, 46-year-old Southern Californian who lost a playoff to Sergio Garcia here in 2008, birdied the sixth, ninth, 10th and 11th holes to get to 11 under, just two strokes behind Toms. He birdied the 16th and parred 17 and 18 to finish at 11 under, two shots out of the playoff.
Sunday's action started early, with 34 of 74 players returning to the course at 7:45 a.m. to complete a rain-delayed third round. Toms started his day with a birdie on the sixth hole to go to 11 under and played mostly stress-free golf to finish that way. But he began to notice something: He took 29 putts and missed a handful of five- to 10-footers.
Choi resumed his third round on the 11th hole and went two under to finish off a 67 and also get to 11 under. He, too, would prove vulnerable to short misses, as he botched three putts from inside six feet in the final round.
McDowell might have held a three-shot lead going into the last round were it not for a crazy bounce on 18 to finish his third round. His approach shot was headed for the pin but came up short, kicked left off a mound, rolled across the entire green and trickled into the water. Double-bogey.
Officials grouped the players into threesomes for the final round and sent them off two tees. Despite his bad luck at the end of his third round, there were signs that the tournament might be McDowell's for the taking. Darren Clarke, a friend from Northern Ireland, won Europe's Iberdrola Open earlier Sunday, and McDowell made a 51-foot putt on the par-4 fifth hole for his first birdie of the final round. In memory of Seve Ballesteros, G-Mac was dressed in Seve's traditional navy blue.
But the Stadium Course is one of the worst places to play like Seve, which is to say there is no way to recover from crooked shots. McDowell, who enjoyed a sizzling 2010, has struggled this year while working hard to patch up his swing coming into this tournament. But he began to unravel with a bad miss on the sixth hole, where his ball settled in the trees well right of the fairway. That led to a bogey, and the beginning of the end.
The week began with world No. 1 Lee Westwood making news for his decision not to play, and Rory McIlroy also opted out. Tiger Woods made it through only nine holes Thursday before withdrawing with a leg injury.
Many of the biggest names who did show up never made a charge. Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer would have climbed to No. 1 with a win, and while both made noise, neither could summon many weekend birdies. Donald got to within two of the lead through 36 holes but suddenly went into neutral and tied for fourth at 10 under. Kaymer birdied the first four holes of his third round but cooled off just as fast and tied for 19th.
McDowell's play was most surprising. The wayward Ryder Cup hero and U.S. Open champion dropped from the lead into a tie for 33rd place.
One of 40 players who finished their third rounds Saturday, Phil Mickelson began the day at five under and, seven behind McDowell, with only an outside chance at winning his second Players. Mickelson also would have moved to No. 1 with a win, but he seemed to try to make something happen early and went the wrong direction, bogeying the second and third holes on the way to a 72 for a five-under total, well back.
Pete Dye's diabolical course claimed the usual number of victims.
Lucas Glover, who had won the week before and hovered around the lead for the first 36 holes, shot himself out of it with 7s on 16 and 18 in the third round, and a quadruple-bogey 8 on the fourth hole in the final round.
Having climbed to 10 under par, Charley Hoffman dumped two in the water and made his own quadruple bogey on the island-green 17th.
"I think it's a great hole," Hoffman said afterward. "I can make a one or I can make a seven. I tried to make a one and win the tournament."
Garcia made a run with a 65, the best final-round score, which included six birdies and an eagle and got him to eight under.
Choi and Prodger were scheduled to embark on a 14-hour flight to Korea on Sunday night for the S.K. Telecom Open, but they rebooked for Monday. Choi will now set his sights on next month's U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club, a course he won on in 2007. He could do it again. Working with Bann, his swing coach, Choi set out to gain distance off the tee to better compete in the majors, in part by learning a right-to-left ball flight. He also aimed to eliminate lower back pain that had developed from strict adherence to Jack Nicklaus's instructional book and a reverse-C swing.
The Tank has accomplished both of those goals, and he doesn't sound like he's done yet. He wrapped up his press conference with a message for the vast number of talented 20-somethings flooding the pro game, telling them to be regimented, and to live life to the fullest.
"And when I say that, I don't mean partying all the time," Choi said. "Live a systematic, regimented life, always be humble. That's my motto."
LEADING FINAL TOTALSpar 288 (4x72)
players from US unless stated
275 K J Choi (S Korea) 70 68 67 70, David Toms 66 68 71 70 (Choi won sudden death play-off at first extra hole).
277 Paul Goydos 69 70 69 69.
278 Luke Donald (England) 69 67 71 71, Nick Watney 64 71 72 71.
279 Jason Day (Australia) 69 70 72 68, Hunter Mahan 70 67 73 69, J B Holmes 68 69 73 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 67 73 68 71, Jason Duffner 69 70 68 72, Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 70 67 70 72.
Selected totals
280 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 74 68 73 65 (T12).
281 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 67 72 70 72 (T19).
282 Brian Davis (England) 69 69 73 71 (T26).
283 Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) 67 69 68 79, Phil Mickelson 71 71 69 72 (T33).
286 Justin Rose (England) 70 69 74 73 (T45).
289 Ian Poulter (England) 70 72 74 73 (T57).
202 Martin Laird (Scotland) 72 70 76 74 (T69).