DOAK LEADS SCOTTISH HYDRO CHALLENGE BY

By MICHAEL GIBBONS

Chris Doak continues to lead the Scottish charge in his homeland after a second round 68 at the Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Course saw the 33 year old maintain his grip on the Scottish Hydro Challenge.

The Team Scottish Hydro player looked like he was going to reduce the rest of the field into a battle for second spot early in the second round after three birdies in his opening four holes sent him six shots clear of the field.

But a problem with his driver – which saw the Scot cancel out four more birdies with a double and two single bogeys – coupled with the brilliant 64s of Portugal’s José Filipe Lima, Italy’s Federico Colombo and England’s Matthew Southgate saw that lead reduced to a single stroke heading into the weekend.  

Doak finished the day on 11 under par 131, with Lima moving to second spot on ten under and Colombo and Southgate a further shot back.

Gavin Dear, another Team Scottish Hydro player, made a positive move up the leaderboard after his 66 saw him move into fifth place on eight under.

Despite his problem off the tee, Doak remained appropriately upbeat given the level of performance he achieved with the other 13 clubs in his bag. He can also rely upon the sound advice of his coach, the legendary Bob Torrance, before he tees off in round three on Saturday afternoon.

“I did struggle with the driver off the tee today,” said Doak. “My fades were turning into slices so I got into a bit of trouble on the seventh and the 11^th which I doubled.

 “But it was much the same as yesterday apart from the driver going further right. I thought I had sorted the problem on the range last night but I clearly haven’t. I’ll need to get Bob a taxi up here tonight to try and help me out! I will be giving him a call tonight to see if he can sort me out.

“He can usually help you without seeing what you are doing. I think he just constantly thinks about the swings of all the guys that he works with, so if you say you are doing a certain thing he can usually dive into the memory bank and give you something to work with.

“But it really is just the driver – from the rescue through to the putter is great, and the putter is still the big difference. I just kept to my Jason Day routine and it seems to be working well.  I’m in a good position but I just have to keep on going and see what happens on Sunday.”

Lima is hugely excited about the coming weekend as the Portuguese continues his comeback to the top level after a turbulent year last season that saw him change his coach no less than five times.

“It was a lovely day out there,” he said. “I played great and made only two mistakes which led to the bogey and the double bogey. Two bad drives got me into trouble there but apart from that the game was very good.  

“I had a very bad year last year – I changed coaches five times before I finally went back to my first coach that I had when I was on The European Tour. His name is Beniot Willemart, who I had worked with for 13 years before last year.

“It got a bit out of control I suppose. I just kept trying a new guy and couldn’t get comfortable. The more times you do that then the less confidence you have but I am happy to be back with Beniot and the swing is becoming more solid every day. We all know golf and that is making me more confident so it is an encouraging time for me finally.”

ROUND TWO SCOREBOARD
Par 142 (2x71) Yardage 7100

131 C Doak (Sco) 63 68,

 132 J Lima  (Por) 68 64,

 133 F Colombo (Ita) 69 64, M Southgate  (Eng) 69 64,

 134 G Dear (Sco) 68 66,

 135 B Evans  (Eng) 68 67,

 136 T Fleetwood  (Eng) 71 65, A Hansen  (Den) 70 66, L Canter (Eng) 70 66, D Lloyd (RSA) 67 69, C Russo (Fra) 69 67, E Dubois (Fra) 67 69, S Walker (Eng) 69 67, C Lee (Sco) 70 66, L Kennedy  (Eng) 71 65,

 137 A Pavan (Ita) 68 69, E Kofstad (Nor) 70 67, B Barham (Eng) 71 66, B Åkesson (Swe) 68 69, S Hutsby  (Eng) 73 64, A Versfeld (RSA) 66 71, A Marshall (Eng) 67 70, L Jensen (Den) 68 69, S Bebb (Wal) 70 67, A Snobeck  (Fra) 71 66, C Carranza  (Arg) 70 67,

 138 G Lockerbie  (Eng) 70 68, O Whiteley (Eng) 69 69, G Adell (Swe) 68 70, C Moriarty (Irl) 69 69, J Doherty  (Sco) 69 69, S Tiley (Eng) 70 68,

 139 J Grillon  (Fra) 67 72, P Gustafsson (Swe) 70 69, M Delpodio  (Ita) 69 70, D Perrier (Fra) 72 67, R Santos  (Por) 72 67, A McArthur  (Sco) 71 68, J Estevez  (Arg) 69 70, R Wingardh (Swe) 73 66, M Baldwin (Eng) 69 70, R Hjelm (Den) 71 68, D Vancsik (Arg) 69 70, K Eriksson (Swe) 73 66, E Bertheussen (Nor) 71 68, J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 69 70, G Hutcheon (Sco) 67 72, S Davis (Eng) 72 67, P Archer (Eng) 68 71, S Little (Eng) 67 72,

 140 J Abbott (Eng) 69 71, A Ahokas (Fin) 72 68, A Canete (Arg) 69 71, J Lagergren (Swe) 72 68, J Heath  (Eng) 72 68, J Morgan  (Eng) 72 68, A Maestroni  (Ita) 73 67, M Lundberg (Swe) 68 72, A Perrino  (Ita) 71 69, B Ritthammer (Ger) 74 66, M Evans (Eng) 68 72,

MISSED THE CUT
 141 H Norlander (Swe) 70 71, P Relecom  (Bel) 71 70, T Feyrsinger  (Aut) 72 69, M Both (Aus) 69 72, G Jackson (Eng) 72 69, C Paisley  (Eng) 73 68, A Butterfield (Eng) 68 73, G Murphy (Irl) 67 74, E Saltman  (Sco) 67 74, R Wallis (Eng) 68 73, J Roos (RSA) 70 71, M Ford (Eng) 73 68,

 142 J Bragulat  (Esp) 75 67, T Stewart  (Aus) 70 72, S Henderson (Sco) 74 68, B Hebert  (Fra) 74 68, P Dwyer (Eng) 72 70, M Cryer (Eng) 70 72,

 143 T Ferreira  (RSA) 73 70, M Morris (Eng) 74 69, S Drummond (Sco) 72 71, W Besseling  (Ned) 73 70, L Westerberg (Swe) 73 70, A Willey (Eng) 73 70, J Kennegard  (Swe) 65 78, P Kaensche  (Nor) 75 68, C Suneson (Esp) 73 70, A Bruschi  (Ita) 70 73, A Bernadet  (Fra) 71 72, N Meitinger  (Ger) 72 71,

 144 P Del Grosso  (Arg) 74 70, J Quesne  (Fra) 70 74, F Valera (Esp) 74 70, G Houston (Wal) 69 75, R Kind (Ned) 74 70, J Hepworth (Eng) 72 72, W Schauman  (Swe) 73 71,

 145 M Warren (Sco) 74 71, S McAllister (Sco) 70 75, F Praegant (Aut) 70 75, F Calmels  (Fra) 73 72, I Keenan (Eng) 75 70, E Canonica (Ita) 77 68, M Vibe-Hastrup  (Den) 74 71, C Lloyd (Eng) 73 72, N Bertasio (Ita) 74 71, R De Sousa (Sui) 70 75, S Duncan (Sco) 72 73, B Grace  (RSA) 72 73, D Stewart (Sco) 74 71,

 146 C Macaulay  (Sco) 71 75, M Larsson  (Swe) 72 74, J Palmer (Eng) 70 76, P Baker (Eng) 74 72, N Lemke (Swe) 71 75, M Kerr  (Sco) 69 77, C Brazillier  (Fra) 73 73, M Ruiz (Par) 73 73, P Broadhurst (Eng) 72 74, N McCarthy  (Eng) 70 76, M Kieffer (Ger) 73 73, E Wood (Sco) 72 74, J Gallagher  (Sco) 74 72, K McAlpine (Sco) 77 69, R Cameron (Sco) 76 70, G Molteni (Ita) 74 72,

 147 C Gane (Eng) 72 75, M Bothma (RSA) 75 72, A Belt (Eng) 77 70, R Blaum (USA) 75 72, S Thornton (Irl) 72 75, M Kramer  (Ger) 68 79, J Guerrier  (Fra) 74 73,

 148 R Dixon (Sco) 75 73, T Whitehouse  (Eng) 74 74, G Cowan (Eng) 72 76, C Ford (Eng) 69 79, A Tampion  (Aus) 79 69,

 149 K Sullivan (Wal) 78 71, J Moul  (Eng) 73 76, J Harris (Eng) 77 72,

 150 D Denison  (Eng) 76 74, B Miarka (Ger) 77 73, V Riu  (Fra) 76 74, J Freeman  (Eng) 77 73, T Shadbolt (Eng) 75 75,

 152 J Robinson (Eng) 75 77, R O'Hanlon (Eng) 80 72, K McNicoll (Sco) 79 73,

 153 J Lopez Lazaro (Fra) 72 81,

 154 E Ramsay  (Sco) 75 79,

 155 P Smith (Sco) 78 77,

 156 N Fenwick (Sco) 79 77,

 ** C Monasterio (Arg) 70 RT, D Brooks (Eng) 78 WD,

GORDON BRAND AND SAM TORRANCE IN FOUR-WAY TIE FOR LEAD

From Senior Tour Press Officer Paul Symes

The Scottish duo of Gordon Brand Jnr and Sam Torrance were joined at the top of the leaderboard by Spaniard José Rivero and Japan’s Katsuyoshi Tomori on the first day of the Van Lanschot Senior Open.

The quartet all signed for opening rounds of 69 at the magnificent Royal Haagsche Golf and Country Club in The Hague, the Netherlands, to set the pace on three under par at the €250,000 European Senior Tour event. 
Of the four men, it was perhaps Brand Jnr who was left to rue a missed opportunity, having incurred a two-shot penalty on the 16^th hole after playing his ball from the 17^th green. But the Scot rallied in impressive fashion, rolling in a birdie putt from six feet on the 18^th green to banish the disappointment of his “moment of madness”.
He said: “I was penalised through my own error. But other than that I played very well, especially on the front nine. I started off the back nine well too, but just made an error of judgement, thinking the 17^th green was part of the course, and incurred a two-shot penalty. I’ve played shots off other greens at St Andrews many times, so I obviously thought I was there!
“It was a stupid mistake to make but there’s not a lot I can do about it now, so I just have to accept it and move on. It looks like an up and down back nine, but without the penalty it would’ve been a par and I’d be five under for the day. So it’s a little annoying, but to be fair I did well to recover and finish with a birdie. If you take the double bogey away, it was a very good day because it was quite tricky in the wind at times, and the undulating greens were also quite tricky to read. So a 69 was a good score – although 67 would’ve been much better!”
His compatriot Torrance also defied the blustery conditions with a measured display over the Harry Colt layout, which has hosted the KLM Open in the past. The highlight of Torrance’s day came at the sixth, where he hit a six iron to four feet and rolled in the putt to record one of only four birdies all day on the toughest hole on the course.
The former Ryder Cup-winning Captain also made gains at the first, third, fifth and 12^th holes, but gave two shots back on the fourth and 11^th. Having seen his friend and fellow John Jacobs Trophy winner Ian Woosnam return to winning ways at last week’s Berenberg Bank Masters, Torrance is keen to capture his first title of the 2011 Senior Tour season.
He said: “I was just consistent all day really. I got off to a good start with two birdies in my first three holes and after that I played very nicely, without really holing a lot of long putts – but I also didn’t miss many short ones either. It was just a very solid day, and a great way to start the tournament.
“It was very tough in the wind. Seaside links courses are always tough when the wind’s blowing, and this course is no different. It’s tough to find the greens, and then when you miss the green it’s just as tough to get up and down. So I’ve got to be very happy with a 69, because it wasn’t easy out there at all today. Hopefully the wind will die down a little over the next two days, and scoring becomes a bit easier.”
Tomori’s birdies came in two bursts, with gains at the 12^th and 13^th holes followed by four in a row from the 16^th. That moved the 56 year old from Japan to five under par and into a clear lead, but bogeys at the tough sixth and the eighth hole saw him drop back into a tie for the lead.

He was joined on three under par late in the day by José Rivero, who notched a brace of birdies on both nines, with a bogey at the fourth hole the only blemish in an otherwise flawless display.
Englishman George Ryall’s title defence got off to a testing start, as his troublesome back injury hampered him in a round of 74.
The star attraction amongst the amateurs competing alongside the professionals, meanwhile, was former Dutch international footballer Marco van Basten, who bettered playing partner Costantino Rocca’s score on six holes to play his part in a net score of 68.

   

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD

 Par 72

69 S Torrance (Sco) , G Brand Jnr (Sco) , J Rivero (Esp) , K Tomori (Jpn) ,

 70 D Johnson (USA) , P Fowler (Aus) , D Russell (Eng) , M Moreno (Esp) , M Harwood (Aus) ,

 71 C Williams (RSA) , D O'Sullivan (Irl) , D Smyth (Irl) , B Smit (RSA) ,

 72 J Quiros (Esp) , T Thelen (USA) , A Oldcorn (Sco) , A Fernandez (Chi) , F Mann (Sco) , T Johnstone (Zim) , R Drummond (Sco) , J Stuart (USA) ,

 73 A Sowa (Arg) , N Ratcliffe (Aus) , D Cambridge (Jam) ,

 74 G Ryall (Eng) , J Harrison (Eng) , M Cunning (USA) , J Rhodes (Eng) , R Van Blankers (Ned) , G Manson (Aut) , M Clayton (Aus) , J Gould (Eng) ,

 75 A Sherborne (Eng) , G Cali (Ita) , L Carbonetti (Arg) , G Wolstenholme (Eng) , A Franco (Par) , P Mitchell (Eng) , G Brand (Eng) , E Polland (Nir) , J Dorrestein (Ned) , M Bembridge (Eng) , D Good (Aus) ,

 76 M Piñero (Esp) , D Merriman (Aus) , N Job (Eng) , D Hospital (Esp) , R Davis (Aus) , I Woosnam (Wal) , M James (Eng) , H Carbonetti (Arg) ,

 77 D Durnian (Eng) , J Bruner (USA) , S Van Vuuren (RSA) , K Spurgeon (Eng) , B Ruangkit (Tha) , G Banister (Aus) , A Forsbrand (Swe) , G Ralph (Eng) ,

 78 M Farry (Fra) , T Charnley (Eng) , P Dahlberg (Swe) , B Longmuir (Sco) ,

 79 C Rocca (Ita) , M Mouland (Wal) ,

 80 J Bland (RSA) , M Belsham (Eng) , J Stansberry (USA) , B Gee (Ned) ,

 81 B Lincoln (RSA) , A Garrido (Esp) ,

 82 V Garcia (Esp) ,

HAMILTON BOYS OPEN ON MONDAY, JUNE 27

Hamilton Golf Club host their Annual Boys' Open for the Chatelherault Trophy on Monday, June 27th from 8am til 12 o'clock.
Handicap limit is 28 and entries are welcome on the day.
Usual scratch and handicap prizes

CULTS HOTEL ABERDEEN MEN'S PENNANT LEAGUE RESULTS

MURCAR LINKS 4, CALEDONIAN 1
Played at Murcar

Adrian Styles, Kyle Nelson lost to Alan Doig, Scott Allan 4 and 3.
Neil McKinnon, Ronnie Brechin bt Richie Davidson, Matty Beattie 4 and 3.
Anthony Bews, Iain Galbraith bt Roy Rimmer, Callum Dunbar 4 and 3.
Gregor Stewart, Ian Powell bt Barry Re, Mark Rimmer 2 and 1.
Duncan Raitt, Alan Holbrook bt David Mullen, Steven Doig 2 and 1.

NEWMACHAR 3, PORTLETHEN 2

Mark Mckechnie and Jamie Wilson beat Clark Brechin and Ryan Perry 6 & 5
Paul Henderson and Richard Barr beat Lewis Shand and Graham Innes 3 & 2
Euan Kennedy and Bryan Robson beat Sean Lawrie and Ben Murray 1 hole
Ross Macrae and Dennis Grant lost to Donald Smith and Ryan Donaldson 2 & 1
Ian Grimmer and Ryan Melvin lost to Gary Esson and Stephen Cook 4 & 3