RORY McILROY PULLS OUT OF GB AND I TEAM FOR SEVE TROPHY

FROM THE BBC SPORT WEBSITE

US Open champion Rory McIlroy has pulled out of Great Britain and Ireland's team for the Seve Trophy.

The 22-year-old from Holywood near Belfast was part of the winning side two years ago and Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal had said he wanted to see as many big names as possible play in the Seve Trophy.

But McIlroy said he wanted some time off before he began a run of 12 weeks on the road.

"I want to try to get two weeks at home and do a few things before I head off on that big run," said McIlroy.
England's Lee Westwood has yet to confirm his attendance while world number one Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Martin Laird and Justin Rose are likely to be absent because of the FedEx Cup play-offs in America.
World No 6 McIlroy is due to tee of in the first round of the European Masters in Crans-Montana, Switzerland tomorrow in his first event since injuring his right arm at the US PGA Championship earlier this month.
"Now it's not painful," he said. "It's more like a numb sensation, like if someone gives you a dead arm.
"It's nearly 100% and I'm happy with it."
McIlroy has spent his recovery time in the United States with girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki, the current world number one tennis player who is currently playing in the US Open.
The pair are understood to have met when they attended the David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko fight on July 2 and McIlroy believes their new relationship can inspire him to top golf's world rankings.
Wozniacki is currently playing in the US Open while McIlroy is set to tee off in the European Masters
"It's a big goal of mine. I want to become the best player in the world," said McIlroy.
"I think we definitely spur each other on. She's number one in the world and I've got a major and we sort of both want what each other have.

"She's got a great work ethic and it's something I can probably learn a lot from

"Tennis is a lot more physically demanding than golf. They do put the work in, they really do.

"It's just amazing how they can get up each morning and keep doing the same thing, putting their bodies through that."

McIlroy added the couple were taking their relationship "a day at a time" considering their hectic tournament schedules for the remainder of the season.

EUROPEAN SENIOR MEN'S AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

BEING PLAYED AT TROIA GOLF CLUB, PORTUGAL

TOP FLIGHT QUALIFIERS

765 Sweden
794 Germany
802 Netherlands
808 Italy
815 France
815 Spain
831 Finland
834 Portugal

MATCH-PLAY
Germany v Finland
France v Netherlands
Italy v Spain
Portugal v Sweden

FLIGHT B QUALIFIERS
835 Belgium
846 Switzerland
865 Austria
869 Denmark
875 Norway
892 Poland
907 Luxemburg

LEADING INDIVIDUAL TOTALS
148 Stefan Lindberg (Sweden) 74 74
148 Tomas Persson (Sweden) 78 70
148 Hans-Gunter Reiter (Germany) 74 74.
149 Bart Nolte (Netherlandds) 72 77

REID AND WRIGHT TOP OF NORTHERN OPEN CLASS ON DAY ONE

Walker Cup selection James Byrne in action for a 67


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com                                         
Welshman Gareth Wright (West Linton) and West Lothian's Alan Reid - an appropriate pair of surnames to be top of the class -  shared the opening-day honours at the end of a low-scoring first round of the £25,000 Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open championship at Meldrum House Hotel golf course, Oldmeldrum in rural Aberdeenshire.
Reid was the first to post a five-under-par 65 over a 6,700yd course but sub-par scores kept flooding in and it was always on the cards that one of his rivals would come along and say "Snap" before the day was out.
And Wright, pictured above right, was "the man," getting to five under par with an eagle 2 at the 17th and parring the short last for a 65.
With 33 players getting under the par of 70, and only the leading 40 and ties to qualifying at the end of Thursday's second round for Friday's 36-hole finale, the cut could be very close to par.
Reid must like the Meldrum House course, designed by Oldmeldrum man Graeme Webster - he finished joint fifth last year and had had a 65 in what what proved to be the last round when the scheduled third and fourth rounds were washed away.
Reid has not been as active as many Tartan Tour pros this season and has won less than £1,000 but it didn't show. He birdied the second, short third, fourth, long fifth, long 11th and, like Wright, had an eagle 2 at the driveable par-4 17th. His only blemishes in halves of 32 and 33 were a shot dropped at the short sixth and another at the long 16th.
Reid and Wright had a one-shot advantage over Edinburgh tour pro Mark Kerr, who had six birdies and two bogeys, and Dornoch-based Greg McBain (Gamola Golf) who had more birdies than anyone else - eight in all - but was dragged down by four bogeys.
Late in the day there were joined on the 66 mark by the top amateur of the round, Stirling student Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie), winner of the South-east District championship at Musselburgh at the weekend, and William Colquhoun (Dundonald Links).
Robertson birdied the 15th, 17th and 18th to show ahead of the other star amateurs in the field.
Scottish amateur champion for the second time in three years, Hazlehead's Walker Cup reserve David Law - joint fifth in this tournament last year - struck the first blow in the championship at an unearthly hour after an early breakfast and he set the early clubhouse target of three-under-ar 67 with an eagle 2 at the 17th capping his morning.
Law, by the way, will not be in the Balgownie galleries at the Walker Cup match. David is a member of the Paul Lawrie Foundation Team and Paul has pulled a few strings to secure for the Hazlehead man an invite to play in next week's European Tour event, the KLM Open.
Also on 67 are amateur rivals, James Byrne (Banchory), who is in the GB and I team to play the Americans at Balgownie next month, and Fife amateur James White (Lundin), a winner twice on the SGU 72-hole Order of Merit circuit this season.
Byrne would have been sharing the lead but for a out-of-bounds double bogey 6 at the 14th. But he did finish on a high - birdie 4, birdie 3, birdie 2. Now, if there had been a 19th hole, he might have got a hole in one at that rate!
The standard of scoring by the amateurs was impressive and late in the day, local man Callum Trahan posted a 67 and Kris Nicol, Fraserburgh's one-time contender for a Walker Cup place, had a 68.
Scottish amateur championship beaten finalist Daniel Kay (Dunbar) and Scotland international Philip McLean (Peterhead) both had 69s.
The Bookless Cup is the traditional prize for the leading amateur but Byrne, Law and Co are quality amateurs and they might have their eyes on the Northern Open title!
Defending champion Greig Hutcheon from Banchory could feel satisfied with a 68 for starters although he bogeyed the last, which undid a little the good work he had with a four-under-par run from the fifth to the 16th with birdies at the fifth, seventh, eighth and 16th.

SCOREBOARD

FIRST ROUND
Par 70. Yardage 6,700
65 Alan Reid (West Lothian), Gareth Wright (West Linton).
66 Mark Kerr (unatt), Greg McBain (Gamola Golf), Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie) (am), William Colquhoun (Dundonald Links).
67 David Law (Hazlehead) (am), James White (Lundin) (am), Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), James Byrne (Banchory) (am), Scott Henderson (Kings Links), David Patrick (Elie Sports Club), Graeme Brown (Montrose Links), Neil Fenwick (Dunbar), Callum Trahan (Meldrum House) (am).
68 Scott Crichton (Aberdour) (am), Alan Lockhart (Ladybank), Greig Hutcheon (Banchory), Chris Kelly (Cawder), Ross Dixon (Renaissance Club), Andrew Crerar (Panmure), Alastair Mackenzie (Renaissance Club), Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle), Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle), David Orr (East Renfrewshire), Kris Nicol (Fraserburgh) (am).
69 Stephen Gray (Hayston), Lee Harper (Archerfield Links), Jonathan Lomas (Unatt), James McGhee (Duddingston), Daniel Kay (Dunbar) (am), Philip McLean (Peterhead) (am).
70 Peter Smith (Deeside), Graham Fox (Rowallan Castle), Ross Kellett (Colville Park) (am), Mark King (Kingsfield), Kenneth Hutton (Downfield).
71 Andrew Cooper (Newmachar), Christopher Currie (Caldwell), Steven Duncan (Carnoustie), Paul Shields (Kirkhill) (am), Alistair Brown (Whitecraigs), Brian Mason (Callaway Golf), Ian Taylor (Drumpellier), Colin Gillies (Kingsfield), Mark Loftus (Adam Hunter Golf).

==========PROJECTED CUT-OFF MARK AFTER ROUND TWO ======

72 Scott Herald (Adam Hunter Golf), James Erskine (Portpatrick Dunskey), Scott Grieve (Turnhouse), Nick Robson (Meldrum House) (am), Stuart Williamson (West Kilbride).
73 Malcolm Isaacs (Nairn Dunbar), Joe Hopwood (Carnegie), Sandy Aird jun(McDonald Ellon), Fraser McKenna (Balmore ) (am), Ross Cameron (McDonald Ellon), Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs), Lindsay Mann (Carnoustie), Paul Wardell (Whitekirk), David Broadfoot (Dumfries and Co), Christopher Robinson (Dumfries and Galloway).
74 Colin Brodie (Meldrum House) (am), Grant Smith (Gleneagles), James McKinnon (Irvine), Nathan Keast (Renaissance Club), Ian Graham (Crow Wood), Graham Forbes (Gourock), James Smallwood (Fereneze).
75 Sean Thompson (Renaissance Club), Sean O'Donnell (Balbirnie Park), Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon), Campbell Elliott (Haggs Castle), Craig Ronald (Carluke).
76 Terry Mathieson (Murcar Links), Clarke Lutton (Qatar), Terence Burgoyne (Gotastroma), Craig Gordon (Edinburgh GC), Stuart Morrison (Tain), Jordan Ramanauskas (Gullane), Stephen McAllister (Renaissance Club), Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) (am), Alan Tait (Marriott Dalmahoy), Jonathan Porteous (Craigielaw).
77 Ryan Buckley (Craigielaw), Joseph McBrearty (Haggs Castle).
78 Paul Brookes (Pitreavie), David Thomson (Carnegie), Ewan Davie (Dunblane New).
79 Jonas Hedberg (Royal Aberdeen), Fraser Malcolm (North Berwick), Neil Colquhoun (Merchants of Edinburgh), Greg Paxton (Ralston), Anthony Mackrell (Playsport Golf), Stewart Savage (Dalmuir).
80 Lewis Burnett (Adam Hunter Golf), Chris McCalman (Turnhouse).
81 Paul Wytrazek (Burntisland).
82 Duncan Bain (Aberdour), Duncan Williamson (Kirkhill), Nicola Melvile (Nicola Melville Golf).
84 Keil Beveridge (Inchmarlo), Jamie Carner (unatt).
(am) denotes amateur player.

WHEN TO SEE THE LEADERS IN SECOND ROUND

07.50 ALAN REID, Jonathan Lomas, Scott Herald.
08.10 Andrew Crerar, GRAEME ROBERTSON (am), GARETH WRIGHT.
09.15 Stephen McAllister, WILLIAM COLQUHOUN, Nick Robson (am).
10.35 DAVID LAW, Peter Smith, Malcolm Isaacs.
11.25 MARK KERR, Christopher Currie, Terence Burgoyne.
11.55 GREIG HUTCHEON, Graham Fox, JAMES BYRNE (am)
12.05 Robert Arnott, Steven Duncan, GREG McBAIN.
12.20 Keil Beveridge, SCOTT HENDERSON, Ross Kellett (am).

ASKERNISH GOLF WEEKEND WORTH £18,000 TO LOCAL ECONOMY

NEWS RELEASE
The last weekend in August saw the Askernish Open Golf Weekend held at the restored ‘Old’ Tom Morris golf course on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.
This was the first year that the Askernish Open was expanded into a weekend festival of golf in South Uist; an initiative driven by Community Estate Company Storas Uibhist’s Askernish Development Manager John Kemp. John also implemented monitoring tools to evaluate the success of the Open.
This year was hugely successful - there was a 40% increase in competitors over 2010 and the number attending came close to that of the opening of the restored golf course in 2008 when Honorary Club President Kenny Dalglish teed off to huge local and media interest.
Nearly threequarters of all the players came from outside the Uist islands and of these visiting golfers 47% were playing golf at Askernish for the first time. The truly international field came from as far away as the US, Canada, and Belgium, and there was a party of golfers visiting from Finland.
This makes the Askernish Open Golf Weekend a considerable tourism draw to the Islands. The average golf visitor attending it stays for 3 nights and spends just over £300 during their time on the isles. Overall, this weekend of golf was worth an approximate 179 tourist days and over £18,000 to the Uist economy.
45% of the golfers visiting the islands stayed in B and Bs, whilst 36% stayed in hotels and 39% of the golfers rated their accommodation experience as “very good”. 88% of the visiting golfers accessed the islands by sea, whilst there was a handful that came by private jet direct to the isles.
100% of the Open Weekend’s participants said they will recommend the Askernish Open Golf Weekend to others, and 99% are considering returning to play again in 2012.
Plans are already afoot for the further development of the Askernish Open Golf Weekend in 2012 to make it bigger and better. March 2012 will also see a new golf & island experience event hosted at Askernish with funding from Scotland’s Islands.
For further information about the Askernish Open Golf Weekend, and the participant survey results contact John Kemp, Askernish Development Manager by e-mailing john.kemp@storasuibhist.co

Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open is under way at Meldrum House

Hazlehead's Scottish amateur champion David Law sets the ball rolling in this week's Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open championship over 72 holes at Meldrum House golf course, Oldmeldrum.

SCROLL DOWN FOR A PREVIEW OF THE EVENT.

FIRST-ROUND UPDATES LATER

PALMER PLAYS, ELKINGTON AND McCARRON WIN AT PORTLAND

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- As Arnold Palmer slowly walked up the 18th fairway Tuesday at Portland Golf Club, an Umpqua Bank Challenge official stood on the green and told fans this might the last Northwest tournament for the 81-year-old golf legend.
Palmer wasn't sure about that, saying at his age, there's "a little bit of everything in my mind."
What is certain, though, is that the Challenge will be back.
After an eight-year absence, Peter Jacobsen's 36-hole charity tournament successfully resumed on a smaller scale. Steve Elkington and Scott McCarron romped to the title, shooting a better-ball score of 24-under par 120 to win by six strokes from Jay Haas and John Cook.
Six two-man teams, including 10 players from the Champions Tour, participated in the Umpqua Bank Challenge, formerly known as the Fred Meyer Challenge. Elkington and McCarron split a first-place prize of $100,000 from the overall $530,000 tournament purse.
Jacobsen said the event, nicknamed Peter's Party, will return to Portland Golf Club next year with the intention of landing a few more prominent US PGA Tour names in 2012.
"I'd like to get this as big as we can," Jacobsen said. "When we ended the Challenge (in 2002), it was 24 players. I'd like to get back to 24 players, but that's going to take more corporate support, and more revenue from the community.
"But I think we're off to a really good start."
Although attendance totals were unavailable, several thousand spectators were on hand for Tuesday's final round. Jacobsen said he was pleased with the tournament's crowds, quality of field and, eventually, revenue that will benefit the Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel and the "I Have a Dream" Foundation-Oregon.
"When you're gone from this market like we were for eight years, the most important thing was simply getting back on the schedule," Jacobsen said. "Coming back, we knew there were going to be some starts and stops. But I think we hit all the expectations. We wanted to have fun, great crowds and a great turnout."
Most of the eyes following the Challenge were on Palmer, who rarely participates in tournament competition. In fact, Palmer said "playing 36 holes the last two days is the most I've played in a year. Kind of got me a little excited. I may go home and practise."
Palmer teamed with Jacobsen, and played in the same foursome with Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw. There was as much frivolity as there was golf in the quartet, as Zoeller needled Palmer throughout the round.
Zoeller got it going on the first hole, after Palmer drove his ball under a tree. Palmer finally turned to the crowd and said, "Why do I bring him along?"
"Playing with Fuzzy is a lot of fun. We kid a lot. Sometimes we get serious, but I don't remember when," Palmer said.
McCarron joked that he was there to defend his title. McCarron teamed with Brian Henninger to win the Fred Meyer Challenge at The Reserve Vineyards  Golf Club in 2002, the last time the tournament was staged.
"The only thing we've been winning is scratch off tickets at the grocery store of late, so we'll take this little bit of momentum and see if we can parlay it to something good on the (US PGA) Tour," Elkington said.
As he was presented with the traditional jean jacket given to the tournament champions, Elkington said this year's Challenge was the best ever.
"I thought (Sunday's) clinic was spectacular and Peter's company has gotten better. It only makes sense that this event is better," Elkington said. "They're so inclusive. I don't see any way this tournament isn't going to get bigger."