ROBERT JENKINS WINS WEST ALLIANCE AT GLASGOW GAILES

WEST ALLIANCE REPORT

We can't believe that we have had another outing and it didn't rain. West of Scotland Golfers Alliance travelled to Glasgow Gailes today and we were treated to an excellent course, weather and hospitality.

Scratch prizewinners :
1 Robert Jenkins (Crow Wood) gross 69
2 Newcomer James Steven (Bothwell Castle) 70.
3 Shared by Alliance captain Keith Baxter (Buchanan Castle pro),
James Hendrick (Pollok) and Fraser McKenna (Balmore), all with 71.

Handicap prizewinners:
1 Bill Scott (Glasgow) (8) net 66
2 Douglas Martin (Crow Wood) (10) net 69
T3 Neil McGarva (Kilmacolm) (5) and Keiran Stark (Crow Wood) (9), both net 71.

Senior prizewinners:
1 John Greene (Cowglen) (12) net 71
2 Terry Reilly (Hayston) (12) net 73

Next West of Scotland Alliance fixture will be at Kilmarnock Barassie on on Tuesday, January 31. Anyone wishing to join us can E-Mail the secretary on secretary@westalliance.co.uk.

Margaret Carrell

TEE TIME BOOKINGS BEING TAKEN FOR DONALD TRUMP COURSE

£150 PER ROUND ON WEEKDAYS, £200 AT WEEKENDS BUT "LOCALS" WILL GET 20% OFF

Donald Trump's links course on his Menie Estate, 10 or 12 miles north of Aberdeen, is not scheduled to open for play until next summer but bookings to play the course are being taken already.
Sarah Malone, executive vice-president of Trump International Scotland, told the "Press and Journal" newspaper that tee reservations had hit the four-figure mark.
"Bookings have been very steady and we are speaking to a lot of international tour operations," said Ms Malone.
"We are being inundated with requests for tee reservation gift tokens from people who are buying early for Christmas. It has been a real mix of people from across the North-east, the UK, Europe and even further afield."
A round will cost £150 per person on a week day with the Saturday-Sunday fees set at £200.
Local residents - no clear-cut definition yet of "local" - will be able to benefit from a 20 per cent discount, bringing the prices down to £120 and £160 respectively.
Although the course, which will measure approximately 7,400yd off the back tees and is the first of two planned by Donald Trump on the Menie Estate, is well on its way to opening for business in nine months, the site does not have a clubhouse, a car park or a planned hotel.
There will be a temporary clubhouse on site while the permanent building is being built.
+The picture above is of the Menie Estate dunes BEFORE the 18 holes were constructed.

'Most impressive new course I have ever seen,'
says Jock MacVicar of Daily Express

FROM THE SCOTTISH DAILY EXPRESS
By JOCK MacVICAR
Donald Trump's golf course north of Aberdeen will be the most expensive ever built in Europe.
Already well in excess of £50million has been spent and when the course, clubhouse and access roads have been completed - provided overall planning permission is given - the total will be be a staggering £1billion.
And that is before the next phase of the proposed development, including a hotel and luxury residences, has even started.
When Trump International is opened to the public on July 1 next year, those who play it will be gobsmacked by its stunning setting and quality of holes.
I have no hesitation in saying that it is the most impressive new course I have seen, by quite a distance.
The mighty dune-land on the Menie Estate was made for a golf course and the highly-respected British architect, Martin Hawtree, has burnished it with his keen eye and respect for the wonderfully windswept natural terrain.
We all laughed when Trump claimed that here was a course that would be good eough to host an Open championship.
We are not laughing now. Without question, this course, measuring over 7,300 yards at full stretch, equals and, in some cases, surpasses the game's great links.

PAUL JAMIESON WINS MIDLAND ALLIANCE AT CRAIL

Dunblane New professional Paul Jamieson won today's Midland Golfers' Alliance competition at Crail Golfing Society's Balcomie links with a three-under-par 66. He won by one shot from joint runners-up Alan Lockhart (Ladybank) and Edzell's Alastair Webster who was bidding to complete a hat-trick of victories. The leading handicap prize went to Blairgowrie five-handicapper Bill Crosbie with a net 67. LEADING SCRATCH 66 Paul Jamieson (Dunblane New) 67 Alan Lockhart (Ladybank), Alastair Webster (Edzell). 68 Kenny Hutton (Downfield) 69 R Bell (Downfield), K Nusteling (Pitlochry). 70 R Stewart (Tulliallan). 71 J Stevenson (Braehead), M MacKenzie (Edzell). 72 W Crosbie (Blairgowrie). 73 D West (Burntisland). LEADING HANDICAP W Crosbie (Blairgowrie) (5) 67; D Black (Dunfermline) (12) 68; J Crawford (Dunblane New) (6) 69; R Stewart (Tulliallan) (scr), D West (Burntisland) (3) 70; N Dalrymple (Drumoig) (9), A Smith (Edzell) (7), R Bell (Downfield) (+2) 71.

Qualifiers for the JTC Kitchen Express Midland Golfers Alliance Championship in April at Carnoustie

M MacKenzie (Edzell)
W Crosbie (Blairgowrie)

D West (Burntisland)


Qualifier for the J T C McQueen Shield in April at Carnoustie
W Crosbie (Blairgowrie)


Next Meeting

Tuesday, November 22
Balbirnie Park
Tee reserved: 8.30am - 12 noon.


Lee Sutherland
PGA professional
Ballumbie Castle GC

JIMMY GUNN MAKING MONEY ON AMERICAN SATELLITE TOURS

By ROBIN WILSONDornoch exile Jimmy Gunn continues to figure among the prize money on the satellite tours in and around Arizona but despite several top ten finishes is still waiting to land his first “big win.”
During June and July he had earnings of $4,500 against strong fields in events as far a field as Long Beach, California, where he partnered Tommy Medina in a two-man better-ball competition where each earned $2000.
In the second round Gunn and Medina had a better ball card of 58 before the start of the Autumn All American Tour based in Arizona. From this tour exception can be gained and invitations received to compete on the Nationwide Tour.
The Nationwide Tour sits just below the exclusive main US PGA Tour and it is from the Nationwide that Inverness's Russell Knox progressed this year to the 2012 US Tour where the big bucks can be won. Knox finished the season in the top twenty five money winner's list of 2011.
Gunn, on his first entry into an All American Tour event at the Vista Verde Golf club, Rio Verde, Arizona at the end of October finished with a one under par total and won $575.
At the beginning of this month he played in the Skyline 2 Day shoot-out over Arizona's Skyline Country Club course and on the day after Guy Fawkes night he lit his own fireworks with a course record score of eight under par 63 to win the competition by three shots and the first prize of $900.
His next All American Pro Tour event was at the Red Mountain Ranch Country Club, Mesa, Arizona where he finished third for a prize cheque of $2,150 from rounds of 69,71 and 71 to keep his new (anonymous) sponsor happy.
Gunn, the former Sutherland county and Royal Dornoch champion, will remain on the All-American Tour and accept what invitations come his way for Nationwide Tour events until rejoining the Gateway Tour Spring series which gets under way in January 2012.

ANDREW McARTHUR LEADS SCOTS - AND HE'S 10 OFF SPANISH PACE

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com  It was not so much rain in Spain more like "pain" in Spain for the three Scots pro golfers in the first round of the Hi5 Pro Tour's Altorreal Futures Open 54-hole tournament at the Murcia venue today. Former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur, pictured, finished the day in joint 22nd spot with a two-over-par 74 which had seen him birdied the long sixth and 11th but bogey tthe fifth, seventh, eighth and 10th before he settled down to par the last seven holes in a row. Alyth's Mark Rae signed for a 76 and joint 35th place. He had the same number of birdies as McArthur but  had six bogeys, four of them over the last seven holes. Mark Kerr (Murrayfield) does not have many of the field of 58 behind him after a disappointing round of 79 for a share of 46th place. Mark had only one birdie, at the 15th, to offset a double bogey 6 at the 16th and single shots dropped at the seventh, ninth, 10th, 12th, 14th and 18th in halves of 38-41. Leading the field at eight-under 64 is England's James Ruth. He is three clear of compatriot Danny Wardrop and Denmark's Daniel Lokke. SPANISH Hi5 PRO TOUR - Altorreal Futures Open Altorreal GC, Murcia. First-round leaders Par 72 64 James Ruth (Eng) 67 Daniel Lokke (Den), Danny Wardrop (Eng). 68 Lasse Jensen (Den), Henri Satama (Fin). SCOTS' SCORES 74 Andrew McArthur (T22). 76 Mark Rae (T35). 79 Mark Kerr (T46). TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES CLICK HERE

MICHAEL STEWART, ZACK SALTMAN ELIMINATED AT ALPS Q SCHOOL

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Walker Cup man Michael Stewart's career as a tour pro is still on hold. In fact it has not got off the ground yet and he is still an amateur.
Six Scots are through to Wednesday's final round at the Alps Tour Final Qualifying School - but they did not include Stewart (Troon Welbeck) and Archerfield Links' Zack Saltman, the youngest of the three golfing brothers.
Stewart, pictured, is still No 12 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and has retained his amateur status which was a good move in view of his showing at first the European Tour School and now his latest failure to make the grade as a pro.
The Ayrshire man, former Scottish amateur champion and beaten in the final of the British amateur championship this year, shot 75 and 76 for a total of eight-over-par 151 over the Toscana and Punta Alta courses in Italy and missed the cut to the leading 65 and ties by three shots.
Saltman shot 158 with rounds of 83 and 75.
Only the leading 35 at the end of Wednesday's third round will gain playing rights on next season's Alps Tour and only Fraserburgh's Kris Nicol (joint fourth) and Jordan Findlay (jt 16th) and Clydebank's John Henry (jt 25th) are within that mark after 36 holes.
Northern Open champion David Law (Hazlehead) shot a splendid two-under-par, four-birdie 69 at Toscana - an improvement of nine shots over 24 hours - to haul himself over the first qualifying hurdle but a total of 147 leaves him sharing 50th place with Peterhead's Philip McLean (72-75). Both have to shoot low at the last time of asking and hope that it is enough to improve 15 places on the leaderboard.
Ross Kellett (Colville Park) made the cut with nothing to spare after a 76 for 148. He is five over par and joint 62nd. The forecast is that level par or one over will be the cut-off point for the leading 35 at the end of play today.
Kris Nicol is comfortably placed on four-under-par 139 after a one-under-par 71 at Punta Ala. He is three shots behind the joint leaders, Walker Cup man Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale) (69-67) and compatriot Jack Clarke (69-67). Hodgson's score included a double bogey at the 18th.
Jordan Findlay was thankful he started with a 67 after slipping to a three-over 75 at Punta Ala for 142.
John Henry, who was drafted into the Final Q School field as first reserve after missing the cut in last week's Stage 1, continues to make the most of his reprieve. He is on 144 after rounds of 74 and 70 and needs only a repeat of his second-round bag of five birdies at Toscana (par 71) to gain his pass card for the Alps Tour.

The non-qualifiers included Francisco Pintor Smith, the Spanish lad who won the Scottish youths championship at Mortonhall in 2006. The final round is over the par-71 Toscana course. SECOND-ROUND LEADING TOTALS Par 143 (Punta Ala par 72, Toscana par 71) 136 Stiggy Hodgson (Eng) 69 67, Jack Clarke (Eng) 69 67. 138 Dominique Nouailhac (Fra) 72 66. Selected scores: 139 Kris Nicol (Sco) 68 71 (T4) 140 Andy Smith (Eng) 73 67.(T7) 141  Tom Sherreard (Eng) 71 70 (T11). 142 Jordan Findlay (Sco) 67 75, Andrew Cooley (Eng) (am) 69 73 (T16)). 143 Donald Stirling (Eng) 70 73 (T21). 144 John Henry (Sco) 74 70 Steven Brown (Eng) 74 70 (T25). 145 Darren Wright (Eng) 78 67, Andy Sullivan (Eng) 78 72 (T33). 146 Jack Senior (Eng) 75 71 (T43). 147 David Law (Sco) 78 69, Philip McLean (Sco) 72 75, Warren Harmaston (Eng) 71 76, Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 73 74 (T50). 148 Ross Kellett (Sco) 72 76, Ben Banks (Eng) 77 71, Adam Gray (Eng) 73 75 (T62). +Only the leading 35 at the end of the third round will gain playing rights on the 2012 Alps Tour MISSED THE CUT (148 or better qualified for final round) 149 Mike Kelly (Ire) 78 71, Francisco Pintor Smith (Spa) 75 74, Joseph Feather (Eng) 75 74, Daniel Perrett (Eng) 75 74.. 150 Elliot Forbes (Eng) (am) 79 71, Jack Carter (Eng) 81 69. 151 Michael Stewart (Sco) (am) 75 76, Frederick Jewsbury (Eng) 72 79, Richard Glenn (Eng) 75 76, Alexander Christie (Eng) 78 73.. 155 James Quinlivan (Ire) 74 81. 156 Matthew McAlpin (NIre) (am) 71 85. 158 Zack Saltman (Sco) 83 75. 159 Nicholas Jenkins (Eng) (am) 79 82. TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES AND SCORECARDS ON THE ALPS TOUR WEBSITE CLICK HERE

SCOTTISH OPEN STAYS AT CASTLE STUART, KEEPS JULY SLOT

FROM THE BBC SPORTS.COM WEBSITE
The European Tour has confirmed the Scottish Open will retain its customary position on the golf calendar and remain at Castle Stuart.
The tournament's future was cast in doubt following the withdrawal of main sponsor Barclays.
This year's tournament was moved to Castle Stuart - between Nairn and Inverness - after being held at Loch Lomond from 1996. The North links course will be the 2012 venue.
The European Tour also guaranteed that prize money for the event will remain at the same level as this year.
"While the Tour is still in discussion with sponsors, we can also assure the total prize money will be the same as this year, and that is £3m," said chief operating officer Keith Waters.
After Barclays's surprise withdrawal, a number of other tournament administrators were keen to secure the event's place on the calendar but Waters confirmed the Highland course will host the tournament from July 12-15.
World number one Luke Donald won this season's event, reduced to 54 holes because of poor weather.