SUPERMAC GIVES SCOTS A LIFT IN PGAs OF EUROPE TEAM EVENT

FLASHBACK TO 2006 ... and it's Peter Lloyd, about to retire as PGA Scottish Region secretary, with Scotland's winning team in the PGAs of Europe international championship at Roda GC, Murcia in Spain - (left to right) Sam Cairns, Craig Lee and Jim Irvine. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com A five-under-par 67 by Irvine's Jim McKinnon has put Scotland in the title picture in a share of fourth place at the halfway stage of the PGAs of Europe international team golf championship at Vale do Lobo Golf Club on Portugal's Algarve coastline today. McKinnon slashed eight shots off his first-round effort  while Ladybank's Alan Lockhart repeated his opening score of 70. Chris Currie (Caldwell), who shot a 79 on Saturday, had the Scots' non-counting score for a second day, a 75, under the best two from three to count daily format. Scotland began the day nine shots behind England and a bogey on the opening hole from McKinnon did not bode well for their chances of making an impact on the tournament. But McKinnon rallied immediately with successive birdies and added another in the outward nine. Another followed at the tenth but was cancelled out by a bogey at the 11th before the Ayrshire man ended the round with a flourish by carding three birdies in the last four holes to post a five-under-par 67. McKinnon was understandably delighted with his round and the change in his team’s fortunes. “I’m very happy with way we’ve turned it round,” he said. “At one stage England were 11-under and almost out of sight. But things can change very quickly in this format and we’re back in contention. “I’m also pleased with my round. The greens were a lot firmer today and I made lots of chances but was unable to take them all.” One such was at the par-five 18th when McKinnon needed to hole a five-foot putt for an eagle. Scotland's Sunday team total was 137 was not matched by any other country in the 26-team field and was eight shots better than their Saturday aggregate. Scotland used to have a great record in this tournament over the years and McKinnon himself was in the last winning Tartan Tour trio at Roda in Spain in 2006. It's tight at the top with two rounds to go. Scotland, tied with Ireland's John Kelly, Eamon Brady and David Ryan for second place on 282, are two shots behind the three joint leaders - France, Spain and Italy. England (Craig Goodfellow, Chris Gill and Gary Brown), the first-round leaders, slipped back to sixth place with a second-round total of 147 for 283. Goodfellow and Gill, who came straight to Portugal from Turkey, had done amazingly well on the first day with borrowed clubs and shoes and almost everything else - their luggage and clubs did not make the journey at the same speed as they did. But the borrowed clubs lost their magic for the English pair on Round 2 and Goodfellow, a brilliant 66 for starters, slumped to an 78 on Sunday. Wales (Simon Edwards, Matthew Parsley and Andrew Barnett) are joint 13th on 296. SECOND-ROUND SCORES AND TOTALS Par 288 (4x72) 280 France (Bertrand Cornut, Stephane Lahary, Benjamin Nicolay) 140-140, Spain (Francisco Cea, Ismael Del Castillo, Fernando Roca) 142-138, Italy (Zeke Martinez, Fernando Pasqualucci, Massimo Florioli)138-142. 282 Scotland (Jim McKinnon 67, Alan Lockhart  70, Chris Currie 75) 145-137, Ireland (John Kelly 71, Eamon Brady 72, David Ryan 77) 139-143. 283 England (Chris Gill 72, Gary Brown 75, Craig Goodfellow 78) 136-147. Other totals: 290 Denmark. 291 Portugal, Austria. 292 South Africa, Netherlands. 295 Germany. 296 Wales (Simon Edwards 72, Andrew Barnett 73, Matthew Parsley 80), Poland, Switzerland, Sweden. 298 United Arab Emirates, Norway, Belgium. 302 Czech Republic. 307 Croatia. 309 Iceland, Slovenia. 312 Finland. 314 Hungary, Russia.

SCOTTISH JUNIOR GOLF TOUR

Aidan Husenne (Haggs Castle), back in action after six weeks out of golf recovering from a broken collarbone, won today's Scottish Junior Golf Tour Under-12 years competition over the Strathtyrum course, St Andrews. It was his third win in succession at a Level 3 event. Aidan, who had a 78, was the only junior to break 80 in a gale-force wind. He had four shots to spare over runner-up Callum Bruce (Duff House Royal).  The Under-13 years section was won by Murray McCrone (Troon Welbeck) with an 80. He finished one shot ahead of Ronan Higgins (Shotts). Murray also won the Short Game Challenge. Daniel Gaines (Musselburgh) won the day's handicap prize with a net 71. COLLATED RESULTS  Under-12 years - Aidan Husenne (Haggs Castle) 78, Callum Bruce (Duff House Royal) 82, Keith Bowman (St Andrews) 84. Under-13 years - Murray McCrone (Troon Welbeck) 80, Ronan Higgins (Shotts) 81, Kyle Irvine (Musselburgh) 84. +Information supplied by Walter Burns of the Scottish Junior Golf Tour.

OMEGA CHIEF SLAMS MAIN TOURS FOR BEING TOO GREEDY

FROM THE REUTERS WEBSITE
By Bernie McGuire
HAIKOU, China (Reuters) - One of golf's leading sponsors has slammed the game's main Tours, describing them as "greedy" and saying they show little respect to Asia.
Stephen Urquhart, president of Swiss watchmaker Omega, singled out the U.S. PGA and European Tours for continually adding tournaments to their schedules.
Omega currently sponsors the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic and European Masters in Switzerland. It recently signed a deal to become the 'official timekeeper' of the PGA of America and will include next year's Ryder Cup, PGA Championship and Grand Slam of Golf.
"The big problem with golf at present is a calendar issue and we've told all the Tours that they have to stop being so greedy," Urquart told reporters. "There are too many tournaments and they are adding tournaments all the time.
"And to treat Asia as the stopgap as they do with this week's World Cup is not right. It's wrong and the Tours are not going to win if they keep treating Asia as a stopgap. They need to show Asia more respect.
"Why can't there be a big event like the World Cup here in Asia in June. What's the difference in taking a flight from London to Beijing or London to Los Angeles?
"This is the mentality of the Tours and it is not right."
Urquhart, who confirmed Omega was ending its sponsorship of the World Cup and would from next year again sponsor the Hong Kong Open, said Chinese organisers should be fighting harder for better scheduling of the World Cup.
"Done properly and packaged properly, and staged at a better time of year, no one ... would go anywhere else in the world that given week but to play in the World Cup," he added.
Urquhart also questioned the decision by the Federation of Golf Tours, who run the World Cup, to award Mission Hills hosting rights for 10 years.
"The Federation and Mission Hills know my feeling on this because before this year I was not happy with the fields we were getting, but we've got three Major winners here this year and there's been a lot more respect shown to the event," he said.
Urquhart said he felt it was too early for China to be supporting a tournament on the scale of the World Cup.
"While there are not too many countries in the world who could organise an event like China, the tournament needs to travel around the world."

GREG CHALMERS WINS AUSTRALIAN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

FROM THE PGA OF AUSTRALIA WEBSITE
Greg Chalmers has gone back-to-back, overcoming four-time winner Robert Allenby and Marcus Fraser in a play-off today to add the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum to his recent Australian Open win.
The 38-year-old, who took the Stonehaven Cup for a second time a fortnight ago when he prevailed at The Lakes by a shot, may now head to the Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne next month for the Australian Masters with the chance to match Allenby's 2005 heroics when he became the first player to win all three events in the same year.
After they finished at 12 under and then had to wait more than 30 minutes while the final groups completed their rounds, it was Chalmers who showed the most composure at the 18th when he safely found the fairway with his tee shot and then two-putted for par to take the Joe Kirkwood Cup.
"I was surprised that par was good enough, I thought we were going to have to birdie this hole but that's how it goes sometimes in play-offs," Chalmers said.
"I felt fine on the tee shot but the putt was the hardest thing."
"This Australian PGA Championship has such a rich history and to have won it now, coupled with the Australian Open, I'm over the moon."
Fraser dunked his tee shot in the water and eventually settled for a bogey after failing to chip in from the greenside bunker while Allenby went way right with his first shot, found the heart of the green with his third and then had to hole a four-metre putt to stay in the hunt but couldn't do so.
On a final day when fortunes fluctuated wildly and overnight leader KT Kim, Matthew Giles and Aaron Baddeley all also spent time on top of the leaderboard, Chalmers finished superbly en route to a 67 and top billing.
But firstly Allenby rolled in an eight-metre birdie putt at the last for a 68 to ensure sudden death would be needed and then Fraser went even better by holing a monster 15-metre effort for a 69 and a place in the playoff.
Kim led by four shots after starting with four pars, with his playing partner Bubba Watson's erratic double bogey, bogey start dropping him down the leaderboard and Baddeley also making an early bogey.
But when Kim had two unplayable lies at the 5th and went on to make double bogey, he suddenly found himself level with Giles and Baddeley, with the latter eventually drawing two clear as firstly Giles and then Kim both fell away.
There was still another twist to come though as Baddeley faltered with a bogey at 12 and was joined at 11 under by Chalmers and then Allenby, and with Baddeley then following the lead of Kim in dropping out of contention.
Chalmers, who also won the 1997 Australasian Players Championship and boasts two Nationwide Tour wins, was steady rather than spectacular throughout the week, apart from, of course, the hole in one he produced on the opening day.
But having gone out in 35 with two birdies and a bogey on Sunday, spectacular he was after the turn as he picked up further shots at 10, 12, 16 and 17 to capitalise on faltering rivals.
But he didn't have to wait long to discover the title would not be his in regulation, with Allenby overcoming two bogeys on the front nine to collect three birdies coming home, before Fraser shrugged off bogeys at the 1st and 11th to make three critical birdies of his own in his last eight holes.
Pre-tournament favourite Adam Scott closed with a 68 to finish at 10 under, left to rue his wayward opening nine holes on Thursday, when he slumped to five over before recovering to a 70, and a Saturday back nine on which he dropped two shots.
Baddeley, who had vaulted to the top by holing his approach to 7th for an eagle, eventually carded a 72 to join Scott in fourth place at 10 under.
Nick O'Hern, who won the old Coolum Classic in 1998 before taking the PGA here as well in 2006, signed for a 67 to finish at nine under along with Marc Leishman (69) and Kim (76), while Jason Day (70), John Senden (71) and Y E Yang (73) shared ninth at minus eight.
Brad Kennedy's 69 left him level in 12th with Watson (77) at seven under, one shot ahead of American Rickie Fowler (70), Kurt Barnes (72), Rod Pampling (73), Giles (74) and David Bransdon (75).
Andre Stolz (69), Anthony Summers (71), Joon-woo Choi (72) and Stuart Appleby (73) rounded out the top 20 at five under while veteran Greg Norman had to be content with a 74 at minus four, along with Aron Price (68), Stephen Leaney (68) and Kieran Pratt (72).

TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

CLICK HERE

OTTO WINS SA OPEN, O'HARA, SALTMAN BOUND FOR Q SCHOOL

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Hennie Otto overcame a nervous back nine to win his national title at the South African Open Championship.
The 35 year old won his second European Tour title by a stroke from Austrian Bernd Wiesberger after a compelling finish at Serengeti.
Otto was three clear with six holes to play, but fell back into a tie with bogeys at the 13th, 15th and long 16th.
The former Italian Open winner chipped to six feet and birdied the 375 yard 17th, however, and then safely parred the last for a closing 72 and 14 under par total of 274.
The victory, which seemed a formality before Otto found sand at the 13th, came up short of the green at the par three 15th and overcooked his approach at the next, takes him from 80th on The Race to Dubai to comfortably inside the top 60 just in time to secure his place at the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World.
With Wiesberger already in the clubhouse, the big-hitting Otto drove through the green at the downwind 17th, chipped to six feet and made the birdie putt.
There was still the water on the last to negotiate, but off a perfect drive he found the green and by two-putting for par took the title.
Having been three ahead overnight he said: "I worked out that if I shot four under (68) they would have to shoot seven under. It didn't work out that way.
"There are some great names on the trophy and I said it would be great if I could add mine. Today's the day."
He is the sixth South African to win on The European Tour this season, following Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel (2), Thomas Aiken and Garth Mulroy, whose victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship was the 100th by a South African in The Tour’s history.
For Wiesberger, who did close with a 68, it was a second runner-up finish of the year. He was in the five-man play-off won by Thomas Björn at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in August.
Joint third were Aiken, compatriot Ockie Strydom and England's Richard McEvoy, after he too scored 68 - a performance that earns him a European Tour card for next season after he came into the week 121st on The Race to Dubai, three places outside the cut-off mark, and moved all the way to 107th.
Northern Ireland's Gareth Maybin, on the other hand, slipped from 118th to 120th after finishing well down the field, but he does still have the UBS Hong Kong Open to come this week.
Twice winner Retief Goosen carded a 73 and dropped into a tie for sixth, but it was still a far better week for him than it was for five-time champion Ernie Els.
Still in with a chance on six under at halfway, Els followed his third round 76 with a 79 and came joint 69th.
Motherwell's Steven O'Hara, who led at halfway and needed a top-three finish to save his card, fell away to 25th and fellow Scot Lloyd Saltman faces a return to The Qualifying School as well after a double bogey 6 on the last dropped him to ninth.
If the former amateur star from the Lothians had parred the hole he would have been joint third and would have earned a spot in Hong Kong.
His closing 70 included eight birdies, but also a bogey 6 on the long third and a triple bogey six at the ninth.
Former Ryder Cup star Phillip Price may well have done enough to avoid a trip to PGA Catalunya Resort in December, however.
He holed an 80 foot birdie putt on the final green to finish in a tie for 35th, which moved him up one place to 116th.

TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

CLICK HERE

SCOTLAND FINISH JT FOURTH BEHIND WORLD CUP WINNERS USA

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
The United States ended their 11-year wait for a 24th Omega Mission Hills World Cup victory as Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland landed the title on Hainan Island, China today.
The most successful nation in the history of the competition won their first World Cup since Tiger Woods and David Duval in 2000, as tournament debutants Kuchar and Woodland combined for a five-under-par 67 in the final round foursomes.
That left them 24 under par and gave them a two shot win over Germany and England – for whom Ian Poulter and Justin Rose mounted an incredible late charge with a 63, the best foursomes score of the week by three shots.
Overnight leaders Ireland tumbled to joint fourth position with a 72, by far their worst score of the week. Also on 267 were Scotland, Australia and the Netherlands.

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Haikou, China: Matt Kucher and Gary Woodland of the United States showed why they are the best in the world when they staged a battling comeback to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup today.
The Americans combined effectively to extend the United States record wins to 24 following a final round five-under-par 67 which also ended a 11-year wait for the United States since Tiger Woods and David Duval won the title in 2000 in Argentina.
Germany, who hauled themselves back into contention with a third round 61, could not rally back again after Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka closed with a 69 at the Mission Hills Resort in Hainan Island.
The English pair of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose left it too late and had to settle for a share of second place alongside the Germans after they signed off with the day’s best score of 63.
Starting the day two shots behind overnight leader Ireland, Kuchar and Woodland got off to a great start with birdies at the first and second holes before picking up further birdies at the sixth and seventh holes to reach the turn in 32.
Despite picking up their lone bogey on the par-three 11th, the Americans came charging back strongly with further birdies on the 12 and 13 holes before making pars in the rest of the holes to complete their week with a winning total of 24-under-par 264.
“We came here hoping to have some fun. We set a goal out to win and that's what we came here to do. We played phenomenal, especially today.
“We got off to a hot start early, played solid on the back, and really we were not in trouble in the back at all. It was a good day,” said Woodland.
Kuchar, who was the third highest world-ranked player in the field, credited Woodland for a winning partnership.
“When I got selected to represent the United States in the World Cup, I chose Gary Woodland, thinking that he would team up well with me. I have no doubt that he was the best player in the field,” said the world number 10.
“For me, it was a lot of riding his coat-tails, trying to keep encouraging him to keep it going, because he played some great golf. And I'm fortunate and really, really excited that I picked him,” added Kuchar.
Meanwhile Germany were left to rue a missed chance on the par-four 16th as that would have tipped the advantage back to them.
Having reached the turn in 34 after two birdies on the second and ninth holes, Kaymer felt that they could have narrowed the Americans’ lead to one if they had birdied the 16th hole.
“I was a little frustrated about today because we had good chances and I missed a lot. 16 was a big, big chance for us to put the Americans under pressure. They would have seen our score on 17 when they walked up to the green, they would have seen we are only one shot behind them,” said the world number four.
England, rated as one of the pre-tournament favourites, could only reflect on what could have been after they uncharacteristically failed to take advantage of the low scoring four-balls format, posting 66 and 68 in the first and third rounds.
“I felt like today was a bit about coming out and playing for pride. You always have pride when you are playing for your country but it was about restoring in individual pride for ourselves, really. Both four-balls days were uncharacteristic for us, and today was fun,” said Rose.
“We were a little subdued last night. It was disappointing to shoot only four-under par in four-balls, and to go and shoot nine-under par today and actually leave shots on the golf course sounds very silly to say, but it's the fact,” added Poulter
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
264 UNITED STATES (Gary WOODLAND and Matt KUCHAR) 64-70-63-67
266 GERMANY (Alex CEJKA and Martin KAYMER) 65-71-61-69; ENGLAND (Justin ROSE and Ian POULTER) 66-69-68-63
267 SCOTLAND (Stephen GALLACHER and Martin LAIRD) 63-69-69-66; IRELAND (Graeme McDOWELL and Rory McILROY) 63-68-64-72; AUSTRALIA (Brendan JONES and Richard GREEN) 61-70-67-69; NETHERLANDS (Robert-Jan DERKSEN and Joost LUITEN) 64-71-64-68
268 WALES (Rhys DAVIES and Jamie DONALDSON) 67-69-65- 67
269 SOUTH KOREA (KIM Hyung-sung and PARK Sung-joon) 66-71-64-68; SPAIN (Alvaro QUIROS and Miguel Angel JIMENEZ) 65-69-68-67
270 ZIMBABWE (Brendon DE JONGE and Bruce MCDONALD) 66-70-67-67
271 SOUTH AFRICA (Charls SCHWARTZEL and Louis OOSTHUIZEN) 68-68-61-74
272 MEXICO (Jose DE JESUS RODRIGUEZ and Oscar SERNA) 66-69-65-72; FRANCE (Gregory BOURDY and Raphael JACQUELIN) 66-70-68-68; DENMARK (Anders HANSEN and Thorbjorn OLESEN) 65-72-68-67
273 NEW ZEALAND (Gareth PADDISON and Michael HENDRY) 66-68-68-71
274 ITALY (Edoardo MOLINARI and Francesco MOLINARI) 67-69-64-74
275 THAILAND (Kiradech APHIBARNRAT and Thongchai JAIDEE) 66-70-68-71; CHINA (LIANG Wen-chong and ZHANG Xin-jun) 68-68-68-71
276 JAPAN (Yuta IKEDA and Tetsuji HIRATSUKA) 66-70-66-74; PORTUGAL (Hugo SANTOS and; Ricardo SANTOS) 70-68-66-72; AUSTRIA (Florian PRAEGANT and Roland STEINER) 69-72-65-70
278 COLOMBIA (Manny VILLEGAS and  Camilo VILLEGAS) 65-76-64-73; BRAZIL (Lucas LEE and Adilson DA SILVA) 68-71-67-72
279 SWEDEN (Alexander NOREN and Robert KARLSSON) 66-74-66-73
282 SINGAPORE (LAM Chih Bing and Mardan MAMAT) 68-75-65-74
285 GUATEMALA (Pablo ACUNA and Jose TOLEDO) 75-74-66-70
296 BELGIUM (Jerome THEUNIS and Nicolas COLSAERTS) 67-77- 68-84