South African stroke-play champion played in Scottish U16s' event in 2010

E-mail from William Sharpe,

President of Lanarkshire Golf Association

I meant to E-mail you last week. Did you realise that Haydn Porteous who won the South African amateur stroke-play championship last week,  finished fourth in the Scottish Under-16s championship at Auchterarder in 2010? He shot 65, 81, 65. Obviously had potential as he has now realised. I took this photograph of him and his father as a souvenir of their stay at Auchterarder.

MARMAT ENDS SIX YEARS WITHOUT A WIN IN PHILIPPINE OPEN

FROM THE ASIAN TOUR WEBSITE
Manila, February 12: An emotional Mardan Mamat of Singapore coasted to a comfortable five-stroke victory at the ICTSI Philippine Open to end a six-year winless run on Sunday.
The 44-year-old picked up his third Asian Tour victory with a closing one-under-par 71 at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club’s East course to complete a commanding wire-to-wire victory with an eight-under-par 280 aggregate.
Mo Joong-kyung of Korea threatened briefly before finishing a distant second in the US$300,000 Asian Tour event, signing off with a 74 while top Filipino honours went to Antonio Lascuna who returned a 69 for tied third place with Japan’s Azuma Yano, who signed for a 70.
However, it was heartbreak hotel for Filipino teenager Miguel Tabuena, who started the final round one shot back of Mardan but faded badly with an 81 to settle for a share of 11th position.
After tapping in for his lone bogey on 18, Mardan fell on his knees to celebrate his return into the winner’s enclosure. He later broke in tears when asked if thoughts of not winning had crept into his mind during his barren years.
“My wife (Naz) encouraged and pushed me a lot to practice. She said you love the game so much and why must you quit. There was a time when I said it was time for me to be a golf coach but she said not in your dreams,” said a teary-eyed Mardan.
“It feels great. It’s always good to win a tournament, especially the oldest national Open in Asia. I didn’t do any stupid mistakes and kept my ball in play all the time. The whole week I’m very patient and hit the ball good,” added the Singaporean, who pocketed the top cheque of US$47,550, an OMEGA Seamaster Aqua Terra Golf watch and a BlackBerry smartphone.
With his closest challengers Mo and Tabuena starting poorly, a rock solid Mardan raced three shots clear with a birdie on the fourth hole and by the time he turned in 35, the veteran was six shots clear of the pack. The back nine was a procession as he waltzed to victory.
“After the eighth hole, I was quite relieved. That hole, you can pick up a big number and I managed to get a par. It may have looked easy but it wasn’t easy. There was pressure, especially at the start of the round.
“All the good memories from winning the Singapore Masters (in 2006) came back. When I won then, I led from the first day to the end. That gave me a lot of memories which boosted my confidence,” said Mardan, who also earned a spot in next week’s co-sanctioned Avantha Masters in India.
Mo endured a horrendous opening seven holes, going five over par in seven holes before rallying briefly with four birdies in mid-round to pull to within four shots of Mardan. But the Singaporean tightened his grip with a second birdie of the day on the 14th hole to restore his six shots advantage as Mo bogeyed the same hole.
Chasing a third Asian Tour victory, the Korean rued two poor tee shots which led to his double bogeys on three and seven. “I just hit two bad shots, that was it,” said the Korean. “That can happen on this course. I hit two poor tee shots and made those doubles. The way Mardan was playing, I wasn’t going to catch him. I was just focused on finishing second,” said Mo.
Lascuna finished as top Filipino after a solid round that included four birdies in his outward nine. “I’m super happy to shoot three under. Before teeing off, I had a good feeling. I hit my drives good and I felt I could get it to two or three under. When I saw Mardan standing at eight under, I just focused on finishing second or third. I played with Mardan yesterday and he putted so good. He’s also strong mentally,” said Lascuna.
It was a nightmarish final day for the 17-year-old Tabuena, who was hoping to become the youngest winner of the ICTSI Philippine Open. He turned in 39 with five bogeys against two birdies and his hopes all but vanished with a triple bogey on the 10th following an errant drive into the woods.
“After bogeying the first, my confidence went. I was aiming for fairways and greens but it didn’t happen. I’ll learn from this,” said Tabuena.
+SCOTWATCH: James Byrne finished last of all those who made the cut. He had a final round of 79 after failing to break 80 in rounds two and three. His final aggregate was 311 - 23 over par.
And yet the tournament had started well for the Banchory man with a two-under-par 70. What went wrong? James told Scottishgolfview.com:
"It was a demanding golf course and I didn't play well at all. Simple as that!"

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) Yardage: 7,222. Wack Wack GcC course
280 Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 69-70-70-71.
285 MO Joong-kyung (SKOR) 72-71-68-74.
287 - Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 71-71-76-69, Azuma YANO (JPN) 69-75-73-70.
288 - Ben FOX (USA) 69-73-74-72.
289 - Adam BLYTH (AUS) 73-70-75-71, Paul DONAHOO (AUS) 71-72-74-72.
290 - Arnond VONGVANIJ (THA) 73-72-74-71, KIM Gi-whan (SKOR) 71-75-72-72, HWANG Inn-choon (SKOR) 77-72-67-74.

SELECTED TOTALS
295 Stephen Lewton (England) 77 73 75 70 (T29).
302 Guy Woodman (England) 73 72 73 79 (T62)
311 James Byrne (Scotland) 70 80 82 79 (78th).

GALLACHER JOINT RUNNER-UP BEHIND WINNER CABRERA-BELLO

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Rafael Cabrera-Bello produced a nerveless final round performance to claim the biggest win of his career at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic today.
Picture right by courtesy of Getty Images (c).
One behind Lee Westwood overnight, the 27 year old Spaniard - whose only previous European Tour victory came at the 2009 Austrian Golf Open - carded a bogey-free 68 to reach 18-under-par 270 and triumph by a solitary stroke.
Three of Cabrera-Bello’s birdies came on the back nine as his rivals struggled to make headway in breezy conditions.
Westwood, who had led by two strokes early in the final round following a superb eagle at the second but struggled to find his best form on the greens, and Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher shared second place after respective rounds of 70 and 69. Both men missed putts on the 18th to force a play-off.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and it’s been a really spectacular week for me,” said Cabrera-Bello, who had rounds of 63, 69 and 70 before today’s 68.
 “With so many big, big names I felt really proud of myself. I wanted to fight, I stayed calm, I did everything that I’ve read we should do in these type of situations.”
He is the third consecutive Spanish player to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, following Miguel Angel Jiménez in 2010 and Alvaro Quiros in 2011.
This is the first time Spanish players have won the same European Tour event for three consecutive years since the Mallorca Classic, when Miguel Angel Jiménez won in 2003, Sergio Garcia in 2004 and José María Olazábal in 2005.
Rafael gains a two-year European Tour exemption until the end of 2014.
This is his biggest European Tour prize of €315,532.
He also gains a place in the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions as well as possibly winning a place in the 2012 WGC- Accenture Match Play Championship.
Westwood has now finished as runner-up in this event on three occasions, yet he does have the small consolation of taking the World No 2 spot back off Rory McIlroy - by 0.004 ranking points.
Elaborating on the pride he felt, Cabrera-Bello added: “I'm just happy that I was able to win and I was even happier to get a win in a very prestigious event.
“Not just with Lee, whom I admire a lot, but also with all of the big names that were up there contending, like Rory, like Martin (Kaymer), the other guys that came up, like Stephen, like myself, they are all really, really good players.
"Just the fact that I was able today to be successful just proves to me that I'm working on the right line. It gives me a lot of confidence that I have proven to myself that I can perform at least one week as good as themselves. It's just a huge, huge confidence and huge morale boost.”
“This will open a lot of doors and this was really the quality jump in my game I was looking for, and I had been practising hard for it.”
Gallacher reflected on his near-miss with mixed emotions.
“I would have loved to have made the play-off,” said the Scot. “But fair play to Rafa, he played well, and 18 under is a good score in these conditions.
“I struggled a bit off the tee today but I hit a lot of good iron shots and made a few putts at the right time. But I had a chance to sort of get into the play-off on the last, so (I’m) just a wee bit disappointed but happy overall.”
McIlroy - the 2009 champion - dropped out of contention early on, but picked up four shots on the way home to claim a share of fifth on 14 under, one behind Germany’s Marcel Siem.
Alongside McIlroy were Denmark’s Søren Kjeldsen, whose 67 featured six birdies, Scotland's Scott Jamieson and South Africa’s George Coetzee.
Kaymer, who began the day two adrift of Westwood on 13 under, may have realised it wasn’t going to be his day when he missed presentable birdie chances on each of the first three holes. Although he did pick up a shot on the short fourth, he went on to sign for a 74 that left him in a tie for 13th.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) Prize money in Euros
270 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 63 69 70 68 (313,532).
271 Stephen Gallagher (Scotland) 69 65 68 69, Lee Westwood (England) 69 65 67 70 (164,434 each)
273 Marcel Siem (Germany) 65 69 68 71 (94,661).
274 Seren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 68 69 70 67, George Coetzee (S Africa) 69 66 69 70, Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 66 65 72 71, Scott Jamieson (Scotland) 65 68 70 71 (62,666 each).

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
281 David Drysdale 70 70 71 70 (T28) (16,850)
285 Richie Ramsay 69 71 73 72, Paul Lawrie 71 70 69 75 (T51) (7,194 each).
293 Colin Montgomerie 71 69 77 76 (T74) (2,825).

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COREY PAVIN, PETE SENIOR SHARE LEAD ON US SENIORS TOUR

FROM THE US CHAMPIONS TOUR WEBSITE
BOCA RATON, Florida -- Corey Pavin and Peter Senior -- both winless on the Champions Tour -- shared the lead Saturday after the second round of the Allianz Championship at Broken Sound Golf Club.
Pavin followed his opening 8-under 64 with a 70 to match Senior at 10 under. Senior had a 68.
Mark Calcavecchia and Bernhard Langer were a stroke back. Calcavecchia had a 68, and Langer a 69.
Pavin had a two-shot lead with two holes left, but bogeyed the 17th -- his lone bogey of the day -- and Senior birdied the 18th. Pavin is making his 35th career Champions Tour start, Senior his 48th.
"I played solidly," Pavin said. "I didn't get as much out of this round as I did (Friday), but it was difficult out there with the wind coming from a different direction."
Senior overcame a bogey on the par-5 first hole with five birdies on his last 13 holes. The Australian had a one-shot lead heading into the final round last year, but shot a 77 and faded to 17th.
"I have more confidence than I did this time last year, because I'm playing better," Senior said. "I know I'm close to winning."
Calcavecchia was 3 over after three holes, then finished with seven birdies. He's shooting for his 12th consecutive top-10 finish on the Champions Tour. Don January holds the record with 36 from 1980-84.
"I wasn't thinking about winning when I walked to the fourth tee, I can promise you that," Calcavecchia said. "I have never been this consistent in my career. If I putt well, I'm going to have a good chance."
Langer won at Broken Sound two years ago when he holed a bunker shot in a playoff with John Cook and lives just minutes from the course.
"It's going to take a lot of patience," Langer said. "You need to try and hit as many greens as possible because it's going to be difficult to get up-and-down for pars."
Peter Jacobsen shot the day's best round, a seven-under 65, to move into a fifth-place tie with J.L. Lewis (67), Michael Allen (67) and Joey Sindelar (69) at 7 under.
"I didn't expect this," said Jacobsen, returning from his 17th surgery, a laser operation last November to remove bone spurs in his lower back.
Defending champion Tom Lehman was 1 under after a 72.

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