OLDEST PUBLIC COURSE IN USA - DESIGNED BY AN ABERDONIAN

FROM THE GOLF DIGEST.COM WEBSITE
By David Owen
On Sunday, twelve of us played Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx, one of a dozen courses owned by the city of New York. It opened the summer of 1895, six years after my home club, and is the oldest public course in the United States.
(It was designed by Aberdonian Tom Bendlow, pictured, a printer to trade with a forerunner of the Aberdeen Press and Journal but who found a new career after emigrating to the United States as the golf boom hit North America).
It also has what may be the world’s coolest locker room, which still contains the original wooden lockers. The Three Stooges, film star comedians of yesteryear, considered Van Cortlandt their home course. Other visitors have included baseball's Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, boxer Joe Louis, and my friends and me.
The original Van Cortlandt golf course was built for $642.80. It had just nine holes, of which the last was more than 700 yards long. For a few years in 1960s, the city operated three ski slopes on the four short, hilly, quirky closing holes, at the southern end of the park.
(You get to those holes by crossing under the Major Deegan Expressway, on a concrete walkway with tall fences on either side.)
But now the golf course is just a golf course again, even during the so-called winter.
Van Cortlandt was originally known as the Meadows, and it was very popular, even though in 1895 hardly anybody in America owned golf clubs or knew anything about how to hit a golf ball.
In 1899, Tom Bendelow—a 30-year-old emigrant from Aberdeen and former typesetter, who eventually designed 650 courses in North America—expanded Van Cortlandt to 18 holes. By 1920, according to the Parks Department, it was handling 5,000 players a week.
Bendelow’s design survived until the 1940s, when Robert Moses began building highways on top of it. Today, the course is divided into four roughly equal-size lobes. They are separated by two highways (the Major Deegan and the Mosholu Parkway) and a fence-enclosed swamp called Tibbetts Brook, which resembles the Dead Marshes in The Lord of the Rings, except murkier.
On Sunday, the first of our three tee times was 7:56 (Tom Bendelow is credited with introducing the idea of  organising starting times. Prior to thgat people just turned up and played or waited their turn until the first tee was clear).
Because we were going to Van Cortlandt, we were able to lure Ferris out of hibernation. The night before, he sent us this email:

"My childhood home was at 1 Tibbetts Road, in Yonkers, and our property line was Van Cortlandt Park. My friends and I used to cut holes in the chain-link fence near the fourth green and play the three holes on this side of the Major Deegan and Mosholu Parkway.
"We would steal the bamboo whips that the ‘parkies’ used to whip the dew off the greens, and occasionally we would also steal the flags, and we would sell golf balls. Since the approaches to some of the holes were blind, we could run out and grab balls that had just been hit and then sell them to the next groups that came by.
"We did all this while keeping an eye out for the parkies’ pickup trucks. When we saw them come rumbling over the hill, we would scoot back through the hole that we had cut in the fence, and then hide in the woods. The following day, the hole would be wired closed, so we always carried a heavy-duty wire-cutter in one of our golf bags.
"Of course, most of us had old bags, with hickory-shafted clubs. My house was about two hundred yards from the course. I’ve never paid to play at Van Cortlandt, and I’ve never played the holes on the other side of the highways."

Ferris's fence, with a modern hole, just beyond the fourth green.
For lunch, we went to the Bronx Ale House, just a few minutes away.

LAWRIE TOO ILL TO PLAY THIS WEEK: MASTERS PLACE IN DANGER

FROM THE SKY SPORTS.COM WEBSITE
Paul Lawrie has pulled out of his Andalucian Open title defence this week because of illness - and it could leave him sweating on a place in next month's US Masters at Augusta.
The Aberdeen golfer is currently 45th in the world and at the end of next week the top 50 earn invitations to the opening major of the year.
Lawrie, who has not played at The Masters since 2004, almost withdrew from Sunday's final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami.
"I haven't been feeling too well this week, but last night I was up coughing most of the night," he wrote on his website blog on Sunday.
"I was going to pull out today until I found out you have to complete four rounds for the money to count on the Order of Merit and Ryder Cup points, so I decided to cough and splutter my way round, eventually shooting 77."
It dropped him to joint 60th in the 74-man field and meant he did not pick up any world ranking points in any case.
Lawrie won the Qatar Masters last month and is currently fifth in the race for places in Jose Maria Olazabal's European Ryder Cup side for Medinah in the autumn.
Paul last played in the match in 1999 - the year he won the Open Championship, of course, from an amazing 10 strokes behind with a round to play at Carnoustie.
Olazabal, meanwhile, has also withdrawn from this week's event at Aloha near Marbella. Plagued by rheumatic pains for the best part of two decades, he has a foot injury.

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Miguel Angel Jiménez, whose company MAJ Group promotes the Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol, is confident that Aloha Golf Club will deliver another sucessful staging of the tournament this week.
The 18-time European Tour winner said: “Aloha is a great golf course, so I’m sure all the guys will really enjoy playing there. I was there three weeks ago and it was in perfect condition, so hopefully we’ll have some good weather and everyone can have a great week.
"It can sometimes be quite a stressful week because I have so much going on, but I always have a really good time, and I’m sure this year will be no different.
“It’s always great to be a part of the tournament. I’ve been involved for the last six years now, and I’m very pleased with how it’s grown in that time. I wanted to give something back to the region and to the Tour, and the tournament’s the perfect way of doing that.
"I was born and raised in Andalucía, so I’m very proud of where I come from, and helping to organise the tournament is something that I love to do. It’s great for the region and great for the Tour, so I’m really looking forward to the week.”
The event has attracted another strong field, with three Major champions in action: Rich Beem of America, New Zealand’s Michael Campbell and Canadian Mike Weir. The number should have been five, but 1999 Open Champion, and Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol defending champion Paul Lawrie, was forced to withdraw from the tournament through illness, while a foot injury has robbed the tournament of two time Masters Champion and current European Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal.
Of Jiménez’s fellow Spaniards, recent European Tour champions Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Pablo Larrazábal and Pablo Martin perhaps represent the host nation’s best hopes of securing a home victory for the first time in the tournament’s history.

BRIAN SOUTAR ODD SCOT OUT IN SOUTH AFRICA - MISSES M/PLAY

South African open amateur championship winner Brian Soutar (Leven Golfing Society) was the odd Scot out at the end of the 72-hole Northern Open Amateur Stroke-play golf championship at Randpark GC, Gauteng in South Africa.
Soutar tied for 32nd place after an uncharacteristic last round of 77 put him on the 292 mark.
Only the leading 32 go forward to the tournament's match-play championship and Soutar lost out in the card play-off for the final position among four players who totalled 292.
Scott Crichton (Aberdour) finished joint ninth in the stroke-play with a final round of 73 for 282 - two shots ahead of Paul Shields (Kirkhill) who also closed with a 73.
James White finished joint 19th on 289 with a last-round 75 while Fraser McKenna (Balmore) pulled himself up into the match-play with one of the best last rounds, a 67 (11 shots better than his morning third round, which gave him a total of 291
This is the last event of the SGU Elite Squad's extended training stay in South Africa.

LEADING FINAL STROKE-PLAY TOTALS
Players from S Africa unless stated
275 Zander Lombard 67 69 71 68
277 Victor Lange 69 68 71 69
.
SELECTED TOTALS
279 Toby Tree (Eng) 69 72 66 72(T4)
282 Scott Crichton (Aberdour) 68 69 72 73 (T9)
284 Paul Shields (Kirkhill) 68 73 70 73 (T14)
289 James White (Lundin) 68 74 72 75(T19)
291 Fraser McKenna (Balmore) 73 73 78 67 (T29)

MISSED CUT FOR MATCH-PLAY
292 Brian Soutar (Leven GS) 73 68 74 77.

FIRST-ROUND TIES
James White v Shaun Smith (S Africa)
Tobe Tree v Max Smith (S Africa)
Fraser McKenna v Victor Lange (S Africa)
Scott Crichton v Jacques Kruyswijk (S Africa)
Paul Shields vPedrie Oosthuizen (S Africa)




TO VIEW ALL THE THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

CLICK HERE

ELGIN GC PRO KEVIN STABLES HONOURED BY PGA

                                             KEVIN STABLES ... A talented man of many parts

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE PGA
Former Tartan Tour No 1 Kevin Stables has earned PGA Advanced Fellow Professional status. The accolade, bestowed on the Scot in the latest APAL (Accreditation for Professional Achievement and Learning) awards is another feather in the cap for Stables who has enjoyed a wide ranging career from Tour player to dedicated club professional at Elgin Golf Club.
Stables was one of several Scots to receive APAL awards including Downfield head pro Ken Hutton and Ladybank’s Sandy Smith who were both made PGA Fellow Professionals.
PGA Advanced Fellow status is just one below the highest ranking category of PGA Master Professional and it is another highlight for Stables who once finished 10th behind Jose Maria Olazabal on his PGA Championship debut at Wentworth and won two successive Northern Open titles.
More recently his flair for business management in his head professional role at Elgin has ensured it remains a thriving hub for golfers.
Stables, who teed off his career as a young assistant at Dunblane, has become a pivotal figure at Elgin where he has developed a custom fit and teaching centre, overseen a successful junior programme and introduced a new category of membership as a means to capture new golfers.
In addition he has also sourced a new sponsor for the club’s popular pro-am and further demonstrated his value to the club by providing a full service centre for trolley and cart repairs.
A former Scottish boy international, Stables also has a bagful of memories from two eventful years on tour from 1983-84 where he played alongside the likes of Barry Lane, Philip Walton and BBC commentator and PGA pro, Andrew Murray.
“I was permanently skint, even if you had a good finish you only got around £400, but I enjoyed it immensely, spending time with players like Lane and Walton but it was very difficult,” recalled Stables.
“It was the days of Monday pre-qualifying, if you made the cut you probably played the next week but there were no guarantees.”
Stables was subsequently appointed senior PGA professional to head pro Keith Maxwell at the prestigious Sunningdale Golf Club where his passion for football backfired with a serious injury which prompting a switch in career direction.
“I dislocated my knee playing five-a-side football and was out for 13 weeks but during his time on the sidelines I decided to pursue a career as a club professional,” he added.
He secured his first role at Ranfurly Castle but showed he had lost none of his competitive edge by winning his first 72-hole tournament – the Granite City Classic – just two months after getting out of plaster.
In 1990, a move to Montrose Links beckoned and in the same year he also qualified for the Great Britain and Ireland PGA Cup team that played America on Kiawah Island.
Successfully juggling the demands of the club pro role with playing, the 51-year-old earned three top 20 finishes in the Bells Scottish Open and triumphed in the Northern Opens of 1993 and 1994, the latter year also saw him win the PGA Scottish Region's Order of Merit.
Undoubtedly a career highlight was his top ten display on his debut at the PGA Championship behind Spanish ace Olazabal – the reigning US Masters champion in 1994. He also finished top 20 the following year.
At the turn of the century Stables returned to home town club Elgin to take the head pro role and poured his energies into making that a success. Two years ago he became one of the first to take the PGA director of golf qualification.
An ear infection has dented hopes of playing the European Senior Tour but Stables still has plenty to offer to golf particular the members of Elgin.
“I enjoy the club pro role and have spent a lot of time learning and improving my knowledge,” he added.
“More and more PGA pros are moving into management roles at clubs and with the golf industry facing difficult times I think pros have an important role helping to drive the game forward.”
The APAL programme recognises four additional membership status categories beginning with PGA Advanced Professional and moving onto PGA Fellow Professional, PGA Advanced Fellow Professional and PGA Master Professional. A guide to PGA membership and categories is available at www.PGA.info

ANDREW COLTART JOINS SGU PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
The Scottish Golf Union is delighted to announce the appointment of former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart onto its Performance Committee to support the development of the country’s leading amateur players.
Coltart joins new Non-Executive Performance Director Stephen Docherty, who joined the SGU’s Board of Directors in January with the responsibility to improve the structure of the performance programmes within the top echelon of the Men’s playing squads.
The 41-year-old, one of Scotland’s most-respected golfers who recently retired from the European Tour circuit, will seek to pass on his knowledge and experience for the benefit of the Men’s and Boys’ squads in a mentoring capacity.
Coltart enjoyed an impressive amateur career, winning the 1987 Scottish Boys Amateur Championship and the 1991 Scottish Amateur Stroke Play Championship, before embarking on a pro career that delivered, among other achievements, two European Tour titles, Alfred Dunhill Cup glory for Scotland (1995) and a Ryder Cup appearance (1999).
Coltart’s input reflects Scottish Golf’s continuing engagement with the nation’s top professionals to aid the overall development of the game, with Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher – through their respective junior foundations – also determined to help youngsters enjoy and progress in golf.
Docherty replaced former Director John Fraser on the Board, having served on the Performance Committee for the past year, adding his significant golf and business credentials. He was capped at both Boys and Youths level, as well as being a member of the Great Britain AND Ireland Boys team in 1987.
Stephen has taken the opportunity of his appointment to change the make-up of the Committee with Coltart, Iain Simpson, a former County player with a strong educational background, and Kevin Craggs, coach to Catriona Matthew and Kylie Walker, becoming members.
They will work with Scottish Golf staff Steve Paulding and Kevin Cademy-Taylor and SGU National Coaching staff Ian Rae and Neil Marr.
Paulding, Scottish Golf Performance Manager, said: “We are delighted to be bringing two people with the calibre of Andrew and Stephen onto the Performance Committee, providing invaluable knowledge and experience, as well as a strong network of contacts to this area.
“Andrew’s professional Tour background provides a different perspective on our discussions which we’ve not had previously, while he is also someone who made the successful move from a top level amateur to a professional capable of winning tournaments.
“In Stephen’s case, he has been hugely influential at Committee level already and has brought in some great ideas, aligned closely to my own thinking. I’m sure he will continue to build on the foundations built by John Fraser and keep progressing the structures we are developing.”
Coltart added: “I’m very excited to be working with the Scottish Golf Union and helping our best amateur players develop. Scotland has an excellent track record in major international amateur events and hopefully my input will see that continue and improve.
“We all want to see young Scots golfers progressing through the ranks from our clubs, Areas and at national level. It’s in all of our interest to keep achieving results and pushing these players onto the next stage. I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge from years on Tour and I’m keen to pass that on.”

ENGLAND NAME FOUR FOR MEN'S EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION
A four-man England team will defend the European Nations Championship next week in Sotogrande, Spain, while an England women’s team will return to the event after an absence of several years (See http://www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk/ for the England women's line-up).
The England men have won this title for the past three years and will look to make it four-in-a-row when the event is played from 21–24 March.
The men’s team is Jack Hiluta (Chelmsford, Essex), pictured, the newly crowned Spanish Amateur Champion, Ashley Chesters (Hawkstone Park, Shropshire and Herefordshire), Neil Raymond (Corhampton, Hampshire) and Toby Tree (Worthing, Sussex).Jack Hiluta, 22, who won the Spanish title earlier this month, has spent the last few years at the University of South Alabama. He was capped at U16 and boys’ levels and has represented GB and I against the Continent of Europe in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. Last year he was third in the Berkshire Trophy.
Ashley Chesters, 22, was capped at U16 level and is a member of the England squad. Last year, he won the Lee Westwood Trophy and finished runner-up in the Simon Bolivar Cup in Venezuela. He visited Australia earlier this year, with top ten finishes in the Masters of the Amateurs and the Avondale Medal.
Neil Raymond, 26, made his full England debut against Spain last year and was also a member of the victorious Home Internationals team. He won the Brabazon Trophy, was runner-up in the Selborne Salver and seventh in the Welsh stroke play. He finished eighth on last year’s Titleist FootJoy EGU Order of Merit and was also a member of the squad which visited Australia, winning the New South Wales Medal.
Toby Tree, 17, has just won the Gauteng North Open in South Africa. He is a past winner of the English U14 and U16 championships, has represented England as an U16 and boy international and represented GB and I in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. He has also won the Douglas Johns Trophy and the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters.The European Nations Championship is played over 72 holes. Each team discounts its worst score each day with the others counting towards the team event. An individual competition runs simultaneously.

BETTER NEWS FROM TIGER: HE MAY BE ABLE TO PLAY NEXT WEEK

FROM THE GOLF DIGEST.COM WEBSITE
JUPITER, Florida (AP): Tiger Woods said last night his left Achilles tendon is mildly strained and he is hopeful he can still play next week at Bay Hill.
Woods withdrew from the Cadillac Championship at Doral on Sunday after hitting his tee shot on the 12th hole.
"Got good news from doc tonight," he posted on his Twitter account. "Only mild strain of left Achilles. Can resume hitting balls late in week and hopeful for next week."
Woods is scheduled to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, which starts March 22, his final tournamen before the Masters. He has played Augusta National every year since 1995.
He said his left Achilles tendon, which caused him to miss two majors last year, felt tight as he warmed up on the practice range before the final round of the Cadillac Championship, and it got worse from there.
It was the second time in 10 months that Woods had to withdraw from a tournament because of his Achilles. He also left after shooting a 42 on the front nine of The Players Championship last May, causing him to sit out three months until it was completely healed.