Steve Scott's thoughts wandering away from the golf at Murcar Links ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK FROM THE
PAUL LAWRIE FOUNDATION SCOTTISH BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP

By STEVE SCOTT (Dundee Courier and Advertiser)

The Scottish boys' championship s a great event, the annual launch of the Scottish golf season, and always useful for
1 Seeing the best young talent at the start of the long journey to stardom.
2 Getting an idea of the most cutting-edge hairstyles, golfwear and equipment,
3 A cruel realisation of one's own ageing process as one starts to find the players' mums strangely attractive.

DAVID LAW IN TOP 10 WITH A ROUND TO GO IN MOROCCO

Aberdeen's David Law is lying sixth equal with a round to play in this week's EPD (German PGA) Tournament, the Dar Es Salam Open at Dar Es Salam Golf Club, Morocco.
Northern Open champion Law had shot a pair of par-matching 73s for 146 - three shots behind the American leader, Timothy O'Neal (76-67).
The only other Scot to beat the cut at six-over 152 or better was Motherwell's Paul O'Hara with scores of 76 and 75 for 150 and a share of 22nd place.
Philip McLean (80-76 for 152), Jordan Findlay (79-79 for 158) and David James (80-79 for 159) all missed the cut.

DAR ES SALAM OPEN
Dar Es Salam GC, Morocco
LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 146 (2x73)
143 Timonthy O'Neal (US) 76 67.
144 Jann Schmid (Swi) 72 72.
Selected scores
145 Grant Jackson (Eng) 73 72 (T3)
146 David Law (Sco) 73 73 (T6)
150 Paul O'Hara (Sco) 76 74 (T22)
MISSED THE CUT (152 or better qualified)
156 Philip McLean (Sco) 80 76.
158 Jordan Findlay (Sco) 79 79.
159 David James (Sco) 80 79.

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

FIFE GOLFING ASSOCIATION'S 2012 FIFE BOYS' ORDER OF MERIT

Positions after three events

	NAME	CLUB		Points
1	Ewan Scott	St Andrews		210
2	Greg Forrester	Lundin		160
3	Ryan Walsh	Kirkcaldy		150
4=	Euan Davidson	Charleton		50
	John Douglas	Aberdour		50
	Alisdair McDougall	St Andrews New		50
	Ryan Thomson	The Duke’s		50
8	Ben Kinsley	St Andrews		40

The next counting events for the 2012 FIFE BOYS’ ORDER OF MERIT is THE FIFE BOYS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP at CHARLETON on 6 May.

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2012 FIFE ORDER OF MERIT for THE MACKAY BOWL

Positions after 1 event.

	NAME	CLUB		Points
1	James White	Lundin		100
2=	Brian Soutar	Leven GS		80
	Scott Stewart-Cation	The Duke’s		80

GAITTENS AND MACDONALD RETAIN BLACK ISLE FOURSOMES TITLE

STILL HOLDING THE CUP - Chris Gaittens (left) and Michael MacDonald after the Black Isle foursomes.

By ROBIN WILSON
Twelve months ago in the Black Isle Foursomes, the host club, Fortrose and Rosemarkie, found two local heroes in club secretary Michael MacDonald and Chris Gaittens.
They became the first home scratch winners since 1984 and at weekend they made a stout defence of the trophy, beating five time previous winners, Neil Hampton (Royal Dornoch) and Colin Taylor (Kinloss) in the final.
Four time winners Alan Cameron (F and R) and Ewan Forbes (Inverness) and the all Inverness pair of David Joel and Jamie Treasurer completed the semi final match-play group on Sunday morning, a new experience for Joel and Treasurer following the call into action at a North District trial match atForres of Tain's Munro Ferries and Thurso's Dougie Thorburn.
This event affected this year's entry where the winners led the four semi finalists into the match play stages with excellent Saturday qualifying rounds of 71 and 69.
The Invernesians who qualified with cards of 76 and 74 on Saturday lost in the semi-final to the holders on the 17th green. The other semi final was a re-run of the 2010 final with the same outcome. Inverness club secretary Forbes and local Cameron lost to Hampton and Taylor, this time by one hole.
In the final after a halved first hole, six of the next seven holes were exchanged, Hampton and Taylor winning the 2nd, 4th 5th and 7th but losing the 3rd and 6th but finding themselves two ahead of Gaittens and MacDonald. The local pair with par figures won the next two holes to be level after nine and after a shared 10th hole went ahead by two from a conceded birdie on the 11th and a par figure at the twelfth hole.
After their lead was halved by a birdie at the 14th hole they quickly reinstated their two hole advantage with a par four on the next. Hampton and Taylor found another birdie putt on the 16th green, the penultimate hole was then halved but from the final tee Taylor pulled his tee shot left and an unchallenged par three retained the trophy for the local pairing.

RESULTS

The Black Isle Open Foursomes – Sponsored by MacKenzie Investment Strategies in Inverness

Scratch Qualifiers

140 M MacDonald (F and R) and C Gaittens (F and R) 71 69

150 A Cameron (F and R) and E Forbes (Inverness) 76 74, N D Hampton (Royal Dornoch) and C Taylor (Kinloss) 75 75

151 D Joel (Inverness) and J Treasurer (Inverness) 73 78

Handicap Qualifiers

143M Windsor (F and R) and J Simpson (Nairn) (12) 72 71, B Main (F and R) and C Young (F and R) (9.5) 70.5 72.5)

144 M McArthur (F and R) and J D Hearmon (F and R) (8) 69 75

148 D Chisholm (F and R) and K Williamson (F and R) (6) 73 75. 

Best net score outside the qualifiers – D Patterson (F  and R) and D Shaw (Nairn) 70.5.

Match-Play Stages

Scratch

Semi-finals

M MacDonald (F and R)  and C Gaittens (F and R) bt D Joel (Inverness) and J Treasurer (Inverness) 2 and 1; N D Hampton (Royal Dornoch) and C Taylor (Kinloss) bt A Cameron (F and R) and E Forbes (Inverness) 1 Hole

Final

MacDonald and Gaittens bt Hampton and Taylor (Kinloss) by Holes. 

Handicap

Semi-finals

M Windsor (F and R) and J Simpson (Nairn) bt D Chisholm (F  and R) and K. Williamson (F  and R) 2 and 1; B Main (F and R) and C Young (F and R) bt M. McArthur (F and R) and J D Hearmon 5 and 4

Final

Windsor and Simpson bt Main and Young 4 and 3.

ANGUS BOYS' TEAM TRIALS AT MONIFIETH LINKS

                  Click on the picture to enlarge it.

SCORES AND PICTURE BY ALEX MACKAY, ANGUS JUNIOR CONVENER

Angus boys' team trials, held at Monfieth Links on Sunday.

Under 18s
1st John Miller (Monifieth) and Tom Ogilvie (Monifieth)
2nd Connar Cook (Caird Park) and Calum McKay (Monifieth)
3rd Ross Dallas (Kirriemuir) and Scott Grant (Downfield)
4th Callum Rennie (Brechin) and Graeme Walker (Downfield)
Under 16s
1st Gavin Petrie (Forfar) and Mac Duncan (Monifieth)
2nd Josh McKenna (Downfield) and John McKenna (Downfield)
T3rd Jamie Beedie (Montrose) and Findlay Soutar (Montrose)
T3rd Marc Howie (Ballumbie) and Josh Norrie (Ballumbie)
Under 14s
1st Harry George (Downfield) and Campbell Gibson (Downfield)
2nd Ryan Spark (Montrose) and Matthew Fagerson (Kirriemuir)
3rd Sean Colvin (Ballumbie) and Charlie Walls (Monifieth)
4th Aidan Smith (Edzell) and Ewan Wheat (Montrose)

HUGH HUNTER'S CLACKMANNAN COUNTY NEWS

ALLAN REACHES LAST EIGHT


Repeating the good performance of a few years ago, Alva’s Lawrence Allan reached the last eight of the Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish boys' championship at Murcar Links last week.
Lawrence won five matches with solid golfing form including one against an elite Boys squad member before losing to Connar Cook in the quarter-finals. On a cold and windy quarter final day, Lawrence just couldn’t find his best short game. Despite reducing his deficit to one hole after nine holes, he could make no progress in turning the match in his favour, eventually losing on the 17th green by 2 and 1.
Lawrence’s next big event is this weekend in the Battle Trophy over the Craighead links at Crail. In this SGW Order of Merit event other locals in the field are Jamie Aitken (Alloa) and Scott Borrowman (Dollar).

MIDLAND ALLIANCE WOUND UP FOR SUMMER

The Midland Alliance, a predominately winter season event, held its last meeting at the Buddon course Carnoustie last week. Best performances came from Alloa’s Chris Westland who finished with a net 66 to take fourth equal position and an eighth equal position for Tulliallan’s Bob Stewart in the scratch section with a 72.
Best performances in the rankings were second placed Chris Westland with 330 pts, and Bob Stewart and Hugh Hunter with 135 points, both finishing 15th equal.
In the professional rankings, Braehead’s Jamie Stevenson finished in third place with winnings of £405.
The Midland Alliance resumes in August and will be visiting Alloa Golf club later in the year

OPTICAL EXPRESS TOUR
Taking advantage of a break in the Challenge Tour events, Tulliallan’s Callum Macaulay took a trip to Dundonald links in Ayrshire to play in this three-round Scottish professional tour event.
With a best of the day 65 in his final round, he neutralised his poor second round to give him a high placing. His four under par total of 212 (70, 77, 65) saw him finish seven shots behind the winner, Gareth Wright.

LOCAL GOLF EVENTS THIS WEEKEND

The biggest Clackmannan event will, of course, be the County Spring Meeting this Saturday which has attracted a healthy entry of just fewer than 200 - over 110 in Division 1 and around 80 in Division 2.
Late entries are still available, and eight qualifiers will be obtained for the County Match Play Championship.
The event also counts towards the Harrower Trophy and County Order of Merit. The County Boys Championship goes to Tulliallan on Sunday - again late entries are available.

Also on Sunday, April 22, Alva Golf Club holds a Belhaven Trophy event

US CHAMPIONS TOUR REPORT AND FINAL TOTALS

Michael Allen won the weekend US Champions (Seniors) Tour event.
To read the report on the US PGA Tour website and check out the
final totals

CLICK HERE

US NATIONWIDE TOUR REPORT AND FINAL TOTALS

TO READ THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE REPORT ON THE NATIONWIDE TOUR EVENT WHICH FINISHED ON SUNDAY (and check out the scores)

CLICK HERE

RORY McILROY REGAINS WORLD NO 1 SPORT FROM LUKE DONALD

FROM THE BBC SPORTS.COM WEBSITE

Luke Donald has surrendered his world number one ranking to Rory McIlroy after finishing the RBC Heritage in the United States in joint 37th place on Sunday.

Donald needed a top-eight placing in South Carolina to stay ahead of the Northern Irishman.
However, he could only finish with a second successive level-par round of 71 to end the week on two over.

RBC Heritage final leaderboard (US unless stated)

• -14: C Pettersson (Swe)
• -9: Z Johnson
• -8: C Knost
• -6: B Mayfair
• Selected others:
• -3: B Davis (Eng)
• +2: L Donald (Eng)
• +3: G Christian (Eng)
• +4: J Daly

TO READ THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE REPORT ON THE RBC HERITAGE TOURNAMENT

CLICK HERE

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

DAVID LAW LEADING SCOTS IN DAR ES SALAM OPEN, MOROCCO

Aberdonian David Law was the best placed Scot in joint seventh place at the end of the first round in this week's EPD (German PGA) Tour event, the Dar Es Salam Open, at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Morocco.

FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 72
69 Daniel Wunsche (Germany)
70 Wouter De Vries (Netherlands).
71 Panos Karantzias, Max Kramer (Germany), Jurrian Van der Vaart (Netherlands).

SELECTED SCORES
73 David Law (Scotland), Grant Jackson (England) (T7)
76 Paul O'Hara (Scotland) (T23)
79 Jordan Findlay (Scotland) (T66)
80 Philip McLean (Scotland), David James (T77)

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

STEPHEN RENFREW WINS ARGYLL AND BUTE MATCH-PLAY TITLE

Left to right: Les Pirie (area association president), runner-up David Graham, winner Stephen Renfrew, and Machrihanish GC captain John Biggins.

REPORT FROM GRAHAM BOLTON

Stephen Renfrew has become the first Port Bannatyne member to win a major Argyll and Bute area championship. He earned the 2012 match-play title over a sun-blessed Machrihanish links at the weekend.

Stephen overcame local member David Graham 2 and 1 in a scrappy final.

Renfrew had a tough route to the final, overcoming former winners Stuart Campbell and George Reynolds in the early rounds.

On Sunday morning he thrashed another local member Oliver Armour 7 and 6 in the semi-final before facing David Graham in the afternoon final.

The other beaten semi-finalist was 15-year-old Robert MacIntyre who has has had an actioned-packed fortnight after representing a developmental Scotland Under-16 boys' squad over in a title-winning performance followed by a last 32 berth in the Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish boys' championship at Murcar Links.

RESULTS
FIRST ROUND

Reevie Thomson bt Allan McKie 4 and 3

David Graham bt John Jack 2 and 1.

Robert MacIntyre bt Ross Currie 5 and 4

Alister McLean bt Graham Bolton 2 and 1

Oliver Armour bt Sean Dunstaffnage 3 and 2

Ian McGougan bt Kenny McCallum at 19th

Stephen Renfrew bt Stuart Campbell 3 and 2

George Reynolds bt Gordon Tyre 4 and 3

QUARTER-FINALS

Graham bt Thomson 3 and 2

MacIntyre bt McLean 5 and 4

Armour bt McGougan 1 hole

Renfrew bt Reynolds 6 and 5

SEMI-FINALS

Graham bt MacIntyre 2 and 1

Renfrew bt Armour 7 and 6

FINAL
Renfrew bt Graham 2 and 1

SCOTT HENRY LAUNCHES HIS OWN WEBSITE

Former Scottish boys' and men's stroke-play amateur champion Scott Henry has launched a new website.

Check it out:

http://www.scotthenrygolf.com/

Editor's note: Apologies for the dated picture of Scott. Hopefully his management team will send Scottishgolfview.com a more recent one!