JOLLY ROGER CHAPMAN IS THE MAN AT OUR SENIOR OPEN

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Roger Chapman is targeting an historic Senior Major Grand Slam at next week’s Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex after completing a ‘Michigan Major Double’ at the US Senior Open Championship on Sunday.
Chapman overturned Bernhard Langer’s four stroke 54-hole lead with a closing round of 66 to finish two shots clear of the German and the American trio of Fred Funk, Tom Lehman and Corey Pavin at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Michigan, just six weeks after he claimed the US Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores, in the same State.
Only the legendary Gary Player has managed the clean sweep of Majors on the European Senior Tour, with the South African capturing the US Senior PGA, The Senior Open Championship and the US Senior Open in 1988.
Now Chapman has the chance to match that remarkable feat at Turnberry next week – coincidentally, the same venue where Player won his Senior Open title in his Grand Slam 24 years ago.
As he sets his sights on the hat-trick, the 53 year old admits he is still coming to terms with his stunning achievements so far in 2012.
“It hasn't sunk in yet, but it is very, very special,” said Chapman. “There are only three other guys that have done a double with the US Senior PGA and the US Senior Open in the same season. And to follow in Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Hale Irwin's footsteps is a true honour.
CONSISTENCY A MUST
He added: “To win any championship, whether it be a regular Tour event or a Senior Major, you have to have that consistency.
“In the past, I was quite good at three rounds but not finishing off. So to play three good rounds, the first three rounds, and then to come out on the last day and shoot 66 shows that the consistency and the ball-striking and the short game is beginning to take fruition. I’m just really looking forward to Turnberry right now.”
As a two-time Senior Major Champion, Chapman will undoubtedly head to Turnberry with more confidence than he did when making his debut in a Major Championship over the Ailsa Course 35 years ago.
“I grew up playing links golf in Kent at courses like Royal St. George’s, Sandwich and Royal Cinque Ports, and I played plenty of links golf as an amateur,” said Chapman.

“I’ve played in The Open Championship 17 times during my career and I’m quite comfortable playing seaside golf.
“Winning at Indianwood was good preparation for The Senior Open Championship. When you look out over the course from the first fairway you can see the humps and hillocks, which reminded me of the links courses of Scotland. The layout certainly had a Scottish links theme and feel.
FULL OF CONFIDENCE

“Fortunately, I’m a bit more experienced and I’m full of confidence after my two back-to-back Senior Major victories, so I won’t be feeling quite the same as I did when I played in my first Open Championship at Turnberry. That was back in 1977, the year of Tom Watson’s victory over Jack Nicklaus in the famous ‘Duel in the Sun.’
“As an amateur, I’d qualified for The Open at West Herts Golf Club and then at Western Gailes in Ayrshire. I remember standing on the seventh tee looking out over the Ailsa Course and gazing at the huge crowds and thinking, ‘What on earth am I doing here.’ I felt totally out of my depth.
“It would be a boyhood dream to win another Major on home soil.”
Chapman will be joined by a world-class field at Turnberry which includes Senior Open Championship debutant Fred Couples and Watson, a three-time Senior Open Champion.

Advance tickets to for The 2012 Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex at Turnberry can now be purchased online at www.senioropengolf.com, where discounts and offers can also be found.

HOSPITALITY PACKAGES

Hospitality packages for each of the four Championship days are also now available at £95 per person inc VAT, which includes admittance to the course along with a three-course lunch and glass of champagne in Turnberry’s signature restaurant, 1906, reserved parking, a Championship programme and a draw sheet.

American Russ Cochran won The 2011 Senior Open Championship at Walton Heath, England, holding off the challenge of former Open Champion Mark Calcavecchia, three-time Senior Open Champion Watson and 2010 United States Ryder Cup Captain Pavin.

Watson will be returning to Turnberry where he won The Open Championship in 1977, defeating Nicklaus in the famous ‘Duel in the Sun’, and The Senior Open Championship in 2003, defeating Carl Mason in a play-off. He also came agonisingly close to winning the Claret Jug over the Ailsa Course in 2009 at the age of 59, losing in a play-off to compatriot Stewart Cink.

TIGER WOODS SAYS SOME OF ROYAL LYTHAM ROUGH IS UNPLAYABLE

 FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE 

By James Corrigan

Tiger Woods labelled sections of the Lytham rough “almost unplayable” after his first practice round on Sunday and declared that he had never seen rough “so thick and dense".

With rain and wind forecast for the rest of the week, the 141st Open seems destined to be high scoring at the very best .

The former world No 1 spent more than five hours plotting a way round this tight links course.

And as soon as he saw the condition of the knee-high cabbage lining the fairways he decided on his game plan: short grass only.

“Oh my God,” said Woods, when asked about the penalty for errant driving. “It’s just that you can’t get out of it.

"The bottom six inches is so lush. The wispy stuff, we’ve always faced that at every Open.  But that bottom six inches; in some places it’s almost unplayable.”

The memory of Carnoustie, 1999, will inevitably be evoked. On that occasion players were forced to chop out sideways when they were just a few feet off the snake-like fairways.
When Woods arrived for his 8.50am tee-off time - having landed at Blackpool airport at 7.30am - the whisper was that Stuart Appleby had lost two balls in the rough when only 20 feet off the fairway. Within a few minutes Woods could understand why.
“I’ve never seen rough this high. Or thick, or dense,” he told one American journalist during his round.
FORMIDABLE CHALLENGE
The course was lit up by sunshine yesterday, but still the gusts made the 7,086-yard layout a formidable challenge.

“I did a lot of work out here today because come the next few days you probably won’t be able to get in any,” said Tiger Woods, who played on his own, accompanied by members of his management team and his caddie, Joe LaCava.

“You have to make a decision on the tee what you’re going to do.
"With certain winds you can clear them [the bunkers] and other winds you can’t.”
There are 206 bunkers at Lytham and obviously the imperative is to avoid the sand.
Yet Woods revealed that the rain-soaked - and in some case rain-filled - traps could be more penal than usual.

“Probably the biggest difference [since 2001] are the bunker conditions,” said Woods, who finished 25th the last time The Open was here 11 years ago.

“A lot of them had standing water in them so it will be interesting to see how much more water they can take.”
Woods was hardly alone in his assessment. “It is brutal in places,” said Paul Casey. Meanwhile, Keegan Bradley, the USPGA champion, didn’t dare venture off the fairway.
“I tried not to hit any out of the rough today but I will the rest of the week,” said Bradley.
FLIP OF THE COIN
“It’s very spotty. One foot to the left, you are hitting in to the green; another foot and you are chipping out to the fairway.
"It’s a flip of the coin whether you’re going to get a good lie or not. Hopefully, I have some luck stored up.”
In fairness to the Royal & Ancient and the Lytham greenstaff, the sustained rain in England’s ‘summer’ has meant that juicy rough and saturated bunkers are inevitable.
Otherwise, the condition of the course is impeccable. After two days of sunshine, the greens have already firmed up.
“We weren’t even finding ball marks on them,” said Bradley. “The forecast is for a lot of rain but it seems like it only takes a day and it dries out.”
That puts a greater premium on the tee-shots. “You simply have to drive it well here,” said Bradley.
Darren Clarke, the defending champion, was an hour-and-a-half quicker for his practice round than Woods.
The Northern Irishman played under the shrewd eye of Pete Cowen, who has coached the last two winners of the Open.
A PROPER TEST
“Par would have been a good score today,” said Cowen. “Yes, you can score on the front nine where the players have the prevailing wind at their backs.
"But then, if you do manage to get to two-under, you have to protect it coming back into the wind. It’s a proper test.” Bradley concurred.
“I’ve never played a course where the first nine holes are pretty much downwind and the last nine are straight in,” he said.
Despite all the obstacles presenting themselves between Woods and a 15th major, he claimed to have enjoyed his first day at what he calls “my favourite major”.
The galleries were sizeable without being distracting and the sunlight was a welcome surprise after all the downpours.
“It was nice out there,” said Woods. “But it’ll be interesting to see when the rain arrives if [the wind] will be coming from a different direction.” Interesting could be the very least of it.

ROGER CHAPMAN WINS US SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

Another great weekend in America for England's Roger Chapman.
He won the US Senior Championship - his second over-50s win in the States within a month or two.

TO ACCESS A REPORT AND THE SCORES

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ZACH JOHNSON WINS JOHN DEERE CLASSIC PLAY-OFF

Zach Johnson beat long-time leader Troy Matteson in a play-off at the conclusion of the US PGA Tour weekend event, the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Illinois.
England's Gary Christian faded over the last two rounds - although he scored 70-71 - to finish T19 on 272 - eight shots behind the play-off participants.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Players from US unless stated
264 Zach Johnson 68 65 66 65, Troy Matteson 61 68 66 69 (Johnson won play-off)
266 Scott Piercy 65 69 67 65
267 John Senden (Australia) 69 64 67 68
268 Luke Guthrie 65 68 72 64, Steve Stricker 65 67 68 70

SELECTED SCORE
272 Gary Christian (England) 65 66 70 72 (T19)

TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

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TO VIEW A SUMMARY OF THE LAST DAY'S PLAY AND INTERVIEWS WITH THE LEADING PLAYERS

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HUGH HUNTER'S CLACKMANNAN COUNTY NEWS

Making his first appearance in the European Boys Team tournament held near Stockholm, Alva’s Lawrence Allan made a highly satisfactory debut in the event showing he can bring good golf to a prestigious event.  Sixteen of the best golfing nations in Europe compete over a gruelling 5 days for the title of European Boys Team Champions---- the event starts with 2 rounds of stroke play to determine the two groupings of eight teams.   Lawrence returned scores of 74 and 75 over the difficult course, and with 5 scores out of 6 to count it looked like Scotland would be in the second flight…. However with a Spanish team member carrying 15 Clubs instead of the regulation 14, the Scottish team took their place in the top flight of 8 and the first match was against Italy playing foursomes and singles.  Paired with Craig Howie gave Lawrence his first win by 4/3---- in the afternoon singles luckily he didn’t play and the Scots lost heavily in the singles to give Italy victory by 4 – 2 with one half.  Two further matches were unfortunately lost ----- down 3-2 to both Ireland and Norway .However Lawrence had a convincing win in his Irish match….. 5 up after 9 and winning 6 and 4.  Against his Norwegian opponent he found himself 2 down after 9 but fought back only to lose on the last hole.  The Scottish Boys finished in 8th position..

Altogether one of the best performances from the squad of six and one which should assure him of a place in the Scottish Boys Home International team to play in Ireland next month.  It should also give him some confidence for the Scottish Boys Stroke Play Championship to be held at Cardross next week.

  WELL DONE LAWRENCE!!

                  CLACKMANNAN GOLFERS OUT AND ABOUT

  In the Sutherland Chalice, a 72 hole Scottish Golf Union Order of merit event, Dollar’s Scott Borrowman finished 10th with rounds of  71,66,72,73.  Alloa’s Jamie Aitken missed the cut with rounds of 77, 77.    Scott will be hoping to keep up the good work at the Newlands Trophy 72 hole event at Lanark this weekend.

   In the Scottish Seniors Match Play Championship at West Kilbride, Tulliallan’s Bob Stewart qualified easily with rounds of 75 and 77 then won his first round against  George Blair by two holes  Bob unfortunately lost in the second round at the 20th to David Gardner the eventual winner.        .

 In The Scottish Under 16’s Championship held at Strathaven last week, Alloa’s Brian McAdam  making his first appearance in a National event couldn’t quite find some golf form, but the experience probably helped his game and maybe even his language skills as he was drawn with two Europeans—one French, the other Swiss.

   In the Highland Spring Junior Masters at Auchterarder, the only Clackmannanshire player was Cameron McGorgray (Tillicoultry), and he finished with 30 points--- 7 points away from the top 16 qualifying for the final at Gleneagles.

   On the professional side, Tulliallan’s Callum Macaulay made the cut in the Credit Suisse event, finishing second best Scot at 36 equal with rounds of 69,71,72,72. His current ranking is 32  and his next Challenge Tour event is the Double Tree by Hilton at the Acaya Golf resort  Puglia in Italy…. hopefully a good finish will move him back up towards the top twenty.

   

                                          LOCAL GOLF FIXTURES.

  The weather is playing havoc with golf fixtures causing events to be cancelled and re-scheduled.

 Saturday 21st July       County Championship        Dollar

 Tuesday 24th July       Senior Open                         Alloa