THAT MAN BROBERG IS IN THE CHALLENGE TOUR HUNT AGAIN!

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
Klas Eriksson clung onto his lead on the third day of the ECCO Tour Championship hosted by Thomas Björn & Mercedes-Benz, but his advantage was cut to just one stroke by a chasing pack which is headed by record-seeking Swede Kristoffer Broberg. 

Broberg is in contention to claim an unprecedented hat-trick of titles after moving ominously into a share of second place after a round of 67 which, by his own exceptionally high standards, he deemed merely “average”.

Having won the last two tournaments with an aggregate score of 3 under par, Broberg has come to expect excellence and so was perhaps entitled to feel a touch disappointed with his display, despite moving to ten under par – and within sight of a place in the history books.    

Should the 26 year old overhaul Eriksson on the final day of the €160,000 event at Stensballegaard Golf in Horsens, Denmark, he would earn instant promotion to The European Tour after just four appearances on the Challenge Tour this season – and set another record in the process.

Eriksson, who signed for a one over par round of 73 for an 11 under par aggregate total, is certainly wary of the threat posed by his younger compatriot.

He said: “Golf is such a great game when you have confidence, and Kristoffer’s confidence must be unbelievably high at the moment. He must feel pretty invincible right now, and all credit to him because he’s playing some fantastic golf. We were playing in the group behind him today, and he found virtually every fairway and every green, so I’m a little surprised he didn’t go even lower than he did.

“I think his scoring average over the past 11 rounds must be about 65! No doubt he’ll go and shoot another low one tomorrow, so I’m going to have to play very well to beat him, because level par’s not going to be anywhere near good enough to win the tournament. But that focuses my mind a little bit, so I guess at least I know what I have to do: be positive, and make as many birdies as I can.”

For his part, Broberg blamed a cold putter for a round which could, with a touch more luck on the greens, quit easily have matched or even bettered Eriksson’s effort on the second day, when he broke the course record with a stunning 62. Instead, Broberg had to be content with four birdies and an eagle at the opening hole which got his history bid off to the perfect start.

He said: “If I’d managed to get the putter going I could’ve gone really low today, but it just wasn’t my day on the greens. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes, it’s frustrating but you can’t always have things all your own way. I’ve been putting very well the last few weeks, so hopefully I can get the feeling back again tomorrow. I know I’m hitting the ball well enough to win – if I can putt well enough, hopefully I’ll get another trophy in my cabinet.”

Broberg was joined in a share of second place by the English duo of James Busby (67) and Graeme A Clark (69) and local favourite Joachim B Hansen, who shot a round of 64. On a day when the Sicilian Open champion Thorbjørn Olesen conducted a golfing clinic for the fans, Hansen delivered a performance of which his friend and compatriot would be proud, notching six birdies and an eagle at the 15^th hole to surge into contention to capture his debut Challenge Tour title.

 

On a day of astonishingly low scoring, English Challenge champion Chris Paisley signed for a stunning round of 63 to join Italian Alessandro Tadini in a share of sixth place on nine under par. Paisley’s compatriot Robert Dinwiddie almost matched his score of 63, but after closing with two bogeys had to settle for a round of 64 and an eight under par aggregate total alongside Iceland’s Birgir Hafthorsson (69) and German Nicolas Meitinger (70).

 

Scores after round three:

205 K Eriksson (Swe) 70 62 73,

 206 J Busby (Eng) 68 71 67, J Hansen  (Den) 67 75 64, G Clark (Eng) 71 66 69, K Broberg (Swe) 70 69 67,

 207 C Paisley  (Eng) 73 71 63, A Tadini (Ita) 69 71 67,

 208 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 69 70 69, N Meitinger  (Ger) 69 69 70, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 71 73 64,

 210 J Palmer (Eng) 71 70 69, M Tullo (Chi) 69 74 67, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 65 74, D Palm (Swe) 71 70 69,

 211 N Lemke (Swe) 70 72 69, S O'Hara  (Sco) 71 69 71, D Brooks (Eng) 69 71 71,

 212 C Lee (Sco) 71 71 70, S Kim (Kor) 70 73 69, A Velasco (Esp) 74 70 68, A Hansen  (Den) 72 72 68, F Christensen (Swe) 71 73 68, R Echenique (Arg) 72 69 71, M Madsen  (Den) 74 71 67, F Fritsch  (Ger) 72 73 67, T Sluiter  (Ned) 75 68 69, A Kaleka  (Fra) 71 73 68, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 75 68,

 213 M Carlsson  (Swe) 72 73 68, B Parker  (Eng) 69 71 73, R Hjelm (Den) 74 70 69, C Lange  (Den) 72 68 73, L Goddard  (Eng) 74 68 71, D Vancsik (Arg) 70 75 68, J Legarrea (Esp) 71 69 73, M Ford (Eng) 74 69 70, L Saltman (Sco) 71 71 71,

 214 S Tiley (Eng) 71 74 69, N Johansson (Swe) 74 69 71, J Parry (Eng) 72 72 70, N Møller (am) (Den) 73 70 71,

 215 A Hartø  (Den) 69 75 71, N Dougherty  (Eng) 74 70 71, P Oriol (Esp) 71 73 71, C Monasterio (Arg) 71 73 71, E Dubois (Fra) 71 72 72, J Abbott (Eng) 71 74 70, J Doherty  (Sco) 78 66 71, E De La Riva  (Esp) 72 72 71, F Delamontagne  (Fra) 66 77 72,

 216 B An (Kor) 71 74 71, J Gibb (Eng) 70 74 72, J Carlsson (Swe) 74 70 72, M Southgate  (Eng) 72 73 71, V Riu  (Fra) 72 73 71, J Barnes (Eng) 74 71 71, E Blom (Swe) 74 70 72,

 217 A Bernadet  (Fra) 75 70 72, C Russo (Fra) 70 75 72, D Ulrich (Sui) 73 72 72, L Kennedy  (Eng) 74 71 72, L Claverie (Esp) 70 74 73, A Ahokas (Fin) 70 75 72, A Otaegui  (Esp) 74 69 74,

 218 P Relecom  (Bel) 72 72 74,

 220 T Rosendahl (Swe) 72 71 77,

 221 R Steiner (Aut) 73 72 76, A John (Ger) 69 72 80, M Delpodio  (Ita) 70 75 76,

 222 G Dear (Sco) 74 71 77,

 226 A Kristiansen  (Nor) 75 70 81

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SCOTLAND WIN TITLE WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM ENGLAND

             Scotland winning team picture by Andy Forman
 
SGU MEDIA RELEASE

Scotland’s amateur golfers have won the Men's Home Internationals for the first time since 2006 on a thrilling final day’s play at Glasgow Golf Club’s Gailes Links.

The Scots powered to a 9.5 – 5.5 win over Wales and were then reliant on an English victory over Ireland, which was clinched when Chipstead’s Joshua White earned England’s eighth point of the match with a 6 and 4 defeat of Richard O’Donovan.

That result earned Scotland the Raymond Trophy on a countback thanks to their superior ‘goal difference’ after the hosts, Ireland and England all finished on two points each.

It was Scotland’s first win on home soil since tasting success at Carnoustie 12 years ago and marked a superb comeback by Scott Knowles’ men, having been edged out 8 – 7 by Ireland in the opening match early on Thursday morning.

Scotland took a narrow 3 – 2 lead into the afternoon singles after wins from the excellent Graeme Robertson/Jack McDonald partnership, backed up by a win for Scott Borrowman and Paul Shields.

 

Captain Knowles had ordered his troops to get off to a fast start and his call was answered with a wave of blue numbers on the board, as Scotland raced to the status of being up in eight matches early in the games.

 

Graeme Robertson delivered his sixth win from six to maintain his superb 100% record in the series with a 3/2 win over European Amateur runner-up James Frazer, before Paul Shields clinched his third successive singles with a  resounding 6/5 defeat of Jason Shufflebotham.

 

Ayrshire’s Jack McDonald narrowly lost to Will Jones and Brian Soutar was edged out 2/1, but more success followed for the Scots as Balmore’s Fraser McKenna romped to a 5/4 win against Luke Thomas.

 

James White kept up his unbeaten run by ousting Welsh number one Rhys Pugh 3/2 to make it five points from six for the Fifer, while Scottish Amateur Champion earned his first win of the week with an impressive performance against Geraint Jones by a 6/5 margin.

 

Paul Ferrier clinched Scotland’s ninth point of the day with a 3/1 success over Ben Westgate while Matthew Clark earned Scotland a half point in the final game in a hard fought battle with David Boote.

 

A delighted captain Scott Knowles was full of praise for his players in what may be his last Home Internationals leading the team:

 

“It’s a great feeling to win and doing it in Scotland makes it even more special. Although the foursomes matches were tight this morning, we were confident that we could reach our target of nine and a half points in the singles and I asked the guys to get off to a fast start.”

 

“Credit to every one of them, they did just that and getting so much blue on the board early was infectious. We wanted to focus on our own game and not worry about the England versus Ireland match and again they responded.

 

“The players have all got great belief and really worked for each other. They’ve been fantastic on all three days, played as a team and supported each other. We emphasised every point would be crucial and that’s how it turned out.”

 

Ireland’s hopes of a the ‘Triple Crown’ were dashed as a resurgent England side came back from a 3 – 2 morning foursomes deficit to storm to a 9.5 – 5.5 winning margin, Garrick Porteous setting the tone with a  crushing 6 and 4 defeat of Amateur Champion Alan Dunbar.

 

>> Click here for final results from Glasgow Golf Club’s Gailes Links.

http://www.golfbox.dk/livescoring/poolinfo.asp?pool=%7B741FC302%2D772F%2D4584%2DAD54%2D8B83505AFB1F%7D&clubOnly=1&color=1&lang=2057

 

ENDS

Ross Duncan Marketing, Media & Sponsorship Manager Direct Line: 01334 466482 Mobile No: 07834 191896

Scottish Golf Union | The Duke's | St Andrews | Fife | KY16 8NX

FARRY AND FORSBRAND SHARE SCOTTISH SENIOR OPEN LEAD

NEWS RELEASE FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Marc Farry reaped instant rewards from his decision to change putter as the Frenchman carded an opening round six under par 66 to share the lead with Anders Forsbrand in the SSE Scottish Senior Open at Fairmont St Andrews.
The 52 year old felt that his form with the putter had not reflected the rest of his game so far this season, particularly on his last trip to Scotland for The Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex at Turnberry three weeks ago.
Although the two-time Senior Tour champion finished a respectable 35^th over the Ailsa Course,  his frustration on the greens prompted him to switch to the belly putter and five birdies on the front nine –including four in a row from the third hole - quickly vindicated the decision.

He picked up another birdie on the 15^th hole before dropping his only shot of the on the 17^th hole when he pulled his tee shot and had to hit his approach shot from the adjacent 16^th fairway.  But a closing birdie ensured the former BMW International Open winner finished on a high, just as Forsbrand did in his bogey-free 66.

Both players attributed their impressive starts to improvements with the putter, with Farry particularly pleased with his rapid change in fortune.

“I have really been putting badly this season and probably the worst was at Turnberry,” said Farry. “I played well there but couldn’t make putts – it was a joke.

“So I decided a week ago to try the belly putter from now on and it worked well today. I played very well the first 15 holes – I hit every green. I had a three putt on ten from nowhere and missed a three footer for birdie on nine so I went 30 on the front nine and could easily have been 29.

“Because of my size with the short putter I crouched too much and maybe with the belly putter I have a different vision with the line and I am standing a fraction taller.

“It helps. It’s not that easy for long putts but for short putts, inside 15ft it is a fraction easier. I just feel more confident. I’ve only been practising with it for a week so it has been pretty instant.

“I was so mad after Turnberry that I felt I deserved a little better than that, even though I finished 35^th. My friend said why don’t you try this one and I had a few putts and decided to bring it here. I’m pretty happy – to shoot 66 at St Andrews, in the sunshine, is great.”

Swede Forsbrand, a six-time champion on the European Tour, is yet to win on the Senior Tour but after finished joint second in the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship in June and some consistent performances this season, he feels a win could be on the horizon.

“I’d take that sort of round any day,” he said. “I holed two important putts on the sixth hole and 17 for par. But otherwise it was very solid.

“The putter has been very poor of late, but it was good today. I’m very pleased.  My long game has been really good at times this year, I’ve just not holed enough putts to win. I’m getting closer though.”

Scot Andrew Oldcorn leads the home challenge a further shot back on five under par, along with English pair Carl Mason and Andrew Sherborne.

Oldcorn was also happy to have improved on his performance at Turnberry last month when he missed the cut by one shot.

“I’m just so pleased to play a round without a bogey and it’s down to a lot of hard work,” he said. It’s my best round here for miles. I love this course and I think it’s a great design but I’ve just never been able to play it. I don’t read the greens well and some of the holes don’t really shape up that well for me.”

Former Ryder Cup Captains Mark James and Ian Woosnam opened with rounds of 68 and 69 respectively, while Scotland’s Gordon Brand Jnr matched Woosnam’s score for a share of tenth position.

Sam Torrance, who designed the course that bears his name, began with a level par 72, while Barry Lane’s bid for a third consecutive victory in the event got off to the worst possible start with a double bogey on the first hole as the early morning starters were hampered by adverse conditions.

Heavy rain caused a 3hours 45minutes suspension in play with the course waterlogged, and after the restart Lane went on to sign for a two over par 74 to lie eight shots off the pace.

 

 

First round scores from the SSE Scottish Senior Open at Fairmont St Andrews (par 72)

 

66 M Farry (Fra) , A Forsbrand (Swe) ,

 67 A Sherborne (Eng) , C Mason (Eng) , A Oldcorn (Sco) ,

 68 B Lincoln (RSA) , M Harwood (Aus) , M James (Eng) , D Smyth (Irl) ,

 69 D Russell (Eng) , T Thelen (USA) , G Brand Jnr (Sco) , G Manson (Aut) , I Woosnam (Wal) , K Spurgeon (Eng) ,

 70 R Davis (Aus) , S Cipa (Eng) , P Wesselingh (Eng) , P Walton (Irl) , G Norquist (USA) ,

 71 G Ralph (Eng) , M Cunning (USA) , G Banister (Aus) , D Merriman (Aus) , A Fernandez (Chi) , B Longmuir (Sco) , K Tarling (Can) ,

 72 G Ryall (Eng) , M Mouland (Wal) , P Golding (Eng) , G Wolstenholme (Eng) , P Fowler (Aus) , C Bolling  (USA) , S Torrance (Sco) , B Cameron (Eng) , J Bruner (USA) , D Wettlaufer (Can) , C Elliott (Sco) , M Belsham (Eng) ,

 73 C Williams (RSA) , P Mitchell (Eng) , M Martin (Esp) , D Durnian (Eng) , P Smith (Sco) , R Gibson (Can) ,

 74 B Lane (Eng) , T Elliott (Aus) , P Horrobin (Jam) , S Van Vuuren (RSA) , R Drummond (Sco) , J Rhodes (Eng) , B Smit (RSA) , J Chillas (Sco) , F Mann (Sco) , N Ratcliffe (Aus) ,

 75 T Price (Aus) , Z Martinez (USA) , G Brand (Eng) , N Job (Eng) ,

 76 J Gould (Eng) , R Sabarros (Fra) , J Harrison (Eng) , D O'Sullivan (Irl) , M Piñero (Esp) , M Gray (Sco) ,

 77 D Cambridge (Jam) ,

 78 G Harvey (Sco) , T Burgoyne (Sco) ,

 79 S McAllister (Sco) ,

 80 J Hall (Eng) , L Carbonetti (Arg) ,

 82 A Garrido (Esp) ,

 84 T Stafford (am) (Sco) ,

 

 

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ANDREW'S DAY IN EDEN TOURNAMENT

GOLF COPY AND RESULTS CREDIT CAL CARSON GOLF AGENCY QUERIES TO COLIN FARQUHARSON ANDREW'S DAY IN EDEN TROPHY TOURNAMENT Andrew Day from Broadstone, the 48th qualifier for the match-play stages, won the Eden Trophy Tournament at St Andrews today (friday). He beat another English "invader" Donovon (repeat Donovon) Henderson-Sowerby, the 14th qualifier from Burford, by one hole in the final. Day eliminated the No 4 seed, James Fawssett from Walton Heath), by one hole in the morning semi-final while Henderson-Sowerby  won on the 18th green against the No 2 seed, Matthew Hogg (Rushcliffe). EDEN TROPHY TOURNAMENT St Andrews SEMI-FINALS Andrew Day (Broadstone) bt James Fawssett (Walton Heath) 1 hole, Donovon Henderson-Sowerby (Burford) bt Matthew Hogg (Rushcliffe) 1 hole. FINAL Day bt Henderson-Sowerby 1 hole. EDEN TANKARD (handicap) SEMI-FINALS Stephen Carse (Ireland) (12) bt William Paton (West Kilbride) (7) 6 and 5, Guillermo Perez (Spain) (4) bt Arnold Mitterer (Woburn) (8) 2 and 1. FINAL Carse bt Perez 3 and 1. ends

TOMATIN SINGLE MALT 54-HOLE PRO-AM

Press Release from the PGA in Scotland

The first three day Pro-Am to be staged as part of the Tartan Tour schedule for almost a decade is less than two months away, and there are only a handful of spaces available for teams still wishing to enter.

Sponsored by the Tomatin Distillery, the event will be held over three of Scotland’s top courses on the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd of October  – Castle Stuart, host venue of the 2012 AAM Scottish Open, Nairn, which staged the 2012 Curtis Cup and Royal Dornoch which was the scene of the 2012 Scottish Amateur Championship – and will follow the format of the Dunhill Cup with teams spread across the three courses on each of the three days.

Entry for a team of three Amateurs and a Professional is £1,700 (+VAT), which includes a round at each of the three venues with a Gala Dinner at the conclusion of the event.  With around £60,000 of prizes and prize-money on offer, the Tomatin Three Day Pro-Am has the biggest purse of any golf event in the UK outside of the European, Challenge or EuroPro Tours. 

Remaining spaces will be allocated on a “first come, first serve basis”.  Amateur teams may enter without a Professional, and they will be teamed with one of the leading players from the PGA in Scotland Order of Merit.  Anyone interested should contact  fcromarty@castlestuartgolf.com  or see  www.castlestuartgolf.com/events-2012  for more details.

Fraser Cromarty, the Sales and Marketing Director at Castle Stuart commented. “I’m absolutely delighted, but not surprised at the uptake. When you look at what’s on offer it represents tremendous value and while the majority of the teams are from Scotland, we’ve got players coming from all over the world. Having the backing of Tomatin Single Malt has taken the event to an even higher level than we envisaged when we floated the idea, and hopefully this will grow and grow in the future”

NE DISTRICT OPEN CUT TO THREE ROUNDS

GOLF COPY CREDIT CAL CARSON GOLF AGENCY QUERIES TO COLIN FARQUHARSON NE DISTRICT OPEN CUT TO THREE ROUNDS This weekend's North-east District Open golf championship at Newmachar has been cut to 54 holes before a ball has been struck. District secretary George Young explained: "Due to the very wet weather we have decided to cut the NE Open to 54 holes with 18 on Saturday using the afternoon start times and hopefully 36 on the Sunday with no cut." ends

US MEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

FROM THE USGA WEBSITE

By Brian DePasquale, USGA

Cherry Hills Village, Colorado. – Justin Thomas, 19, of Goshen, Ky., defeated medalist Bobby Wyatt, one up, in a matchup of college teammates on Thursday to become one of eight players to advance to the quarterfinal round at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship at the par-71, 7,409-yard Cherry Hills Country Club.
Thomas and Wyatt, University of Alabama team members who are fifth and sixth, respectively, in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), produced a roller-coaster match where each player held a least a two-hole lead. Thomas, who won the 2012 Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s top collegian, went ahead for good by recovering well from a poor tee shot and making a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 17th.
“I felt I could carry that bunker with a driver,” said Thomas, who had reached the U.S. Amateur’s round of 32 the previous two years and defeated Max Homa, 3 and 1, in the round of 32 on Thursday morning. “I just killed it, double-crossed it. The ball could have gone anywhere. I turned down a 9-iron (with his second shot) and wanted to get it anywhere on the fairway. It worked out well.”
The 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the championship scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final on Sunday, starting at 8:30 a.m. MDT.
The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
Wyatt, 20, the medalist in stroke play with a record-tying performance (132), rallied from three holes down to defeat Matthew Stieger of Australia in the morning’s second round. Against Thomas, he won the 13th and 15th with pars to square the match, but sent his approach over the 17th green while his opponent made the go-ahead birdie.
Cheng-Tsung Pan, 20, of Chinese Taipei, reached the quarterfinals of a USGA championship for the first time since the 2007 U.S.  Amateur at The Olympic Club as a 15-year-old. Pan, who tied for second in stroke play behind Wyatt, and has played in five of the last six U.S. Amateurs, saw a three-hole lead evaporate against Andrew Presley, 20, of Fort Worth, Texas. Pan birdied the par-4 16th by reaching the green from a fairway bunker and converting a 35-foot putt.
Pan explained what has changed since his last USGA quarterfinal appearance. “My English is better and I feel good about myself,” he said. “My game has improved. I changed my swing and both my short game and putting is better.”
Chris Williams, 20, of Moscow, Idaho, broke open a tight third-round match with France’s Edouard Espana, 20, by winning the opening three holes on the inward nine with a par and two birdies for a 3-and-2 triumph. Williams, the world’s top-ranked amateur and a member of the 2011 USA Walker Cup Team, was also an easy 5-and-3 winner over Adam Stephenson of Greenville, N.C. in the second round.
“He bogeyed 10 and I birdied 11,” Williams said of his match against Espana.. “At 12, we both had putts of about 40 feet. I got a pretty good read off of his. It’s one of those putts you don’t expect to make but if you do it’s a bonus. I was just delighted to see it drop.”
Michael Weaver, 21, of Fresno, Calif., and Steven Fox, 21, of Hendersonville, Tenn., have each registered three match-play victories after surviving Tuesday’s 17-for-14 playoff to make the 64-player bracket. In the third round, Weaver sank a birdie on the 19th hole to advance over Albin Choi of Canada, while Fox won the last two holes for a 2-up victory over Zack Munroe of Charlotte, N.C.
Oliver Goss, the youngest player remaining in the field at age 18, parred 16 and 17 to defeat 27-year-old Bobby Leopold, 2 and 1, in the third round. Goss, who recently captured the Western Australian Amateur, will be a freshman at the University of Tennessee in the fall. Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia, 21, made five birdies in a stretch of seven holes for a 5-and-3 victory over Devon Purser to join the group of eight U.S. Amateur quarterfinalists.
Douglas Hanzel, 55, of Alpharetta, Ga., and Todd White, 44, of Spartanburg, S.C., failed to advance through the second round. Hanzel was the oldest competitor in U.S. Amateur match play since 1979, while White played in the last Amateur at Cherry Hills 22 years ago.
The eight players in the quarterfinals earn exemptions from qualifying for the 2013  U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., and are exempt from local qualifying for the 2013 U.S. Open Championship. Quarterfinal play begins on Friday at 8:30 a.m. MDT.
RESULTS
Cherry Hills Village, Colo. -- Results of Thursday’s second and third rounds of match play at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,409-yard, par-71 Cherry Hills Country Club.
Round of 32
Upper Bracket
Bobby Wyatt, Mobile, Ala. (132) def. Matthew Stieger, Australia (141), 2 up  
Justin Thomas, Goshen, Ky. (139) def. Max Homa, Valencia, Calif. (139), 3 and 1
Bobby Leopold, Cranston, R.I. (142) def. Devin Miertschin, El Paso, Texas (138), 4 and 3
Oliver Goss, Australia (138) def. Michael Miller, Brewster, N.Y. (142), 20 holes
Devon Purser, Clearfield, Utah (143) def. Adam Schenk, Vincennes, Ind. (141), 21 holes
Ricardo Gouveia, Portugal (140) def. Patrick Duncan Jr., Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (143), 3 and 2
Michael Weaver, Fresno, Calif. (143) def. Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (141), 2 up
Albin Choi, Canada (142) def. Thomas Pieters, Belgium (143), 4 and 3
Lower Bracket
Steven Fox, Hendersonville, Tenn. (143) def. Douglas Hanzel, Savannah, Ga. (141), 1 up
Zack Munroe, Charlotte, N.C. (139) def. Todd White, Spartanburg, S.C. (142), 2 and 1
Eduoard Espana, France (143) def. Justin Shin, Canada (141), 1 up
Chris Williams, Moscow, Idaho (138) def. Adam Stephenson, Greenville, N.C. (140), 5 and 3
Cheng-Tsung Pan, Chinese Taipei (134) def. Gavin Green, Malaysia (141), 3 and 1
Andrew Presley, Fort Worth, Texas (142) def. Talor Gooch, Midwest City, Okla. (139), 1 up
Brandon Hagy, Westlake Village, Calif. (137) def. Paul Misko, Thousand Oaks, Calif. (141), 5 and 4 Patrick Newcomb, Benton, Ky. (143) def. Michael Hebert, Alpharetta, Ga. (140), 19 holes

Round of 16 
Upper Bracket
Justin Thomas, Goshen, Ky. (139) def. Bobby Wyatt, Mobile, Ala. (132), 1 up
Oliver Goss, Australia (138) def. Bobby Leopold, Cranston, R.I. (142), 2 and 1
Ricardo Gouveia, Portugal (140) def. Devon Purser, Clearfield, Utah (143), 6 and 4
Michael Weaver, Fresno, Calif. (143) def. Albin Choi, Canada (142), 19 holes
Lower Bracket
Steven Fox, Hendersonville, Tenn. (143) def. Zack Munroe, Charlotte, N.C. (139), 2 up
Chris Williams, Moscow, Idaho (138) def. Eduoard Espana, France (143), 3 and 2
Cheng-Tsung Pan, Chinese Taipei (134) vs. Andrew Presley, Fort Worth, Texas (142), 2 up
Brandon Hagy, Westlake Village, Calif. (137) def. Patrick Newcomb, Benton, Ky. (143), 3 and 2

Cherry Hills Village, Colo. – Pairings for Friday’s quarterfinal round of match play at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,409-yard, par-71 Cherry Hills Country Club.
Quarterfinal Pairings
Upper Bracket
8:30 a.m. – Justin Thomas, Goshen, Ky. (139) vs. Oliver Goss, Australia (138)
8:45 a.m. – Ricardo Gouveia, Portugal (140) vs. Michael Weaver, Fresno, Calif. (143)
Lower Bracket
9:00 a.m. – Steven Fox, Hendersonville, Tenn. (143) vs. Chris Williams, Moscow, Idaho (138)

ST ANDREWS LINKS 2013 VISITOR GREEN FEES ANNOUNCED

  NEWS RELEASE FROM ST ANDREWS LINKS TRUST

St Andrews Links Trust has announced its visitor green fees for 2013.  There will be an increase of £5 in the high season visitor green fee for the Old Course in 2013 to £155, with the green fees on the other five 18 hole courses at the Home of Golf staying the same. The New and Jubilee courses will remain at £70 in the high season and The Castle Course at £120. The Eden Course is £40 and the Strathtyrum Course is £25. The nine hole Balgove Course will cost £15 to play next year.

 

The Trust manages the seven public courses in St Andrews including the Old Course, which is renowned as the birthplace of the game and has hosted The Open Championship 28 times, more than any other venue.

 

Significant efforts have been made in recent years to maintain the courses in top class condition and to improve the facilities and services for golfers across the Links.

Euan Loudon, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said, “We believe our courses, including the Old Course, offer exceptional value to golfers. Investment in the courses and our facilities allows St Andrews Links to maintain its reputation as the most renowned golf complex in the world.   Our aim is to ensure that golfers of all abilities can enjoy an outstanding and affordable experience here at the Home of Golf and it is pleasing to see that last year we had more rounds played on the courses than ever before.”

 

The application forms for making Advanced Reservations for 2013 on the Old Course, The Castle Course and the other St Andrews Links courses are now available to download from www.standrews.org.uk. The Advanced Reservations process opens from 10 am BST on Wednesday, September 5 when the forms should be emailed to reservations@standrews.org.uk. Applications will not be accepted prior to that time.

 

 

 

BARRY LANE AND THE TARTAN ARMY OF SENIOR PROS

    Barry Lane and the Tartan Army of Scots-born Senior Tour Professionals at Fairmont St Andrews for the Scottish Seniors Open which starts today

ERIKSSON IS DIFFERENT CLASS - SWEDE LEADS IN DENMARK

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes

An astonishing round of 62 – the lowest of his 21-year professional career – shot Klas Eriksson to the top of the leaderboard on the second day of the ECCO Tour Championship hosted by Thomas Björn and Mercedes-Benz.

Despite a stiff breeze and chilly morning temperatures in Horsens, Denmark, the Swede reeled off ten birdies in a flawless display of golf which smashed the course record at Stensballegaard Golf and moved him to 12 under par for the €160,000 event.

Watched by his wife, Marina, and their two children, Lukas and Emma, Eriksson hit every green in regulation, single-putting ten times – including from 40 feet on the 12^th, 13^th and 16^th holes. Incredibly, Eriksson’s score could quite easily have been lower as he three-putted the par five 15^th hole and also lipped out for birdie on the last.

The 62 bettered by one his previous best rounds, recorded at the Rolex Trophy, the DHL Wroclaw Open and the MAN NÖ Open in 2008. Eriksson finished 11^th in the Challenge Tour Rankings that season and will need to maintain his scintillating form if he is to climb into the all-important top 20 from his current position of 109^th, but the 41 year old was merely happy to have arrested a slump which has resulted in five missed cuts from 12 tournaments this term.     

He said: “If you’re going to shoot a really low one you have to putt well, and it goes without saying that I had a very good day on the greens. But you also have to give yourself the chances, and I played so solid all day. I actually played pretty well yesterday, but just made some stupid mistakes. Today I cut them out and also holed a lot of putts, which was the perfect combination.”

Whilst Eriksson is perhaps used to cooler conditions Jordi Garcia Pinto is an avowed sun seeker, but the Spaniard generated his own heat with a round of 65. Garcia is currently studying for a law degree, but proved his studies were no hindrance to success on the golf course as he notched five birdies and an eagle three on the 15^th hole to eight under par.

The afternoon starters were forced to contend with heavy downpours, but England’s Graeme A Clark battled gamely against the elements to sign for a round of 66. Clark opened with a 25 foot birdie putt on the tenth hole, then promptly followed up with an eagle two after holing out with a nine iron on the 11^th.
That moved the Yorkshireman to four under par, and he added further birdies at the 13^th, 15^th and sixth holes to finish the day on seven under.

Germany’s Nicolas Meitinger, who won the Challenge de France last year, signed for his second successive round of 69 to move to fourth place on six under par.

 

Second round scores:
132 K Eriksson (Swe) 70 62,

 136 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 65,

 137 G Clark (Eng) 71 66,

 138 N Meitinger  (Ger) 69 69,

 139 J Busby (Eng) 68 71, K Broberg (Swe) 70 69, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 69 70,

 140 S O'Hara  (Sco) 71 69, J Legarrea (Esp) 71 69, C Lange  (Den) 72 68, A Tadini (Ita) 69 71, B Parker  (Eng) 69 71, D Brooks (Eng) 69 71,

 141 J Palmer (Eng) 71 70, A John (Ger) 69 72, R Echenique (Arg) 72 69, D Palm (Swe) 71 70,

 142 L Goddard  (Eng) 74 68, L Saltman (Sco) 71 71, J Hansen  (Den) 67 75, N Lemke (Swe) 70 72, C Lee (Sco) 71 71,

 143 S Kim (Kor) 70 73, T Rosendahl (Swe) 72 71, M Tullo (Chi) 69 74, M Ford (Eng) 74 69, N Johansson (Swe) 74 69, F Delamontagne  (Fra) 66 77, T Sluiter  (Ned) 75 68, A Otaegui  (Esp) 74 69, E Dubois (Fra) 71 72, N Møller (am) (Den) 73 70,

 144 L Claverie (Esp) 70 74, A Hansen  (Den) 72 72, P Relecom  (Bel) 72 72, P Oriol (Esp) 71 73, E Blom (Swe) 74 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 75, J Doherty  (Sco) 78 66, E De La Riva  (Esp) 72 72, C Paisley  (Eng) 73 71, F Christensen (Swe) 71 73, J Parry (Eng) 72 72, A Kaleka  (Fra) 71 73, J Gibb (Eng) 70 74, N Dougherty  (Eng) 74 70, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 71 73, A Velasco (Esp) 74 70, A Hartø  (Den) 69 75, R Hjelm (Den) 74 70, C Monasterio (Arg) 71 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 74 70,

 145 B An (Kor) 71 74, C Russo (Fra) 70 75, D Ulrich (Sui) 73 72, J Barnes (Eng) 74 71, V Riu  (Fra) 72 73, A Ahokas (Fin) 70 75, M Madsen  (Den) 74 71, R Steiner (Aut) 73 72, D Vancsik (Arg) 70 75, G Dear (Sco) 74 71, A Bernadet  (Fra) 75 70, M Southgate  (Eng) 72 73, S Tiley (Eng) 71 74, M Carlsson  (Swe) 72 73, J Abbott (Eng) 71 74, F Fritsch  (Ger) 72 73, A Kristiansen  (Nor) 75 70, M Delpodio  (Ita) 70 75, L Kennedy  (Eng) 74 71,

CUT LINE

146 A Perrino  (Ita) 73 73, J Lima  (Por) 74 72, K Storgaard (Den) 74 72, J Dantorp (Swe) 74 72, H Bacher (Aut) 74 72, Å Nilsson (Swe) 72 74, J Heath  (Eng) 73 73, K Grud (Den) 74 72, S Buhl (Ger) 74 72, B Ahlenback (Swe) 73 73, P Gustafsson (Swe) 73 73, A Domingo (Esp) 71 75,

 147 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 75 72, S Garcia (Esp) 71 76, M Glauert (Ger) 72 75, L Jensen (Den) 72 75, C Doak (Sco) 73 74, B Ritthammer (Ger) 74 73, A McArthur  (Sco) 73 74, P Kaensche  (Nor) 71 76, C Aronsen  (Nor) 76 71, C Ford (Eng) 77 70, N Bertasio (Ita) 75 72,

 148 G Stal  (Fra) 75 73, P Edberg (Swe) 74 74, N Henriques  (Por) 73 75, B Etchart  (Esp) 74 74, M Prihoda (Cze) 71 77, L Johansen (Den) 72 76, M Haines  (Eng) 76 72, J Huldahl (Den) 75 73,

 149 L Bjerregaard  (Den) 73 76, F Praegant (Aut) 74 75, P Archer (Eng) 73 76, S Piaget  (Mon) 78 71, D Gaunt (Aus) 76 73, J Nissen (Den) 74 75, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 75 74,

 150 F Calmels  (Fra) 76 74, M Hedegaard (Den) 74 76, D Lokke (Den) 74 76, C Moriarty (Irl) 74 76, P Dwyer (Eng) 76 74, S Gundorph (Den) 73 77, J Kaske (Fin) 73 77, O Nyholm (Den) 80 70, P Gal  (Cze) 78 72, M Haastrup  (Den) 74 76, C Gloet (am) (Den) 76 74, V Østerby (am) (Den) 78 72,

 151 M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 73 78, S Jeppesen  (Swe) 76 75, C Suneson (Esp) 75 76, M Nixon (Eng) 78 73,

 152 B Evans  (Eng) 74 78, C Brazillier  (Fra) 73 79, D Küpper (Ger) 77 75, G Houston (Wal) 77 75, B Åkesson (Swe) 72 80, G Piris Mateu (Esp) 74 78, R Kakko  (Fin) 75 77, A Knappe (Ger) 74 78, V Henum (am) (Den) 79 73,

 153 M Murphy  (Irl) 74 79, P O'Neill (Den) 77 76, J Rask (Swe) 78 75, B Barham (Eng) 75 78, M Kieffer (Ger) 74 79, M Simonsen (am) (Den) 76 77,

 154 C Gane (Eng) 78 76,

 155 A Kasprzak (Den) 73 82, K Nielsen (Den) 79 76, J Winther (Den) 79 76, A Tampion  (Aus) 79 76,

 156 B Chapellan (Fra) 75 81, J Martikainen (Fin) 75 81, S Walker (Eng) 79 77, J Lerchedahl (Den) 78 78,

 157 S Henry  (Sco) 76 81,

 158 M Vibe-Hastrup  (Den) 83 75, D Law (Sco) 82 76,

 160 S Engell Andersen  (Ken) 81 79,

 ** G Cambis  (Fra) 77 WD, E Bertheussen (Nor) 73 WD, F McGuirk  (Eng) DQ  0

Paul Symes

Press Officer

European Tour