MIKE LOGGIE BOOSTS PLGC SLOT NORTH-EAST DOUBLE HEADER PRIZE FUND TO MORE THAN £8,000

The Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Scottish Ladies Open Tour's North-east of Scotland double-header in May - 18-hole events at Trump International Links on May 6 and Deeside Golf Club, Aberdeen on May 7 - have been named the Saltire Energy Classic 1 and Saltire Energy Classic 2.

The 36-hole aggregate competition which links the two is being named the Saltire Energy Championship.

North-east of Scotland-based oil-related company Saltire Energy is boosting the prize fund at Trump International and Deeside by £1,000 each and adding around £1,250 to reward the leading two-round totals.

The total prize fund on offer over the two days of the North-east of Scotland double-header will be in excess of £8,250.

The Paul Lawrie Ladies Tour is open to any lady professional and to lady or girl amateurs with single-figure handicaps.

So who are the Saltire Energy Group and who is the man behind this major boost for the new national tour which is designed to help players step up to the Ladies European Tour?

Aberdeen-based Saltire Energy was formed in 1986, has a team of more than 60 staff and supplies an extensive range of state-of-the-art drilling equipment to the Global Oil Industry. It posted annual results (year end to June 30, 2012) with turnover of £21.5million, up from £15million the previous year.

The firm’s ‘Saltire in the Community’ initiative assists a number of charities, projects and individuals in the North-east of Scotland.  Many have a sporting focus with support for local talented golfers, Saltire Energy Sports for Schools, ASV Youth, Curling for Schools and much needed funding for the world-class Aquatics Centre at Aberdeen Sports Village.

The initiative provides University of Aberdeen Scholarships and has also donated a significant sum to Befriend A Child which will help over 80 disadvantaged children in the North-east.

Commenting on the national tour involvement, Mike Loggie (pictured above), Chief Executive of Saltire Energy, said:

"Colin Farquharson's perseverance in getting the lady pro tour idea off the drawing board and on to the golf calendar has paid off and Saltire Energy are certainly be delighted to be involved.

"Apart from the Paul Lawrie Tour, Saltire Energy will this year be sponsoring Laura Murray, who turned professional recently, and in addition we will continue to sponsor Paul, his Foundation and his Golf Centre plus Greig Hutcheon and Ross Cameron."

A member of Deeside Golf Club, the globe-trotting Mr Loggie does not have all that much spare time to have a game there but he is delighted that the second leg of the PLGC SLOT's North-east double-header will be played at the Bieldside venue.

The Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour makes its debut with an Edinburgh double-header next month - Marriott Dalmahoy (April 18) and Ratho Park (April 19)  .

It will also call in at Carnoustie, Downfield (Dundee), The Duke's (St Andrews), Fairmont St Andrews, Haggs Castle (Glasgow) and Drumpellier (Glasgow) before climaxing in October with a Lothians double-header -  an 18-hole event at Craigielaw followed by the two-day 36-hole Tour Championship at Marriott Dalmahoy.

The prize money on offer over the 14-event inaugural schedule will be well over £30,000.

The co-organisers, veteran golf writer Colin Farquharson, whose daughter Elaine was a Scottish women's amateur champion and Curtis Cup player, and Nicola Melville, a PGA teaching professional at St Andrews and a member of the PGA Rules Panel, are confident they will be able to boost the prize funds further as the season progresses.

It was the experience of his daughter, now a successful solicitor in Aberdeen, as a rookie pro in the early 1990s that made Farquharson determined that one day he would set up a "stepping stones" circuit leading to the Ladies European Tour.

"When Elaine turned pro, her playing opportunities were very limited and she could go weeks without competing. From being a +3 amateur she steadily lost self-confidence as a professional golfer and after only 18 months she applied for reinstatement as an amateur, disappointed and disillusioned. Fortunately, she had a law degree she could fall back on.

"What Nicola and I are starting is far removed from the Ladies European Tour professional set-up and not only in prize money. The Paul Lawrie Ladies Tour will be a player-friendly, no-frills, no prizegivings, Alliance-style circuit, which we hope will get bigger and better after we find out from the competitors how they would like to see it develop.

"We would expect to step up to two-round competitions next year and more of them, particularly in Ayrshire and, who knows, perhaps over the Border in England. If they can't come to us, we may have to go to them! " said Farquharson.

"But we need more players to enter. All their entry fees go straight into each tournament's prize fund. So the more entries we get, the bigger the prize funds will be.

"It is disappointing that so far we have received only a handful of entries from outwith Scotland but perhaps this will change as the season progresses and the word gets around."

The Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Scottish Ladies Open Tour's main sponsor is the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre (Paul Lawrie, Aberdeen hotelier Stewart Spence, and Martin Gilbert, CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management).

It is also supported by the Royal&Ancient.

The inaugural schedule is:

April 18 - Marriott Dalmahoy (£3,000).

April 19 - Ratho Park (£3,000).

May 6 - Saltire Energy Classic 1 @ Trump International (£3,500).

May 7 - Saltire Energy Classic 2 @ Deeside (£3,500).

May 6-7 - Saltire Energy 36-hole championship (Trump International & Deeside scores) (£1,250)

July 2 - Downfield (£3,000).

July 3 - Carnoustie Burnside (£3.000).

July 11 - Blairgowrie Rosemount (£3,000).

July 12 - Alyth (£3,000).

August 26 - Fairmont St Andrews (£3,000).

August 27 - The Duke's, St Andrews (£3,000).

September 23 - Haggs Castle (£3,000).

September 24 - Drumpellier (£3,000).

October 7 - Craigielaw (£3,000)

October 9-10 - Marriott Dalmahoy Tour Championship (£5,000).

+Prizemoney listed is based on a entry of 30 players.

To view the entries for each event, log on to www.scottishladiestour.co.uk

 

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