SCOTS GOLF TRIO GOING DOWN UNDER

Graeme Robertson (Stirling University), Gordon Stevenson (Whitecraigs) and James White (Lundin) are among the entries for the Australian men's open amateur golf championship at Melbourne's Commonwealth and Woodlands golf clubs from January 15 to 20.

ASIAN TOUR Q SCHOOL ATTRACTS RECORD 761 ENTRIES

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR

Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Tour Qualifying School has attracted an all-time high of 761 entries as players from across the globe vie for playing rights on the 2013 Asian Tour season.

The Tour hopefuls come from over 30 countries with Japan contributing the highest number of players with 129 entries, followed by Korea (121 players), Australia (77 players), United States (67 players), Thailand (56 players) and Chinese Taipei (52 players).

A total of 605 players will tee up for the First Stage Section A and Section B which will be played over the next two weeks in Hua Hin, Thailand.

The First Stage Section A will be held at the Imperial Lakeview Golf Club, Royal Thai Army Sports Centre and Banyan Golf Club from January 9 to 12 while the First Stage Section B will be held at the Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal Country Club from January 16 to 19.

After four rounds, the top 15% players from each venue will qualify for the all-important Final Stage from January 23 to 26. A total of 156 players are already exempted into the all-important Final Stage at the Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal where the top-40 finishers and ties will earn their Tour cards for 2013. 

Amongst the notable names in Stage One include the highly rated Rashid Khan of India, Won Joon Lee of Australia, former European Tour player Pelle Edberg of Sweden and 2000 Malaysian Open champion Yeh Wei-tze of Chinese Taipei.

For the Final Stage, the aspirants include Jake Higginbottom of Australia, who won the 2012 New Zealand Open as an amateur, Prince Hakeem Jefri of Brunei Darussalam, Alex Cejka of Germany, who is a four-time winner in Europe and a former PGA Tour regular, Han Chang-won of Korea, the 2009 Asian Amateur Championship winner and Kenichi Kuboya, a multiple winner in Japan.

The promising Khalin Joshi of India, Ratanon Wannasrichan of Thailand, Nguyen Thai Duong of Vietnam, Nicholas Fung of Malaysia, Eddie Lee of New Zealand, who won the 2000 Maekyung Open in Korea as an amateur, Thai sensation Atiwit Janewattananond and Chinese duo Hu Mu and Ye Jian-feng are among the players exempted into the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage presented by Sports Authority of Thailand.

The record number of entries surpasses last year’s total of 580 players, signalling the immense appeal of the Asian Tour as the Qualifying School is the only pathway to compete on the Asian Tour and Asian Development Tour, which will be afforded with Official World Golf Ranking status from this year onwards.

Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han said: “We are delighted to receive such an overwhelming response from players, both from Asia and around the world, for this year’s Qualifying School.

“The record numbers is another strong testament towards the Asian Tour’s stature in world golf and shows that global players view the Asian Tour as the destination to build their careers.

“As the official sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia and being a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours, the Asian Tour will continue to deliver widespread playing opportunities and provide the best pathway for players in Asia to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro through the Official World Golf Ranking.” 

Other countries with players in the 2012 Asian Tour Qualifying School include Kevin Chun, who was part of the 2004 Eisenhower Trophy team for New Zealand, Indonesians Rory Hie and Benny Kasiadi and Wolmer Murillo of Venezuela and the 2011 European Amateur Champion Manuel Trappel of Austria.

In 2012, the Asian Tour offered 2,975 Official World Golf Ranking points to players, which will be used to determine the field for the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro in 2016.

Qualifying School players who do not finish in the top-40 at the Final Stage for their Asian Tour cards will receive playing privileges on the Asian Development Tour.

Last year, a total of 27 events were sanctioned by the Asian Tour while the Asian Development Tour held 13 tournaments on its schedule.
+There is one Scot (James Byrne), one Irishman (Niall Turner) and eight Englishmen in the Asian Tour Q School entry list.
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 BRUNEI PRINCE AMONG Q SCHOOL ENTRIES

Jan 3 (Reuters) - Prince Abdul Hakeem Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei is one of a record 761 golfers who will compete in the Asian Tour's qualifying school in Thailand this month.

The 39-year-old, who was his country's first Olympian when he took part in skeet shooting at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, will need to finish tied 40th or better to become the first Brunei golfer on tour.

The Prince, who took up golf having watched his grandfather - the former Sultan of Brunei - play, only turned professional last year after getting his handicap down to scratch.
He is one of 156 golfers confirmed for the final stage (Jan. 23-26) with more to come from the first stage which features 605 players split into two sections (Jan. 9-12 and Jan. 16-19).
Also taking part at the key final stage played at the Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal course is Germany's Alex Cejka, who has four European Tour wins, and Australia's Jake Higginbottom, the 2012 New Zealand Open winner as an amateur.

PAUL LAWRIE'S COMEBACK INSPIRED BY DEATH OF COACH ADAM HUNTER

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
 By JAMES CORRIGAN
Sometimes a light switches on in the bleakest of circumstances. For Paul Lawrie this most excruciating of paradoxes occurred at the bedside of his dying coach.

As the 44-year-old (his birthday was on January 1) reflects on two years during which he re-emerged from golfing wilderness to play a full and crucial part in the Ryder Cup, a moment of truth with Adam Hunter stands out as the returning point.

“It’s down to that one chat we had in hospital,” Lawrie says.

It transpired in the wake of the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, where Lawrie, ranked way down with also-rans, had made his first foray into the studio to work with Sky Sports. It is fair to say that Hunter was not impressed.

“Adam told me, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing commentary’,” Lawrie recalls. “He said ‘I can’t believe you’re 41 years of age and thinking that’s it, I’m done. It’s not like you to pack it in like that. That’s not the guy I’ve coached all these years. Don’t give up, kick on again, show them how good you really are’.

“You know, when a friend is lying there with leukaemia telling you that, it’s hard not to be inspired and get stuck in and prove to him you can still do it.” 

Hunter, pictured right, lived to see his pupil win his first tournament in nine years – in Malaga 20 months ago – but had lost his fight by the time Lawrie used this platform to spring from 272nd in the world to rejoin the elite. Two more wins, in far more exclusive company, helped him leap back into the top 30, and, of course, earned him a second appearance at the Ryder Cup after a 13-year absence.
If Ian Poulter was the living embodiment of the self-belief which effected Europe’s “Miracle of Medinah” then Lawrie’s own story summed up the blessed belligerence displayed on those Illinois fairways. 
That much should have been remembered when José Maria Olazábal’s squad were ridiculously denied the team prize at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show last month.
Lawrie was not at the ExCel Arena that night and anyone who is fortunate enough to have read An Open Book, his recently published autobiography, will have a hunch why.
 Lawrie is not particularly fond of awards ceremonies, no matter how grand.
After his Open glory at Carnoustie in 1999, Lawrie was made MBE. When it came to being called up, the Buckingham Palace dignitary with the microphone announced him as “Peter”.
“I was p----- off,” Lawrie says. “It was just one more thing on top of all the disrespect I was getting after Jean van de Velde lost the Open rather than me winning it. It was the last log on the fire for me.” In a red mist, Lawrie skipped the drinks party and flew straight home.
The rage blazed for many a year thereafter, as Lawrie sought the widespread respect which was never forthcoming.
It consumed him; harmfully so. He was treated for depression. It was a case of forgive and forget. Lawrie could not forgive, alas they could forget.
The media ignored him, sponsors left him, tournament organisers hid him on the draw sheet.
For eight years he was Europe’s last major champion and it was as if that was embarrassing. Lawrie was not only a victim of his success but also of the failures of his supposed betters.
“You want people to recognise the hard work you put in to get yourself where you are,” he says.
“It goes back to me turning professional as a five- handicap amateur and by own admission not being very good. And from there becoming Open champion.
"I can’t think of many who have done that and I don’t think people have the first comprehension what that involves.
“And for my achievement not only to be overlooked but actually to be belittled? Yes, it did get to me and I tried to change to people’s minds.
"But looking back I shouldn’t have let myself become so bitter.
“I should have kept my head down, played my golf and gone home to my family.”
Eventually the bitterness abated and rather inevitably the sweetness returned. When he stopped caring what others thought, so they came to think so much of him. 
“It’s taken until this last 18 months to gain the respect that I always found strange wasn’t there before,” he says.
“It’s incredible. I get recognised and asked to sign stuff more now than when I was the Open champion. And since the Ryder Cup it has been extraordinary.”
It could have been so different, of course. Had Lawrie lost his singles then Europe would have fallen and he would have gone away as one of the villains with a three and nought record.
Attention would then have focused on why Olazábal had played him in the four-balls but not in the foursomes.
“To be honest, I couldn’t understand that decision,” Lawrie says. “I see myself as more of a foursomes player. But that was up to the captain. I didn’t have the problem.
"I just wanted to repay the faith he showed in putting me out of No 5 in the Sunday order. He told us that, to have a chance, we had to win the first five singles and knowing what that event means to the guy I wasn’t going to let him down.
"I was six under for the 15 holes [when he beat Brandt Snedeker 5 and 3) and to perform that well under that amount of pressure was so, so satisfying.”
The hecklers only added to the gratification. Lawrie had heard the same insults at Brookline in 1999, when America came back from the same 10-6 scoreline going into the last day. Now the spikes were on the other foot.
“Winning over there is special, especially as you have to take it in the neck from the spectators,” Lawrie says.
“I heard all sorts of abuse. Had it been a regular tournament, I would have been into the crowd four or five times. At the Ryder Cup you have to take it and the crowd know that. Overall though, I loved every minute and would love it again.
“It’s funny, my name was mentioned a bit for the captaincy for Gleneagles in 2014, what with it being in Scotland and all. But the way I’ve been playing has taken me out of that chat. When you’re 29th in the world there’s obviously another aim.
"I probably won’t ever be captain now. I can accept that. I want to play again. To be in the team in your own country, well, I can’t think of anything better than that.”
An Open Book – Paul Lawrie with John Huggan, published by DP Publishing (£16.99), is available in bookshops and at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre, and Deeside Golf Club.