SCOTS PAIR FOURTH IN LEAGUE TO DUBAI GRAND FINAL

NEWS RELEASE

More than 700 golfers from across the UK entered the prestigious 2012 League to Dubai, but ultimately the titles ended up in the north and south of England, after an exciting grand final in Dubai.

Chris Wall, from Middlesbrough, and Mark Green, from Stockton-on-Tees - who both play their golf at Middlesbrough GC - secured the pairs title, while Andy Clements, from Cranleigh, Surrey, the membership manager at West Sussex's Cottesmore GC, was the proud winner of the individual competition, both of which were played out over three of Dubai's top courses: the Wadi by Faldo Course at the Emirates Golf Club; Dubai Creek Golf Club; and the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. Points were awarded according to daily placings.

The stunning, all-expenses-paid trip to the emirate - which included return flights and six nights' half-board accommodation at a five-star hotel - was reward for their initial efforts in battling their way through their local league and a regional final during 2012.

Wall, an eight handicapper, and, Green, who plays off 11, scored 425 points to finish 20 clear of runners-up John Woodward (Manor House, Wiltshire) and Gary Prescott (The Kendleshire, Avon).

Wall explained: "We took the lead on day one at the Faldo and just hoped to hang on until the end. To get a chance to play these courses is a prize in itself so anything else we achieved was a bonus. We were trying our best and it has been a tournament played in great spirit with some good golf thrown in. I wish this event every success in the world."

Clements, who plays off a handicap of nine, saw off his nearest rival, Richard Harris, from Cams Hall Estate, in Hampshire, by just 10 points.

He said: ""This was my first time in Dubai and it was fantastic to win such a great tournament. Dubai is well set up for golf and the service around the clubs is excellent.

"I didn't think rounds of 30, 31 and 28 would be enough to win but it shows you how tough the conditions are - it was also very windy and the courses were all new to us. I came for the experience mainly and just wanted to play steady golf. I played well off my handicap to get here and after this experience I'll definitely be entering again. Overall it has been awesome."

The overall experience was summed up by Stuart Wilson, from West Kilbride, and a member at Ardeer GC. Despite finishing ninth of nine finalists in the individual event he said: 

"It didn't matter if I won or not - you win by actually getting here. Anything else is just a bonus. I only knew a couple of the other guys from the regional final but we are all here for the same reason and enjoy being together.

"I've already entered the competition for next year - I like the format as it gives you a chance even if you lose a match. I'm the only member from my club to enter but there is definitely a lot more interest after I won a place at the grand final. 

"My best chance of getting here was in the first year as I am sure the interest in now going to be very high. More players should enter as it's a tournament that deserves to be a success and the experience of being here to play golf on these courses is second to none."

Inspired by the European Tour's Race to Dubai, the League to Dubai - which is sanctioned by the R&A - pits amateur golfers against each other initially in a local league format, between April and August, playing two home matches and two away. The league winners head to one of three regional finals from where the top three (top two in the pairs' competition) qualify for the grand final in Dubai - all for just a one-off entry fee, which in 2013 will be just £35 per person.

To enter the 2013 League to Dubai or to find out more about the competition, visit www.leaguetodubai.co.uk

Results:

Pairs: 1 Chris Wall and Mark Green (both Middlesbrough) 425pts; 2 John Woodward (Castle Combe) and Gary Prescott (Kendleshire) 405; 3 Martin Derrick and Andy Gilbert (both Dyke) 380; 4 Graeme Lawson (Grangemouth) and Darren Murray (Boat of Garten) 365; 5 Malcolm Crowson (Wychwood Park) and Colin Peace (Willow Valley) 355.

Individual: 1 Andy Clements (Cottesmore) 405pts 2 Richard Harris (Cams Hall Estate) 400; 3 Jeremy Platt (East Berkshire) 380; 4 Malcolm Gregg (Hallamshire) 345; 5 Jon Balmforth (Ramsdale Park) 340; 6, Phil Broadley (Deer Park) 330; 7 Matt Hazell (Malton and Norton) 320; 8 Lee Myers (Tynemouth) 315; 9 Stuart Wilson (Ardeer) 230.

PLENTY TO PLAY FOR IN NORTH GOLF ALLIANCE

NORTH GOLF REPORT

FROM ROBIN WILSON

The second half of the North Golf Alliance fixture season was due to get under way last Sunday at Reay Golf Club but a frost-bound course meant another postponement.

Fingers crossed for the competition to go ahead this Sunday with the same starting times in force.

With only three winners from the first four fixtures played, David Dunbar (Thurso) with two wins and Dougie Thorburn (Reay) and Stuart Morrison (Tain), one each,  it leaves  all other members with an  opportunity to mount a bid for the Scratch Quaich over the  remaining five events between now and March.

There were several good nett scores returns posted at the last fixture played at Tain in November so the likes of Alan Murray (Invergordon), net 65,  Francis Keith (Durness) and Ally Simpson (Thurso) both net 66s and Colin Mackay (Durness) and David Mackay (Tarbat) with 69s have a starting platform to launch their bids for the handicap aggregate Mackintosh Salver.      

             Robin Wilson's colourful view of the Royal Dornoch links' 17th green

Royal Dornoch Golf Club comes to aid of Cathedral.

The prestigious Royal Dornoch Golf Club are coming to the aid of the burgh's other major tourist attraction, Dornoch Cathedral, by giving the use of its world famous golf course to help raise funds  for the re-development of the Cathedral's West Church Hall.

Golf is first recorded to have been played in Dornoch in 1616, this momentous historic year being marked by the club in three years time. The Cathedral pre-dated the arrival of golf by four hundred years, and while the golf course has seen many up gradings and the Cathedral's fabric remaining  intact,  its associated church hall is in need of redevelopment.
To help raise  funds towards an expectant bill of £750,000  the golf club are giving members and non members the chance to play both the the championship links, rated 15^th in the world, and the charming  relief Struie links for two days in September in a 36 hole competition, all in aid of a worthy cause.

On Sunday September 8 an 18 hole Stableford round will be played over the Struie and on completion of the round the Cathedral Minister, the Rev Susan Brown will hold a short service of thanks on the first tee before the golfers retire to the clubhouse for an evening dinner. 

The next day the competitors will switch to the championship course where they will enjoy teas and coffees and home baking at the half-way house beside the 10^th tee  Then a tournament prize giving at the end of play.

The entry fee for the two day event is £140 per player. Initial inquiries should be made to John McMurray, Rowan Avenue, Dornoch, IV25 3QW by  January31.  

 Entry and accompanying fee to be confirmed by March 31.

      

LINK TO SPANISH EVOLVE TOUR WEBSITE

The popular Hi5 Pro Tour in the Murcia Region of South-east Spain has become the Evolve Tour.
To access its website which contains details of how to join, where to stay and the new season's
schedule

CLICK HERE

PAUL LAWRIE INVITATIONAL FILM ONSKY SPORTS

NEWS RELEASE

The Hive Post, Scotland have recently completed post-production work on ‘Paul Lawrie Invitational Golf’ which is to air on Sky Sports on Tuesday, January 22 at 9pm and again on Wednesday, January 23 at 12.30am.

 The Hive's John Sackey did the grade, using Da Vinci's Resolve, and the deliverables for the client ‘We Film Golf’. 

The programme itself covers the 2012 Paul Lawrie Invitational golf tournament from Deeside Golf Club, Aberdeen. The field for this event included aspiring tour professionals and top amateurs.

Resources:

The Hive Post – www.thehivepost.com

We Film Golf – www.wefilmgolf.com

TARTAN TOUR EVENT SNOWED OFF AT CRAIGIELAW

The scheduled first competition of the year on the Tartan Tour was postponed today.The Glenmuir Winter Series four-ball, better-ball fixture was arranged for the Craigielaw links, East Lothian but the course is covered in snow.The next competition in the series is scheduled for Dundonald Links on February 21 but an effort will be made to rearrange the Craigielaw date before then.

Ryder Choice McGinley A Players' Captain

By John Hopkins at the Global Golf Post

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | Like for like and inch for inch. Cerebral, professional and admired as the 5-foot-9 Tom Watson is, much the same can be said of Paul McGinley. At 5-foot-7, Paul McGinley is hobbit-sized, a man with dark hair and a dark face and sombre eyes that can suddenly dance and sparkle like rays of sunshine reflecting on water. McGinley, the man who sank the winning putt in the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in 2002, is so popular that he had 400 text messages of congratulation on being selected Ryder Cup captain.

On the practice ground at Abu Dhabi Golf Club last Wednesday, he cut a regal figure, being stopped every few steps by another player or caddie who wanted to shake his hand and have a few words. It was 20 minutes before he was able to get a golf club out of his bag and then, noticing a hovering journalist, he smiled and asked: “Did you want a word?” That was another half-hour gone for the cause that will dominate his life from now until October next year, but if ever a man seems comfortable in this environment, it is McGinley. His hardest task is going to be saying no.

He is said by his peers to be a very good motivator, to be considerate, friendly and intelligent, characteristics that contributed to the waves of enthusiasm that built up for his captaincy and remained steadfast throughout the campaign. Others supported Darren Clarke until he withdrew, and some were for Colin Montgomerie but Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter wanted only McGinley. And it was their approval, particularly McIlroy’s, that won it for McGinley.

“Paul makes you feel good about yourself,” the world No. 1 said. “He is the best captain I have ever played under.”

Shane Lowry was rushed to hospital with shingles during a tournament in Dubai last November. One man spent an hour at Lowry’s bedside each night – McGinley. It was McGinley who thought that Donald was tired after the FedEx series and could go home on the Friday afternoon of the Ryder Cup. After clearing it with Jose Maria Olazábal, McGinley told Donald to return to his wife and children half an hour from Medinah and though Donald and Garcia lost their Saturday morning match, Donald’s form on Saturday afternoon and Sunday helped keep the trophy in Europe.

In Ryder Cups, McGinley is meticulous, a note-taker, in his element in a team environment. At such times some people rise to the occasion and others sink. McGinley doesn’t so much rise as soar.

“I always played better when part of a team,” he said. “My heart ticks a bit faster, my adrenaline goes a bit more and I love the team environment at Ryder Cups, the meetings, the pageantry, everything. I seem to go to another level when I’m involved in team golf.”

His meticulousness is less evident in his private life. “If you asked his wife if he was organised, she’d say, ‘No,’ “ Padraig Harrington, McGinley’s close friend, said. “Let me put it this way. A few weeks before a tournament at Wentworth he invited us to dinner for six o’clock on the Saturday night. Several times in the following weeks he mentioned it. He only remembered to tell Ali, his wife, about three o’clock on the Saturday afternoon. Like most of us, he is totally focused on certain things and everything else is rather loose.”

McGinley, 46, smiled ruefully. “That’s true. I have a lot on,” so much that he has abandoned his season ticket holder status at West Ham football club in east London. He left Chubby Chandler’s management company three years ago and now looks after himself. He is a restless sort, the sort to push on an open door. He is constantly looking for business opportunities, enjoying the days when he invites all his sponsors and business associates for a game of golf and he can hear them talk about what they are doing and try to think of ways in which he can put that to his advantage.

He and a university friend set up Clubstohire, which rents out golf clubs at 14 airports throughout Europe. McGinley has recently opened some golf academies run in conjunction with Tullow Oil, an Irish exploration company in Ghana, West Africa, “the fastest growing economy in the world last year,” he said. And he is involved with Eligo, a company that charges £10,000 annually to each of 100 members in return for membership and playing rights at some of Europe’s most famed golf clubs such as Old Head of Kinsale, Valderrama and Turnberry.

With degrees in marketing from an Irish college and international business and finance from San Diego University, McGinley may be academically the brightest recent captain. His dignity throughout the captaincy process, one that was unseemly at times, earned him new friends in addition to those such as McIlroy, Harrington and Lowry, who were at the back of the room when his captaincy was announced.

McGinley, one of Sam Torrance’s 12 lions, may have kept his silence until he was named captain, but now we may expect to hear him start to roar.

NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE SET FAIR FOR MURCAR LINKS ON WEDNESDAY

Prospects for Wednesday's North-east Alliance at Murcar Links are looking good.
Club secretary Carol O'Neil reports that the course was open at the weekend and that there is no snow on the course.
Barring heavy snow on Tuesday night, which is always a possibility, it should be all systems go on Wednesday morning.
The tee times arranged for Peterhead on January 16 will apply.

PAUL LAWRIE GOING FOR QATAR MASTERS THREE-TIMER

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Ryder Cup star Paul Lawrie will this week bid to become the first player to win the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters three times when the 16th edition of the US$2.5million event is held at Doha Golf Club.
Lawrie, who played his part in Europe’s thrilling Ryder Cup triumph at Medinah Country Club, first captured the title in 1999 – the same year as his Open Championship triumph at Carnoustie – before repeating the feat 13 years later. 
Lawrie’s four-stroke win over Australia’s Jason Day and Sweden’s Peter Hanson last year lifted him back into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since 2003, and the World Number 31 has since maintained his place amongst the game’s elite. 
Other than Lawrie, only Australian Adam Scott – in 2002 and 2008 – has won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on more than one occasion; and despite the presence in the field of World Numbers Four and Five, Justin Rose and Louis Oosthuizen, the Scot is confident of lifting the Mother of Pearl trophy for a third time.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to going back – Qatar is a place that I’ve always enjoyed playing. The golf course just seems to suits me. The greens always roll really well, and I can control my ball reasonably well in the wind most of the time.
“From the first day I got there, I felt comfortable. Obviously I won in 1999, then played well for the next few years. I think I’ve probably played the tournament 12 or 13 times and have missed the cut once or twice, so I’ve got a pretty decent record overall.
“The course just suits my eye. I quite like it off the tee and the way the course is shaped. It’s quite a firm course and the wind often picks up, so they’re the sort of conditions I normally thrive on, which probably explains why I’ve won twice.
“I putted well for both of my victories, which obviously you have to do in order to win golf tournaments.  And I think I was 100 per cent for up and downs the first year I won. My short game is always the key and it was good there last year, too. So if I can get it going round the greens this time, hopefully I’ll give myself a decent chance again.”
If he is to achieve his aim, Lawrie will have to overcome a field which includes two players in fine form, Oosthuizen and Rose.
For the third successive season, Oosthuizen started his year with a victory when he reeled in Scott Jamieson to win the Volvo Golf Champions in Durban by a single stroke a fortnight ago.
Rose came agonisingly close to following Oosthuizen into the winners’ enclosure in Abu Dhabi last week, but ultimately had to settle for second place after missing a birdie putt on the last hole which would have forced a play-off.
The duo will be joined at Doha Golf Club by World Number 11 Jason Dufner of America, World Number 19 Sergio Garcia of Spain, and a host of Major Champions including South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, rejuvenated New Zealander Michael Campbell and Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who finished in a tie for sixth place in Abu Dhabi last week.

JOHN COOK BEATS DAVID FROST IN HAWAII PLAY-OFF

 FROM THE US CHAMPIONS TOUR WEBSITE
KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii -- John Cook caught David Frost on the final hole of regulation, then beat him with birdie on the second play-off hole to win the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on Sunday.

Final leaderboard

Cook closed with a 5-under-67 at Hualalai Golf Club to catch Frost at 17-under 199. Cook made a 16-foot birdie putt on the 18th green. Frost shot a 69, missing a 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th that would have given him a win in the Champions Tour season-opener. He had held the lead alone since the 12th hole of the second round. "He is just really good and he's played really well, especially the last few months of last year," Cook said of Frost. "He's won a lot of tournaments all over the world. He hit some beautiful golf shots today and didn't get much out of what he was doing and I hadn't either. It was kind of a survival day until it got down to the nitty gritty and you knew what you had to do." Both birdied the first playoff hole (No. 18) from inside 10 feet and went to the 17th tee. Cook hit his tee shot about 15 feet left of the hole and drained it after Frost had come up short with his 20-foot birdie try. Cook won $309,000 for his ninth victory on the Champions Tour, to go along with 11 on the PGA TOUR. He birdied all four par-5 holes on Sunday, while Frost birdied just one. "Overall I was in there all day," Frost said. "I hit a lot of great shots, but didn't capitalize on some of the great shots I hit. He (Cook) played really well, didn't miss any make-able putts."
Cook's victory gets him invited back next year. He did not have a bogey all week while Frost went bogey-free over his last 48 holes.
Bernhard Langer chipped in for a birdie on the last hole to finish third alone at 200. He started six back and bogeyed two of the first three before getting birdies on nine of the next 11 holes and finishing with a 64. Fred Couples was five back going into the final round and also had two early bogeys. He rallied with an eagle and six birdies. That run died with a three-putt bogey at the 17th and he was fourth after a shooting a 67 and finishing at 202. Kenny Perry was the first to make a move Sunday. He started the day in 14th place but surged into fifth with six birdies and an eagle. His 64 matched Langer's score as low round of the week. Perry finished four back with Kirk Triplett.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
Players from USA unless stated
199 John Cook 66 66 67, David Frost (South Africa) 65 65 69 (Cook won play-off at second extra hole).
200 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 68 68 64
202 Fred Couples 66 69 67
203 Kenny Perry 67 72 64, Kirk Triplett 66 68 69
206 Russ Cochran 67 70 69
207 Tom Lehman 66 71 70
   
SELECTED TOTALS
214 Roger Chapman (England) 70 73 71 (T26)    

TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

CLICK HERE