COLIN FARQUHARSON IS ON HOLIDAY - SO THE UPDATES WILL BE SLOWER AND LESS FREQUENT UNTIL HE RETURNS ON THE EVENING OF APRIL 15

EARLY TUESDAY RESULTS FROM MONIFIETH LINKS

Scottish Boys Championship, supported by TaylorMade-adidas Golf

Monifieth Golf Links

 

Round 1 continued

 

L McWilliam (Aboyne) bt L Allan (Banchory) 1 hole

B Milne (Murcar Links) bt B Kelly (Bearsden) 4&3

C MacLean (Clydebank & District) bt K Mackay (Inverness) 2&1

R Asher (Nairn) bt I Alexander (France) 3&2

C Connacher (Wishaw) bt S Hedger (West Kilbride) 4&3

R Alexander (Braehead) bt A Gillespie (Balmore) 2&1

C Kirkwood (Bearsden) bt F McCall (Baberton) 5&4

A Chalk (Dumfries & Galloway) bt R Thompson (Duke's) 5&4

A Wilson (Ayr Belleisle) bt R Paterson (Kilspindie) 3&2

D Samson (Lochmaben) bt R Calder(Braehead) 4&3

N McMullen (Lundin) bt K Bowman(St Andrews New) 3&2

D Eardley (Liberton) bt C Smyth (The Island) at 20th

K Thomas (South Africa) bt C Kerr (Elgin) 3&2

C Toal (Old Course Ranfurly) bt M Napier (Dundas Parks) 2&1

C Franssen (Inverness) bt R Powell (Deeside) 6&5

G Joss (Royal Aberdeen) bt D McCann(Kingsknowe) 6&5

R Franssen (Inverness) bt J Bingham (Whitecraigs) 2&1

Z Wood (Nigg Bay) bt C Gorrie (Kilmarnock (Barassie)) 2&1

A Carrell (Royal Aberdeen) bt J Hainie (Hamilton) 5&3

E Ferguson (Bearsden) bt L Anderson (Deeside) 2 holes

I Ferguson (Drumpellier) bt F Soutar (Montrose Mercantile) 2&1

K Cantley (Liberton) bt B Stephen (Pitlochry) 5&4

M McCulloch (Portpatrick) bt E Diston (Kirkcaldy) 1 hole

W Kerr (Craigielaw) bt A Guthrie (Erskine) 6&5

D Lynch (Ayr Bellisle) bt R MacIntyre (Glencruitten) w/o MacIntyre withdrew

P McKenna (Royal Aberdeen) bt R Cowan (St Andrews) 4&2

I Hill (Muckhart) bt F Kane (Kirkhill) 1 hole

C Campbell (St Andrews) bt C Finnie (Lockerbie) 5&4

C McGuigan (Comrie) bt J McKenna (Downfield) 5&4

 

mfl

SCOTTISH BOYS' CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRY HAS DROPPED CONSIDERABLY IN LAST SEVEN YEARS

E-mail from Iain Taylor

Colin, In response to your Scottish boys' championship entries debate, I remember when I was a junior off a handicap of five.
I was nowhere near getting in the field. The cut-off was like 3.8 and there were 30-50 reserves and now it's 6.4 handicap limit or something around that and they did not get a full entry.  
I am nearly 25 years old so in space of seven years the entries have dropped considerably! 
There could be many reasons for this. Parents might not be able to afford to commute their kids to the venue if coming from far afield due to the recession.
The weather at Murcar Links for last year's championship was so bad as well and this winter has been so cold which may have caused juniors to lose interest in the game.  
Maybe the timing is a factor as well as it is held in first week of the season and lads do not feel their game is ready or sharp enough for such a big tournament.  
Maybe the SGU could think about moving the Scottish boys' match-play championship to a later datewhen players have got some practice under their belt and feel sharper and feel more interested in the game.
But obviously the school holidays is an important factor in the dates scheduling..

Iain Taylor


Follow-up E-mail from Ian Steven
(who started the debate!)

Scottish boys' match-pay championship entries since 2007

2007 Dunbar               Ballot 5.5     96 Reserves on Waiting list  Last Reserve Grant Forrest
2008 Southerness       Ballot 5.4     54 Reserves  on Waiting list
2009 Royal Aberdeen Ballot 5.5     34 Reserves on Waiting list
2010 West Kilbride     Ballot 5.5     24 Reserves on Waiting list
2011 Dunbar               Ballot 5.5     26 Reserves on Waiting list
2012 Murcar Links      Ballot 5.8     14 Reserves on Waiting list
2013 Monifieth           No Ballot      Only 255 Entries -  No Reserves.

 

 

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

 

ends

PD&MS ENERGY BACK KRIS NICOL'S EUROPEAN TOUR DREAM

Kris Nicol, left, and Dave MacKay, CEO of PD&MS Businesses

 

  NEWS RELEASE

North-east golfer Kris Nicol is being tipped for a bright future in the sport thanks to continued backing from leading oil and gas engineering consultancy PD&MS Energy.

 

The Aberdeen-based business is providing sponsorship for the second year in a row. And Kris, who is also supported by the Paul Lawrie Foundation, is planning to make 2013 a year to remember.

 

In 2012, Kris competed on the Alps Tour in his first year as a professional. Travelling across Europe and North Africa, including courses in Austria, France, Morocco and Spain, he finished 41^st in the order of merit. His highest finish last year was 8^th at the Valle d’Aosta Open in Italy.

 

The Alps Tour is a ‘feeder’ to the sport’s Challenge Tour, which in turn can lead to a European Tour card. In order to progress to the Challenge Tour, a top-five finish in the Alps’ order of merit is required.

 

Kris, 28, has recently returned from two weeks of competition in Egypt where he finished 22^nd and 19^th respectively at the first two events of this season’s Alps Tour.

 

Next up for Kris are events in Spain and France where he hopes to build upon the experience he gained last year. He is confident of securing a high finish this year to potentially earn a place in the 2014 Challenge field.

 

Kris, originally from Fraserburgh, said: “I cannot thank PD&MS Energy enough for this opportunity. Their support has been a terrific confidence boost and allowed me to compete without having to worry about additional pressures off the course. This means I can focus solely on my golf.

 

“My goal for this year is to continue to improve and learn. I will be in a better position to do well this year having been on the tour last year and played most of the courses.

 

“Hopefully by the end of the season I can secure a place in the top 5 which would allow me to progress to the next level. I have been working hard over the winter months to improve my game and feel that all aspects have come on leaps and bounds.”

 

Dave MacKay, Chief Executive Officer of PD&MS Businesses, said: “Kris possesses all the attributes to rise through the ranks and become a big name in the world of international golf, and we’re delighted to be helping him once again at this key stage in his career.

 

“His qualities of talent, commitment and ambition are ones we recognise within our own organisation, and that’s why we want to support him as he pursues his sporting goals.”

 

Kris began playing at Fraserburgh Golf Club as a youngster, spending five years there as a greenkeeper after leaving school.

 

He enjoyed a successful career as an amateur golfer before deciding to make the move into the professional arena. The highlight of his amateur years, when he regularly represented Scotland in international events, was a place in the 2012 Walker Cup Squad. He narrowly missed out on a place in the final team.

 

PD&MS Energy, part of the Teesside-based Wilton Group, delivers full project management and design engineering support to the oil and gas industry. With a workforce of 200, it focuses upon brownfield engineering including upgrades and fabric maintenance for platforms and rigs.