CLACKMANNAN COUNTY NEWS FROM HUGH HUNTER

SPRING DELIGHT FOR COUNTY GOLF.

  Last Saturday was one of the best days yet for playing golf, and luckily it coincided with the County Spring Meeting. The good weather attracted a considerable number of additions to the field, such that totals of 95 played in Division 1 and 80 in Division 2. ---- a very good entry for the six Clubs in Clackmannanshire.

  The leading scores were as follows.

  DIVISION 1     (Alloa)     CSS Home 72; CSS visitors 74.

1.     P McVittie (Alloa)  78-7=71   after count back.

        A Main (Alloa)       75-4=71

        G Kerr                     78-7=71.

  Best Scratch.     Ian Ross (Alloa)    73

 DIVISION 2       (Braehead)    CSS Home 69     CSS Visitors 72

1.    T Breen (Braehead)          86-20=66

2.    J Kane (Braehead)           85-18=67

3.    I Allardyce                       90-22=68

   Best scratch   P MacMichael, T Pargeter    83.

  The next County Meeting open to Division 1 and 2 golfers is the Summer Meeting to be held on the 11th May at Braehead.   Entry sheets are available in the local Clubs.

                            LOCALS FALL IN THE BATTLE TROPHY.

  Of the three local golfers competing in this Order of Merit event, only Dollar’s Scott Borrowman (77, 75) made the half way cut at Crail set at 157---- Alloa’s Jamie Aitken just missed by one shot with Dollar’s Darren Hulston a bit further back.

  In the third round Scott made up some ground on the leaders with a well compiled round of 70—helped by a good run of 3,2,3 over holes 8 to10--- that was eagle, eagle, birdie. In fact it was a run of 7 under par for 8 holes when he continued with 3 pars and two birdies. Pity he finished with two bogies---- the CSS was set at 76---- so it still meant a bit off the handicap. His three round total of 222 was now only two shots behind the leader.

  In round four he continued the good work returning a 71 which put him into 4th spot in the event with an aggregate of 293, two shots behind the winner Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie). Scott’s amateur world ranking is currently 553   (14th in Scotland)    

 BOB STARTS HIS SENIOR SEASON

  With considerable good golfing form from the winter Midland alliance, former Scottish Seniors Champion Bob Stewart (Tulliallan) will be looking forward to the two day South of Scotland Seniors Championship at Powfoot this week.  Also competing in the 100 plus field are Ian Peddie and Phil Dempsey (both Tulliallan).

     PROVAN SALVER

  The final matches of the Provan Salver series take place this weekend and the Clackmannan team travels to Burntisland to play Fife.   To take the 2013 title, Clackmannan have to beat Fife and rely on Perth and Kinross beating Angus.

   Selected for this match so far are Darren Hulston (Dollar-Captain) Scott Borrowman (Dollar) Jamie Aitken (Alloa) Ross Benvie, Allan Watson (Braehead) Steven Horne (Tulliallan) Steve McIvor (Alva)

   LOCAL FIXTURES COMING UP

  On Saturday 27th April the evergreen Waddell Shield at Tillicoultry takes place---- it’s a gents two ball foursome stroke play. On Sunday 28th April there is Mixed Open at Braehead, and the Buick Trophy at Alloa.  Late entries may be available---- contact the golf club.

   On the 30th April, the 2013 County Club Foursomes event will start at Tulliallan with a round one tie between Alva and Dollar.  On Thursday 2nd May, Braehead will play Tillicoultry. The winners go forward to play Tulliallan and Alloa respectively one week later.   Hopefully match secretaries of the six Clubs will be assembling their strongest teams for the event which is usually guaranteed to provide excitement to any spectators.

   Entries for the County Boys Championships close soon, so any boys interested should find the entry form in the Clubhouses.

   CALLUM BACK IN THE GROOVE

 Tulliallan’s Callum Macaulay has had a difficult time this year on the European Tour, but it started to go right in the Spanish Open last week when he made the cut, and earned some 13,000 euros for a one over par aggregate (73,71,74,71) and a share of 27th place.   

Most important to him must have been a psychological boost to his golf as the summer approaches.  The next two European events are the big money ones in South Korea and China, so he is well down the waiting lists to enter….. he has entered a Challenge tour event in Madrid this week so hopefully he will retain and maybe improve his golfing form.

      

      

   

PHILIP McLEAN CANCELS OUT FIVE BIRDIES WITH SEVEN BOGEYS IN MOROCCO

Peterhead's Philip McLean (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) is joint 35th after the opening round of this week's German PGA Developmental Tour event in Morocco - the Open Lixus, at Port Lixus Golf Resort, Larache.
McLean shot a 74 which included five birdies and seven bogeys.
He is eight shots behind the leader by three, Floris De Haas, one of three Dutchmen in the leading four.

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JACQUELIN WINS NINE-HOLE PLAY-OFF FOR OPEN DE ESPANA

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin claimed his fourth European Tour victory at the Open de España, but only after a marathon, record-equalling play-off that lasted over two hours in Valencia.

Facing Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer and Chile’s Felipe Aguilar in the sudden-death play-off after 54-hole leader Marc Warren fell away during the closing stages of regulation play, Jacquelin triumphed with birdie on the ninth additional hole to claim the €250,000 first prize at Parador de El Saler.

Only once before has a play-off of such length been contested in European Tour history, at the 1989 Dutch Open, when José María Olazábal beat Roger Chapman and Ronan Rafferty.

After the threesome made the play-off on five under par – Jacquelin with a birdie at the final hole – there were pars all round on the first two trips down the par four 18^th hole, before the Frenchman and the German found birdies at the third time of asking – in contrasting fashion.

With the Chilean missing the green to the right, Jacquelin fired in a brilliant approach to two feet while Kieffer’s effort came up just short – some 30 feet from the hole.

Extraordinary scenes followed, though, as the 22 year old’s putt fell in sparking great celebration in the Kieffer camp, meaning Jacquelin’s tap-in merely ensured further additional holes – albeit this time without Aguilar after the South American failed to hole out from off the green.

Jacquelin and Kieffer shared pars over the next five trips down the 466-yard closing hole, before the older of the pair, who last won over two years ago at the Sicilian Open, finally holed out for birdie after sending his wedge to five feet in his tenth playing of the 18^th hole on Sunday.

“It's difficult to describe how I feel, a little bit tired at the moment after nine holes of play-off but I’m really happy,” he said. “At the ninth time of asking makes it even better – after the win. It would have been really disappointing if I had lost this tournament, but it was a real fight, and very hard to put the ball in the hole, but I managed in the end.

“I'm very happy to win again in Spain, especially at El Saler, because the last time I played here was with Severiano as a Captain for the Seve Trophy, and that means a lot to me.”

Of the man who pushed him all the way, making only his tenth European Tour start, Jacquelin said: “Maximilian did really well, he started this year very well and he's going to win a lot of tournaments, that's for sure.” 

Kieffer sprang to attention in his first appearance as a full European Tour Member in December, finishing tied fourth at the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS Handa and despite this disappointment the young German looks set for a bright future in the game.

“It's been a very long day,” he reflected. “When I got into the playoff I said to myself: ‘I have played very well today, I'll do my best and let's see what happens’; I was proud of being up there. But after playing nine times, then it's a bit disappointing to lose.

“My caddie said to me that it was like shooting penalties, and in the end one player has to win. Raphaël played some great shots on 18 and it was just a matter of time that one putt should drop."

Despite holing out from a greenside bunker for birdie at the 16^th, overnight leader Warren was left to rue back-to-back three-putts on the closing two holes to miss out on a spot in the play-off, finishing in the tie for fourth on four under par.

FINAL TOTALS 

Par 288 (4x72)

283 R Jacquelin (Fra) 73 66 73 71, F Aguilar (Chi) 68 71 74 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 75 68 69 71

284 M Carlsson  (Swe) 70 75 68 71, P Waring  (Eng) 71 71 69 73, D Horsey (Eng) 71 74 66 73, M Warren (Sco) 70 70 68 76

285 M Delpodio  (Ita) 73 69 73 70, P Uihlein  (USA) 70 68 74 73, E Pepperell (Eng) 70 70 73 72, E Kofstad (Nor) 71 72 70 72

286 A Marshall (Eng) 72 74 70 70, N Elvira  (Esp) 71 72 71 72, L Jensen (Den) 71 70 74 71, S Garcia  (Esp) 72 73 70 71

287 G Maybin (Nir) 74 71 75 67, M Manassero (Ita) 78 68 72 69, P Lawrie (Irl) 71 74 72 70, P Casey  (Eng) 72 70 72 73, E Grillo (Arg) 74 72 68 73

288 G Bourdy (Fra) 72 73 68 75, J Lagergren (Swe) 69 76 69 74, J Morrison  (Eng) 72 73 73 70, L Slattery (Eng) 75 71 70 72, J Luiten (Ned) 74 72 70 72, C Lee (Sco) 69 71 70 78

289 R Karlberg  (Swe) 72 67 75 75, C Macaulay  (Sco) 73 71 74 71, J Quesne  (Fra) 72 70 73 74, P Price (Wal) 70 74 72 73, E Molinari  (Ita) 70 73 78 68, E De La Riva  (Esp) 72 73 70 74, M Tullo (Chi) 71 71 74 73, M Lampert (Ger) 76 68 71 74

290 I Garrido (Esp) 72 71 77 70, J Gonnet  (Fra) 73 73 70 74, A Hansen (Den) 72 71 74 73, D Drysdale (Sco) 73 72 68 77, M Nixon (Eng) 74 72 71 73, R Finch  (Eng) 70 73 76 71, R Derksen (Ned) 69 73 77 71, M Korhonen (Fin) 71 73 72 74, J Sandelin (Swe) 74 71 72 73

291 S Hansen (Den) 74 70 72 75, J Sjöholm (Swe) 69 76 72 74, G Fernandez-Castaño  (Esp) 69 73 74 75, K Ferrie (Eng) 72 73 69 77, R Gonzalez (Arg) 74 70 72 75, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 72 73 75 71, D Howell (Eng) 70 71 71 79

292 T Fleetwood  (Eng) 72 69 74 77, M Baldwin (Eng) 73 68 73 78, M Madsen  (Den) 68 72 74 78, A Forsyth (Sco) 76 70 74 72, D Higgins (Irl) 69 75 72 76

293 C Aguilar  (Esp) 71 72 80 70, R Davies (Wal) 73 72 74 74, A Cañizares  (Esp) 71 73 73 76, P Oriol (Esp) 71 75 72 75, A Hartø  (Den) 73 67 81 72

294 V Dubuisson  (Fra) 74 70 72 78, R Green (Aus) 73 72 73 76, A Velasco (Esp) 71 71 76 76, D Brooks (Eng) 69 75 76 74, C Cévaër (Fra) 76 70 72 76, S Benson (Eng) 74 72 72 76

295 T Van Der Walt (RSA) 73 72 73 77, S Little (Eng) 73 72 74 76

296 S Lowry  (Irl) 78 66 74 78

298 J Lara (Esp) 70 74 80 74

299 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 71 82 73

300 G Cambis  (Fra) 77 69 76 78, G Stal  (Fra) 68 78 83 71

 

 

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

GRAEME ROBERTSON WINS BATTLE TROPHY DESPITE NINE-OVER-PAR START

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com Glenbervie's Graeme Robertson, who had started the tournament with a lacklustre round of nine-over-par 81, covered his next 54 holes in six under par to win the Battle Trophy SGU Order of Merit tournament in an exciting finish over the Craighead Links at Crail Golfing Society today. Robertson added scores of 69, 72 and 69 for a final total of three-over-par 291 in conditions which were very windy at times over the weekend. Scottish youths champion Ewan Scott (St Andrews), the long-time leader, tied for second place with Michael Daily (Erskine), a shot behind Robertson. Robertson made a flying start to his final round, birdieing the first, fourth and ninth to be out in 34. Further birdies at the 10th and 17th were cancelled out by bogeys at the 13 and 18th - but a 69, when he had to produce it to win, was great golf under pressure. Michael Daily moved into the title picture after opening rounds of 77 and 76 with a third-round 68, the lowest of the tournament. A closing 71, which included an eagle at the 15th after back to back bogeys at the 13th and 14th, saw him finish just one short of forcing a play-off. Ewan Scott's grip on the leadership, two shots ahead at halfway and four clear with a round to go, weakened with double bogeys at the seventh and 14th. A solitary birdie on the back nine on 13 was not enough to compensate for further bogeys on 11 and 17. So he finished with a score of 76 and total of 292 for joint second place, which he would probably have accepted if offered before the start of the turnament but, as events transpired, it was a disappointing finish for one of Scotland's leading young prospects. Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) finished joint fifth on 294 but only after the final drama of the day. McDonald went to the organisers when he was not happy with the final round score of 78 that had been posted opposite his name on the official leaderboard. It transpired that McDonald had not exchanged scorecards with playing partner Daniel Kay and their figures were on the "wrong" cards. Thanks to the R and A's rule change after a similar incident featuring Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik at an Open a few years back, Jack's final round score of 70 was therefore accepted and he jumped up the leaderboard to pick up a valuable voucher and WAGR points.   FINAL TOTALS  Par 288 (4x72) CSS 77 76 75 75 291 Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie) 81 69 72 69.  292 Michael Daily (Erskine) 77 76 68 71, Ewan Scott (St Andrews) 74 69 73 76. 293 Scott Borrowman (Dollar) 77 75 70 71.  294 Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) 73 75 76 70, Allyn Dick (Kingsknowe) 71 76 73 74. 295 David Wilson (Troon Welbeck) 77 71 77 70, Fraser McKenna (Balmore) 76 73 71 75.  296 Neil Henderson (Glen) 77 71 77 71, Adam Dunton (McDonald Ellon) 75 75 73 73, William Bowe (Workington 73 71 77 75. 297 Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie) 71 78 73 75. 299 Kevin Duncan (Cruden Bay) 73 78 76 72.  300 Malcolm Pennycott (Whiting Bay) 73 79 77 71, Alan Sutherland (Ladybank) 73 73 77 77.  301 Benn McLeod (Musselburgh) 79 75 75 72, Craig Ross (Kirkhill) 72 77 76 76, Anthony Blaney (Liberton) 75 77 72 77, Cormac Sharvin (Stirling Univ) 75 75 73 78, Graham J Gordon (Newmachar) 73 77 72 79. 302 Jamie Savage (Cawder) 77 74 77 74, Sam Binning (Ranfurly Castle) 76 75 75 76.  304 Steven McEwan (Loudon Gowf) 75 82 72 75, Daniel Kay (Dunbar) 74 74 78 78. 305 Steven Maxwell (Windyhill) 78 76 76 75, Alexander Culverwell (Dunbar) 83 73 73 76, Craig Chalmers (Cawder) 81 73 74 77.  306 Darren Watson (Peterhead) 76 81 76 73, Craig Watson (East Renfrewshire) 76 78 77 75, Fraser Moore (Glenbervie) 71 81 79 75, Will Bremner (Edzell) 76 77 77 76, Ross Noon (Craigielaw) 79 76 74 77.  309 Patrick Spraggs (Stowmarket) 77 75 78 79, Gordon Stevenson (Whitecraigs) 76 78 75 80. 310 Paul Gault (Westerwood) 77 75 84 74, Matthew Clark (Kilmacolm) 80 77 74 79.  313 John Duff (Newmachar) 75 82 77 79, Colin Baird (Bothwell Castle) 77 79 74 83, Chris Lawton (Falkirk Tryst) 73 82 74 84.  314 David Morrison (Duff House Royal) 82 75 76 81.  318 Bryan Fotheringhham (Inverness) 77 77 83 81.

EWAN SCOTT LEADS BATTLE TROPHY BY FOUR SHOTS AFTER ROUND 3

BATTLE TROPHY THIRD ROUND REPORT

FROM DAVID ROY, Crail Golfing Society

 

Past winners Fraser McKenna and Allyn Dick have kept themselves in contention with solid third round scores. Fraser’s see-saw round found him birdieing 3 and 5 before dropping shots at 6 and 7. He birdied 8 and 10 before falling back again at 11 and 14. He clung on to his birdie at 15 and finished one under for the round (71) and 4 over for the tournament (220).

Allyn Dick started badly with bogeys at 4 and 5 but strung 3 birdies together at 8, 9 and 10 before coming unstuck with more bogeys at 11 and 14.

Halfway leader Ewan Scott is still the man to beat after a very solid 73 for level par 216, although he had to do this recovering from a bogey at the 1^st. Par at the next 6 holes was followed by birdie at 8, followed by another bogey at the short but tricky 11^th and finally dropping one more shot at 16.

Four strokes in the lead, local lad Ewan remains the man to beat but current holder of the trophy, Fraser McKenna overtook a two shot deficit last year to overtake Paul Shiels and is still clearly a threat.

One other notable shot was the hole in one at 17 by Colin Baird of Bothwell Castle. This was his first ever hole-in-one.

The sun is now out but the 15mph wind is chilly and keeping the players ‘honest’.

THIRD ROUND TOTALS

Par 216 (3x72) CSS 77 76 75
 Ewan Scott  74 69 73 216
 Fraser McKenna 76 + 73 + 71 220
Allyn Dick 71 + 76 + 73 220
Michael Daily 77 + 76 + 68 221
William Bowe 73 + 71 + 77 221
Scott Borrowman 77 + 75 + 70 222
Graeme Robertson 81 + 69 + 72 222
Graham J Gordon 73 + 77 + 72 222
Bradley Neil 71 + 78 + 73 222
Adam Dunton 75 + 75 + 73 223
Cormac Sharvin 75 + 75 + 73 223
Alan Sutherland 73 + 73 + 77 223
Anthony Blaney 75 + 77 + 72 224
Jack MacDonald 73 + 75 + 76 224
Craig Ross 72 + 77 + 76 225
Neil Henderson 77 + 71 + 77 225
David Wilson 77 + 71 + 77 225
Sam Binning 76 + 75 + 75 226
Daniel Kay 74 + 74 + 78 226
Kevin Duncan 73 + 78 + 76 227
Craig Chalmers 81 + 73 + 74 228
Jamie Savage 77 + 74 + 77 228
Steven Mcewan 75 + 82 + 72 229
Alexander Culverwell 83 + 73 + 73 229
Ross Noon 79 + 76 + 74 229
C Lawton 73 + 82 + 74 229
Benn McLeod 79 + 75 + 75 229
Gordon Stevenson 76 + 78 + 75 229
Malcolm Pennycott 73 + 79 + 77 229
Colin A Baird 77 + 79 + 74 230
Steven Maxwell 78 + 76 + 76 230
Will Bremner 76 + 77 + 77 230
Patrick Spraggs 77 + 75 + 78 230
Matthew Clark 80 + 77 + 74 231
C R Watson 76 + 78 + 77 231
Fraser Moore 71 + 81 + 79 231
David Morrison 82 + 75 + 76 233
Darren Watson 76 + 81 + 76 233
John Duff 75 + 82 + 77 234
Paul Gault 77 + 75 + 84 236
Bryan R Fotheringham 77 + 77 + 83 237

ENGLAND'S ROGER CHAPMAN IN THE MIX AT US SENIORS' TOUR EVEN T

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE

DULUTH, Georgia. -- Esteban Toledo, a rookie looking for his first win on the Champions Tour, took a one-stroke lead on Saturday heading into the final round of the Greater Gwinnett Championship.

Leaderboard Langer not too old Allen's penalty Round 2 notebook Full coverage

Toledo, from Mexico, completed his first-round 68 in the morning before shooting a 2-under 70 in the second round. Bernhard Langer had a 66 that left him in a four-way tie for second.
Toledo said Langer is "one of my idols" and that trying to hold off the German and others in the final round "is possibly the greatest challenge I've ever had."
"I've never played against Bernhard," said Toledo, making his seventh career start on the 50-and-over tour. "He's a hell of a player. I see him on TV all the time, the Ryder Cup and this tour."
Langer was tied with England's Roger Chapman, Tom Pernice Jr. and Mark Calcavecchia.
Toledo's only win as a professional came in 2005 on the Web.com Tour. He tied for sixth at the Champions Tour's Toshiba Classic this year but said he has never led entering the final round.
"I'm not afraid to win," he said. "I grew up in Mexico with nothing," he said. "It would be an unbelievable story for my country."
Michael Allen took the first-round lead by completing a 67 early Saturday. He lost the lead in the second round when he called a two-stroke penalty on himself for removing an embedded pinecone on No. 4.
Allen added another double bogey on No. 5 before recovering for a 73 that left him 4 under and two strokes behind the leader.
Allen said he didn't realize the pinecones were partially in the ground until he pushed them aside and saw "a little bit of a divot in there."
"I thought I probably shouldn't have done that," he said.
Gene Sauers shot 68 and was tied with Allen at 4 under.
It was a long day for the 55-year-old Langer. He played 24 holes, including six holes early in the morning to complete his first-round 73 following a four-hour rain delay Friday.
Langer, the tour's leader in Charles Schwab Cup points, had his streak of 21 straight rounds of par or better end with his 73 in the first round. The streak began at the end of last season and included his first five tournaments this year.
"I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff," Langer said. "I'm here to win tournaments and play the best I can."
Langer said it was difficult to refocus this week after a disappointing finish in the Masters last week. He was within two strokes of the lead in the final round before a poor finish on the back nine left him with a final-round 76.
"It was a tough finish for me on Sunday and very difficult Sunday night and Monday," the two-time Masters champion said. "You replay the tape and what I did and the breaks I got and all that stuff. I really didn't play all that bad. It was just the breaks were against me.
"It was fun being in contention. I take a lot of good away from that tournament because I played well for three and a half rounds. It was just the last nine I was very aggressive and I just paid the price."
Langer said his knees also paid the price.
"Right now I'm pretty tired," he said. "My knees are aching because of all these hills. I've been struggling with my knees for about a year and a half and I'm paying the price on these hills. As I said, two weeks in a row on a course like this. I'm looking forward to next week where it's nice and flat."