RORY McILROY STARTS WLL WITH A SIX-UNDER 66 AT SAWGRASS

FROM THE BBC SPORT.COM WEBSITE

Rory McIlroy hit a career-best six-under-par 66 at Sawgrass in the first round of the Players Championship today.

The world number two trails early leader Roberto Castro, who equalled the course record with a 63, by three.
"It's my best score around this course by a long way," he said. "I kept my ball in play for the most part and didn't make any stupid mistakes."
World number one Tiger Woods and former Masters champion Bubba Watson were among the late starters in Florida. 
Woods was six under par after 16 holes.
Masters champion Adam Scott had a 69.  Two-time major champion McIlroy has never made the cut or even broken par at The Players Championship before.
McIlroy said: "When you hit the shots, it seems very simple.
"I had a lot of good shots out there, a lot of iron shots that were 12, 15 feet away from the pin and I got myself a lot of looks for birdies.
"I adopted maybe more of a conservative strategy off the tee this year. But once you put your ball in the fairway that means you can be more aggressive into the greens. So it sort of balances itself out." 

DOES RORY McILROY ONLY SING WHEN HE'S WINNING?

Rory McIlroy watches as his caddy J.P. Fitzgerald plays his shot on the par 3, 17th hole during a caddy tournament prior to THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass yesterday

(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

  FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH WEBSITE

By Kevin Garside 

Should Rory McIlroy contend for the first time at the one tournament that has confounded him during his rapid ascent to the golf summit, the Players Championship, don't be surprised if he breaks into music on the final green here at Sawgrass on Sunday.
McIlroy revealed how recourse to that time honoured terrace rebuke, "You only sing when you're winning", was given fresh application during the march to his first major victory at the US Open at Congressional two years ago. 
Pop chanteuse Adele was the unlikely muse behind that success, providing the soundtrack to victory with her 2011 hit Rolling in the Deep.
"I didn't sing it quite as well as her, but it played every morning on the radio, so it was a song stuck in my head that week," said McIlroy, who has become a reference point in golf. 
His thoughts are sought on the hot topic of the day, whether it be a golfing matter or the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Sorry, David Moyes, McIlroy would prefer Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.
He arrives at golf's richest event in the best shape of the year, in command once more of his considerable golfing faculties and those between his ears. It was the power of the psyche, and how he learned to control it, that produced the Adele affiliation. Adam Scott's victory at the Masters last month after his collapse at the Open last year mirrored McIlroy's own redemption song at Congressional following the epic collapse at Augusta eight weeks earlier.
"For me the Masters was a completely new experience, and new feelings, feelings that I had never felt before," McIlroy added. 
"I learned a lot from that afternoon in terms of, 'okay, what are you going to do differently?' What are you going to do not to have that happen again? 
"Do you try to think of something else? Do you sing a song? Whatever you do, everyone treats it differently. I am sure Adam thinks differently to me. For me it was just staying in the present; the only thing you can control is that next shot and that is something I had to learn."
A win in 2013 eludes him and Sawgrass offers a stiff test of his new attitude. "This is a tricky golf course. You have to think your way around it, be strategic," said McIlroy who turned 24 last week. With each birthday he adds a layer of hard-earned experience and is further removed from the folly of youth. 
 "The first year I came here I was in Vegas the week before. The second year was my 21st birthday. That didn't help. Last year I didn't have an excuse. I just didn't play well."
McIlroy shares top billing with Tiger Woods, another in a serious vein of form. Woods is grouped with defending champion Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker in the prime time east coast TV slot this afternoon. McIlroy has that honour tomorrow. Today he is out early alongside Scott and Steve Stricker.
Woods' only victory here came in 2001 at the height of his phenomenal mid-20s peak. Last time out at the Masters he was a bad break at the 15th on Friday from leading the tournament outright.

FLORIAN FRITSCH WINS ON 2013 DEBUT ON GERMAN PRO GOLF TOUR

Florian Fritsch, winner of the 2013 GreenEagle Classic. Foto: golfsupport.nl

FROM THE GERMAN PGA PRO GOLF TOUR WEBSITE

Winsen/Germany - Florian Fritsch from Germany is the winner of the 2013 GreenEagle Classic. 
With a three-under-par total of  216 (70, 76, 70) over the par-73 lay-out at this new golf resort near Hamburg, Florian finished three shots ahead of Berni Reiter from Austria and Dennis Kuepper (Krefeld/Germany) who share second on par 219 after three rounds in Winsen an der Luhe.
Fritsch was playing for the first time this year on the tour and earned a cash prize of 5,000 Euros.

GreenEagle Classic

FINAL LEADERBOARD

Pos	Country	Name	Total
1		Fritsch, Florian	-3
T2		Reiter, Berni	Par
T2		Küpper, Dennis	Par
4		Watremez, Guillaume	+1
5		Schwierz, Constantin	+2
T6		Farrelly, Craig	+3
T6		Huizing, Daan	+3
8		Buhl, Sebastian	+4
T9		Kromer, Tano	+5
T9		Knappe, Alexander	+5

 Final results 

Order of Merit 2013

Pos Country Name Result 1 Ritthammer, Bernd 16.596,17 2 Mivis, Christopher 16.108,13 3 Benz, Ken 13.208,18 4 Law, David 12.148,96 5 Kind, Robin 10.926,63 6 Knappe, Alexander 10.166,07 7 Huizing, Daan 10.072,17 8 Kind, Richard 9.848,57 9 Schwartz, Antoine 9.620,27 10 de Haas, Floris 8.740,93

RUSSELL SMITH RETURNS TO SCOTLAND AS DIRECTOR OF GOLF AT RENAISSANCE CLUB

FROM THE SCOTSMAN NEWSPAPER
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Russell Smith, the former head professional at Gleneagles Hotel, has returned to Scotland to take up a new post after a spell south of the Border. 
He has succeeded David Armitage as director of golf at The Renaissance Club where owner Jerry Sarvadi is delighted to have added Smith to his team.

"Russell brings over 20 years of golf and hospitality experience and I'm confident he will be a great acquisition," said the American who relishes the prospect of showcasing the venue when its neighbour Muirfield stages the Open chamnpionship in July. 
During a decade at Gleneagles Hotel, Smith (pictured) served as head pro and head of golf operations before leaving at the end of 2011 to become director of golf at Close House near Newcastle.
"I'm delighted to have joined the team at The Renaissance Club," said Smith. "The team have done a great job over the last few years and I hope I can build on this success.
"The Renaissance Club is a world-class golf club and with the luxurious clubhouse opening this month, the wonderful new holes that will open very soon and the Open Championship coming back to East Lothian this summer, it's an exciting time for the club.
"I am very fortunate to know already several members and it's a real pleasure to be part of such a special club."
Armitage, who was head pro when the East Lothain club opened just over five years ago before stepping up to director of golf, is heading for America to work for Donald Trump.
"I've been invited to join the Trump Organisation in New Jersey with the prospect of moving to New York City to open a new development next year. The move seems a natural progression to develop further as a professional golf manager," said David Armitage.   

AUSSIE SANDY DAWSON TO BECOME R AND A CAPTAIN IN SEPTEMBER

 

 

  NEWS RELEASE FROM

 The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

 

09 May 2013, St Andrews: Alexander Sinclair Dawson will serve as the Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 2013/14.

He has been nominated by the past Captains of the Club and will begin his year in office with the traditional driving-in ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course at 8am on Friday, 20 September 2013. He succeeds Frenchman, Pierre Bechmann, and will be the second Australian to hold the position after Viscount Bruce of Melbourne in 1954.

Born in 1943, Sandy Dawson is a former Australian Universities Golf Champion and, from 1988 to 1993, he was Captain of Royal Sydney Golf Club where he has been Club President since 2010.

A former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Arnott’s, one of the largest food companies in the Asia Pacific region, he has held senior positions at a number of other companies.  He was chairman of United Distillers (Australasia) and a director of Allied Mills, Goodman Fielder and the Darling Harbour Authority.

Mr Dawson lives in Sydney with his wife Jane and has three children and nine grandchildren. He plays to a handicap of four and is also a keen skier. He has been a Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews since 1974.

 

PILKADARIS AND CHO SHARE LEAD ON 64 IN SOUTH KOREA

NEWS RELEASE
SEOUL, May 9 - South Korean Cho Min-gyu and Australian Terry Pilkadaris made the most of near-perfect conditions with blistering eight-under-par 64s on Thursday to share a three-shot lead after the first round of OneAsia's GS Caltex Maekyung Open at The Namseoul Country Club on the outskirts of Seoul.

Pilkadaris and Cho both capped remarkable rounds with birdies on the ninth -- their final hole -- to put daylight between them and a  chasing pack that included four South Koreans and an Australian.

Pilkadaris credited a change to his putting stroke made on Sunday for his flawless round, while Cho said he scrambled well.

"The course is in really good nick and the fairways are cut shorter so you're not worried about getting flyers," said Pilkadaris, whose last win came at the Brunei Open in 2005.

The 39-year-old admitted he has struggled around the hilly 6,349 metre (6,943 yard) course in the past, but felt this year that Namseoul was in the best condition he had ever seen it.

"I only made the cut for the first time a couple of years ago ... I haven't had a good run here," he said. 

"But the greens are also bit slower than they normally are; I had a couple of downhill putts that I managed to two-putt where in previous years you'd be lucky to do that."

Pilkadaris made the cut at last week's Volvo China Open after squeaking into the OneAsia and European Tour co-sanctioned tournament as an alternate and following a last minute dash from Italy, but after a promising opening round he went off the boil and finished three over.

"I putted poorly at the weekend -- actually the last three rounds were disappointing -- and so after the round I just went to the putting green," said Pilkadaris.

While practising, he bumped into former European Tour player Ian Garbutt, who is now a manager, and asked him to have a look at his stroke.

"He said 'hey, your stroke looks a little bit slow, just quicken your back swing up', so I worked on that for few days after getting here, and now I've  putted nicely."

Cho also credited his putter for his excellent round.

"My putting was really good today but actually the score looks better than the golf … I was scrambling a bit out there," he said.

The 24-year-old has played full time on the Japan Tour since 2010 -- winning the Kansai Open Golf Championship the following year -- and he finished joint fourth at March's Thailand Open which was co-sanctioned by both OneAsia and the Japan Golf Tour Organisation.

Defending champion Kim Bi-o blamed a lapse in concentration on the last for a double-bogey that left him level par for the round.

"I felt a bit of pressure out there and was coping well, but I let it slip right at the end," he said. 

"I will try not to let that happen again.

  FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD

   Par 72. Yardage 6,943

    Players from South Korea unless stated otherwise 

64 CHO Min-gyu, Terry PILKADARIS (AUS).

67 LEE Kyoung-hoon, KIM Do-hoon, Matthew GRIFFIN (AUS), KIM Hyung-sung, PARK Jun-won).

68 SONG Young-han, PARK Ju-hyuk, PARK Eun-shin, KIM Seng Yong, KIM Gi-whan , PARK Jae-kyung, KANG Kyung-nam, Peter WILSON (AUS), PARK Il-hwan, KIM Woo-cha

69 Jake HIGGINBOTTOM (AUS), LEE Tae-hee, David McKENZIE (AUS), Gareth PADDISON (NZL), Anthony BROWN (AUS), JANG Ik-jae, Ming-hao WANG (CHN), KIM Tae-woo (am).

70 KIM Hyung-tae, KIM Hui-soo, HUR Suk-ho, SHIN Yong-jin, KIM Nam-hun (am), KIM Dae-sub, KANG Wook-soon, Scott LAYCOCK (AUS), MAENG Dong-seop, CHOI Ho-sung, MO Joong-kyung, Mark BROWN (NZL), BANG Doo-hwan, Rohan BLIZARD (AUS), MUN Do-yeob, George GANDRANATA (INA), HUANG Ming-jie (CHN).

71 JANG Dong-kyu, MOON Kyong-jun, Rory HIE (INA), David OH (USA), Stephen LEANEY (AUS), PARK Do-kyu, BYUN Jin-jae , KIM Kyung-tae, LEE Soo-min (am), HONG Soon-sang, Garrett SAPP (USA), Jason NORRIS (AUS), KIM Woo-hyun, Joshua YOUNGER (AUS), PARK Jae-bum (KOR), Steve JEFFRESS (AUS), BAE Sung-chul (KOR), LEE Sang-yeop (am), Jin JEONG.

72 John Young KIM (USA), Craig HANCOCK (AUS), Jason SCRIVENER (AUS), HAM Jeong-woo (am, KOR), Brad SHILTON (NZL), SONG Young-hoon (KOR), PARK Sang-hyun (KOR), RYU Hyun-woo, Ryan HALLER (AUS), KIM Jae-ho, KIM Bi-o, PARK Hyun-bin, KIM Dae-hyun, JUNG Ji-ho, KIM Byung-jun, KIM Gyu-bin (am), KIM Do-hoon, Jamie ARNOLD (AUS), YOON Jung-ho, OUYANG Zheng (CHN), LEE Sung-ho, HONG Chang-kyu (USA), LEE Dong-ha, YUAN Hao (CHN), KIM Sang-ki, KIM Sung-yoon, Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA).

73 KIM Kook-hyan, LEE Seong-ho, Varut CHOMCHALAM (THA), LEE Jung-hwan, LEE Sang-hee, Aaron TOWNSEND (AUS), LEE Chang-woo (am), BAEK Joo-yeob, Michael LONG (NZL), Akinori TANI (JPN), LEE Tae-kyu, Stephen DARTNALL (AUS), SUK Jong-yul, Lucas LEE (BRA), KIM Wi-joong, PARK Sung-kug, KONG Wei-hai (CHN), ZHANG Xin-jun (CHN), SON Hyun-ho.

74 BAE Hee-chan, Ren HAN (CHN), CHOI Hyuk-jae, LEE In-woo, HAN Min-kyu, HU Mu (CHN), HWANG In-choon, KIM Bong-sub, Jason KANG (USA), Andrew TSCHUDIN (AUS), WU Kang-chun (CHN), PARK Deuk-hee.

75 HAN Chang-won, KIM Jong-duck, JEONG Yun-han (am), Brody NINYETTE (AUS), Nick CULLEN (AUS), CHUNG Joon, CHOI Joon-woo, LEE Dong-min, Ryan FOX (NZL), Matthew GUYATT (AUS), JOO Heung-chol.

76 JIN Young-gab, Kwanchai TANNIN (THA), WU Wei-huang (CHN), LIM Hyun-seok, HWANG Jung-gon, PARK Sang-eon, Richard T LEE (CAN), LIU Yu-xiang (CHN), KIM Soo-whan.

77 KIM Bong-ju (am, KOR), LI Hao-tong (CHN).

78 Andrew KELLY (AUS), KIM Seung-hyuk, LEE Ki-sang, HUR In-hoi.

79 QUAN Da (CHN), ZHOU Guo-wu (CHN), Michael WRIGHT (AUS).

80 Eric MINA (USA).

81 Matthew STIEGER (AUS).

82 SU Dong (CHN).

83 HAM Jae-hyung (am).

86 YANG Ji-woung (am).

CARNOUSTIE PLAYERS KATY AND JESS LEAD PAUL LAWRIE TOUR TABLES

         KATY McNICOLL ... her brother Keir is a professional too

                       Picture by Cal Carson Golf Agency

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Carnoustie players head both the prizemoney table and the order of Merit standings after five events in the Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour.

Professional Katy McNicoll won at Trump International and Deeside on Monday and Tuesday of this week and also the 36-hole aggregate competition linking the scores at both venues.

She has won £2,225, following up the 3,000 Euros she gained for a third-place finish on the LETAS Tour in Spain last week. Her nearest pro rival in the PLGC SLOT money table is Chrisje De Vries (Netherlands), winner of the inaugural event at Dalmahoy last month.

Carnoustie Ladies amateur Jess Meek, 18, heads the Order of Merit with 2,600pt and is the clear leading from professional Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) who has gathered 2,199pt.
Jess enrols at the University of Missouri in August, which means she will not only miss the PLGC SLOT autumn events she will
be ruled out of selection for the Women's Home Internationals at Scotscraig GC, Fife from September 11 to 13. 

Top placings:

MONEY TABLE

1 K McNicoll (Carnoustie) £2,225; 2 C De Vries (Netherlands) £1,075; 3 L Murray (Paul Lawrie GC) £1,055; 4 H MacRae (Gleneagles) £955; 5 H Stirling (Dairsie) £837; 6 L Shervill (2-do- Sport) £722; 7 P Feggans (Doon Valley) £600; 8 V Laing (Musselburgh) £437; 9 Fabienne In-Albon (Switzerland) £325; 10 (equal) D Dyer (Chigwell) and Eleanor Givens (Darlington) £287 each.

ORDER OF MERIT

1 J Meek (Carnoustie Ladies) (am) 2,600pt; 2 L Murray (Paul Lawrie GC) 2,199; 3 K McNicoll (Carnoustie) 2,000; 4 H MacRae (Gleneagles) 1,954; 5 H Stirling (Dairsie) 1,874; 6 L Shervill (2-do- Sport) 1,865; 7 C De Vries (Netherlands) 1,675; 8 D Dyer (Chigwell) (1,445; 9 M Pow (Selkirk) 1,355; 10 G Webster (Elie SC) 1,190.

The next PLGC Scottish Ladies Open tour events over 18 holes are in July:

2 Downfield GC, Dundee.

3 Carnoustie Burnside.

11 Blairgowrie Rosemount.

12 Alyth GC, Perthshire.

+We are still looking for sponsors for the events at Downfield, Blairgowrie and Alyth. If you know of any individual or company who would be interested in having their name attached to any of the tournaments in return for making a donation to the prizefunds, ask them to E-mail Colin@scottishgolfview.com