DANIEL BROOKS LEADS RAIN-HIT NELSON MANDELA CHAMPIONSHIP

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
A flawless eight-under-par 62 saw Daniel Brooks claim the lead after a delayed first day of The Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS Handa, in South Africa.
The Englishman, who retained his European Tour card at Qualifying School last month after a disappointing rookie campaign in 2013, had four birdies in five holes around the turn to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
Play had begun seven hours later than planned after heavy rain in Durban left the Mount Edgecombe course saturated.
Brooks had a host of French players in pursuit, with Francois Calmels second on seven under and Romain Wattel and Edouard Dubois tied for third a shot further back.
“I’m over the moon,” said the 26-year-old. “I played really nicely, putted really well and I managed to finish. It was quite tough, but we were lucky that we could place in the fairways, which gave us a bit of relief.
“It was quite difficult to get going. You’re siting about or waiting about all day then you don’t really get up for it. Once you get out there and play you quite enjoy it.
“I pretty much holed everything I looked at, which was quite nice. I haven’t putted that great over the last couple of weeks, so to hole a few was pretty nice.
“Hopefully I can finish it off and have a few more good rounds and see what happens at the end of it.”
A 15ft putt at the 18th and a tee shot to within five feet at the short third were among the highlights for Challenge Tour graduate Calmels, who won an event in Mauritius last week.
“It was a great week for me,” said Calmels.
“I made a great last round 65 to win by one over Hennie [Otto], and that give me quite a bit of self-confidence.
“I know I’m playing well, and the great round today was just perfect.”
More than half the field were unable to complete their opening round, with play set to resume at 6am (local time) on Thursday in a bid to make up for lost time.

LEADING COMPLETED ROUNDS
Par 70
62 Daniel Brooks (England)
63 Francois Calmels (France)
64 Edouard Dubois (France), Romain Wattel (France).
65 Joel Sjoholm (Sweden), Ryan Cairns (Zimbabwe)

SCOTS' SCORES
68 Alastair Forsyth

The Scots who have yet to complete their first rounds 
are:
Duncan Stewart, Scott Henry, Jack Doherty, Andrew McArthur, David Drysdale, Doug McGuigan, Scott Jamieson, Jamie McLeary and Peter Whiteford

TO VIEW THE SCOREBOARD AT THE END OF THE
FIRST DAY AND ALSO FOR UPDATES FROM 6am
THURSDAY MORNING

CLICK HERE

SCOTLAND THIRD BEST GOLFING NATION ON THE PLANET!

NEWS RELEASE

In a recent study conducted by Your Golf Travel, Scotland has been named as the third best golfing nation on the planet.  The research itself was carried out at the end of last month and looked into the Population per Official World Golf Ranking Point. 

Leading Scotland’s charge to third spot were the country's two top-ranked stars, Stephen Gallacher and Martin Lund. As well as Scotland’s golfing talent, the home of golf has an array of quality golf courses (600 in total) that helps solidify its position as the third best golfing nation on the planet.

Northern Ireland and England were the other home nations that were numbered in the Top 10 list compiled by Your Golf Travel – Northern Ireland achieving the top spot in emphatic style. 

Overall, this is great news for Scotland ahead of the Ryder Cup next year and we look forward to seeing what talent Scotland can produce in 2014 and in the years to come.

The full findings can be found here - http://www.yourgolftravel.com/19th-hole/2013/11/19/which-country-is-really-the-best-at-golf/

MALCOLM ISAACS TOP SCOT IN GECKO TOUR EVENT AT LA QUINTA

Scots Malcolm Isaacs, Blake St John, Ross Kellett, John Hendry and Ross Cameron finished well down the field in the latest Spanish Gecko Tour event over 36 holes at

Quinta Golf and Country Club, southern Spain.

Spaniards Carlos Rodiles (72-64 for eight-under 136) and Manuel Quiros (67-70 for 137)

filled the first two places.

Isaacs (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) finished joint 17th on 146 with rounds of 77 and 69.

St John and Kellett from Motherwell shared 27th place on 148. St John scored 786-72, Kellett a pair of  74s.

Hendry (Clydebank and Dist) finished joint 36th on 150 with rounds of 74 and 76.

Cameron from Ellon finished 55th in a field of 82 with scores of 83 and 74 for 157.

SPANISH GECKO TOUR

La Quinta Golf and Country Club.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

Par 144 (2x72)

136 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 64

137 Manuel Quiros (Spa) 67 70

139 Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 71 68, Floris de Haas (Ned) 67 72.

 SELECTED OTHER TOTALS

141 Elliot Groves (Eng) 69 72 (T7)

144 Nick Joy (Eng) 75 69 (T12)

146 Malcolm Isaacs (Sco) 77 69, Rod Bastard (Eng) 74 72 (T17)

148 Blake St John (Sco) 76 72, Ross Kellett (Sco) 74 74 (T27).

150 John Hendry (Sco) 74 76 (T36)

157 Ross Cameron (Sco) 83 74 (55th)

Field of 82 players.

ends

TITLE-HOLDERS SCOTLAND SHARING SECOND PLACE AT HALFWAY

Defending champions Scotland are sharing second place at halfway in the PGAs of Europe international team golf championship at Palmares on Portugal's Algarve coastline.
Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf) is now joint second, having lost the overnight lead with a 76 for four-over-par 148, three shots behind the new leader, Magnus Atlevi (Swede) who had a one-under 71, the first sub par score of the tournament which opened on Tuesday in a gale-force wind, underlining how well Fox played for his first-day 72.
Greg McBain, soon to be attached to Kemnay Golf Club, improved by five shots in 24 hours with a 74 for 153.
The third member of the Scotland team, David Orr (Mearns Castle Golf Academy) had a triple bogey and two double bogey 7s in compiling a 79 for 157. 
Under the best two individual scores to count for the team daily, Orr's round was discarded.
Fox did well to salvage a 76 for a round which saw him bogey five holes in a row from the third before birdieing the long eighth and turning in 40. He came home in par 36 (two birdies, two bogeys).
McBain finished strongly with birdies at two par-5 holes, the 15th and 17th to match the inward par of 36. He birdied the short second and ninth on his way to an outward 38 which included four bogeys within the first seven holes.

LEADING TEAMS AT HALFWAY
298 Denmark
300 Scotland, Ireland, Sweden.
301 Netherlands
302 Wales, France
303 Italy
305 Spain, Portugal
306 Germany
307 England

LEADING INDIVIDUALS
Par 144 (2x72)
145 Magnus Atlevi (Swe) 74 71
148 Graham Fox (Sco) 72 76, Benhamin Nicolay (Fra) 75 73
149 Emannuele Canoninca (Ita) 75 74, Lee Rooke (Wal) 77 72, Jose Lara (Spa) 74 75, Hugo Santos (Por) 77 72
150 Jacob Nordestgaard (Den), Cian McNamara (Ire) 77 73, Brendan McGovern (Ire) 76 74, Robin Swane (Ned) 76 74

SELECTED OTHER SCORES
153 Greg McBain (Sco) 79 74, Nick Brennan (Eng) 78 75 (T15).
154 Dan Greenwood (Eng) 80 75 (T20)
155 John Kelly (Ire) 81 74 (T25).
157 David Orr (Sco) 78 79 (T32)
162 Stuart Runcie (Wal) 79 83, David Callaway (Eng) 85 77 (T50).

TITLE CONTENDERS FROM LENGTHY

QUEUE AT PALMARES

FROM THE PGAs OF EUROPE WEBSITE

The wind that continues to ravage The PGAs of Europe International Team Championship on Portugal’s Algarve is proving anything but an ill one in terms of making the tournament competitive. 

At the halfway stage of the event at the Onyria Palmares Beach and Golf Resort almost a third of the 26-strong field harbours realistic hopes of claiming €6,000 first prize. 

Five strokes span the leading eight teams after a second round during which, somewhat perversely, the wind was stronger than on the first day but individual scores improved.

As at the end of the opening circuit of the Alvor Course, Denmark occupy pole position but do so in isolation after Holland, their overnight cohabitants, faltered.

So much so that defending champions Scotland, Ireland and Sweden, who are all two strokes adrift of the Danes in second place, have climbed above them.

Greg McBain (74) was the Scots’ standard bearer, Cian McNamara (73) and Brendan McGovern (74) followed suit for Ireland, while Magnus Atevi (pictured above) proved Sweden’s ace with a one-under-par round of 71.

Atevi is just one of two players to defy to combination of a challenging course in excellent condition and the elements and post a sub-par round. The other is Germany’s Dennis Lohrmann (pictured below) who, curiously, was in the same three-ball as the Swede.

There, though, and aside from their final score, the similarities ended. The German enjoyed a high-octane outward half, posting four birdies and just one bogey. Two birdies followed on the way home but were spoiled by a double and two single bogeys.

By contrast, Atevi made less spectacular but equally effective progress with a brace of birdies in each half, successes compromised by a single bogey in the front nine and another two during the inward half.

Meanwhile, the Danes were indebted to Martin Hansen for maintaining their hold on first place in the event, which is supported by Glenmuir, the Associaçäo Turismo do Algarve and Ryder Cup European Development Trust.

Hansen posted a level par round of 72 as did Lee Rooke of Wales and Portugal’s Hugo Santos.

Rooke, winner of the Asbri-sponsored Welsh National PGA Championship in October, and Jon Bevan (74) were instrumental in Wales joining the French in sixth place, four shots off the pace.

However, Santos, twice winner of the UniCredit PGA Professional Championship of Europe, lacked a helping hand to light the blue touch paper and ignite Portugal’s challenge.

LOTHIANBURN, TORPHIN ... HOW MANY MORE SCOTTISH GOLF CLUBS WILL CLOSE DOORS FOR GOOD?

FROM THE SCOTSMAN NEWSPAPER WEBSITE 
By MARTIN DEMPSTER

Hamish Grey, the Scottish Golf Union’s chief executive, has predicted more club closures in the home of golf on the back of Lothianburn already being forced out of business and one of its near neighbours, Torphin Hill, facing the same fate.
The Kiwi, who has seen waiting lists almost disappear from the Scottish scene during his 15 years in the post, also claimed some clubs could “still do better” in terms of providing a more welcoming environment for prospective new members.

But, with the SGU now actively involved in trying to help its 576 affiliated clubs, he is encouraged that the majority are starting to see that “traditional” memberships need to be replaced by a range of “flexible” options in order to have a better chance of survivng.
Lothianburn, where the membership fell from 800 to 300 in just eight years, lost that fight earlier this year and now Torphin Hill, with just 200 players on its books despite slashing annual running costs from £200,000 to £130,0000, will also close unless it can get a £20,000 cash injection before a crunch meeting next week.
Until now, Whitemoss, a course in Perthshire that closed two years ago and was reverted to farmland, and a nine-holer at Gretna had been the only other casualties of the membership crisis gripping Scottish golf.
It has prompted the SGU to put three Club Development Officers out in the field and over 60 per cent of those affiliated clubs have “engaged” with them to either discuss governance or look at various toolkits that are being made available by the governing body to help committees in these troubled times.
“I started as chief executive in 1998 and, though membership in Scottish golf clubs was still growing until 2007, it has been a matter of time regarding club closures,” said Grey.
“I’d be very surprised if there aren’t more closures, though I have no idea how many and it would be wrong to speculate on the number.“Did I see clubs being in the position they are now? To the extent they are, possibly not. What I’ve always felt, though, is that you always have to look after the people who are your customers and maybe it was a case in golf when clubs had long waiting lists that they were too relaxed and didn’t feel as though they should be worried about the future.
“However, I think there are elements we are facing now that aren’t bad for the game. Clubs are now having to ask themselves how can we run ourselves better. 
"If clubs can get their houses in order in these tough times, then they can come out in a much stronger position on the other side and I think that’s our challenge. It’s not just about helping clubs for the next few years; it’s the next 15-20 years we are looking at.
“The problem is deeper than just the recession. The real issue is that consumer behaviour is changing and that’s not unique to golf, it’s happening to gym memberships, to political parties. 
"People are engaging in different ways. There is more choice than ever, not just what you do but how you do it.
“People are more picky, there is more choice. For golf, the good news is that there is no fewer people playing. It’s still the same, half a per cent here and there. But how they are playing is different – ie nomadically.”
With a course for every 9,800 people – England is the next closest in Europe with about 28,000, while in France it’s 112,000 and Germany 114,000 – Scotland is the envy of the golfing world.
But, with waiting lists disappearing and joining fees also becoming a thing of the past, it has become increasingly difficult for clubs to retain members year to year, a challenge the SGU is throwing its weight behind more than ever.
“Eighteen months ago we put three Club Development Officers in place and we are now engaged with 86 clubs,” added Grey. 
“We can’t tell clubs what to do and we wouldn’t want to. But we can help them go through a process to understand what their business plan should be and define that. 
"You are not going to see immediate results, ie in six months’ time. But a club planning for the future has a much better chance.
“It’s about understanding what they are about as club. One might be a community club, another may be a top end club. They have to understand where they fit. And that means a good business plan – it’s fundamental.
“When they have a general understanding among members, then they need good sustainable governance going forward. You don’t want a captain that’s great and all-powerful one year and membership goes up, then a year later one that’s not so good on the skills set and it goes down. 
"You can’t run a business like that.
“Clubs also need to go to the market. The market used to come to them. You have to understand that the product you are offering has to change to match what the consumers want. 
"The menu will be variable. What’s right for one club may not be right for another and that’s what we are working on.
“Yes, we have declining membership, and that’s been year on year since 2006, but 30 per cent of clubs have increased their membership and are growing. That’s been constant.”
Fortrose and Rosemarkie, on the Black Isle, is one such club, while Prestonfield in the heart of Edinburgh has seen a remarkable 74 new junior members join this year on the back of a coaching programme run through clubgolf, the Scottish junior initiative. 
Part of the Ryder Cup legacy, critics of it reckon it (clubgolf) was failing to deliver sufficient junior members to vindicate an outlay that currently stands at £800,000-£900,000 per annum, but, according to Grey, there is statistical evidence to prove that is not the case.
“The latest club membershup figures show that 50 and 61 per cent of boys and girls respectively started the game through clubgolf,” he said.
“The reality is that we’d be in a much worse position without clubgolf. How much worse? I can’t answer that. But those clubs that are delivering clubgolf have a significantly higher number of junior golfers than those that don’t.
“I wish I knew how long it is going to take for clubs to get back on a sound footing again, but our job as a national governing body is to get more people into the game and we are doing much more to try to get more people playing and supporting our clubs. 
"That’s a very deliberate policy of our board and one we will see continuing into the future.
“We have done a power of work in understanding the trends that are affecting membership. There’s no doubt in my mind, where we are now is not where we need to be in 20 years’ time, and that’s how far we are looking ahead.
“If we continue to offer what we would all recognise as traditional memberships, as a take-it-or-leave approach, then more and more golfers are going to say ‘no’ to that. 
"They’ll not take it. They want flexibility and that varies through life. Whether they have a family and when they may be empty nesters when they have more time later in life.
“They might want to take up different options and we have to respond to that. I think clubs are aware of the symptoms and understand change is needed. 
"They understand what will work for them and if we can help them help themselves then in 12 months’ I’ll be much happier than where I am now.
“But, no matter what happens in the participation programmes, clubs need to provide the right welcoming environment. We need to make people feel welcome in golf clubs – and we need to do better at that.”

 ABERDEENSHIRE GOLF CLUBS HAVE NOT ESCAPED THE  DOWNWARD TREND

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
East Aberdeenshire Golf Club, off the Aberdeen to Ellon road, has also opened - and closed- within the past 10 to 15 years or so. 
Craibstone Golf Club at Bucksburn, Aberdeen closed three years ago because of financial troubles but has been re-opened successfully by the nearby Marshall Trailers company who bought the golf course and appointed Billy Sim, a man with 
director of golf experience in Spain and Portugal, as its manager.
Inchmarlo Golf Centre closed its 18-hole and nine-hole courses in 2012 but the nine-hole course has since reopened and so has the clubhouse to serve snacks to the public as well as members.
Part of the trouble is that Scotland has had TOO MANY golf courses/clubs for a number of years.
Golfers are dying out faster than youngsters are taking up the game.
But Scotland is not alone. As you can read elsewhere in Scottishgolfview.com, Jim Hardie reports from New Zealnnd
that many golf clubs down there are in dire financial trouble.

DUVAL SAYS HE WILL 'DO SOMETHING ELSE' IF FORM SLUMP CONTINUES IN 2014

FROM GOLFTALK CENTRAL WEBSITE
By RYAN LAVNER

It looks like 2014 is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for David Duval.
The former world No. 1 said in a 14-tweet monologue Tuesday that if he doesn’t perform in 2014 he will “do something else,” adding that he can say “without hesitation” that it will be the last year that he will ask for sponsor exemptions. 

The injury-plagued Duval, pictured, has missed 22 of his last 28 cuts – including nine of 11 in 2013 – and fallen all the way to No. 1,528 in the world. His only status is as a past champion, but he remains encouraged by his work over the past eight months with Chris O’Connell, who works, most notably, with Matt Kuchar.
 “I believe 100 percent in what I’m doing,” Duval tweeted.
Duval made similar remarks a year ago, even saying that he would play the Web.com Tour if necessary. (He didn’t make any starts on the developmental circuit.) 
Last January, he told the Associated Press that “you don’t want to count on charity from other people to play. You have to a little, but I’m going to play where I need to play to be in Hawaii (in 2014).”
Duval tweeted Tuesday that he considered playing in Europe in 2014, but that it “really is not an option” because of the strain it would put on his family. 
"I will be asking (tournament organisers) for starts but this is the last time. I think that if I can have a 20 event schedule then it's up to me to get my status," tweeted Duval.
Duval won the Open at Royal Lytham in 2001

GREG NORMAN SAYS HE WOULD HAVE TAMED TIGER AT HIS PEAK

                             GREG NORMAN ... never suffered from a lack of confidence
 
FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE
By CASSIE STEIN 
Greg Norman is never one to shy away from an interview and he certainly let it spill in a recent interview with Golf Magazine.
The former world No. 1 golfer said: “I never feared anything on the course, and I wasn’t afraid to fail. So I think I’d do pretty well against (Sam) Snead, (Ben) Hogan, Tiger (Woods) and Phil (Mickelson) – whoever. 
"Tiger’s a tough guy, but I was a tough guy on the course, too. I probably would have beat him.”
Norman and Woods’ playing careers really never crossed paths. The two-time major champion’s career was just ending as Woods’ was heating up.
But clearly the Shark was talking about his game at his peak. Norman’s last win came in 1997, after which he only made 10 more starts through 2002. In that time span, Woods racked up eight major championships and 37 victories.

NELSON MANDELA CHAMPIONSHIP START DELAYED

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
All Round 1 tee times have been delayed by 5 hours due to a waterlogged course. Play is now scheduled to start at 11am local time.