AUSTRALIAN v FRENCHMAN IN MONDAY SHOWDOWN

IT WILL BE DAY v DUBUISSON IN 

WORLD MATCH-PLAY FINAL


FIRST SEMI-FINAL
JASON DAY bt RICKIE FOWLER 3 AND 2.

Day did what he was unable to do a year ago -- advance to the championship match when he dispatched his buddy, Fowler. 
The young Aussie never trailed in his match after winning the first hole with a birdie and halving the next with another. Day went 2 up with birdie putts of 14 and 4 feet at Nos. 7 and 8 but gave one back at the next hole when his approach landed on some rocks in front of a cactus and his third richocheted of the prickly plant.
 Day tried to hit his fourth left-handed and ended up conceding the hole to Fowler. Fowler just missed a 7-footer to halve the 11th hole so Day regained his 3-up advantage only to give it back at the next when he missed a 6-footer for par.
 The Aussie lost the par-5 13th when he three-putted for par -- his first 3-putt of the week -- before Fowler made a 7-footer for birdie to get to 1 down.
 Day won the 15th hole with a 3-foot birdie and then closed out the match with a par on the next after Fowler missed a 7-footer for birdie. Day, who finished third a year ago, now has a record of 13-3.
Quotable: "You know what, that's why we work so hard," Day said about making the finals for the first time. "Especially those last six months with the World Cup win last year and the motivation going into this year, I felt really good. The start of the season, that's all I'm trying to do is win."
Said Fowler: "Take a lot out of this week. Got a lot of confidence, got some good wins. Go out this afternoon and see if we can get a little practice in and see if we can get one more match win and move on to next week."
Next opponent: Victor Dubuisson in the championship match for Jason Day. Ernie Els in the consolation match for Rickie Fowler

SECOND SEMI-FINAL

 VICTOR DUBUISSON bt ERNIE ELS 1 hole.

Ernie Els has been the one celebrated for his putting this week, but it was Dubuisson who clinched the match with a lag putt from 35 feet to set up par at the 18th.
Dubuisson had been three down to the South African after only seven holes. 
Els, who beat Scotland's Stephen Gallagher after being two down at one stage earlier in the tournament,  owned the edge early as Dubuisson struggled to find his rhythm. The 23-year-old from France bogeyed the first hole and Els made a 7-footer for birdie at the second. 
Dubuisson then made a mess of No. 4 and conceded to go three down after driving into the cacti, taking a drop and still coming up short of the green in four before Els hit his approach. 
But Dubuisson came back with consecutive birdies at Nos. 8 and 9, then squared the match with a tap-in birdie at the 11th after Els missed from 7 feet. Dubuisson grabbed his first lead of the day at the par-3 12th as Els missed the green near the grandstands and couldn't get up and down. The South African squared the match at the 14th, though, with a tap-in birdie as Dubuisson took four to reach the green. 
The young Frenchman proved resilient once again, making a 6-footer at the next hole after Els missed from 8 feet.
But Els has been there and done that; he responded by draining a 33-footer at the 16th hole to even the match once again. 
Both players found the green in regulation at the 17th and had downhill putts of similar lengths -- 59 feet for Els and 58 for Dubuission. Els putted to 15 inches while Dubuisson had to make a 4-footer to save par and keep the match even.  Els found the greenside bunker at 18 and couldn’t save his par from 13 feet.
Dubuisson, the winner by one hole, through to the World match-play final at the first attempt ... and a Ryder Cup team place for Europe looking more and more likely.
Quotable:  "I didn't sleep very well," Dubuisson said. "And when I arrived at the golf course, I don't know why I realized I was in semifinal of the World Golf Championship against Ernie Els. I'm a big fan of Ernie, so I have always been watching him winning majors. And I was not feeling as confident today as the round before, and that's why I had the poor start. ...
"Then I tried to focus again in my game and I knew I had to play my best golf. It's what I did. And I proved to myself that my mentality is very solid."
"It's tough to take," Els said. "I didn't play that nice coming in. I missed quite a few makeable putts and had some bad irons shots. ... But, Victor, give him credit, he made quite a few birdie in the middle there. He was in a lot of trouble and he deserved to win."
Next opponent: Jason Day for Victor Dubuisson in the finals, Rickie Fowler for Ernie Els in the consolation match.

PERTH PLAYER SURGES THREE CLEAR WITH BRILLIANT 66

YOUNG CLICKETY-CLICKS TO LEAD 

FIRST Q ROUND IN SOUTH AFRICA

Perth's Daniel Young was the toast of the Scottish Golf Union squad in South Africa tonight (Sunday), when he opened up a three-shot lead with a brilliant six-under-par round of 66 in the first qualifying round for the match-play stages of the South African open amateur golf championship at Hermanus Golf Club on the Western Cape.An eagle 3 at the long second settled Young, pictured above, and he built on that with birdies galore."It was a good round of golf. I played nicely and stuck to my game plan pretty much throughout the day and hit a lot of good iron shots. And I obviously rolled in a couple of putts which was nice," said Young, a member at Craigie Hill Golf club and winner of the Cameron Corbett Vase SGU Order of Merit 72-hole tournament in 2012 and 2013.

"It is a course that suits my game. The greens are running perfectly so you could make some putts. So I figured I just needed to give myself a few chances.

"I hit a nice drive down the fairway at the second hole and it was a good second shot that set up an eagle 3.
"It was a tough flag position, tucked back right but I hit a nice second shot right into the heart of the green and fortunately the putt fell in."
Young won several times on the American college golf circuit during four years at Lynn University, Boca Raton in Florida
Scott Gibson (Southerness) is the next best Scot on one-under 71, followed by British boys champion Ewen Ferguson (Bearsden) and Jamie Savage (Cawder) on 73.Scottish schoolboys champion Connor Syme, son of the Dumfries and Co club pro, is on 75 with Ben Kinsley from St Andrews on 76

Defending champion Thriston Lawrence had a tough day in which he struggled to a four-over-par 76.

"I didn't feel the pressure at all," he said afterwards. "I played well today – I just made two mistakes with two double bogeys. I'm happy with my game but hopefully I'll play better  tomorrow. I won't be changing much. I'm hitting the ball well so hopefully I'll just keep up with my gameplan and roll in a few putts."

South Africa's number one ranked amateur, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, finished the day in joint sixth spot with a 71. "It was good out there. I played really well. I hit some greens but didn't make too many putts. But I played decent, solid golf so I'm happy about the round."

The 64 players with the lowest 36-hole aggregates  at the conclusion of Monday's second qualifying round will go forward to the match-play stages of the championship.

FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND

Players from S Africa unless stated

Par 72

66 D Young (Sco)

69 R Sinclair

70 T Strydom, J Rebula, H du Plessis

71 J Germishuys, C Bezuidenhout, R Kaminski, J du Preez, A Carlsson, S Gibson (Sco), C Mansfield, T Watson

72 R Bougas, N J Arnoldi, W Janse van Rensburg, M Steyn, H van Waart

73 G Fransman, H Germishuys, E Ferguson (Sco), J Savage (Sco), C Moralee, G Royston, P Boshoff, A Scholtz, A Lones, Z Lombard

SELECTED SCORES

74 C Spencer-White (Wal).

75 C Syme (Sco)76 B Kinsley (Sco).77 T Tree (Eng).
 

JAMES ROSS NOW IN TOP TEN AT BAYOU CITY CLASS IN TEXAS

Edinburgh's James Ross, a member of the Royal Burgess Golf Society and a student at Houston University, moved up to joint eighth place in the Bayou City Collegiate Classic at Golf Club of Houston, Humble in Texas with a second-round 69 for three-under-par 141.
He is four shots behind team-mate Wesley McClain (68-69) on 137.

COMPETITION AT DUNFERMLINE PAR-3 COURSE

MONTROSE AND TROON YOUNGSTERS 

THE WINNERS AT SJGT EVENT 
  
FROM WALTER BURNS 
Scottish Junior Golf Tour

Here are the results from the  Junior Tour Skills Day at Dunfermline on Saturday. It was a level 1 and 2 event. 

The morning session consisted of a series of skill challenges. A competition was held on the par 3 course in the afternoon. 

Ewan Wheat (Royal Montrose) had the best score of the afternoon session on the par 3 yet again with 61 to a par of 54. 

Cameron Johnstone (Troon Welbeck)won the Under-11s competition with a 68.

Thanks once again to Dunfermline Golf Club for allowing us to use their great facilities.

LEADING SCORES

 

UNDER-13years

61 Ewan Wheat (Royal Montrose)

66 Ben Mace (Dunblane)

68 Craig Stirling (Troon Welbeck)

UNDER-11years

68 Cameron Johnstone (Troon Welbeck)

69 Aamar Saleem (Ladybank)

71 George Cannon (Falkirk)

 

The handicap prize was won by George Cannon (Falkirk) and Thomas Johnstone (Balbirnie) with nett 53’s. George plays off 18.

Although the Skills Challenges were done in teams an individual prize was given to Daniel Hood (Prestonfield) for a fantastic baseball hit over the bleachers to win the overall challenge for his team.

 

Walter Burns

Scottish Junior Golf Tour

 

Mob: 07951 103 827

 

Email: walter@scottishjuniorgolftour.co.uk

Web: www.scottishjuniorgolftour.co.uk

 

FRENCHMAN REACHES LAST FOUR ON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DEBUT

DEADLY DUBUISSON SETS UP 

SEMI-FINAL v ELS BY BEATING G-MAC

 NEWS RELEASE FROM EUROPEAN TOUR

Rising star Victor Dubuisson, pictured left in Arizona by courtesy of Getty Images(c), will face South African legend Ernie Els in the semi-finals of the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championship on Sunday after knocking out Graeme McDowell in the round of the last eight at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain, Arizona 

The Turkish Airlines Open winner, making his World Golf Championship debut, produced some majestic short game play coming down the stretch to finish one up and end McDowell’s remarkable run.

The Northern Irishman came through the first three rounds thanks to thrilling late comebacks, but his luck ran out against Dubuisson, whose birdie on the par four 15^th proved decisive. 

Els’ 4 and 2 victory over young American Jordan Spieth was far more one-sided – the 44 year old South African was never down – and this represents his best performance in the competition since he was fourth in 2001.

The winner of the all-European Tour semi-final will face either Australian Jason Day, who saw off South African Louis Oosthuizen 2 and 1, or American Rickie Fowler, who beat compatriot Jim Furyk on the 18th.

Frenchman Dubuisson said: “I knew Graeme was going to be a tough player to beat, but I just played my own stroke play and I didn't watch him too much. I tried to just focus on my game and make birdies. 

“I have been practising my chipping a lot here this week because the rough around the greens is so thick. That definitely helped me with those tricky chips on the final few holes today.

“I've never played with Ernie before. He has a lot of experience and has won so many tournaments and Majors. I will just do the same as I did today and yesterday against Bubba (Watson), just play my own stroke play and don't watch him, don't be impressed.” 

Els was something of a match play specialist at his peak, winning the World Match Play Championship seven times between 1994 and 2007.

He said: “I'm obviously elated. It's been a wonderful week and although at times I haven't played my best, I've just done enough to get through. 

“At 44, you know, you're out of most professional sports by 15 years.  Here I am still playing and competing against the youngsters, so it's quite amazing.”

 

Quarter-final results

J Day (Australia) bt L Oosthuizen(S Africa) 2 and 1.
R Fowler (USA) bt J Furyk (USA) 1 hole.
E Els (S Africa) bt J Spieth (USA) 4 and 1.
V Dubuisson (France) bt G McDowell (N Ireland) 1 hole.
SUNDAY SEMI-FINALS
Day v Fowler
Els v Dubuisson