LINK TO LIVE SCORING FROM THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

• Kaymer, Spieth on collision course this weekend at TPC Sawgrass

  •  FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
  • By Sean Martin, PGATOUR.COM
• Martin Kaymer leads, but young phenom Jordan Spieth is right on his heels at THE PLAYERS. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – Germany's Martin Kaymer and rising USA star Jordan Spieth have pulled away from the field at THE PLAYERS Championship, but they face two more rounds at a TPC Sawgrass course that is laden with traps and trouble.
Kaymer, who tied the course record in the first round, is at 12-under 132 (63-69), one shot ahead of Spieth (67-66). Russell Henley is four shots back. Five players are tied for fourth, six shots off the lead.
“If people want to talk negative about it, I shot six shots worse, but you can always go in the negative,” Kaymer said. “But I see very positive things that I backed up that 9-under-par with another decent round.
Kaymer’s 12-under total matches the second-best opening 36 holes in PLAYERS history; Greg Norman shot 14-under 130 (63-67) en route to his 1994 victory.
Spieth’s 66 was the day’s low round. He hasn’t made a bogey in 36 holes.
“The round from Jordan this afternoon is obviously really, really good,” said Sergio Garcia, who’s T4. “It wasn’t easy. I didn’t see a lot of 66s out there.”
Spieth reached 11 under after knocking his approach shots at Nos. 11, 13 and 14 all within 8 feet of the hole. The latter two birdie putts were just 4 and 3 feet, respectively. 
He had a chance to tie Kaymer but failed to get up-and-down from in front of the green at the par-5 16th.
Spieth is coming off a second-place finish at his Masters debut. This is his first PLAYERS Championship. Both events have a reputation for being tough on first-timers. That hasn’t mattered to Spieth.
“Every course I’ve played over the past few years has been a brand new course to me,” he said. “I feel very comfortable chipping around these greens. That makes it a lot easier to hit the second shots in, knowing that I can be a little more aggressive.”
Spieth has hit 13 of 18 greens in each of the first two rounds. Kaymer isn’t bogey-free -- he’s made two, both Friday -- but his ballstriking has been impressive. 
He hit 13 greens in regulation Friday after missing just one in the first round. He leads the field in greens in regulation after hitting 30 of the first 36.
Spieth was just 16 years old when Kaymer won the 2010 PGA Championship. “I know he was former No. 1 in the world,” Spieth said. “Obviously a great player that, I guess he lost No. 1, … but he’s been coming back for a while now, playing some good golf.”
Kaymer has said that he struggled with the attention that came with being the world’s top-ranked player. He’s now 61st in the OWGR.
There are four players in THE PLAYERS field with a chance to become No. 1 for the first time. Kaymer isn’t thinking about returning to that lofty post, though.
“That is three, four, five steps more than you should go,” he said. “I take it step by step. A lot of people think it’s a good feeling to be No. 1 in the world, and it makes you very proud, it’s nice to be up there, but it comes with a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations from others and subconsciously from yourself.
“I hope I get there. … I think I’m better prepared and it will be a lot easier. I’m 100 percent sure I will handle it better.”

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2x72) Players from USA unless stated
132 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 63 69
133 Jordan Spieth 67 66
136 Russell Henley 65 71
138 Jim Furyk (USA) 70 68, Lee Westwood (England) 67 71, Gary Woodland 67 71, Justin Rose (England) 67 71, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 67 71
139 Brian Davis (England) 72 67, Matt Jones (Australia) 70 69, John Senden (Australia) 70 69 Kevin Na 70 69, Bill Haas 68 71, Sang-Moon Bae 66 73, George McNeill 71 68, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 69 70, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 72 67, Scott Brwn 68 71.
SELECTED SCORES
140 Zach Johnson 69 71, Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 69 71 (T19)
141 Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 71 67, Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 71 70, Bubba Watson 69 72 (T25)
142 Luke Donald (England) 73 69 (T37)
143 Ian Poulter (England) 74 69 (T52)
144 Adam Scott (Australia) 77 67, Russell Knox (Scotland) 72 72, Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 72 72 (T64)

MISSED THE CUT: 144 and better qualified
145 Phil Mickelson 75 70
146 Martin Laird (Scotland) 76 70 
148 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 70 78
149 Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland) 76 73, Thomas Bjorn(Denmark) 73 76
152 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 77 75.
 To view all the scores

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TWO DAYS GONE AND ONE ROUND STILL TO BE COMPLETED

Scott Henry: Today's picture by Getty Images(c)

GREAT SCOTT! HENRY'S 67 LEADS 

FOG-HIT MADEIRA ISLAND OPEN

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Scott Henry has moved into a strong position to secure his maiden European Tour win in the fog-hit Madeira Islands Open.
With only two days left in the tournament and most of the field still to complete ONE round, it is odds on that the event will be cut to 54, maybe 36 holes.
In which case, a leading position is easier to maintain.
A five under par opening round of 67 earned Henry the clubhouse lead before play was suspended for the day due to fog. 
The unpredictable weather and spells of heavy fog had played havoc with the beginning of The European Tour’s 1,500th official event at Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra, 700 metres above sea level on the picturesque Portuguese island of Madeira. After play was abandoned on the opening day without a ball being struck, Round One finally got underway at 7:45am this morning, but only briefly as more fog moved in causing another suspension at 9am. 
Play eventually resumed at 12:45pm and Henry came racing out of the blocks with four birdies in his opening five holes.
A bogey at the 17th hole, his eighth after teeing off at the tenth, stalled his progress but he bounced back with a birdie at the 18th followed by three more at the second, third and seventh. 
That moved the 27 year old former Scottish boys champion (2004-2005) and Scottish open amateur stroke-play champion (2006) to seven under par but he suffered back-to-back bogeys at the eighth and ninth to finish on five under, two shots clear of Englishman Andrew Marshall, Pedro Oriol of Spain and former European Tour winner Martin Weigele, of Austria.  
Key player quotes
 Scott Henry, 67 (-5) 
 “I got off to a fast start which was nice. Recently, in the few tournaments I've played, I haven’t done that so it was nice to start well. 
“It was a tough day and I would have taken five under before I went out. It was strange - because it was so tough I didn’t expect to get to seven under like I did. I had a couple of tough holes to finish with and two bogeys in the last two was a bit frustrating. 
“I'm really pleased though, I played well and I'm in the hunt for tomorrow. Hopefully we can get 36 more holes done. That’s going to be the biggest challenge.
 “I'm quite happy just to be in the hunt. I feel like I'm playing good again so whatever happens tomorrow I'm looking forward to it. It would be amazing to win but we have a long way to go.
 “It was certainly tough yesterday. I was in the clubhouse for ten hours, from 7am, so it was long. I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of Madeira cake - that was about it. I think the cake kept me going today!” 
Martin Wiegele, 69 (-3)
 “I was very pleased with my day because the conditions were really tough. It was actually one of the best rounds I’ve ever managed to play in the wind. 
 “I hope that my practice since winter and my fitness work has paid off and I will try to carry on in this good form.
“It was probably as windy as in Lumine on the Challenge Tour a few weeks ago, where we had to stop playing because the balls were moving on the greens, but they are slower here and more sheltered. 
 “It was a really bad year for me last year but after having hip surgery almost two years ago I had to stop playing for eight months. They say that if you stop playing for a long time, you need three times the amount of time to recover so if I can get back the way I was in 2011 already it would be awesome.”
Ricardo Santos, 72 (Level) 
“I played quite well today. I was very solid from tee to green, but my putting was not great. Taking into account the conditions out there though, I am quite satisfied. The wind was very strong but not consistent, it came in bursts. 
"You could choose the lines of your putts but the wind might take it so that made it tough. “To do well in these conditions you need a combination of two factors – to play well and also you need to get a little lucky too.”  

LEADERS IN CLUBHOUSE
Par 72
67 Scott Henry (Scotland)
69 Andrew Marshall (England0, Pedro Oriol (Spain), Martin Wiegele (Austria)
70 Carlos Aguilar (Spain), John Edfors (Sweden)
SELECTED SCORE
75 George Murray  (Scotland)

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PAUL LAWRIE GOLF CENTRE LADIES TARTAN TOUR

Tournament Director Nicola Melville (right) presents Laura Murray with a cheque for £2,500. Picture by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

LAURA'S EAGLE GIVES HER A 

TWO-SHOT £2,500 VICTORY 

REPORT AND PICTURES
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Alford's Laura Murray, the longest hitter in the field, produced an eagle 3 when she needed it
most on her way to a two-stroke victory in the Paul Lawrie Ladies Tartan Tour's Saltire Energy 36-hole tournament at Murcar Links today (Friday).
The 25-year-old former Scottish women's amateur champion and repeating St Rule Trophy winner, who plays out of Paul Lawrie Golf Centre and is sponsored by Saltire Energy supremo Mike Loggie, shot rounds of 73 and 72 for a three-over-par total of 145.
"My play tee to green has never been better but recently in Switzerland and here at Murcar in the first round my putting was letting me down. Let's
hope this is the turning point of my 2014 season," said Murray. 
It was Laura's second win on the Paul Lawrie Tour - she led the way home at Ratho Park 12 months
ago - but the £2,500 first prize is the biggest payday of her pro career so far.
She also wins a three-night, self-catering break at Gleneagles Village, Auchterarder, courtesy of Melville Properties (subject to availability).
Murray, who has been a student at Robert Gordon University and a part-time lifeguard at Kippie Lodge County Club swimming pool, pulled off her biggest win yet as a pro with her boyfriend, Kippie Lodge pro Keil Beveridge as her caddie, but it was her own strength off the tee, developed in playing alongside male rivals on the North-east Alliance winter circuit, that separated her from the field down the home straight.

Overnight Leaders Emma Fairnie (Gullane) 71, Heather Stirling (unattached) 72 and Lisa Shervill (2-do-Sport) 72, pictured left, lost three balls between them over the first five holes in the miserable misty and wet conditions that prevailed in the morning.
Murray limited her damage to bogeys at the sixth and seventh and, out in 38, she was level with nine holes to go with Fairnie (out in 40) and Ellon's Michele Thomson (out in 36 after birding the third and fourth) on the 111 mark.
Murray dropped another shot at the 13th but as the sun broke through to burn off the mist so Laura rolled up her sleeves and got an eagle 3 at the 482yd par-5 14th.
"I used a driver and then a three-iron but it was the third shot that was the best one ...
I holed a chip from about 40ft!" said Laura.
"I was bunkered at the next to bogey it but I birdied the par-4 17th with a 52 degree wedge approach and a 10ft holed putt."

So Murray came sailing home in 34 for a 72 and 145 while Fairnie, pictured left on the 18th green, took 36 for the second nine for a 76 to be runner-up on 147 for which she earned £1,250.

The challenge of former Scottish women's amateur champion and a 2008 Curtis Cup player at St Andrews Michele Thomson, pictured right, died for lack of a birdie - or eagle! - over the inward half. Instead she bogeyed the 10th, 17th and 18th for 38 home and a 74 for 148.

Stirling's second-round 76 (40-36), pictured left putting left-handed (as she always does) on the 18th green, enabled her to snatch third place on 148 and a £750 prize from Thomson who three-putted the last and finished joint fourth on 149 with Shervill (77). They both earned £425.
Nobody won the £25,000 hole-in-one prize offered by the Atholl Hotel at the short fifth.

Jane Turner (Craigielaw), pictured right, who finished with a 78 for 152 and seventh place for a £150 reward, also won the £100 Atholl Hotel prize for the nearest-the-pin tee shot on the second day ... about 8ft from the flagstick.
The next Paul Lawrie Ladies Tartan Tour 36-hole event is at Dundonald Links, Ayrshire on Sunday-Monday, June 8 and 9 when the prizefund will again be £6,000. 
Note that these are the NEW dates arranged by Tournament Director Nicola Melville to avoid a clash with LETAS or LET tournaments.
It would be nice if some of the WPGA lady pros from South of the Border came up to swell the numbers.
FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZEMONEY

Par 142 (2x71) Yardage: White tees 6,200
145 Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie GC) 73 72 (£2,500).
147 Emma Fairnie (Gullane) 71 76 (£1,250)
148 Heather Stirling (unatt) 72 76 (£750).
149 Michele Thomson (unatt) 75 74, Lisa Shervill (2-do-Sport) 72 77 (£425 each).
151 Gemma Webster (Succession Group) 73 78 (£250)
152 Jane Turner (Craigielaw) 78 74 (£150).
156 Katy McNicoll (Carnoustie GL) 78 78 (£100).
159 Emilee Taylor (Holmhall) 79 80 (£80)
166 Jorden Ferrie (Hilton Park) 87 79, Martine Pow (Selkirk) 85 81 (£35 each).
167 Jess Wilcox (Blankney) 81 86
168 Georgina Snow (Turnberry Hotel) 82 86
171 Nicola Ferguson (Milgavie) (am) 84 87
177 Lauren Watson (Deeside) (am) 88 89

No Return: Karyn Burns (kbgolf Indoor Golf Acads) 90 NR

ENTERPRISING OFFER FOR MONTHS OF NOVEMBER AND FEBRUARY

UNLIMITED FREE BEER IF RAIN STOPS 

PLAY AT PALMARES ON ALGARVE

Unlimited free beer is on offer in Portugal - but only if rain stops play!

So confident is the multi-award-winning Onyria Palmares Beach & Golf Resort of the weather in Portugal, it's offering golfers unlimited free beer should they be unable to finish their round in November or February owing to rain.

The unusual step has been taken by the 27-hole facility, in Lagos on the Algarve coastline  - the tripadvisor® ‘destinations on the rise' 2012 winner - because, as operations director António Pinto Coelho explained, while the region enjoys year-round sunshine, climate change means there's always the remote possibility of rain.

He said: "We are quietly confident that the majority of golfers visiting during November and February will complete their rounds unaffected by the weather, which is traditionally temperate. However, we are keen to ensure that in the unlikely event that rain should sweep in from the Atlantic, nobody will feel short-changed. Hence, we are happy to offer unlimited free beer for anybody whose round is truncated because of rain."

The beer offer is part of the new season's offering from the award-laden resort, which also sees the availability of unlimited golf included in seven-night deals, and room and golf packages from less than £65 per person per night, in association with its hotel partner, the four-star, waterfront Marina Club Lagos Resort.

Onyria Palmares Beach & Golf Resort, just 45 minutes from the busy Faro airport, was ranked an impressive 23rd in Golf World's recent, benchmark Top 100 Courses in Continental Europe rankings. It debuted in the rankings in 2011 after it reopened that year following an extensive, €10m Robert Trent Jones Jnr redesign.

The stunning Trent Jones Jnr redesign has resulted in three disparate loops of nine holes - the Alvor, Lagos and Praia courses - which enjoy expansive panoramic views across the Bay of Lagos, in a glorious and natural environment. While the Alvor course plays through pine tree-lined corridors with the majority of holes ascending hillsides or descending through intimate valleys, the Lagos course is a mixture of parkland and links features, and the Praia is set on classic seaside dunes-land exposed to the elements.

All breaks need to be booked through the golf club for the special prices to apply.

www.onyriapalmares.com | www.marinaclub.pt

GERMAN FORMER WORLD NUMBER ONE RECAPTURES BEST FORM

• KAYMER EQUALS COURSE RECORD 

  WITH A 63 AND LEADS BY ONE SHOT

  • 
    
• Martin Kaymer got up-and-down from behind the ninth green for birdie to cap an opening 63. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
• FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
•  
  By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

THE PLAYERS: Scores | Wrap-up | Tee times | The Upshot | No. 17 watch | FedExCup | Video | TOUR Report
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida -- Thinking in golf can be overrated. It was for Martin Kaymer.
“I thought a lot the last two years about swing changes,” the former world No. 1 from Germany said. 
“That every shot I made I reflect on it, what I did wrong, what I did right. It's only distracting if you think too much and if you try to play perfect golf.”
He nearly did on Thursday.
In addition to tying the course record with a 63 at TPC Sawgrass, Kaymer broke the nine-hole record with a 29 to take a two-shot lead over Russell Henley in the opening round of THE PLAYERS Championship.
“I stopped thinking,” he said. “That’s pretty much the bottom line.”
Just four years ago, Kaymer was on top of the game, a major champion for the first time and early the following season the top-ranked player in the world.
But the reign lasted just eight weeks. Kaymer sought to change his swing because he could only hit a fade and soon the results would start to disappear, too.
A feel player by nature, he had become too mechanical. It was Das Beste oder nichts -- the best, or nothing -- and soon it was the latter for the German.
“When you change, you have to think automatically,” he said. “You need to reflect and you want to improve, you want to get to the goal a lot earlier, and then sometimes you can get caught up in the thinking process. So you need to go back where you came from, and that's just -- it's feel, it's your natural shot. It's the fade, so it is my shot, accept it.”
He also struggled accepting his newfound celebrity status and the demands that go with being a major champion and No. 1 in the world, a position he was admittedly unequipped to handle.
“The first year I wasted a little bit I would say because I was distracted by too much what was going on off the golf course,” Kaymer said. “I didn't have enough energy to really focus on the main thing because I was doing a lot of other things, which was OK afterwards because then it was just part of the whole process.”
Kaymer hasn’t won since the HSBC Champions at the end of 2011 and by late 2012 was outside the top 30 and soon the top 40 and 50. He came into this week ranked 61st in the Official World Golf Ranking.
“I just told him he needs to be patient,” fellow German and friend Bernhard Langer said via cell phone Thursday night. “Confidence breeds winning and winning breeds confidence.”
That confidence has started to grow in recent weeks and Kaymer’s game has come around of late.

•  

  Martin Kaymer interview after Round 1 of THE PLAYERS

A few weeks prior to the Masters, he spent time with longtime swing coach Gunter Kessler in Phoenix. The two then had another good session in Germany.
“It just clicked a little bit,” Kaymer said. “I thought, ‘OK, I know I can hit pretty much every shot when I needed to hit it.’ If it’s a draw, if it’s a fade, low or high, I know that I can do it. It’s just a matter of getting the confidence on the golf course and then letting it happen and really doing it.”
He also got more words of encouragement from Langer following a tie for 18th at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
“I texted him that he played great the first three rounds and to just be patient with the weeks to come,” Langer said. “Things will go your way.”
They certainly did Thursday.
Kaymer missed just two fairways and one green in regulation on his way to making nine birdies, the last of which came on the par-5 ninth, where his approach shot ran through the green and into a bunker, leaving him an easy up-and-down.
But Kaymer’s road back has been too long and he has worked too hard to think too much about how well he played Thursday.
“I didn't make many mistakes,” he said. “It was just a very, very good round of golf.
“We shouldn't talk too much into that round ... only a quarter of the tournament happened today.”

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 72 Players from USA unless stated
63 Martin Kaymer (Germany)
65 Russell Henley
66 Sang-Moon Bae (South Korea)
67 Lee Westwood (England), Brian Stuard, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain), Gary Woodland, Jordan Spieth, Scott Stallings, Justin Rose (England), Sergio Garcia (Spain)
68 Scott Brown, Ernie Els (South Africa), Dustin Johnson, Pat Perez, Justin Leonard, Bill Haas, Joost Luiten (Netherlands)

SELECTED SCORES
69 Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland), Bubba Watson (T19)
70 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Stephen Gallacher (T29)
72 Brian Davis, Russell Knox (T68)
73 Luke Donald (T85)
74 Jamie Donaldson (Wales), Ian Poulter (England) (T101)
75 Phil Mickelson (T111)
76 Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland), Martin Laird (Scotland) (T123)
77 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Adam Scott (Australia) (T133).

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

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PGA IN SCOTLAND NEWS

Pro tee times for JDRF Charity Pro-Am on Monday, May 19 are:

 Gleneagles Golf Resort - Centenary Course 19/05/2014

 Tee   Time      Name

  1A   11:00 AM  Scott Henderson

  2A   11:00 AM  Kenneth Hutton

  3A   11:00 AM  Stephen Gray

  4A   11:00 AM  Gareth Hardy

  5A   11:00 AM  Mark Kerr

  6A   11:00 AM  Scott McGrenaghan

  7A   11:00 AM  Craig Gordon

  8A   11:00 AM  Craig Ronald

  9A   11:00 AM  Paul Wardell

  10A  11:00 AM  Garry Forrester

  11A  11:00 AM  Jason McCreadie

  12A  11:00 AM  Graeme Brown

  13A  11:00 AM  David Orr

  14A  11:00 AM  Christopher Currie

  15A  11:00 AM  Scott Herald

  16A  11:00 AM  James McKinnon

  17A  11:00 AM  Iain Stoddart

  18A  11:00 AM  Robert Arnott

Complete information is available at Tournament Information Page (TIP)