CHEAPER TO BUY TICKETS NOW FOR AAM SCOTTISH OPEN IN JULY

 The splendid view from Gullane links over the Firth of Forth to the hills of Fife on the horizon.

GULLANE'S THE PLACE TO GO IN JULY

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Justin Rose will feature prominently from today in a poster campaign throughout Scotland to celebrate the first European Tour event to be played over a composite course at historic Gullane Golf Club in East Lothian from July 9-12 next year.
Rose’s joyous celebration on winning the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in July provides the backdrop for a new campaign with the familiar tagline of ‘The Challenge Awaits’ which will offer tickets at great value for money before January  31, 2015.
The 2014 event captured the essence of classic links golf with one of the strongest fields in the history of the Scottish Open. In 2015 another stellar cast is expected to challenge for one of the year’s most prestigious titles just a week before the eyes of the golfing world will focus on The Open at St.Andrews.
Rose captured his first professional title in Scotland, the Home of Golf, with four rounds in the 60s at Royal Aberdeen, from a world-class field including Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke.
Now the 2013 US Open Champion aims to return to Scotland to lead the assault on Gullane, which will be adapted to include holes from Gullane No.1 and No.2 to create an exciting and dramatic challenge for the greats of the game.
Rose admitted that one of his favourite memories of the 2014 season is the spontaneous family celebration on the 18th green after he sank the winning putt, and now the Englishman can’t wait to return to Scotland to defend the title next July.
He commented: “It will be special to play in consecutive weeks in Scotland and I would love to go back and win the Scottish Open then The Open at St.Andrews.  Winning over a links such as Royal Aberdeen was something to take a lot of pride in, but Gullane is a world renowned links, too, and I am looking forward to experiencing the composite course which will be in use.
“I remember playing in the Amateur Championship at Muirfield way back, and one of my qualifying rounds was at Gullane. I’ve since driven through it a few times and love the big hills and sweeping holes down towards the village. The model of the tournament nowadays is brilliant and I can’t wait to defend my title.”
A season ticket for the 2015 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open can be purchased for £60 in advance of the tournament, a saving of £20 on admission at the gate. Adult day tickets are currently priced at £25, rising to £35 on the gate.
Concessions (age 60 and over) start at £40 for a season ticket and £15 for any one-day tickets if purchased in advance. Under-16s accompanied by an adult are admitted free of charge and all car parking is also free. Entrance to the Pro-Am on Wednesday is £8 in advance and £15 on the day.

To book tickets visit www.europeantour.com/tickets or call 0800 023 2557.Corporate Hospitality Packages are also available - please contact Robert Gordon on 01344 840538 or email -rgordon@europeantour.com to request a brochure.

Full ticket information can be found at:  www.aamscottishopen.com or www.europeantour.com/tickets or telephone Ticket Hotline:  +440800 023 2557. Postal enquiries should be sent to: European Tour Tickets, Mirren Court Three, 123 Renfrew Court Three, Paisley, PA3 4EA.

FORMER ASSISTANT AT HAYSTON, THEN ALLOW

 
ROYAL LIVERPOOL PRO JOHN 

HEGGARTY  PGA CAPTAIN IN 2017

PGA NEWS RELEASE

Royal Liverpool head PGA Professional John Heggarty has received an early Christmas gift after being named PGA Captain-elect.
The 56 year old, pictured right, will take over the prestigious role when Nicky Lumb, who takes over from Neil Selwyn-Smith next year, completes his two year office in 2017.
It caps a memorable year for Heggarty with Hoylake having hosted the Open Championship earlier in the summer.
Heggarty, who became head pro at Hoylake at aged just 23, has served on PGA committees at county, regional and national level including two decades on the PGA board of directors.
He admitted the call from PGA chief executive Sandy Jones had come out of the blue.
“I was quietly getting on with my life, we’d had the Open this year which was pretty full on and I’d just started settling down and then I got the phone call from Sandy. It was both a surprise and something that didn’t take me long to accept,” said Heggarty who is a PGA Master Professional.
“I have been privileged to represent the members of Royal Liverpool as their professional for over 30 years and to now have the opportunity to represent the members of The Professional Golfers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland is a wonderful honour having been closely involved with The PGA for an awful lot of years.
“Ultimately when you become captain of The PGA you are treading in the footsteps of PGA Professionals that are names from the history of the game so it is a tremendous honour.”
The Association’s first captain back in 1901 was the legendary James Braid – one of the Great Triumvirate along with J H Taylor and Harry Vardon who each also captained The PGA. Other names to have held the role include Sir Henry Cotton, Abe Mitchell, Fred Daly, Dai Rees and Bernard Hunt.
“During my captaincy I will be very keen to reach out to as many of my fellow PGA Members as possible and I’m looking forward to representing The PGA to the best of my abilities,” added Heggarty.
Heggarty excelled at back stroke as a teenage swimmer but turned to golf with a rival swimmer, and friend, and they played at Dumfries and County Golf Club.
Heggarty’s first assistant’s role was at Hayston Golf Club in Glasgow, later moving to Shaw Park  Golf Club in Alloa before moving south to become an assistant to John Morgan at Royal Liverpool.
He then moved nearby after landing his first head pro job at Wirral Ladies Golf Club at the age of just 21.
But it wasn’t’ long before he was back at Royal Liverpool as head pro having impressed the club in his previous spell there.
PGA chief executive Sandy Jones added: “We are delighted to appoint John as captain of The PGA. He has given long and dedicated service to PGA at county, regional and national level and is also the highly respected PGA Professional at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
“John has attained PGA Master Professional status and I’m sure will be a huge asset in the role of captain to The Professional Golfers’ Association.”

PLAYED FOR SCOTLAND AT RUGBY AND CRICKET

      FAMED "SCOTSMAN" SPORTS 

      WRITER NORMAN MAIR (86) DIES 

Norman Mair was the go- to writer for rugby players and fans. Picture: Martin Hunter

The  funeral will follow a family service and will be held on Tuesday, December 16 at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh at 2pm. All are welcome to attend.
 

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE

By ALAN PATULLO

Tributes have been paid to former "The Scotsman" rugby and golf writer and four-times capped Scotland rugby international Norman Mair, who has died after a long illness. He was 86.
Former Scotland and Britain Lions coach Sir Ian McGeechan last night described Mair as “the best rugby writer of them all, without question”, adding that when even opposition players travelled to Edinburgh for internationals, they looked out Mair’s preview of the game on a Saturday morning.
Former Scotland full-back Andy Irvine said players viewed Mair’s reports as “the gospel”.
“I used to take the view that, if you really wanted to know how you played, read Norman,” added Irvine. “If Norman had you down for a bad game then you knew yourself it wasn’t the best.”
Glasgow Warriors coach Gregor Townsend, speaking in Toulouse after his side’s 19-11 defeat in the European Rugby Champions Cup yesterday, described Mair’s death as “a sad loss”. He added: “He was so well respected by the players. He had amazing knowledge of the game from 50 years ago right up to the modern day and it was great having conversations with him.”
Former Scotland and Lions coach McGeechan added: “When I came through schoolboy and club rugby he was someone you would look to read what he wrote but also to meet up with and have conversations about rugby.”
Mair began working for The Scotsman in the early 1960s, by which time he had already earned four caps for Scotland as a hooker, having made his debut against France in 1951. He won three further caps that year. 
In 1952 Mair distinguished himself by joining the select band of double internationals after being selected to play for Scotland at cricket against Worcestershire.
But Mair became best known for his elegant and analytical writing on sports, including golf and tennis. A deep knowledge of rugby meant he was required reading for those who played and coached the game as well as those who simply watched it.
“When I was coaching Scotland, I used him as a sounding board,” said McGeechan. “We talked about things and looked at things together, he would give me a heads-up. He would never compromise any confidentiality. If some of the Scottish Rugby Union selectors knew some of the conversations I had with him, they would have panicked.
“Every rugby player, whether it was a player playing for Scotland or an opposition player, and I know Gareth Davies said it, that the piece they wanted to read was Norman Mair’s preview of the international on a Saturday morning.”
Irvine, the 51-times capped Scotland full-back, confirmed this yesterday. “We used to all love reading The Scotsman on a Monday morning and reading what Norman had to say – you treated that as the gospel. I know that all the boys thought that.”
Jim Telfer described Mair as the written word’s equivalent to Bill McLaren, who was described as the “voice of rugby” when the much-loved commentator passed away four years ago.
“Norman is a great loss,” said Telfer. “Bill McLaren and Norman are of the old generation – you don’t get them very often. He was a friend as well as a journalist. He used to come into my office at Murrayfield just for a blether and he always had something new to tell you even though he was 70 years old by then.
“He was always ahead of the game, never mind up with it,” he added.
Mair attended Edinburgh Academy and then Merchiston Castle 
School, famed for its rugby prowess, before going on to study law at Edinburgh University. He began his journalist career on Scotsport, the programme on which Arthur Montford, who died last month, made his name. 
He wrote for The Scotsman until 1998 and was inducted into the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame last year.
Ian Stewart, editorial director of The Scotsman Publications Ltd, said: “I was saddened to hear of the passing of Norman Mair. He was one of the most outstanding journalists of his generation, and his contribution to The Scotsman and to sports journalism in general was simply huge. His insightful views helped shape rugby in this country.”

FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON: I knew Norman as a golf writer and he was as classy in that field as he was in rugby reporting. Norman's distinctive style introduced me to a new dimension of golf writing. He would analyse the technique of the players that got them the scores on which the rest of us  were concentrating.
He was a thoroughbred sportswriter with the knack of being able to work touches of humour into his reports - a rare attribute. 
The Golf Media Centre interviews, attended by all the writers covering an event, never produced enough material for Norman who would corner the player on his own before he left the Press Tent (which they were in the old days) to conduct his own one-on-one interview ... The Norman Mair Interview as we used to jokingly call it.
Norman and Lewine were a husband-and-wife, golf-writing team and  Lewine is still going strong. They had four children in quick succession ... daughters Michele (who works for IMG Golf), Suzi and sons Patrick and Logan.
Lewine used to joke when they were very young that  she was "four under 4s," which was the old style of golf scoring before par became the yardstick.
I enjoyed Norman's company. He was a far better, more informed writer than I have ever been but success never went to his head. 
Norman would never pass you by and was always approachable.
A man for my memory bank.

Steve Scott of the Dundee Courier writes:
Norman was the much-respected doyen of rugby and golf writers in Scotland.
Unlike his peers, he also was actually good enough to have played for his country, winning four caps at rugby as a prop out of Edinburgh University in 1951 and being capped at cricket a year later.
However, it was in journalism and particularly at the Scotsman over a 40-year career that he made his name — though he also worked for the Herald, the Observer and Scotland on Sunday, while writing many books and articles for publications across the world.
His meticulous attention to detail and knowledge of technique, allied to an always-whimsical eye, made him popular among readers and the sportsmen and women he reported on.
He and fellow Scottish legend Bill McLaren are the only media men to have been elected to Scottish Rugby’s Hall of Fame.
Norman was made an MBE in 1994.
He is survived by his wife Lewine, also a distinguished sports writer, daughters Suzi and Michele and sons Logan and Patrick.