CADDIE SERIOUSLY INJURED IN FALL ON PEBBLE 

BEACH ROCKS
 
FROM GOLF.COM
By Ryan Lavner
Golf fans held their breath as Jim Furyk attempted to play a shot from the rocky cliff to the right of the sixth fairway Pebble Beach on Sunday.
Furyk  emerged unscathed, but Matt Bettencourt’s caddie wasn’t as fortunate in another incident at the California seaside venue.
Caddie Brian Rush suffered a concussion, broke his shoulder and suffered a compound fracture in his forearm Sunday when he slipped and fell on the craggy coastline to the left of the 18^th fairway.
Bettencourt told reporters that Rush’s left heel caught a piece of moss on the rock.
Rush, who is Bettencourt's brother-in-law, hit his head twice on the rock as he fell.
“It wasn’t really good,” Bettencourt said. “I was kind of scared for him. When his bone went through his arm, it was compound, so that was bad.” 
After 25 minutes, Rush was strapped to a stretcher, pulled up the hill and rushed to a local hospital. Playing his ninth hole of the day, Bettencourt had one of his friends in the gallery carry his bag for the remainder of the round. 

SHIRE TOO STRONG FOR CITY IN MURCAR CHALLENGE

The North-east District of the SGU staged a challenge match between City and Shire players, drawn from their representative squad, at Murcar Links on Sunday.

The Shire team won 5-2.

Details (Shire players first):

D Fleming (Portlethen) lost to G Joss (Royal Aberdeem) 4 and 3.

G Munro (Fraserburgh) bt B Innes (Murcar Links) 1 hole

S Roger (Cruden Bay) bt D Macandrew(Royal Abdn) 5 and 3.

J Duff (Newmachar) bt S Robertson (Hazlehead) 3 and 2.

D Morrison (Duff House Royal) bt C Brechin (Portlethen) 4 and 3.

J Mitchell (Fraserburgh) bt B Edmond (Bon Accord) 2 and 1.

C Cheyne (Newmachar) lost to S Lawrie (Portlethen) 4 and 3.

North-East District 2015 dates and venues

Date            Event           VENUE             Entry Fee Closing Date
               
Sun April 26  Phillips Trophy    Newburgh    £25.00    16th April     +Two rounds of stroke-play
           
Sat May 9  Journal Cup    Fraserburgh    £40.00    27th April 2015
 +Scottish club championship qualifier
              
Thur July 9 Paul Lawrie NE U18 boys ch/ship Deeside  £10
 +Entry deadline July 3. Boys must be under 18 yrs on January 1.
 
Fri July 10 Paul Lawrie NE U14 boys ch/ship Deeside    £5
 + Entry deadline July 3. Boys must be under 14 years on January 1.
               
Fri July 24 Marshall Leisure NE Seniors ch/ship   Craibstone   £10 +Entry deadline July 13.
               
Sun Aug 2   Youths Championship    Kintore    £10    July 20 closinh
+Under 23yrs at August 2.
 
Sat-Sun Aug 15-16 Kings Links Golf Centre NE District Open    Venue: Cruden Bay    Entry fee £30
+Four rounds' stroke-play. Entry deadline: July 31. Field restricted to 72 players by handicap ballot. Round 2 cut to leading 40 and ties.
      
Sun Aug 30   Simmers Trophy    Cruden Bay £20 per team  Aug 17 
+One round foursomes.

NEW SPONSORS FOR NE DISTRICT STROKE-PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP AT CRUDEN BAY
Kings Links Golf Centre are sponsoring the North-east District's flagship tournament, the 72-hole open amateur stroke-play championship at Cruden Bay on Saturday-Sunday, August 15-16.

West win SJGT team event at Elmwood

FROM WALTER BURNS

Scottish Junior Golf Tour

Over the next few months we are going to trial some different formats on the Scottish Junior Golf Tour. Yesterday at Elmwood  was “Three Way Match-play”. In this format the juniors are playing two simultaneous matches. They play both individually and as part of a team.

West won the team event with an average of 2.6 holes up. East and Central were second with 2 holes up.

Andrew Thompson ( Lanark) won the individual event with an average of 6 holes up. Ian Taggart (Lenzie) was second with an average of 5 holes up.

Jack Brown (Belleisle) won the skills challenges.

This match-play style certainly made for a more interesting day with a lot of close matches and everyone having something to play for right to the very end.

 

Walter Burns

Scottish Junior Golf Tour

Mobile: 07951 103 827

Email: walter@scottishjuniorgolftour.co.uk

FURYK LOSES LEAD YET AGAIN AS SNEDEKER 

SCORES SEVENTH US PGA TOUR VICTORY

Poor old Jim Furyk! Add this year's AT and T Pebble Beach National Pro-am in California to the long list of events he has led the field into the final round - but failed to win.
Jim, who had taken a long rest from tournament golf - he had not played since the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles last September - shot 64, 70, 63 and 74 for a total of 271 and a share of seventh place.
Furyk thus failed to convert his ninth 54-hole lead in nine tries since his last victory on Tour, the 2010 Tour Championship. For reference, from 1994-2010, Furyk turned 17 54-hole leads or co-leads into 10 of his 16 career victories.
Brandt Snedeker said after his opening round that he knows what it takes to win at Pebble Beach - and he was right. He won the title for a second time, his seventh US PGA victory in all.
Snedeker shot a 22 under par total of 265 (64-67-67-67) to lead the field home by three shots from Nick Watney (65-69-65-69) with Charlie Beljan filling third place on 269 with rounds of 70, 63, 70 and 66. 
Snedeker won $1,224,000, Watney $734,400 and Beljan $462,400.
For one reason or another, Dustin Johnson had an even longer lay-off than Jim Furyk but he has come back with his batteries recharged, finishing joint fourth on 270 with Jason Day (72-62-69-67) and Pat Perez (66-68-68-68).
Dustin's rounds were 69, 67, 68 and 66.
Irishman Shane Lowry finished T21 on 274 (69-67-67-71). Lowry collected $73,835
There was a cut after three rounds and the following bowed out at that point:
210 Ian Poulter 70 68 72, Brian Davis 68 71 71(T77)_
211 Padraig Harrington 68 71 72(T91)
212 Greg Owen 70 74 68 (T107)
225 Paul McGinley 73 76 76 (T152) 

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SNEDEKER SAYS BUTCH HARMON HAS MADE

A BIG DIFFERENCE - NOW FOR THE MASTERS!

 FROM GOLF.COM
By RANDALL MELL    
Brandt Snedeker started the week at Pebble Beach just trying to get into this year’s Masters.
He left the AT amd T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Sunday ready to begin thinking a lot bigger than that.
He can go ahead now and start plotting how to win at Augusta National.
With his seventh US PGA Tour title, his second at Pebble Beach, Snedeker did more than earn an invitation to play the Masters for the eighth time in his career. He reminded us how his game fits there. His teary-eyed interview behind the 18th green Sunday with CBS’s Peter Kostis reminded us how emotional Snedeker got after giving himself a chance to win the Masters in the final round in 2008. He tied for third that year, kicking himself after closing with a 77. He tied for sixth there when Adam Scott won two years ago.
“It gets me back on track to where I feel I belong,” Snedeker said.
Snedeker’s healthy again, with his ribs, back and knee problems no longer derailing his ambition. His swing, subtle changes he made after moving to Butch Harmon last year, looks like it’s in a great place. Most importantly, he’s feeling good about his putting again, a stroke that ranks among the best in the game today.
“I feel like my game is good enough to go against anybody in the world, as long as I’m putting good,” Snedeker said last summer, back when he was playing through all those injuries.
Snedeker is putting “good” all right.
With a 22-under winning total, Snedeker set a tournament record in the US PGA Tour event at Pebble Beach. He made one bogey all week, becoming just the fifth player in the last decade to make one bogey or fewer in a 72-hole PGA Tour event. He won by three shots, closing fiercely without a hiccup.
Notably, Snedeker said he felt Harmon’s presence working on more than his swing while closing out.
“He was in my ear all day, stuff he has told me the last six months, giving me the confidence to go out there and hit shots under pressure,” Snedeker said.
When Jimmy Walker made his giant leap as a player last season, he said Harmon’s influence on him went beyond the swing they work on together. He said Harmon helped build confidence he could and should win.
The fact that, unprompted, Snedeker brought up Harmon’s influence on him in Sunday’s victory makes you curious how Snedeker will fare his first time around Augusta National with Harmon’s voice in his head.
Going to the turn with a two-stroke lead, Snedeker showed a Secretariat-like run, making birdies at the par-4 11th and par-4 15th to pretty much put things away. 
By the time the 34-year-old Snedeker got to the 16th tee, it was really just a footnote that Charlie Beljan (66 – 269) had surprised with a third-place finish or that Jason Day (67), Dustin Johnson (66), and Pat Perez (68) had all played nicely to finish at 17-under 270 and tie for third. 
This was a day that belonged to Snedeker, just as it did two years ago when he won this tournament for the first time.
Since then, the man they call “Sneds” has struggled with parts of his game, his switch in swing coaches from Todd Anderson to Butch Harmon taking him most of 2014 to get used to. 
But with a series of T-10 finishes to start the 2014-15 season – four in five tournaments – Snedeker told anyone who asked that he was moving in a positive direction and feeling good about his game.
He was tied for the lead after Rounds 1 and 2, fell one off the pace after Saturday’s third round, then stood strong even after Watney birdied each of the first four holes to pull two ahead. 
When Watney bogeyed five, six, and nine, Snedeker, out in 34, was back in charge.
For the week, Snedeker was immense. He made just one bogey – at the par-4 third in Round 3, his 12th hole of the day and 47th of the tournament, meaning he played the last 24 bogey-free. Impressively, he hit 59 greens (T-3) and was back to his old self with the flat stick, ranking T-6 in the strokes-gained-putting category.

MONTY SLUMPS AS JANZEN SCORES FIRST

 WIN FOR 16 YEARS

Colin Montgomerie seems to be losing his Midas Touch on the US Champions Tour.
He played poorly by his high standards the week before last and this weekend he led after the first round, he led after the second round ... but he slipped down to a final placing of fifth over the final 18 holes of the ACE Group Classic at Twin Eagles Golf Club.
Monty had rounds of 66, 66 and 72 for a total of 204, 12-under-par, but not nearly good enough to hold the pack at bay. 
Still the big Scot picked up a payslip for $76,000 - that should ease the pain a bit on the long trip back to Britain for Wednesday's Ryder Cup captaincy meeting at Wentworth.
Lee Janzen and Bart Bryant tied on 16-under 220 after the regulation 54 holes. Then Janzen won the play-off at the first extra hole with a 4 to a 5. Janzen earned $240,000, Bryant $140,800.
Janzen had rounds of 68, 65 and 67, Bryant 70, 68 and 62.
Esteban Toledo was third on 202 with sores of 69, 67 and 66.
England's Roger Chapman and Scotland's Sandy Lyle tied 10th on 211, Roger with 75-66-70 and Sandy with 70-70-71. 
Chapman and Lyle each earned $26,400.

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 FROM ESPN.COM
 Lee Janzen had a good feeling about his 8-foot putt on the 18th green.
Janzen made the putt, then topped Bart Bryant in a play-off to win the ACE Group Classic on Sunday at Twin Eagles Golf Club.
"I was like, 'I have to make birdie here to get in a play-off,' or I make a par and I don't and I'll just go back to the drawing board and work harder on my putting because I had some putts I could have made that would have made a difference," Janzen said.
"But there was a peace that, to me, it didn't matter whether I won or not."
Bryant fought his way back into contention when he shot a 10-under 62 Sunday, tying a course record, while Janzen had a 5-under 67.
Both were 16 under in regulation play.
However, Bryant struggled in the playoff. After a short drive, he had 178 yards to go on the first play-off hole, No. 18. His second shot hit the railroad ties before bouncing back into the water.
"Well, honestly, where I messed up was my drive," he said. "I kind of hit just a terrible little fade out there, so I lost 20, 30 yards. So now I have a longer yardage and shooting more across the water.
"Actually, the second shot I felt like I hit pretty good, I just left it a couple yards right. I thought I had enough. I thought I took enough club that even if I pushed it, I was going to carry the water.
"I think the wind had changed just a little bit from the first time played it and was just enough. So I hit a bad drive, caught a little bit of a bad lie, hit it a little right and it all equals in the water."
Janzen, with 164 yards to go, put his approach shot on the green. He then two-putted for the victory.
"Once he hit his shot, I was thinking about hitting it to the pin, being aggressive, but once he hit his shot, I calculated where's the best place to be to make a 4?," Janzen said. 
"Long was no good. If I brought long into play and went left at all, it goes down left of the green and that's an extremely hard chip, so I was very content to be short and left. I just had to be disciplined enough to aim it left at the front of the green and hit it there, so that's what I did with a 7-iron."
Janzen, the U.S. Open champion in 1993 and 1998, hadn't won an individual tournament for more than 16 years, spanning 413 starts.
"I work on my game in a certain way so I'm going to do the best I can on every shot and I don't need to worry about what people think, whether I hit a good shot or a bad shot," Janzen said. "I used to have a terrible temper and threw clubs and carried on.
"That was really the breakthrough was to realize I was only doing that because I was too worried about what other people thought about my golf game, so I felt like I had to get mad to show them that I was better than that, which was just ridiculous."
The tournament also was emotional for Bryant, who had to compose himself during a TV interview after he finished his 54th hole. His mother attended her first tournament since her husband died in May.
"I really thought about it at the beginning of the week how cool it would be if Brad or I could pull something off and just couldn't quite get it done," he said.
 "I hate to say it, there might have been a little bit when you get done and ready to go in a playoff, you don't want to get emotional, you need to get tough and ready to go to a play-off. I think I lost a little bit of that, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Colin Montgomerie entered the day at 12 under and with a 1-shot lead. He opened with a birdie but then alternated birdies and bogeys on Nos. 10-13. He also bogeyed No. 18 to fall into fifth place.
Esteban Toledo, who shot a 6-under 66 Sunday, finished third at 14 under.
Paul Goydos, the champion last week at The Allianz Championship, finished 7 under.
Kirk Triplett, the defending ACE Group Classic champion, finished 2 under after going 68-72-74.
Bernhard Langer, who was at 7 under, withdrew from the tournament and returned home to Boca Raton to be with daughter Christina. She had back surgery five weeks earlier.