A FEW EUROS MORE FOR HENRY, STEWART-CATION
 
John Henry (Clydebank and District) won 358 euros and Scott Stewart-Cation  (Kirkcaldy) earned 330 euros for their tied 26th and 31st place finishes respectively in the Alps Tour's Dreamland Pyramids Open in Cairo, Egypt today

Henry shot 70, 73 and 76 for three-over 219 while Stewart-Cation had rounds of 70, 74 and 76 for 220.

Andrew Cooley from Chobham Park GC, Surrey won the 5,000 euros first prize with a 10 under par total of 206 (71-68-67).

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

par 216 (3x72)

206 Andrew Cooley (England) 71 68 67 (5,000 euros)

208 Matthieu Pavon (France) 71 71 66 (3,000 euros)

210 Raphael Margery (France) 71 67 72 (2,000 euros)

SCOTS' TOTALS

219 John Henry 70 73 76 (T26) (358 euros)

220 Scott Stewart-Cation (T31) (330 euros)

Broch player wins N E Alliance with a 64 at Oldmeldrum

JUSTIN DUFF FLYING HIGH ALL DAY!

Fraserburgh's Justin Duff, an offshore worker, was on the Oldmeldrum golf course within an hour of coming in from the North Sea by helicopter - and the +1 amateur proceeded to win the North-east Golfers' Alliance competition with a fine three-under-par round of 64 over the winter course, writes Colin Farquharson.

 
"Working out on the rigs restricts my golf but doesn't seem to affect it," said Justin, pictured. "This was only the second time I had been able to play in an Alliance fixture this season - I also won a voucher the first time - but I managed to birdie six holes today."
After bogeys at the third and fourth, Duff took off again with birdies at the fifth, sixth, eighth, 11th and 15th before bogeying the 17th and birdieing the last for halves of 32.
He won the first prize of £100 as an amateur voucher.
Runner-up was another member of the Duff clain, John, who is unrelated to Justin but also a +1 player.
Newmachar amateur John, who has won three times this Alliance season, finished three off the lead with a 67 (33-34) after being the clubhouse leader until Justin, one of the last men to finish, came in with his tournament-winning round.
Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie GC), looking forward to making her debut at Agadir, Morocco as a Ladies European Tour player, finished third in a field of 70 with a 68 (34-34).
Banchory golf writer Fergus Bisset was the only player to match winner Justin Duff's inward half of 32. Fergus had a 71.
Congratulations to joint Alliance secretary Dave Mackay (Hazlehead) and Kemnay's Neish Chisholm for winning the Class 1 and Class 2 handicap sections respectively.
Neish won Class 2 with rather more ease than Dave did in his category. Chisholm shot a gross 72 and, less his handicap of 12, he had the "useful" net score of 60, winning Class 2 by seven shots. 
Nice one, Neish!
Now for the NE Alliance championship, the first round of which will be at Duff House Royal, Banff next week.
Alliance joint sec Dave Wilson, who is a member out there, assures one and all that the "normal" greens will be in play and mats will certainly not be required for shots off the fairway. 
The second round of the championship is at Craibstone the following Wednesday with the qualifiers, scratch and handicap, going forward to contest the scratch and handicap foursomes at Craibsone on the next two days.
In recent years, the foursomes finale to the season has lost its "pull" with members and sometimes it is a case of "Are you available to play?" rather than "You have qualified to play."
Let's hope that members make themselves available for the scratch and handicap sections.

+LOOK out tomorrow for the updated Brimmond Bistro North-east Alliance Scratch Order of Merit table.

HANDICAP PRIZEWINNERS
Class 1 - D Mackay (7) 65; A Graham (5) 66; D Fleming (5) bih, G Milne (6) bih, S Mackie (4) 67.
Class 2 - N Chisholm (12) 60; G Allan (12) 67; B Lumdsen (10) bih, A Benton (14) 68; M Brown (18) 69.
SCRATCH SCORES
Par 67
64 Justin Duff (Fraserburgh) 32-32
67 John Duff (Newmachar) 33-34
68 Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie GC) 34-34
69 T Robertson (Peterculter) 33-36
70 L Vannet (Craibstone) 35-35
71 R Ord (Meldrum House) 38-33,  F Bisset (Banchory) 39-32, A Graham (Aboyne) 34-37, S Mackie (Hazlehead) 33-38, D Buchan (Peterhead) 37-34
72 D Mackay (Hazlehead) 36-36, D Fleming (Portethen) 38-34, D Leslie (Northern) 35-37, S Finnie (Royal Aberdeen) 35-37, N Chisholm (Kemnay) 36-36
73 P Morrison (Oldmeldrum) 35-38, G Milne (Newburgh) 36-37, G Moir (Hazlehead) 36-37
74 A Smith (Turriff) 35-39, R O'Donnell (Oldmeldrum) 37-37, A Gall (Deeside) 34-40, L Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) 38-36,  J Hopwood (Royal Aberdeen) 39-35, Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne) 37-37
75 B Harper (Newburgh) 39-36, S Davidson (Northern) 40-35, B Nicolson (Hazlehead) 38-37
76 M Duncan (Murcar Links) 38-38, M Forster (Cruden Bay) 38-38
77 Keil Beveridge (Kippie Lodge) 35-42, D Lane (Deeside) 39-38, J Duncan (Oldmeldrum) 38-39, J Borthwick (Craibstone) 42-35
78 A Campbell (Murcar Links) 37-41, C Cassie (Nigg  Bay) 40-38, B Lumsden (Northern) 40-38, D Bisset (Banchory) 38-40, D McDougall (Nigg Bay) 36-42,
79 G Allan (Newmachar) 41-38, J Forrest (Northern) 40-39, D McKay (Caledonian) 39-40
80 H Roulston (Stonehaven) 39-41, S Allison (Caledonian) 36-44, G Mackie (Caledonian) 39-41, D Nelson (Aboyne) 40-40
81 H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) 40-41, C Duffus (Kemnay) 37-44 , P Low (Craibstone) 38-43
82 A Benton (Kemnay), J Murray (Banchory), W Skene (Deeside)
83 D Townsley(Peterculter), I Clark (Deeside), M Winton (Caledonian)
84 N Stewart (Northern), L Duncan (Craibstone), N K Parker (Murcar Links)
85 L Roger (Royal Aberdeen), D Lawrie (Aboyne).
86 R Masson (Auchmill), M Rendall (Stonehaven), M Rogers (Kemnay)
87 M Brown (Kemnay)
89 R Brown (Kemnay)
90 D Wright (Northern)
93 I Grant (Kemnay)
95 S Dillon (Kemnay)

BEST SCORECARDS
+Today's course for the North-east Alliance was somewhere between the 64 listed on the Oldmeldrum winter scorecards and 
the 70 listed on the normal club scorecard. 
Sorry we cannot list all the pars but we take winner  Justin Duff's
word for it that he birdied the fifth, sixth, eighth, 11th, 15th and 18th, and had bogeys at the third, fourth and 17th.

  

ROYAL ST GEORGE'S VOTES TO ADMIT FEMALE MEMBERS

FROM ESPN.COM
One of the three clubs on the Open Championship rotation with a male-only membership policy has voted to allow female members for the first time.
A spokesman for Royal St. George's, which last hosted golf's oldest major in 2011, said today that more than 81 percent of the club's full members took part in a ballot, and 90 percent voted in favor of women being eligible for membership.
"It is extremely good news going forward," Tim Checketts, club secretary of Royal St. George's, told The Associated Press.
The rule change will take immediate effect. Checketts said it usually takes a year to accept new male members, but the timeframe can be quicker for juniors, and that could be the case for women.
The resolution to alter the rules on membership at Royal St. George's was passed following a general meeting on Feb. 14.
Royal Troon and Muirfield are the other host clubs of the Open Championship to have male-only memberships. Troon hosts the Open next year, and has already said the club was reviewing its membership policy.
The eligibility of female members in Britain's leading clubs was a hot topic that was brought further into scrutiny in September, when The Royal and Ancient Golf Club voted to end its male-only policy after 260 years. That club's corporate structure, the R&A, organizes The Open Championship.
Last month, seven women accepted invitations to become honorary members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, whose clubhouse overlooks the Old Course at St. Andrews and is among the most famous buildings in golf.
Darren Clarke won the Open Championship when it was at Royal St. George's four years ago.

SCOTS TRIO THROUGH TO LAST 16
Three Scots - Calum Fyfe (Cawder), Connor Syme (Dumfries and Co) and Daniel Young (Craigie Hill) - won their morning second-round ties to reach this afternoon's round of the last 16 in the Sanlam South African men's amateur championship at Silver Lakes Country Club.
Fyfe bt Werner Van Wyk 3 and 2.
Syme beat another SGU squad player, Craig Ross (Kirkhill) 3 and 2.
Young (Craigie Hill) bt Albert Venter 2 holes.
Scott Gibson (Southerness) lost by one hole to Dylan Naidoo.

BRITISH MASTERS RETURNS AT WOBURN
 
The British Masters, supported by Sky Sports, will return to The European Tour International Schedule for the first time in seven years later this year, with a quartet of Britain’s leading golfers rotating as the tournament host over the next four seasons.
Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood will take turns in being the host for the tournament which will be played this year - from October 8 to 11 - at Woburn Golf Club, Milton Keynes.
It will be the 17th time that Woburn, owned by the Duke of Bedford, has staged the Masters.
The prizefund this year will be £3 million.