Scottish Seniors Golfing Society Spanish Festival 2015 sponsored by McCrea Financial Services

Day 4- Final Round Singles

Steady Nick Robson (Meldrum House) cruises to victory in Spain

On yet another a dry and sunny day at Hacienda Del Alamo Golf Resort, Murcia, Nick Robson held off the challenges of his other final four-ball competitors Ian Brotherston, Muir Townsley and Rob Craw to take the scratch honours for 2015 SSGS Spanish Golf Festival sponsored by McCrea Financial Services.

"I had a mediocre day on the greens” said Nick, pictured with his eyes shut on the right, “otherwise my 73 would have turned into a score in the 60's, but a win is a win!"  

Rob Craw matched his 73 while Ian Brotherston and Muir Townsley recorded 77 and 79 respectively.

While the other contenders kept up the pressure, his 3-shot cushion going into the final day demanded a score in the sixties to overtake him and it proved just out of reach.

Final scratch scores were as follows:

  

Par 216 (3x72)

216 Nick Robson (Meldrum House) 70 73 73

221 Rob Craw (Glenbervie) 73 74 74

223 Ian Brotherston (Dumfries and County) 71 75 77

226 Muir Townsley (Dumfries and County) 73 74 79

228 Ian Jeen (Scotscraig) 77 78 73

229 Andy Ross (Dumfries and County) 75 76 78

230 Andrew Campbell (Murcar Links) 78 71 81

233 Kevin Will (Glenbervie) 77 77 79

234 Keith Bruce (Edzell) 75 82 77

235 Alan Harrington (Western Gailes) 79 77 79

Handicap Results

Rob Craw (Glenbervie), pictured above, playing off a handicap of 2, kept up his excellent performance this week by taking  the honours in the Nett category with an overall lowest net score of 215 ahead of a large chasing pack.

On the final day James Fealey (Hacienda) and Ian Jeen posted the best net score of 71 followed by Denis McQuade, Rob Craw and a determined Drew Wilson on 72.

Overall leading Nett scores were as follows:

.215 Rob Craw (Glenbervie) (2)

217- Andy Ross (Dumfries and Co) (4)

219- Nick Robson (Meldrum House) (+1)

220- Muir Townsley (Dumfries and Co) (2), Brian Kidd (Panmure) (5), James Fealey (Hacienda del Alamo) (8)

221- Alan Harrington (Western Gailes) (5)

222- Ian Jeen (Scotscraig) (2)

223- Denis McQuade (Glenbervie) (5)

224- Kevin Will (Glenbervie) (3), Keith Ross (Beith) (5), Drew Wilson (Clober) (5)

The week of competition concluded on Friday Oct 23rd with the second round of the Doubles.

A crimson dawn preceded another beautiful day at Hacienda Del Alamo for the Greensomes - the final day of the SSGS Spanish Festival.

Coupling a fine greensomes gross score of 72 with their earlier 68 in the better-ball, the pairing of Ian Jeen/Keith Bruce, pictured above,  took the scratch honours with a total of 140 hotly pursued by the Glenbervie pair of Rob Craw/Kevin Will on 142 along with Graham Haugh/David Marshall.

Emphasising their doubles mastery, Jeen/Bruce also topped the Nett competition along with with Haugh/Marshall on 136.

Leading Scores....

Doubles Scratch

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140- Jeen/Bruce

142- Craw/Will, Haugh/Marshall

143- Campbell/Robson

144- Chalmers/Kidd

Doubles Nett

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136 -Jeen/Bruce, Haugh/Marshall

137- Craw/Will

138- Chalmers/Kidd, Connolly/Harrington

140- Chisholm/Gray

All in all an enjoyable and competitive week in Spain once more and great to see the ever-popular pairing of Neish Chisholm and Gordon Gray on the leaderboard!

Festivities closed with a rousing "Happy Birthday" for one of the founding pillars of the SSGS, the ever-smiling Keith Howie, who turns 70 on Monday.

Denis McQuade

Captain 

American John Reeves wins pro-am at Royal Portrush on scores countback

PGAs of EUROPE NEWS RELEASE
This year’s edition of the PGAs of Europe-sanctioned Carr Golf Links Pro-Am reached an exciting conclusion  in blustery conditions at Royal Portrush as the PGA of America’s John Reeves took the 2015 title.
With the top four professionals being separated by just four points it was going to be a closely fought contest for the individual professional title and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
First out was overnight leader, Robbie Gilmore (PGA of America) who battled the stern conditions to record a six-over par 78 (30 points) to set the clubhouse lead of 127 points (+17).
Next into the clubhouse was early Round 01 leader, John Reeves (PGA of America), who shot a great three-over par 75 (33 Points) to join Gilmore on 127 Points.
An excellent two-over par from the PGA of America’s Paul Hollenbaugh saw him join the leaders on 127 points, as did the PGA of Canada’s Bob Beauchemin after a final round 77 (31 Points).
This resulted in a four-way tie for the lead, which was settled by the best score from a professional from the whole tournament – John Reeves took home the title after his superb level par round (36 Points) at Portmarnock in Round 01.

For the amateur prizes there were two categories with eight teams competing for the Pro-Am title and six teams competing for the Am-Am title. Both of these categories turned out to be equally as close as the Professional Tournament with the Pro-Am Team being decided on countback on the final round’s scores. Just pipping last year’s Pro-Am winning team from New Albany Country Club by one point on count back to the title, after securing 81 Points (-9) in their final round, was the team from Oakdale Golf and Country Club, led by the PGA of Canada’s (Ontario section) Bob Beauchemin with amateurs Jason Berns, Jason Crystal and Rick Trudel. “Awesome - it was a great day an awesome event, with great golf courses…. we really enjoyed it,” said Beauchemin.  “The courses this week well… Portmarnock was just awesome, Royal County Down was probably one of the most dramatic courses I have ever seen and you can see why the Open Championship is going to be held here [Royal Portrush].  All of them were beautiful and the weather has been great for the whole week, this is beyond what I expected, way beyond.” In the Am-Am competition three teams from Canada and the Carr Golf Travel team were fighting for pole position and it came down to the final group that ensured a close and exciting finish. Coming out victorious were early Round 01 leaders, Team Adidas, made up of amateurs Louis Ferraris, Dwayne Boecker, Todd Fraser and Lyndon Kappel, after their final round seven-under par (79 Points) saw them take home the title with a total of 325 Points (-37). “The weather was unbelievable,” said Ferraris.  “To come over here at the end of October with no rain and we didn’t get wind until the second last day…the guys were just excited to play Portrush obviously with the 2019 Open Championship coming here and…it was a great experience for everyone.”

For full final scores from the 2015 Carr Golf Links Pro-Am visit: http://eur.pe/2015CarrGolf

CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT, SCORES

Brave Borja battles to extend Foshan lead
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Borja Virto Astudillo is 18 holes away from guaranteed European Tour graduation after the Spaniard extended his lead at The Foshan Open to three despite making no gains on moving day, carding a level par third round 72.
The 24 year old, who is currently in 15th place in the Road to Oman Rankings, has now strengthened his lead by one shot every day having sat at the top of the pile for each round so far, but it was far from an easy day on the links for the Pamplona-born player.
Two birdies in the opening four holes stretched the gap at the top to four momentarily, but Virto Astudillo struggled to his first bogey of the week at the seventh and followed that up with another dropped shot at the eighth.
When Haydn Porteous holed out from a bunker at the par three 11th, the two playing partners were all square on 13 under and it was truly game on in the final group.
 The South African could not build on that momentum, however, and he suffered three bogeys in the space of four holes to fall off the pace.
Virto once again moved clear with a birdie at the 15th and, although a double bogey at the par three 16th stunted his progress, he produced a sublime up and down at the last to remain on a 13 under total and earn a golden opportunity of a wire-to-wire victory which would secure his place on The European Tour next year.
“I’m pleased about my three-shot lead although I’m not so pleased about my day today,” said the former Iowa State University student, who is hoping to follow in the footsteps of compatriot and 2013 Foshan Open champion Nacho Elvira.
“I’m happy with the birdie at 18 too. Obviously it’s good to have a three-shot advantage and that will help me, but I just need to play my best in the final round.
“My putting wasn’t very good today. I started the round well, made two nice putts on the first and then I was two under through four so everything was looking great. 
Then I had a couple of bogeys and suddenly started to play worse. I three putted the eighth from the fringe and had a few more three-putts after that.
“It was a stupid double bogey at 16 – most of the mistakes were with my putting. I didn’t give myself many birdie chances either so I was putting long distance all the time, but I will work on my putting now and hopefully get a good feeling back tomorrow.
“Usually it’s not good to think about the lead you have, but I will try to think more about making the gap wider, so I have that mentality of moving forward and not looking behind.
“I’ve been in this situation before so hopefully I’ll be able to handle the pressure well, just stick to my plan and play hole-by-hole, shot-by-shot.”
Porteous signed for a one over par 73 to share second place on ten under with Dane Joachim B Hansen and Swede Björn Åkesson, who would both make a big jump into the all-important top 15 of the Road to Oman Rankings if they were to emerge victorious.
Both are yet to win on the Challenge Tour and Åkesson, who currently sits in 21st place in the Rankings, is trying to put aside thoughts of what may be on the final day at Foshan Golf Club.
“I’m trying not to think about the Rankings,” said the Malmo player, who will play in the final group with Virto Astudillo. “I’m trying to have as good a tournament as possible, play my own game and try not to think about the future. Of course, it’s tough to ignore it – the top 15 is what all of us want – so of course it’s in the back of the head.
“Yesterday and today I have played really solid. I didn’t hole so many putts on the second day and finished with two bogeys but today I putted well for a four under front nine. I missed a lot of good chances on the back nine and I only made a par at the 18th after getting over the water with my second – unlike yesterday!
“On Saturday when you’re in one of the last groups, it’s always a bit tense, but I started well and then relaxed a bit and got it flowing. I’m swinging the ball well and hitting it nicely.
“I’m trying to win the tournament and on the final day, you never know, somebody could shoot ten under, so I need to shoot a good score tomorrow and that’s what I’m going to focus on.”
Porteous knows all about catching a leader on the final day, having beaten his compatriot Brandon Stone in a play-off at the season-opening Barclays Kenya Open after starting the day one shot off the lead.
Hansen, who is currently 33rd in the Road to Oman, came agonisingly close to victory on several occasions in 2012, when three runner-up finishes helped him to European Tour graduation, but is yet to taste victory.
Northern Ireland’s Chris Selfridge, who has made 12 successive cuts on the Challenge Tour, having only started his maiden professional campaign in May, carded a four under par 68 to move to outright fifth and boost his hopes of moving into the top 45 of the Rankings - thereby earning a place in the season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.

THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 216 (3x72)
203 B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 64 67 72,
206 J Hansen  (Den) 70 65 71, H Porteous (RSA) 65 68 73, B Åkesson (Swe) 67 71 68,
207 C Selfridge  (Nir) 69 70 68,
208 R Gouveia (Por) 70 66 72, L Jun-Seok (Aus) 69 72 67, S Gros (Fra) 72 67 69, E Dubois (Fra) 67 68 73, J Hahn (USA) 71 69 68,
209 M Søgaard  (Den) 72 69 68, C Hanson (Eng) 69 69 71, C Ding-Gen (Chn) 70 68 71, G Boyd  (Eng) 72 72 65, M Orrin (Eng) 67 75 67, S Tiley (Eng) 71 68 70, A McArthur  (Sco) 74 67 68,
210 M Delpodio  (Ita) 69 72 69, J Makitalo  (Fin) 73 70 67, Z Xin-Jun (Chn) 69 69 72, H Joannes  (Bel) 72 71 67, J Winther (Den) 72 67 71, M Wiegele  (Aut) 70 71 69,
211 G Charoenkul (Tha) 70 70 71, T Murray (Eng) 71 69 71, A Björk (Swe) 69 72 70, C Zi-Hao (Chn) 66 74 71, J McLeary  (Sco) 73 68 70, T Remkes (Ned) 71 68 72, S Walker (Eng) 71 70 70,
212 C Shinkwin (Eng) 71 71 70, P Whiteford (Sco) 73 71 68, H Shao-Cai (Chn) 71 73 68, S Soderberg (Swe) 70 73 69, T Linard (Fra) 72 67 73,
213 C Sordet  (Fra) 75 69 69, L Gagli  (Ita) 71 69 73, S Jeppesen  (Swe) 72 72 69, D Foos (Ger) 73 71 69, R Evans  (Eng) 75 69 69,
214 S Kim (USA) 74 71 69, Z Hui-Lin (Chn) 72 71 71, R Davies (Wal) 71 73 70, R Fox (Nzl) 72 69 73, C Hai-Meng (Chn) 72 70 72, W Harrold (Eng) 70 72 72,
215 M Yiyuan (Chn) 72 71 72, Z Guo-Wu (Chn) 70 72 73, J Sjöholm (Swe) 73 71 71, J Dantorp (Swe) 68 72 75, Y Guang-Ming (Chn) 73 72 70, J Fahrbring (Swe) 72 69 74, E Cuartero Blanco  (Esp) 69 74 72,
216 P Widegren  (Swe) 72 71 73, G Sapp (USA) 73 71 72, J Lima  (Por) 73 71 72,
217 M Schneider (Ger) 71 74 72,
218 R Coles (Eng) 72 72 74, D Lee (SKor) 73 67 78, D Im (USA) 74 71 73,
225 S Yi-Cheng (Chn) 75 70 80,

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

North Alliance called off because of flooding at Inverness

For the second weekend in a row, the North Scottish Golfers' Alliance Saturday competition had to be postponed. Last weekend it was frost at Grantown on Spey. This weekend it was flooding at Inverness Golf Club.

Heavy overnight rain left holes 12 and 14 under a foot of water.

ends/

Haggs Castle trio finish ninth in Cyprus

Scottish club champions Haggs Castle finished ninth in the European Club Trophy Grand Final at Minthis Hills Golf Club, Cyprus today.
Their three-man team of Barry Hume, Paul Gault and Craig Morrison totalled  431 at the end of the three-day tournament
France's Racing Club de France made all the running to win with a total of 417, two ahead of the Italian club, Royal Park I Roveri.
The Scots finished well ahead of England's Birstall GC and Wales' Parc GC but behind Ireland's Maynooth University who finished sixth.
Hume made the top 10 with a level par total of 213 (72-67-74), finishing ninth, 13 shots behind the winner of the individual titlte by eight shots, Finland's Ilan Saulo (67-68-65).
Gault scored 72, 74 and 74 for 220 and a share of 22nd place,.Morrison finished joint 32nd on 222 with scores of 75, 75 and 72.

 FINAL CLUB TOTALS
417 France (Racing Club de France) 135 144 138
419 Italy (Royal Park I Roveri) 141 144 134
420 Germany (GC Hubbelrath) 144 142 134
422 Spain (RCB Castiello) 141 141 140, Finland (Keimola GC) 142 140 140
427 Ireland (Maynooth Univ) 141 149 138
OTHER TOTALS
430 Denmark (Furescoe GC), Portugal (Vilamoura GC)
431 Scotland (Haggs Castle GC) 144 141 146 (9th)
432 Austria (GC Fohrenwald)
437 Netherlands (Noordwijkse GC)
438 Iceland (Mosfellsbaer GC)
439 Slovakia (Lomnicky GC)
440 Belgium (Rinkven GC)
443 England (Birstall GC) 153 144 146 (15th)
444 Slovenia (GK Arboretum)
447 Pioland (Sobienie Krolewskie GC)
456 Wales (Parc GC, Newport) 145 158 153, Croatia (Zagreb GC) (T18th)
458 Luxembourg (Grand Ducal GC).
465 Greece (Glyfada GC), Estonia (Niitvalja GC).
488 Cyprus (Secret Valley GC).
524 Ukraine (Superior GC).
547 Kazakhstan (Nurtau GC)

LEADING INDIVIDUALS
Par 213 (3x71) CSS 69, 68, 70
200 Ilan Saulo (Finland) 67 68 65
208 Frederic Lacroix (France) 66 72 70 
209 Francisco Rosete Fabos (Spain) 70 70 69.

SCOTS' TOTALS
213 Barry Hume 72 67 74 (T9)
220 Paul Gault 72 74 74 (T22)
222 Craig Morrison 75 75 72 (T32)

Updated North-east Alliance tee times for Montrose on Wednesday

8-00 C Cassie B Harper A Campbell
 8-08 T Boyle G Esson D Fleming
 8-16 R Blackmore D Booth R Reid
 8-24 S Lawrie B Fyfe C Grant
 8-32 D Mackay D Lawrie G Craig
 8-40 G Chalmers C Dempster S Hanson
 8-48 K Nicol G McBain T Mathieson 
8-56 M Brown R Brown S Davidson 

9-04 S Ross H McNaughton B McPherson 
9-12 N Macandrew C Law J Hosie 
9-20 P McLean B Ritchie J Duff 
9-28 H Roulston L Roger S Shand 
9-36 J Hamilton M Rendall. R Ruddiman 
9-44 A Stuart K Daglish S Mackie 
9-52 S Allison R Davidson R Lumsden 

10-00 J Scott B Skene G Milne
 10-08 C Lawrie Sean Lawrie P Lawrie 
10-16 J Forrest N Stewart B Lumsden
 10-24 L Fowler J Emslie W Skene 
10-32 J Hopwood A Gall I D Smith
 10-40 T Robertson P Cheyne D Wright 
10-48 D Lane A Clark R Duncan 
10-56 G Homer D Leslie C Nelson

11-04 F Bisset D Bisset J Murray#
11-12 M Duncan M Forster S Roger
 11-20 J Crawford W Beattie L Duncan
 11-28 K McGillivary J Stewart N Parker 
11-36 D Brown T Collie M Lawrie 
11-44 D Adam D Cragie G Cochran
 11-52 D Nelson A Graham S Macneil

12-00 N Young C Irving S Finnie
12-08 J Morris G Riley E Riley
12-16 S Kiloh K Zeynaov I Taylor
12-24 J Borthwick P Low M Smith
12-32 R Lamb C Lamb M Merchant
12-40 K Duncan R McKen A Dunton
12-48 B Nicolson  D Wilson