The MyGolfRanking Fife Mover of the Month thus far is Alan Michie of Crail Golfing Society. Alan has moved up 343 places to No 49  on the MGR Fife Men's MyGolfRanking.

www.mygolfranking.net, Fife Men, Week 2016/03

1 Fraser Carr (Crail) 1158 pts                                                                                                                

2 Gary Wishart (Charleton) 1144

3 Michael Riddell (Cupar) 1120

4 Blaine McGowan (Thornton) 1117

5 Stewart Lamond (Pitreavie) 1100,

6 Ryan Mackie (Balbirnie Park) 1085,

7 Michael Lindsay (Pitreavie) 1083,

8 Graham Brown (Lundin) 1078                                                                                                               

9 Ross Gribbons (Dunfermline) 1071,

10 Stuart McGaulley (Balbirnie Park) 1066.

www.mygolfranking.net, Fife Clubs Men, Week 2016/03

1 Dunfermline 907 pts

2 Dunnikier Park 882

3 Balbirnie Park 860

4 Ladybank 837,

5 Aberdour 815,

6 Pitreavie 812,

7 Kirkcaldy 807,

8 Lundin 803,

9 Canmore 749,

10 Thornton 737.

*Entry this week

For up-to-date ranking lists of participating clubs, the full Regional, National and International Rankings and how it works, visit www.mygolfranking.net.

The MyGolfRanking service is free to clubs and members. Clubs wishing to participate should register on www.mygolfranking.net or email info@mygolfranking.net for information.

David Moir

MyGolfRanking

In League with Golf Ltd

info@mygolfranking.net

England whip Spain 7-2 to win Costa Ballena 

Quadrangular comfortably
 
England outclassed hosts Spain, Germany and Finland in the Costa Ballena Quadrangular which ended today with England scoring a resounding 7-2 win over Spain, the defending champions.
England took the foursomes 2-1 and the singles 5-1.
Germany finished runners-up with two wins. They beat Finland 5-4 today (2-1 in foursomes and 3-3 in singles).
FINAL PLACINGS
1 England 3 wins
2 Germany 2 wins, 1 defeat
3 Spain 1 win, 2 defeats.
4 Finland 3 defeats

TO VIEW TODAY'S RESULTS

CLICK HERE

Barry Hume shoots a 70 in South America,

in ninth place at halfway stage

Barry Hume shot a bogey-free second-round 70 for a halfway total of one-under-par 143 in the South American men's amateur championship, supported by the R and A, at Lima, Peru today (Friday).

The Haggs Castle man, who had a double bogey 7 at the first hole in his opening 73, had birdies at the third and eighth, surrounded by 16 cast-iron pars in his second round.
Hume finished the second day in ninth place in a field of 71 players.
The Haggs Castle player is five shots behind the leader, Welshman David Boote, who is a student at Stanford University, California. Boote has had rounds of 68 and 70 for six-under 138 and leads by one from three players, Matias Simaski (Argentina) (67-72), Scott Harvey (United States) (70-69) and Uruguay's Juan Alvarez (68-71).
Ireland's Colin Fairweather is T6 on 141 (68-73).
Ryan Campbell, the second Scot in the men's field, is T30 on 148 after rounds of 75 and 73.
HALFWAY SCOREBOARD
par 144 (2x72)
138 David Boote (Wal) 68 70
139 Matias Simaski (Arg) 67 72, Scott Harvey (USA) 70 69, Juan Alvarez (Uruguay) 68 71

SELECTED SCORES 
141 Colin Fairweather (Ire) 68 73 (T6)
143 Barry Hume (Sco) 73 70 (9th)
145 James Allan (Eng) 71 74, Marco Penge (Eng) 77 68 (T12)
148 Ryan Campbell (Sco) 75 73 (T30)
149 Tiarnan McLarnon (Ire) 78 71 (T36)
154 Joshua Davies (Wal) 81 73 (T53)
157 Tom Williams (Wal) 79 78 (T60)
Field of 71 players

TO VIEW ALL THE MEN'S SCORES

CLICK HERE

Switch over to www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk for news of the women's championship. 

Jay Taylor leads the Scots with a 70 on Algarve

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Jay Taylor was the leading Scot at the end of the Algarve Pro Tour competition's first round at the Oceanico O'Connor course, designed by the late Christy O'Connor, junior, at Amendoeira.
He shot a five-birdie, two-under-par 70 to be sharing 11th place, five behind the joint leaders, Englishmen Jordan Smith and Ben Stow on the 65 mark.
Jack Doherty birdied the 10th and 16th to get under par with a 71 for 15th place.
Craig Lawrie had a 72 which included a double bogey 6 at the sixth and birdies at three par-5 holes: the first, fifth and 16th.
He is tied 16th alongside his cousin, Sean Lawrie, who recovered from bogeys at the first and third to birdie the long fifth and long 16th for his best score for a week or two.
ALGARVE PRO TOUR
Oceanico O'Connor Golf Club, Amendoeira.
Leading first-round scores
par 72
65 Jordan Smith (Eng), Ben Stow (Eng)
66 Ricardo Santos (Por)
67 James McCormick (Eng)
68 Michael O'Connor (Eng), Tiago Cruz (Por)
SCOTS' SCORES
70 Jay Taylor (T11)
71 Jack Doherty (15th)
72 Craig Lawrie, Sean Lawrie (T16)
73 Michael Stokes (am) (T24)
74 Conor O'Neil (T32)
75 Benjamin Henderson (am) (T37)
85 Lewis Reid (am) (T71)






TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

Handy Andy Sullivan leads before play  suspension at Abu Dhabi EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS  Andy Sullivan, pictured above, is planning on putting his name firmly into the fray for the 2016 Ryder Cup after hitting the front at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in the presence of the European captain Darren Clarke. The 28 year old Englishman played alongside the Northern Irish former Open Champion for the first two rounds and he carded five under par 67 to take the clubhouse lead on ten under par before play was suspended overnight due to a lack of light - following an early morning fog delay of two hours and 45 minutes. First round leader Bryson DeChambeau managed to negotiate his first nine holes in one under par to move to a nine under total before play was halted. The American amateur began his round at the tenth ate nd showed no sign of nerves as he opened with a birdie, following that with another at the 12th before suffering a three-putt bogey at the 18th. Among the movers and shakers to go low before the klaxons were sounded were Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello (67) and Joost Luiten of the Netherlands (68), who are both three shots off the pace on seven under par. Dane Thomas Bjørn joined them in tied third, having completed 11 holes of his second round in three under. Player quotes: Andy Sullivan “I feel totally different coming into this tournament. This time last year, I had already won but still felt this tournament of this magnitude with the players, I knew that I would have to go some to do it. “Coming in this year, I know if I bring any A Game, I'm going to have a good chance at being up there now. It's nice to do that. To go out there and actually put your A Game to the test is great. “I know that I've got to go out and play just as well as I did last year. The Ryder Cup is definitely a goal of mine, but there are a lot of good guys and a lot of guys that are not in that rankings yet that will be pushing hard to get in it. So I know that I've got to keep my foot to the gas and try to keep pushing on.” Bryson DeChambeau “I had adrenaline going, that's for certain. But there's no anxiety, there's no nerves, nothing like that. It doesn't matter what the outcome is. I just made bogey on one of the easier holes on the golf course but I’m not worried about it. I made one bogey yesterday and a bogey today. Hopefully that will be the last one.” Rafa Cabrera-Bello “I thought I played really good today. It was good to follow up yesterday's positive round. It was a long break for me after Christmas. You never know what to expect since you haven't played for so long. I felt good out there.  I was pretty calm yesterday and today, waiting for my chances and I played some great golf.” SCOTSWATCH by Colin Farquharson Richie Ramsay (73-66 for 139) is lying ninth at the halfway stage. Russell Knox is T56 with rounds of 70 and 73 for 143, the same scores as Scott Jamieson.   The projected cut, delayed until Saturday because so many players were unable to complete their second rounds, is forecast to be one-under-par 143 or better to qualify for the last two rounds. Craig Lee (74-73 for 147) and Stephen Gallacher (81-73 for 154) already know they have missed the cut. Scots still to resume their second rounds but, at the moment, on the wrong side of the projected cut mark, with a few holes to play, are David Drysdale (+1), Marc Warren (also +1) and Paul Lawrie (+4) TO VIEW THE SCOREBOARD AS IT STANDS CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS .

Bradley Moore in the mix at Lake  Macquarie

English boys champion Bradley Moore (Kedleston Park) has moved into contention with a repeat second-round 68 for a halfway total of eight-under-par 136.
Moore is in second place, one stroke behind Aussie leader Ben Ferguson who has scored 65-70 for nine-under 135.
New Zealand champion Daniel Hillier is in third place on 137 (69-68).

OTHER BRITISH SCORES
142 Oscar Granstrom-Livesey (Eng) 68-74, Ashton Turner (Eng) 72 70 (T20)
148 Jack Singh Brar (Eng) 73 75 (T80)
152 Rhys Jones (Wales) 75 77 (T99)
To complete Round 2 Jack Davidson 72 - 

PGA of Austria Professional, Georg Schultes, secured his maiden PGAs of Europe Tournament win after coming out on top of a two-man playoff at the 2016 Mercedes-Benz International Pro-Am supported by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club. “I’ve been here since the beginning; it’s my third year here in Al Ain,” said Schultes.  “I’ve finished with results of second or fourth in the first two years so I feel like I was due - I didn’t want to jinx it but third time lucky so It feels pretty good!” Watch highlights of the interview with 2016 Mercedes-Benz International Pro-Am Winner, Georg Schultes The final day of the tournament lived up to all the expectation of a tight and thrilling finale - overnight leader Georg Schultes had a four shot cushion going into the final day and with his excellent record in the tournament it seemed that this was to be the year to build upon his previous fourth and second place finishes. Making a move early on in the day was the PGA of Austria’s Christoph Pfau who fired in five birdies and an eagle on his way to a 64 (-7), which saw him fly up the leaderboard and hold the early clubhouse lead. Great playing conditions where obviously on the cards at the course located in the Oasis City of Al Ain, but no one foresaw the quality of the round that was about to come from last year’s runner-up, Alex Wrigley (PGA of Great Britain & Ireland). A phenomenal round from the member of the victorious 2015 PGA Cup team saw him soar up the leaderboard and put the pressure onto Schultes in spectacular fashion. A strong opening to his final round was followed by an even stronger close ending up with a blemish-free course record of 61 (-10) leaving Schultes to face the tough task of not dropping a shot on the closing six holes of his round. Schultes built on his overnight score immediately with a birdie at the first hole before dropping a shot at the Par 5 third hole before returning back to nine under on the 9th.  With news filtering through about the record breaking round from Wrigley, the pressure increased as his overnight cushion evaporated.  Seemingly unphased, one birdie and one bogey on his inward nine saw him finish on -9 and join Wrigley in a tie for first place to force a playoff. With both players just missing out on birdie putts on the first play off hole it was halved in regulation pars and back down the 18th hole they headed.  Matching each other shot for shot, Wrigley had the first go at the birdie but his putt slipped just past the hole.  Schultes was left to hole the same putt he had missed on his final hole in regulation play to secure the win that had evaded him in previous years. “I thought to myself the first time we played the 18th hole that he’d shot 61 so I went into it pretty open but as soon as he missed that short putt on the first playoff hole I thought I was in with a pretty decent shout…” In the Team Tournament Rockliffe Hall’s team led by PGA Assistant Professional, Jonny Dye, completed a wire-to-wire victory after a closing 87 points (-15) built on their four-point overnight lead to win the title for the first time. In second place was Rockliffe’s Head Professional, Jonathan Stacey, who had valiantly stayed in touching distance of Jonny and his team but their closing 86 points (-14) was not quite enough. For the final day of the tournament a Professional Shootout was introduced on Al Ain’s Academy Course. The exciting format saw all the Professionals play an initial nine holes to determine the top-10 Professionals who would then proceed to the shootout itself.  Daniel Whitby-Smith (PGA of GB&I) led the way after shooting a very impressive 6 birdies to secure his place in the final 10 but was knocked out on the second hole.  The field was eventually whittled down to two GB&I Professionals, Garry Houston and Michael Nesbit, who were forced to extra holes in order to determine the champion and the winner’s cheque of €1000. The consistent and steady Michael Nesbit took the title on the second extra play off hole with a regulation par after an excellent display of wedge shot precision. For the amateurs an 18-hole nett strokeplay awaited and Tim Walker prevailed with the title after and excellent nett 66 (-5) saw him take the title by two shots. For Full Final Scores & More Visit http://eur.pe/2016MercInt ------------------------

Four share lead on eight under par 

at CareerBuilder Challenge

Jason Dufner ( Getty Images )

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM

By Kevin Casey

Per the usual, the layouts at the CareerBuilder Challenge - formerly the Bob Hope Classic -  yielded several red numbers on Thursday. And it's created a logjam at the top.
Four players finished the first round in La Quinta, Califfornia, tied for the lead at 8 under. The three-course rotation over the first three rounds comprises La Quinta Country Club and PGA West's TPC Stadium Course and Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course. But only the Tournament Course and La Quinta were represented amidst the early leaders.
Jason Dufner, Jerry Kelly, Jeff Overton and Anirban Lahiri represent the four leading at 8 under, with two more at 7 under and another 10 at 6 under.
Among the leading quartet, Dufner has climbed the highest in his career, capturing three victories (including a major) in his time thus far on the PGA Tour. The 38-year-old fell on tough times in recent years, finishing with just six top-10s and no wins in 38 starts in the last two seasons. He finished 88th on the FedEx Cup points list in 2014-15 after placing 90th the season before.
But Dufner has shown signs of a return to form, with top-10s in his last two starts and a win at the (non-sanctioned) team event known as the Franklin Templeton Shootout last month.
What's been the change? Well one might want to point to the putter, an instrument Dufner has statistically ranked among the worst with on the US PGA Tour in recent years.
He's only 180th in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2015-16, though. But on Thursday, the flatstick did finally boost him to a lead.
"The biggest thing for me is to get the putter going," Dufner said. "I gave myself a lot of uphill looks for most of the day, so I was able to be confident with those. It's just all mindset. The better I feel about how I'm going to putt, probably the better I'm going to putt."
Dufner said he felt comfortable on this set of tracks ahead of the tournament, but that was hardly a universal theme among the leaders.
Overton spoke about feeling sour vibes at the Nicklaus Tournament Course before this week. Kelly, who posted a T-9 at the Sony Open last week, admitted he felt far more at home on the grass in Hawaii.
"That is my favourite grass, meaning Waialae (in Hawaii), obviously," said Kelly, 49. "I love to have the ball skid off of my putter. A lot of guys want to see it roll right away, I like to see it skid. I'm a little more of a pop stroker. So when I come here and there is absolutely no skid and I can hear the ball leave the putter head, I'm like, oh, am I topping it, what am I doing."
The Stadium Course, the host layout this week, had the reputation ahead of the event as the toughest track of the three, and it lived up to the hype on Day One. The best score from there was just 6 under, and only four of the top 30 on the leaderboard posted their scores at the Stadium Course.
Bill Haas opened his title defense at La Quinta with a 6-under 66, good enough for T-7. Another big name, Phil Mickelson, finally flashed some form in the early going on Thursday.
The 45-year-old, winless since the 2013 British Open and with just four top-10s in 40 starts the last two years, began his 2016 PGA Tour season in style. Mickelson posted two birdies in his first seven holes, and then went hole-out eagle and chip-in birdie on his next two to suddenly reach 5 under.
He got as high as 6 under through 12 thanks to a swing motion that is finally starting to sync in.
"My swing is back on plane and so that means that all the feel and the touch and the release and the draws and the fades and all that touch will eventually come back," Mickelson said. 
"So, now the swing is back on plane and I'm just working on touch. I'm just trying to get the front nine tuning of feeling the subtleties and nuances of hitting those little shots. Which I have been struggling with these last couple years because, again, I've been a little bit off plane."
Mickelson bogeyed Nos. 14 and 17 to fall back to a 4-under 68, but overall it was a grand start for a man who hasn't experienced many fine days on the course in the last several months.
"I thought it was a really good round, because it felt easy," Mickelson said. "It didn't feel like I was working, like I was fighting, I just felt like I could just swing and the ball was within these tight parameters ... It was a fun start to the year."

Monty has a 68 in Champions Tour opener in 

Hawaii, three behind leader Durant

KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii -- Joe Durant shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead in the US PGA Tour Champions' season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship.
Durant, 51, had nine birdies and two bogeys at Hualalai Golf Course. He teamed with Billy Andrade last year to win the Legends of Golf for his first title on the 50-and-over tour.
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez, Davis Love III and Tom Pernice Jr. were a stroke back in the event for major champions from the last five years, tournament winners in the last two seasons and sponsor invitees.
"I hit a couple bad drives, but other than that I hit the ball real solid," Love said. "I made, I guess really, one or two tough putts, longer putts, but really just hit it well enough that I had a lot of birdie chances and got the par 5s. Other than one bogey, pretty good, solid day."
Love, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, played in the PGA Tour's Hawaii events the last two weeks. He tied for 29th at Kapalua in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and made the 36-hole cut but failed to advance to the final round in the Sony Open in Honolulu. He won the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship in August at 51 years, 4 months, 10 days to become the third-oldest champion in tour history.
"The first two weeks identified things I needed to work on," Love said. "It's good, I've been playing. I played four rounds at Kapalua, three at Sony, so I've gotten the rust off and feeling better about my game."
Duffy Waldorf and 2006 winner Loren Roberts shot 67.
"I hit the ball really consistent," Roberts said. "I hit a lot of greens today, and, if I did miss a green, it was just right off the edge, and it wasn't bad. I actually missed some putts. I missed it from like 4½, 5 feet three times today for birdies."
Colin Montgomerie and Fred Funk were in the group at 68. Funk tied for 50th in the Sony Open.
Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples shot 70. Langer, the winner in 2009 and 2014, used a long putter without anchoring it to his body. The event is Langer's first since the anchored stroke was banned Jan. 1.
Vijay Singh had a 72 after tying for 50th in the Sony Open.

The start of Round 2 at Abu Dhabi was delayed by 2 hours 45 minutes due to fog.