Savage back in form to share lead in African 

open amateur with six-under 138

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Cawder's Jamie Savage has returned to the form that won him the Irish open amateur title and other titles a couple of years ago to figure in a five-way tie for the halfway lead in the African men's open amateur championship at Leopard Creek.

Savage, pictured, with scores of 71 and 67 (36-31) is on six-under-par 138 alongside South Africans Kyle McClatchie, Jason Rossiter and Albert Venter as well as England's Jamie Bower.
Savage notched six birdies in a seven-hole purple patch from the 11th to the 17th holes.
Craig Ross, leading Scot at the end of the first round, dropped back from a 66 to a 73 and is tied sixth on 139.
Jack McDonald (73-70) and Connor Syme (73-70_) are tied 12th on 143. Calum Fyfe is joint 21st on 145 with scores of 75 and 70.
Nairn youngster Sandy Scott and Walker Cup player Grant Forrest are tied 23rd on 146. Scott birdied the last two holes for a second-round 70 while Forrest improved by eight shots with a 69.
Left-handed Scottish champion Bob MacIntyre from Oban has had scores of 77 and 72 for 149 and joint 42nd place.
Scott Gibson is the worst placed Scot in 79th position in a field of 88 players. He has scored 86 and 73 for 159.

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Justin time to lead Tshwane Open with a 64

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Justin Harding was delighted to rediscover his form as he fired a brilliant 63 to take the first-round lead at the Tshwane Open.
Pretoria Country Club proved a tough test today, with just 22 of the field managing to shoot under par, despite almost perfect weather conditions in Waterkloof.
South African Harding bucked that trend, though, as he recorded eight birdies and just a single dropped shot to get to seven under and open up a one-shot lead over countryman Anthony Michael, with qualifier Theunis Spangenberg a further shot back.
The 30 year old has missed his first three cuts of the European Tour season but has four career wins on The Sunshine Tour, and was hopeful that he was getting back to something like his best.

"I have been struggling the last couple of events so it's a confidence boost, absolutely," he said. "I felt like I hit it quite nicely.
"I think I've just got to take it one round at a time, one shot a time for me at the moment as well.

"I personally don't find the course all that easy. It may be short but you still have to put it into position. There is enough slope on the greens so you are going to have some tricky putts.
"You can't really take advantage of par-fives either, they're quite long. So it's just a matter of trying to golf the ball and get it around and take advantage of a good shot when you have one."
Harding turned in 33 with a bogey and three birdies on the front nine but really came to life after the turn with a run of three birdies from the 11th. It looked like he would share the lead with Spangenberg, who had been in the third group out, but a birdie-birdie finish gave him the lead on his own.
Spangenberg flew out of the blocks to turn in 31 but then double bogeyed the tenth before picking a shot back up at the 12th, with further birdies following on the 15th and 17th.

Anthony Michael was the only of the afternoon starters to make an impactn the leaderboard, a bogey on the 18th his only blemish as he played both sides of the course in 32.
Jaco Van Zyl, searching for a first European Tour win after nine top three finishes, was at four under after six birdies and two bogeys, a shot clear of Merrick Bremner, who had one more dropped shot in his 67.
Defending champion George Coetzee was then in the group at two under, with Joburg Open champion Haydn Porteous firing a level par 70 to sit a shot clear of fellow 2016 winners Charl Schwartzel and Brandon Stone.
José-Filipe Lima made just the third hole-in-one in Tshwane Open history when he aced the par three fifth hole with a seven iron from 198 yards on his way to a one over par 71.

SCOTSWATCH (By Colin Farquharson).
Scott Henry and Jamie McLeary are tied sixth with two-under-par 68s.
David Law is T13 with a par 70.
Bradley Neil chalked up one of his best European Tour scores in his fledgling pro career  a 71 for T38 position overnight. 
Surprisingly, David Drysdale, usually in the front rank of Scots on the Tour, is lying T124 in a field of 155 players after a five-over 75. He will have to produce something like a 65 in the second round to beat the cut.

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Liam Johnston slips back in Portuguese championship with a 78 for 148

Liam Johnston from Dumfries is in joint 43rd position at the halfway stage of the Portuguese men's open amateur championship at Montado Golf Resort near Setubal on the Costa Azul.
Johnston failed to reproduce his first round form and slumped from an opening 70 to a 78.
Ben Kinsley (St Andrews) had a 78 and 76 for 154 and joint 86th place.

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Ian Jeen leading senior Scot with a 76 in Spain

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Grangemouth's Ian Jeen was the leading Scot in joint 23rd place in a field of 120 players for the Spanish senior men's individual championship at Costa Ballena Ocean Golf Club today.
Jeen shot a four-over-par 76, five shots behind joint leaders Thomas Persson (Sweden) and England's John Ambridge.
Edzell's Keith Bruce had a 77 for joint 30th place while Highlander Gordon Hay had a 78 for a share of 47th place.
Lanark's James Johnston had a 79, Bob Edgar an 80, Billy Mitchell and Stuart Black 81 apiece and Lindsay Gordon was joint 91st with an 83.

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Ross Cameron shrugs off double bogey 6 

to get one-over 73 in Morocco

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Ellon's Ross Cameron (Saltire Energy) bounced back from a double bogey 6 at the second hole to shoot a one-over-par 73 and finish the first day in joint 34th position in a field of 108 at the PGA of Germany Developmental Tour's Tazegsout Open at Agadir, Morocco.
Cameron birdied the long first, fourth and ninth in halveds of 36-37.
Former Scottish amateur champion Chris Robb (Meldrum House) had a double bogey 7 at the long 13th and three birdies in his 74 which earned him a share of 51st place.
Portlethen's Sam Kiloh (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) had three birdies but also seven bogeys in halves of 38 for 76 and joint 73rd position.
Rookie pro Alexander Culverwell (Dunbar), Scottish amateur champion two years ago, had a quadruple bogey 7 at the short third in halves of 41-38 for a 79 and joint 89th posiion.
Anton Kirstein (Germany) had a seven-under 67 to lead by two strokes from England's James Wilson.

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Tom McLevy holds pros at bay over

 

Carnoustie Buddon with a par 68

 

Blairgowrie scratch amateur Tom McLevy had the best individual scratch round of level par 68 in this week's Midland Golfers' Alliance fixture, the Jim Ward Team Competition, at Carnoustie's Buddon Links.

Tom won by one stroke from five players on the 79 mark - professionals Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), Graeme Brown (Montrose Links) and Fraser Mann (Carnoustie GC), as well as two Edzell amateurs, Jim Watt and Gary Tough.

Andrew Johnston, who plays off 12 at Cupar, led the way in the handicap section with a net 66.
Winners in the Team Competition with a score of 57 were the Monifieth trio of Tony Lumsden  (8), Steve Hills  (6) and Steve Blady (3).

LEADING SCRATCH

  par 68

68  Tom McLevy (Blairgowrie)

69  Craig Matheson  (Falkirk Tryst) ap, Graeme Brown (Montrose Links) (ap), Fraser Mann (Carnoustie GC) p, J Watt (Edzell), G Tough (Edzell).

70 Sam McLaren (Blairgowrie) ap, Bill Taylor (Edzell), Lee Sutherland (Monifieth) p.

71 John Baxter (Lundin), Stuart McKendrick (Dunkeld and Birnam).

  LEADING HANDICAP  

66 Andrew Johnston (Cupar) (12)

67 John Baxter (Lundin) (4), John Rankin (Scotscraig) (8)., Jim Watt (Edzell) (2).

68 Jim Marshall (Milnathort) (8), Tom McLevy (Blairgowrie) (scr),

Kevin Smith (Edzell) (5).                      

69 Bill Crosbie (Blairgowrie) (7), Bill Taylor (Edzell) (1), Steve Hills (Monifieth) (6).

LEADING TEAM SCORES  

57  Tony Lumsden (Monifieth) (8), Steve Blady (Monifieth) (3), Steve Hills (Monifieth) (6).

58 Stuart McKendrick (Dunkeld and Birnam (scr), Ron Bell (Pitlochry) (6), Dougie Spaven (Pitlochry) (10).

59 Donald McKay (Wellsgreen) p, Andrew Johnston (Cupar) ) (12), Derek Sim (Cupar) (12).

Qualifiers for the Perla Shower Panels Alliance Championship in March at Scotscraig

Gordon McLeod  (Monifieth), Stuart Graham (Blairgowrie), Kevin Smith (Edzell).

 

Qualifier for the Perla Shower Panels McQueen Shield in March at Scotscraig

Andrew Johnston  (Cupar)

 

Next Meeting

Thursday 18th February

Tayview Caravan Park Pro Am

Scotscraig Golf Club

8.30am - 1.30pm

 

 

Lee Sutherland

 

Wallace Booth has three double bogeys

 in a 77 in Spain

Wallace Booth from Comrie, Perthshire had three double bogeys on his way to a five-over-par 77 in the first round of the 36-hole Evolve Pro Tour event, La Serena Open, at La Serena Golf Club, Murcia in south-east Spain.

Booth, pictured, had a dreadful start - double bogey 7 at the long first, double bogey 6 at the par-4 second hole and a bogey 5 at the third - to be five over par after only three holes.
He played the remaining 15 holes in level par and would have had a respectable 77 but for a double bogey 7 at the 18th.
Booth birdied the sixth, seventh, 12th and 13th in halves of 40 and 37 to be tied 28th in a field of 38 at the end of the first day.
Liam Murray, a Spanish-based Englishman, led the field with a bogey-free, six-under 66.

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 Mickelson, Stenson and McDowell confirm they 

will be at Castle Stuart for Scottish Open

 

News release

Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson will this year renew rivalries in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links, where the popular American took the title in 2013 before lifting the Claret Jug the following week.

Five-time Major Champion Mickelson, World Number Five Stenson and former winner Graeme McDowell are among the star names so far confirmed for the 34th edition of Scotland’s national Open, which returns to the stunning Inverness venue from July 7-10, 2016. Tickets to see the world-class trio in action are now on sale at www.tickets.europeantour.com

Stenson led by two shots going into the final round at Castle Stuart three years ago, only to be pipped to the prize by Mickelson, who produced a trademark flop shot in the play-off with Branden Grace to secure his first victory in a regular European Tour event.

Mickelson cited that win as a key component in his subsequent triumph at Muirfield, and the 45 year old is hopeful of achieving another Scottish double when he warms up for The Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club with his seventh straight appearance – and 14th overall – in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

Mickelson said: “I’m always excited about returning to Scotland, and particularly to Castle Stuart. I believe winning there in 2013 was key to my success the next week at The Open Championship.

“Beyond that, the nation is the home of golf and I really appreciate the fans’ golfing knowledge and their respect for the game. It’s always one of the highlights of my year when I compete in Scotland.” 

Stenson followed his third place at Castle Stuart with a runner-up finish behind Mickelson at Muirfield, and whilst he was understandably disappointed to have missed out on both titles, his impressive performances heralded a remarkable run of form which ultimately culminated in the Swede winning both The Race to Dubai and the FedExCup on the US PGA Tour.

This year will mark Stenson’s first appearance in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open since his near-miss in 2013, and the 39 year old – currently leading The Race to Dubai – is hopeful of a different outcome on the Moray Firth this time.

He said: “It didn’t quite work out for me on the final day in 2013, I had a great chance but Phil recovered well from a bad start and deserved to win. And even though I didn’t quite manage to get the job done, it was still the start of a great run for me and maybe I used those near-misses at Castle Stuart and Muirfield as motivation.

“For me, playing the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open is the perfect preparation for The Open. We’ll be expecting a tougher test at Troon the week after, but although Castle Stuart doesn’t beat you up as much as an Open Championship venue does, it’s still great to get into the mind-set of playing links golf.

“So I’m looking forward to going back, and hopefully I can get the better of Phil this time. He proved that winning the Scottish Open was the recipe for success in The Open in 2013, so I’ll be going all out for the win in July.”          

McDowell, Stenson’s team-mate from The 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, has already tasted success in the Scottish Open, taking the title in 2008 at Loch Lomond Golf Club.

The 2010 US Open Champion missed the tournament between 2012 and 2014, but a return to Gullane Golf Club last year rekindled his love affair with the £3.25 million event.    

McDowell said: “I’m looking forward to making my return to Castle Stuart this year. It’s going to be a great little period for me, with the French Open, the Scottish Open and hopefully The Open, so I’m very excited about that little stretch over the summer.

“I always love playing in Scotland, and after missing the Scottish Open for a few years it was great to go back there last year. I played very well for the first two days at Gullane, and hopefully I can keep that sort of form going over all four rounds at Castle Stuart.”  

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, said: “I’m absolutely delighted the 2013 champion Phil Mickelson, World Number Five Henrik Stenson and Ryder Cup hero Graeme McDowell will be playing in this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.

“With a condensed summer golfing calendar, having these star names playing is testament to the strength of this tournament and its enviable position of being contested the week before The Open Championship.

“Aberdeen is a company that continues to grow its presence around the world, so we are pleased that American golf fans will have the opportunity to see the likes of Phil take on the magnificent Castle Stuart once more through our continued live coverage on the Golf Channel and NBC.”

Only five events to go in North-east Alliance Order of Merit tables sponsored by Brimmond Bistro (Craibstone Golf Club)

There are only five counting rounds to go in the North-east Golfers' Alliance Brimmond Bistro-sponsored Order of Merit scratch and handicaps tables.
Each individual player's best 18 scores only will count towards the final order of merit positions in each category.
If a member plays 24 rounds, his worst six weekly points totals will be removed, leaving his final points total for the season from his best 18 scores.
If a member has played fewer than 18 rounds, then every point he has earned will count towards his final total.
The Brimmond Bistro, the open-to-the-public restaurant in the Craibstone Golf Club clubhouse, is sponsoring 1-2-3 prizes in each of the three categories to the value of £75, £50 and £40.
The Order of Merit tables conclude with the NE Alliance championship second round at Craibstone Golf Club on
 Wednesday, March 16.

CURRENT POINTS TOTALS
           
Position .... Name ... Club ... Points tally .. Position last week 
1 John Duff (Newmachar)                            6886   1
2 Kevin Duncan (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) 6726   2
3 Greg McBain (PLGC)                               5119   3
4 Phil McLean (PLGC)                                4429   4
5 Sean Lawrie (PLGC)                                3952   6
6 Craig Lawrie (PLGC)                               3804   5
7 Terry Mathieson (Murcar Links)              3520  10
8 Laura Murray (PLGC)                              3226   9
9 Kris Nicol (PLGC)                                   3199   9
10 Sam Kiloh (PLGC)                                 3197   7
11 Joel Hopwood (Royal  Aberdeen)          2966  11
12 Alan Stuart (PLGC)                                2425  12
13 Brian Ritchie (Inverallochy)                   2413  21
14 Greg Hutcheon (PLGC)                          2334  13
15 David Brown (Kemnay)                         2311  14
16 Paul Lawrie (Carnegie Club)  2278  15
17 Stewart Finnie (Royal Aberdeen) 2197  16
18 Chris Lamb (Newmachar)  2138  17
19 David Leslie (Bon Accord)  2114  18
20 Adam Dunton (McDonald Ellon)  2043  19
21 Brian Nicolson (Mackenzie Club) 1855  22
22 Scott Mackie (Kemnay)  1837  28
23 Kamran Zeynalov (Portlethen)  1820  21
24 Keil Beveridge (Kippe Lodge)  1782  23
25 Gary Esson (Portlethen)  1604  24
26 Billy Fyfe (PLGC)   1592  25
27 Alan Gall (Deeside)   1577  27
28 Graeme Riley (Craibstone)  1550  29
29 Fergus Bisset (Banchory)  1542  26
30 John Borthwick (Craibstone)  1474  30

HANDICAP ORDER OF MERIT 
CLASS 1           
Position .... Name ... Club ... Points tally .. Position last week 

1. Scott Mackie (Kemnay)             2777  1
2. David Leslie (Bon Accord)        2331  2
3. Gavin Chalmers (Alford)           2222  3
4. David Lane (Deeside)                2191  4
5. Brian Ritchie (Inverallochy)      2035  5
6. Manson Merchant (Newmachar) 1795  6
7. Les Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) 1711  7
7 Harry Roulston (Stonehaven) 1711  11
9. Richard Blackmore (Tarland) 1650  13
10. Fergus Bisset (Banchory) 1608  8
11. Alan Gall (Deeside)  1563  9
12. John Borthwick (Craibstone) 1524  12
13. Mark Lawrie (Kemnay)  1502  11
14. Gary Esson (Portlethen)  1333  14
15. John Nicolson (Hazlehead) 1332  NEW
16. Graeme Riley (Craibstone) 1314  16
17. Donny Adam (Kemnay)  1308  15
18. Ritchie Davidson (Caledonian) 1306  NEW
19. Charlie Cassie (Nigg Bay) 1262  17
20. Keith McGillivary (Craibstone) 1218            20

HANDICAP ORDER OF MERIT
CLASS 2      
Position .... Name ... Club ... Points tally .. Position last week
1. Stephen Ross (Mackenzie Club)      3943  1
2. Raymond Brown (Inverurie)            2351  2
3. Jim Stewart (Banchory)                   2167  3
4. Mike Brown (Inverurie)                  1816  5
5. Gary Homer (Northern)                  1759  7
6. Stuart Davidson (Northern) 1708  4
7. Nigel Parker (Murcar Links) 1685  6
8. Donald Lawrie (Aboyne)  1600  8
9. Richard Ruddiman (Ryl Aberdeen) 1583  17
10. Jim Murray (Banchory)  1407  11
11. Peter Walker (Cruden Bay) 1392  9
12. David Bisset (Banchory)  1379  10
13. Tom Boyle (Portlethen)  1293  NEW
14. Peter Cheyne (Northern)  1242  12
15. Michael Rendall (Stonehaven) 1225  14
16. Doug Booth (Tarland)  1218  15
17. William Beattie (Craibstone) 1197  13
18. Robbie Duncan (Deeside)  1189  18
19. Lenny Duncan (Craibstone) 1111  19
20. David McKay (Caledonian) 1102  16

ABERDEEN LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP 2016

27^th May   Seniors’ Stroke-play 1^st Round

                   

28^th May   Links Championship/Murray Cup

           1^st Qualifying Round

3^rd June    Seniors’ Stroke-play 2^nd Round

4^th June    Links Championship/Murray Cup

           2^nd Qualifying Round

MATCH-PLAY PROGRAMME

6^th June   1^st Round – Links Championship

8^th June   1^st Round – Handicap Shield

10^th June  1^st Round – Murray Cup

                   

13^th June Quarter-finals – Links Championship

         Quarter-finals – Handicap Shield

         Quarter-finals – Murray Cup

15^th June   Semi-finals – Links Championship

            Semi-finals – Handicap Shield

            Semi-finals – Murray Cup

17^th June   Links Championship Final

            Final – Handicap Shield

            Final – Murray Cup

PRESENTATION OF PRIZES

17^th June Bon Accord Golf Club 8.30 pm