Fowler, McIlroy to play prime-time golf 

exhibition in Detroit

By Golfweek Staff

Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are working with Quicken Loans to finalise a prime-time head-to-head exhibition match in Detroit on June 7, the Tuesday before U.S. Open week begins at Oakmont outside of Pittsburgh, according to an Associated Press report.
According to the report, the first two hours would be televised on Golf Channel, followed by a two-hour live broadcast on CBS. The report said it was unclear how many holes would be played.
The event is being billed as Team Rickie vs Team Rory, which would indicate a team concept will be involved. T
From the report:

Golf has a heritage of such exhibitions. A century ago, the value of winning a major was to be selected to compete in such exhibitions, where the prize money was greater than anything won at a major.
Woods resurrected that concept in 1999 with the "Showdown at Sherwood" against David Duval (they were No. 1 and No. 2 in the world at the time), and a year later against Sergio Garcia.
Those Monday night exhibitions got away from head-to-head matches and switched to team events that included women and seniors. They stopped in 2005.
The rating peaked in 2000 at 7.6, and dropped to 3.0 in 2005 when Woods and John Daly played Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen at the Bridges on Rancho Santa Fe. Lights were only used at those matches when it got too dark.

Greig Hutcheon has nine birdies but still 

only T8 on Algarve with a round to go

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Greig Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) crammed nine birdies into a second-round, six-under-par 66 for seven-under 137 
but still has seven players ahead of him on the leaderboard with one round to go in the Algarve Pro Tour's 54-hole event at Palmares, Lagos.
Hutch had halves of 35 and 31, six of his birdies coming after the turn.
Greig is tied eighth in a field of 85, five shots behind the Portuguese leader, Ricardo Santos (66-66 for 132).
Jordan McColl (Kingsbarns Pro Academy) had a 72 for 141 and a share of 17th place. 
Craig Lawrie (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) had five birdies in a 71, bogeys at the second, eighth, 14th and 16th, knocking him back into a share of 25th place on 143. Conor O'Neil, the third Scot in the field , shot a 78 for 148 and joint 37th position. 

ALGARVE PRO TOUR
Palmares, Lagos.
LEADING SECOND-ROUND SCORES
Par 144 (2x72)
132 R Santos (Por) 66 66
133 R Samson (Eng) (am) 70 63
134 D Wright (Eng) 67 67

SCOTS' SCORES
137 G Hutcheon 71 66 (T8)

141 J McColl 69 72 (T17)
143 C Lawrie 71 72 (T25)
148 C O'Neil 70 78 (T37)
 

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Stewart and Moore gain pass marks at MENA 

Tour Q School in Spain

 The leading graduates at the MENA Tour Q School with Duncan Stewart (in blue, white cap) in the middle of the back row.

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Duncan Stewart (Turnhouse) and Glenbervie's Fraser Moore havpe gained pass marks at the MENA Tour's inaugural Qualifying School, played over 36 holes at Almenara Golf Club, Sotogrande in Spain.
Bad weather reduced the tournament from a scheduled three to two rounds.
Stewart, from Grantown on Spey, shot rounds of 75 and 71 for two-over 146, finishing second in a field of 92 players to Spaniard, Javier Gallegos (71-73 for 144).
Moore scored 78 and 79 for 157 and finished joint 26th among the top 60 who gained Category membership for the 2016 MENA Tour which will have 20 events on its schedule.

The English foursome, comprising Liam Crawford, Andrew Marshall, Jordan Garnish and David Booth (a Stirling University graduate and former Scottish youths champion from Rotherham), finished in a tie for fifth a further shot adrif

The leading 12 players shared a prize fund of $13,000 with Gallegos walking away with a winner’s cheque for $3,000. The top 15 also received complimentary Mena Golf Tour membership for 2016.

Gallegos started the final round with a birdie on the second, but two bogeys and a double bogey (on the 8^th which he eagled in the first round) set him back. He, however, recovered well, playing his next 10 holes at two under.

Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour, congratulated all the players who earned their playing rights for the 2016 season. “It was great to see players from so many countries compete in the Q-School, which was an apt reflection on the growing strength of the tour,” he said.

“By successfully hosting the Q-School, we have also fulfilled one of the major criteria in order to be awarded Official World Golf Rankings,” he added.

Entries to the Q-School, 92 in all, included an eclectic mix of experience and youth with English players leading the chart with 35 entries while 16 golfers spearheaded the Spanish challenge.

The MENA Golf Tour next travels to Morocco for the Royal Golf Anfa Mohammedia Open, starting from March 23 to 25 as part of its expanded 2016 schedule which see the tour cover new destinations in Kuwait, Egypt, Spain, Thailand and South Africa.

 

Sam Macneil from Aboyne and Cawder's Michael Stokes failed to make it. Macneil shot 91-85 for 176 while Stokes scored 90-87 for 177.

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Wallace Booth runs into trouble at Alicante

By COLIN FARQUHARSON 
Comrie's Wallace Booth, the only Scot campaigning on the Spanish Evolve Tour, had a triple bogey 8 at the long 10th and a double bogey 6 at the par-4 third hole on his way to a four-over-par 76 in the first round of a 54-hole tournament at Lo Romero Golf Club, Alicante.
Booth, who had birdies at the second, ninth and 17th in halves of 37 and 39, is tied 14th, seven shots behind the English-born Liam Murray (Spain) whose 69 leads by one from Kit Holmes (England) and Denmark's Lasse Sonne Nielsen.
There is a field of 45 competitors

Spey Bay playable for N E Alliance tomorrow

They've been playing on the Spey Bay links this week so there should be no doubt about this week's North-east Alliance fixture going ahead as planned tomorrow.
Tee times:
8-00 A Campbell G Esson T Boyle C Cassie8-10 P Morrison M Merchant R Lamb8-208-308-408-50 M Rendall H Roulston L Roger

9-00 R Brown M Brown D Lawrie9-10 R Reid D Booth R Blackmore9-20 K Beveridge L Murray J Hopwood9-30 D Mackay K Nicol N Chisholm9-40 J Duff S Finnie B Ritchie P McLean9-50 L Duncan J Stewart K McGillivary J Crawford

10-00 J Forrest N Stewart C Nelson B Lumsden10-10 J Scott B Skene S Mackie J Hosie10-20 D Fleming L Fowler A Gall S Shand10-3010-40 D Leslie G Homer D Wright P Cheyne10-50 D Brown M Lawrie T Collie M Forster

11-00 G Milne M Rogers N K Parker D Nelson11-10 J Murray S Roger F Bisset D Bisset11-2011-30 R Ruddiman A Clark W Skene G Thom11-40 G Riley J Morris E Riley P Low11-50 K Duncan S Kiloh D Townsley

12-00 D Macandrew G Munroe S Lawrie K Zeynalov
12-1012-2012-30

PGA Winter 4 Ball @ Western Gailes Monday, February 22 Tee Time Name 1 9:00 am Steven Maxwell David Orr Mark Loftus Simon Payne 1 9:10 am Graham Forbes Paul Robinson James Dick Scott Grieve 1 9:20 am Derek Watters Andrew Fullen Graham Fox Alan Reid 1 9:30 AM Jason McCreadie Robert Arnott Craig Everett Stewart Savage 1 9:40 AM Nigel Scott-Smith Vincent Brown Colin Fisher Fergus Smith 1 9:50 AM Alastair Forsyth Greg Paxton Paul O'Hara Steven O'Hara 1 10:00 AM Paul Wardell Fraser Mann Andrew Oldcorn Ross Drummond 1 10:10 AM Callum Beveridge Cameron Marr Norman Huguet Gareth Wright 1 10:20 AM Paul Malone Craig Gordon Ian Young Paul McKechnie 1 10:30 AM Tom Eckford David Stein Michael Bradfield Christopher Billows Complete information is available at Tournament Information Page (TIP)

NORTH  DISTRICT FIXTURE LIST 2016

This is the latest version of the North District Fixture List for 2016, for your information.

Competitions in bold are confirmed. Competitions in normal print have been requested.

Day/Date	Competition	Venue
Friday 1st April	North of Scotland Boys Championship for the HR Spence Trophy	Fortrose and  Rosemarkie
Sunday 22nd May	North District Championship	Elgin
Sunday 17th July	North District Team Championship	Tain
Sun 31st July	North District Boys Championship for the RPB Bain Trophy	Strathpeffer
Sat / Sun 20th  /21st  August	North of Scotland Open Amateur Championship (72 holes) for the David Blair Trophy	Inverness
Friday 9th Sept	North District Senior Championship for the Macallan Trophy	Golspie £10 for practice round
Sun 18th Sept	North District Champion of Champions	Brora
10th – 13th October	North of Scotland Boys Matchplay	Forres

Venues for Junior Order of Merit.  TBD