Friday, April 22, 2016

Palmer Cup call up for Irish student Grehan

FROM GOLF UNION OF IRELAND WEBSITE 
The rise and rise of Irish student golfer Stuart Grehan continues as the Tullamore 23-year-old earned a call-up for this year’s Palmer Cup match against the United States students at Formby Golf Club, Lancashire in June.
Grehan, nearing the end of his second year studying entrepreneurship at Maynooth University, has been named on the European side 

The Palmer Cup is an annual encounter between the best collegiate players on both sides of the Atlantic.
“It’s 10 players from America versus 10 players from Europe going head-to-head in a Ryder Cup-style match  over three days,” said Grehan, explaining the format of a competition that was inaugurated by Arnold Palmer in 1997.
“I  can’t wait to play in it,” he added. “It was a goal I set at the start
of the year to make the team. I’ve improved dramatically in the last 12 to 15 months. I’ve jumped almost 500 places on WAGR (world amateur golf ranking).”
Grehan won twice last summer, at the  East of Ireland in June and the South of Ireland in July. Although victory has eluded him so far this year, he is now inside the world’s top 100 male amateurs, thanks to impressive performances at the South African Stroke
Play (T2nd) and the Spanish Amateur (quarter-finalist).
Grehan will become the second Paddy Harrington Golf Scholar to represent  Maynooth University at the Palmer Cup as he follows in the footsteps of  Gary Hurley, who played in 2013 and 2015.
Sam  Horsfield of Florida (England), Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab (Austria), Adrian Meronk from East Tennessee State (Poland), Lars van Meijel of Memphis (Netherlands), Augusta’s Robin Petersson (Sweden) and David Boote of Stanford (Wales) earned their places on the European team through  the ranking system while the committee selections were Grehan and
Antoine Rozner of UMKC. 

Mathias Eggenberger of Stirling (Switzerland) qualified by winning The R and A Foundation Scholars Tournament. Robin
Sciot-Siegrist
of Louisville was Janice Moodie’s coach’s pick.
Eggenberger, Schwab and Meronk return from last year’s squad that fell to the United States, 18-12.

 The committee selections were Grehan and  Antoine Rozner of UMKC. 
Eggenberger, Schwab and Meronk return from last year’s squad that fell  to the United States, 18-12.
Maverick McNealy of Stanford, Charlie Danielson of Illinois, LSU’s Zach Wright, Rico Hoey of Southern California, Auburn’s Michael Johnson and Nahum Mendoza III of San Diego State were the six United States players selected by the Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking. 
Derek Bard of Virginia, Chico State’s Alistair Docherty and Will Zalatoris of Wake Forest were committee selections. Docherty was the designated non-Division I player. Will Gordon of Vanderbilt was Mike Cook’s coach’s pick.
Walker Cup player McNealy represented the United States in 2015 and was also  selected to represent the Arnold Palmer Cup in the 2016 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The 2016 Palmer Cup will be played over three days from 24-26 June at Formby Golf Club near Liverpool on England’s north west coast.


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Link to second-round scores in US PGA Tour's Valero Open in Texas

CLICK HERE

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Don't go your holidays to China - the weather there is awful!

Soomin zoomin' into three-shot lead at 

weather-hit Shenzhen International 

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
South Korean Soomin Lee shot a brilliant 65 to take a three-shot lead on day two of the weather-interrupted Shenzhen International at Genzon Golf Club, China.
Thunderstorms and the threat of lightning in the area meant that 5hr 55min of play were lost over two separate stoppages, with 35 players unable to start their second rounds today.
While heavy rain brought a disjointed day in Guangdong, it also brought receptive greens, and Lee took full advantage as he recorded seven birdies in a second consecutive blemish-free round to get to 13 under and take a commanding lead over Joost Luiten.

The Dutchman had a wonderful touch with the putter early in his round and was eight under for the day after 13 holes, but two bogeys saw him hand the initiative to Lee, who is playing in just his sixth European Tour event.
He finished in a tie for third on his debut at the UBS Hong Kong Open and looked on course for victory in just his second event before two late double-bogeys saw him finish two shots behind Marcus Fraser at the Maybank Championship Malaysia.
Lee had moved ahead early with a birdie on the 11th but, when the horn sounded at 8.10am, play would not resume until midday.
The 22 year old had no problems on the resumption, however, making it three birdies in a row on the 12th and 13th before adding three more on the 17th, 18th and first. He then made seven consecutive pars after the second break before taking advantage of the par five ninth.
"I feel this course is good for me because of the soft greens and then heavy rough. I like heavy rough so that's good for me.
"I have two more days to also try to be bogey free.
"In Malaysia, I got a second, so that's really good for me, golf, life, and everything. So I'm now a little bit more comfortable than Malaysia."
Dutchman Luiten is in excellent form, with five top tens in his first eight events of the season, and he holed out for eagle from the fairway on the 11th before play was delayed for the first time.
Some brilliant approach play then allowed him to make four birdies in a row, all with putts of ten to 15 feet, from the 15th before adding another on the second.

After the second delay of two hours and five minutes, Luiten put his approach on the fourth to eight feet for another birdie but a ragged tee shot on the fifth resulted in a dropped shot and another was lost on the eighth as he signed for a 66.
Ireland's Paul Dunne was six shots behind the leader after making three birdies and two bogeys on the front nine before an eagle on 13th saw him sign for a 69.
South African Brandon Stone had to play the last to complete his first round early in the morning and that was one of 18 pars he made on the day, with a second round eagle on the 17th getting him to seven under.
Lee Slattery made four birdies in his first five holes to get to six under before play was suspended at 6.43pm due to the fading light, and he was alongside Alexander Levy who parred his first three.
Alvaro Quiros and Matteo Manassero were then a further shot back after both signing for a 69, while Gary Stal was also five under after a 71.

LEADING COMPLETED SECOND-ROUND SCORES
par 144 (2x72)
35 players have still to start their second rounds
131 Soomin Lee (South Korea) 66 65
134 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 68 66
137 Paul Dunne (Ireland) 68 69, Brendon Stone (South Africa) 67 70

SCOTS' SCORES
142 Stephen Gallacher 70 72 (T23)

MISSED THE CUT (144 and better likely to qualify)
148 Marc Warren 74 74 

TO VIEW THE COMPLETE SCOREBOARD

CLICK HERE

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David Law has third-round bag of seven 

birdies in Egypt as he returns a 68

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
David Law, having survived the cut with nothing to spare, celebrated his escape with a four-under-par 68 in the third round of the Red Sea Egyptian Challenge at Sokhna Golf Club, Cairo.
The Aberdonian had a bag of seven birdies, including fourth in a row from the 11th to the 14th and also the 17th and 18th for an inward half of 33.
He has had one eagle and 13 birdies over the 54 holes so far.
His earlier rounds 68 and 73 so that his three-round tally is seven-under-par 209 but, in a low scoring tournament such as this, he is only T33 at mid-day.
Ross Cameron, who also made the cut with nothing to spare with rounds of 68 and 73, slumped to a third-round 77 which included a double bogey 6 at the fifth and a double bogey 7 at the long 13th in halves of 38 and 39.
He was last of the 67 qualifiers at mid-day.

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE 

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Leader Ichihara has something to smile about

 
Chiba, Japan: Japan’s Kodai Ichihara fired a sparkling six-under-par 65 to lead by one shot over newly-wed Shiv Kapur at the halfway stage of the Panasonic Open Golf Championship today.
The ever-smiling Ichihara, who is chasing for a career breakthrough, matched the low round of the week to lead on eight-under-par 134 at the Chiba Country Club, Umesato course. 
After taking a month’s break from golf to get married, India’s Kapur fired a solid 67 to be in prime position to end an 11-year title drought at the 150 million Yen (approximately US$1.27 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
Japan’s Azuma Yano was a further shot back in third place following a 69 while Hung Chien-yao of Chinese Taipei, also searching for a first win, registered a 67 to sit in fourth place on 137, three shots back from the leader. 
Ichihara, who played on the Asian Tour from 2008 to 2013 before losing his card, fired seven birdies to edge closer to a maiden victory.
He hopes to make a return to the Asian Tour by winning this week after missing out on the chance to regain his Tour card through Qualifying School in the last three years. 
“I created a lot of birdie chances and converted. That’s what you need to do for a low score and I did that. It was nice. It was a good round today, but my confidence is still high after shooting a good score in windy conditions yesterday (round 1),” said Ichihara.
“I have to focus shot by shot. I really want to get back on the Asian Tour so I can’t make silly mistakes. The bogey on seven was a bad mistake because I bogeyed the same hole yesterday,” said the Japanese.
Kapur overcame the blustery afternoon conditions by trading six birdies against two bogeys as he chases for his first silverware since winning the 2005 Volvo Masters of Asia in Thailand and earning the Rookie of the Year award in the same season. 
“All the credit goes to the wife. I can’t deny that. Ever since I got engaged, I’ve been playing well,” laughed the 34-year-old Kapur, who married his wife Maya on the holiday isle of Bali on April 3.
“It was pretty good with the way the wind was blowing. It was tough to pick where the wind was coming from but I hope the conditions stay like this during the weekend. I’ve been playing in Europe for the last 10 years and I have the experience to play in a lot of wind,” he said. 
China’s Wu Ashun, a member of Team Asia in the EurAsia Cup earlier this year, fired a 71 after struggling in the cold conditions on his homeward nine. He trails Ichihara by four shots.
“It was so sunny before I teed off so I decided not to take a sweater with me. It is still okay because I played quite well in this windy conditions. I’ll be happy if it stays windy during the weekend. I think that will give me a chance to make a move up the leaderboard,” said Wu.
 
The halfway cut was set at two-over-par 144 with a total of 78 players making the weekend.
 
ROUND 2 LEADERBOARD
par 142 (2x71) 7,130yd
134 - Kodai ICHIHARA (JPN) 69-65.
135 - Shiv KAPUR (IND) 68-67.
136 - Azuma YANO (JPN) 67-69.
137 - HUNG Chien-yao (TPE) 70-67.
138 - Sanghyun PARK (SKOR) 67-71, Toshinori MUTO (JPN) 71-67, K T KIM (SKOR) 69-69, Ryutaro NAGANO (JPN) 65-73, WU Ashun (CHN) 67-71.
139 - Jeunghun WANG (SKOR) 71-68, Marcus FRASER (AUS) 71-68, Jason KNUTZON (USA) 66-73, Sanghee LEE (SKOR) 73-66.
140 - Tetsuji HIRATSUKA (JPN) 71-69, LU Wei-chih (TPE) 72-68, Michio MATSUMURA (JPN) 71-69, Yuta IKEDA (JPN) 67-73, Chinnarat PHADUNGSIL (THA) 73-67, Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 72-68, Kazuhiro YAMASHITA (JPN) 68-72, Seunghyuk KIM (SKOR) 72-68, Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 67-73, Hyungsung KIM (SKOR) 70-70, Shugo IMAHIRA (JPN) 69-71, Hosung CHOI (SKOR) 71-69, Kiyoshi MIYAZATO (JPN) 70-70.
 

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Death of former Winterfield pro Kevin

 Phillips at 57

                                                               FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
Winterfield Golf Club has been rocked by the sudden death of Kevin Phillips, who recently retired after serving as the professional there for 26 years.
Phillips, who was 57, had been a member of the PGA since 1982 and made the occasional foray on to the Tartan Tour. 
He’d posted on Facebook last May, when he tendered his resignation with East Lothian Council, about beginning a “new chapter in my life” with his wife and daughter on Sanday in Orkney.
His funeral is at Seafield Crematorium on Friday, April 29 at 1pm.

John Kelly was member of St Andrews Golf Club

Another former Scottish PGA professional, John Kelly, who had St Andrews connections and was a member of St Andews Golf Club, has also died.
His last two positions were as club pro at Scotscraig Golf Club and golf director at Fairmont St Andrews.
John started out his career as an assistant pro at the Old Course Hotel.
His funeral is on Thursday, April 28 at 9.30am at St James Catholic Church, The Scores, St Andrews.

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Bad weather continues in China

Soomin Lee takes Shenzhen lead on his own

 FROMTHE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Soomin Lee opened up a one-shot lead as the weather-affected second round of the Shenzhen International resumed at Genzon Golf Club, China.
The South Korean had held a share of the lead alongside Alexander Levy after the first round was completed on Friday morning, with 46 minutes lost on day one due to the threat of lightning.
Another t3hr 50min were lost due to thunderstorms early on Friday but that proved no problem to Lee, who made five birdies from the tenth to turn in 31.
A birdie on the first then moved him to 12 under, one clear of Joost Luiten who also enjoyed a stunning first nine from the tenth, with an eagle and four consecutive birdies helping move him to 11 under after 11 holes.
Play was then delayed again at 1.55pm, with none of the afternoon starters yet on course, and was due to resume at 4pm.
Lee had moved ahead early with a birdie on the 11th but, when the horn sounded at 8.10am, play would not resume until midday with heavy rain and storms engulfing the course.
Lee had no problems on the resumption, however, making it three birdies in a row on the 12th and 13th before adding three more on the 17th, 18th and first.


That was a continuation of some good recent performances, with two top three finishes in just five career European Tour events since October.
Dutchman Luiten is also in excellent form, with five top tens in his first eight events of the season, and he holed out for eagle on the 11th before play was delayed.
Some brilliant approach play then allowed him to make four birdies in a row, all with putts of ten to 15 feet, from the 15th before adding another on the second.
Frenchman Gary Stal, playing alongside Lee, was then at seven under after an eagle on the 13th and a birdie on the 17th.
South Africa's Brandon Stone had returned to play the last in his first round on Friday morning and an eagle on the 17th in round two allowed him to get to seven under after nine holes, one clear of Levy who was yet to start.
Spaniard Alvaro Quiros played 14 holes in three under par to get to five under alongside Matteo Manassero, who had an eagle on the tenth in his 13 completed holes.
Ireland's Paul Dunne turned in 35 to also sit at five under, a shot clear of Raphaël Jacquelin, who was level par for his round, and late starter Eduardo de la Riva.

TO VIEW THE SCOREBOARD

CLICK HERE

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Brendan Steele cards eight birdies to lead rain-hit Valero Texas Open


Brendan Steele managed eight birdies in his first 13 holes in San Antonio
Brendan Steele managed eight birdies in his first 13 holes in San Antonio
Brendan Steele leads by two shots at the end of a rain-affected opening day of the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
Steele surged to the top of the leaderboard with a birdie blitz, reaching eight under par with five holes remaining in his opening round before bad light brought an end to proceedings.
The American, winner of the tournament in 2011, will be one of 72 players returning to the course early on Friday morning to complete his opening round.
Steele started at the 10th on the Oaks Course and birdied his first three holes, adding a fourth at the 14th.
Another streak of birdies commenced at the 18th, with three more following as he started out on the front nine, the second of those enough to take him past clubhouse leader Charley Hoffman.
Hoffman was among the early starters and he made a birdie at the first before the weather intervened and forced a suspension in play.

Charley Hoffman set the clubhouse pace with a round of 66
Charley Hoffman set the clubhouse pace with a round of 66
He returned to pick up shots at the fifth and sixth and made three more birdies on the back nine before a wayward drive at the 17th cost him his only bogey of the round.
But Hoffman made it back to six under and completed a fine round of 66 with a birdie at the par-five closing hole.
Australia's Stuart Appleby produced a sensational finish to his opening 18 holes to sit on five under, the veteran making birdies at his final five holes.
Peter Malnati matched Appleby in carding a round of 67, with three birdies and a spectacular eagle at the 17th, where he holed out from just under 100 yards.
Steve Flesch, who has played only once on the PGA Tour this year, had five birdies in his four under 68.
Brandt Snedeker and Patrick Reed also sit on four under with five holes remaining, while Sweden's Freddie Jacobson is on the same score with seven holes left to play.
And Luke Donald continued his 2016 rebound with four birdies and a bogey in his first 14 holes - the Englishman sits on three under.

FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
+72 Players have still to complete their rounds
Only those with a "F" opposite their names have played 18 holes.
Par 72

T40 -1 15*
T40 -1 14*
T40 -1 13
T40 -1 12*
T40 -1 11*
T40 -1 9*
T60 E F*
T60 E F E
T60 E F* E
T60 E F* E
T60 E F E
T60 E F* E
T60 E F* E
T60 E F* E
T60 E 16 E
T60 E 14* E
T60 E 11* E
T60 E 9 E
T60 E 9 E
T60 E 9* E
T60 E 8* E
T81 1 F 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 F 1
T81 1 F 1
T81 1 F* 1
T81 1 17 1
T81 1 16 1
T81 1 15 1
T81 1 14 1
T81 1 14 1
T81 1 12* 1
T81 1 12* 1
T81 1 11 1
T81 1 11 1
T81 1 10* 1
T81 1 10 1
T81 1 9* 1
T81 1 9 1
T81 1 8* 1
T110 2 F* 2
T110 2 F* 2
T110 2 F* 2
T110 2 F* 2
T110 2 F* 2
T110 2 F* 2
T110 2 16* 2
T110 2 15 2
T110 2 13* 2
T110 2 12 2
T110 2 11 2
T110 2 10* 2
T126 3 F* 3
T126 3 F 3
T126 3 F 3
T126 3 F 3
T126 3 17 3
T126 3 16 3
T126 3 15* 3
T126 3 14* 3
T126 3 13 3
T126 3 12* 3
T126 3 11 3
T126 3 10* 3
T126 3 9 3
T139 4 F* 4
T139 4 F 4
T139 4 F* 4
T139 4 F* 4
T139 4 15* 4
T139 4 11 4
T139 4 10 4
T150 5 13 5
T150 5 12* 5
T150 5 8* 5
T154 6 F* 6
T154 6 F* 6
WD

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