Portlethen KO defending champions 

Newmachar in Maitland Shield first round

                               Newmachar's Maitland Shield team. Pictures by Matty Beattie.

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Defending champions Newmachar were beaten when the first round of the 100th City of Aberdeen men's double foursomes for the Maitland Shield was completed on a wet night at the Kings Links.
Portlethen's Kevin Daglish and Clark Brechin lost by one hole in the lead-off tie against Newmachar's Chris Simpson and Chris Lamb but the second string of Keith Horne and Gary Esson retrieve the situation for Portlethen by finishing five up on Mike Lynch and Calvin Cheyne.
Horne and Esson were six up at the turn but lost holes 10, 11, 12 and 13 to see their lead slashed to two holes but they managed to steady the ship and KO the title-holders.
Now Portlethen face Bon Accord on their home links in Wednesday's quarter-finals.
Royal Aberdeen beat Deeside 9-0 with Donald Macandrew, jun and Mark Halliday, pictured, playing some brilliant golf to finish seven up on Keith Ingram and Alan Ross.  The Balgownie pair were seven under par at the finish. 
Grant Joss and Daniel Sim completed the Royal Aberdeen victory by beating Jamie Pryde and Simon Cruickshank by two holes.
Royal Aberdeen play Hazlehead in Wednesday night's quarter-finals.
RESULTS
FIRST ROUND

Royal Aberdeen bt Deeside by 9 holes
D Macandrew jun, M Halliday 7, K Ingram, A Ross 0.
G Joss, D Sim 2, J Pryde, S Cruickshank 0.

Portlethen bt Newmachar by 4 holes.
K Daglish, C Brechin 0, C Simpson, C Lamb 1
K Horne, G Esson 5, M Lynch, C Cheyne 0. 

Bon Accord walk-over, Peterculter scratched

WEDNESDAY'S QUARTER-FINALS
4.47 Caledonian v Northern.
5.01 Nigg Bay v Murcar Links
5.15 Hazlehead v Royal Aberdeen
5.29 Bon Accord v Portlethen.

Deeside's Maitland Shield quartet. Left to right: Jamie Pryde, Simon Cruickshank, Keith Ingram and Alan Ross. Picture by Matty Beattie

Scots' tee times on Friday in Welsh men's open amateur stroke play

ROYAL ST DAVID'S GOLF CLUB, HARLECH

07:00

FYFE, Calum

07:10

HOWIE, Craig

07:20

HUME, Barry J

CLARK, Matthew

07:30

SCOTT, Sandy

07:40

WRIGHT, Jeff

07:50

GODSMAN, Kyle

08:50

MACLEAN, Chris

09:30

NEIL, Connor

09:50

MACNEAL, C H

10:20

SHAW, Jordan

10:30

WILSON, James A

11:20

FRANSSEN, Rory

11:30

DAVIDSON, Andrew

11:40

STEWART, Jamie

12:20

ROGER, Stephen

12:40

PORTER, Will

13:30

MACANDREW, N

13:50

HOWIE, Darren

CARRICK, Angus

14:00

CANTLEY, Kieran

14:20

COCHRANE, Callum

14:30

THURLOW, Alastair

14:40

HARLING, Jack

15:00

PENNYCOTT, Malcolm

Jurgen Klopp could be Mr Motivator for 

Europe at Ryder Cup, says Darren Clarke

FROM SKYSPORTS.COM

By Mike Patterson

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, pictured, will be asked to assist Europe's Ryder Cup team later this year, says Darren Clarke.

European captain Clarke is a season-ticket holder at Anfield and is ready to ask the former Borussia Dortmund manager to help motivate his team as they prepare to take on the United States at Hazeltine in September.
Sir Alex Ferguson helped inspire the Paul McGinley-led European team when they retained the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014 and the former Manchester United manager is likely to be on board once again this year.

Clarke (right) will lock horns with US captain Davis Love (left) at Hazeltine

But Clarke is a big admirer of "livewire" Klopp and has been impressed with the way the 48-year-old has performed since replacing Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager in October.
"I've already talked to the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson and I hope the latter will join us later in the year because he was a real inspiration in the team room at Gleneagles last time," Clarke told the Daily Mail.

Sir Alex Ferguson with Europe's 2014 Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles

"I would like to talk to Sir Clive Woodward as well because I'm sure he would have a lot to offer.
"But Jurgen is definitely someone else I will approach. He's an absolute livewire, isn't he? He's a bundle of energy and that can be infectious. He's a terrific motivator, so I want to pick his brains."

SCOTTISH SCHOOLS' GOLF OVER TWO DAYS

The Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish schools golf championships at Murrayshall Hotel, Perthshire will be played over two days - Monday and Tuesday, June 6 and 7.

For the first time, the boys' and girls' competitions will be played on separate days with the boys on the Monday and the girls on the Tuesday.

Chilean Costa fires a sizzling 66 to take 

one-shot lead at MahaSamutr Masters

By VIREN VARMA

HUA HIN (Thailand)— His long game in great shape, Antonio Costa fired a sizzling 66 to seize a one-shot lead in the opening round of the MahaSamutr Masters at Banyan Golf Thailand today. 

The 27-year-old Chilean rattled off four birdies and an eagle in his flawless opening round, highlighted by impeccable approach shots, as England’s Stuart Archibald and rising Indian amateur Rayhan Thomas shared second on five-under-par 67s. 

American Berry Henson, who finished in a tie for 34th at last week’s Mauritius Open, and Englishman Craig Hinton were a further shot back on four-under, one clear of a six-man group which included MENA Golf Tour’s Order of Merit leader Zane Scotland and his fellow Englishman Miles Tunnicliff, a two-time winner on the European Tour.

It was Costa who took centre-stage with his personal best score on the MENA Golf Tour he joined earlier this year. 

“I struck the ball consistently well and felt very comfortable with my long game. All my approach shots were close, to within 10 or 12 feet, which was great,” said the Chilean, who earned his playing privileges on the tour through the qualifying school held in Sotogrande in Spain earlier this year.

“My score could have been a lot better had I putted well, but you can’t complain after opening with a 66,” said Costa, who eagled the par-5, eighth after smashing his hybrid iron from 220 yards to within 10 feet.

England’s Archibald settled into a groove after making a bogey-birdie-bogey start, playing his last 14 holes in six under.

“I played really well, especially on the back nine. Chipped in for an eagle on the par-5, 12th which certainly was the highpoint. My front nine was just okay. Made some silly mistakes there which resulted in a couple of dropped shots on par-3s,” said Archibald, a Hampshire native.

“In fact, I have been playing good golf, but not scoring that well. Very happy to be able to string together a good round. I really enjoyed the company of my playing partners which helped,” said the Englishman, who went out with fellow Englishman Miles Tunnicliff and South Africa’s Michael Dreyer.

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES
par 72
66 A Costa (Chile)
67 R Thomas (India) (am), S Archibald (Eng)
68 C Hinton (Eng), B Henson (USA)
SELECTED SCORES
69 Z Scotland (Eng) (T6)
70 P Doherty (Sco) (T12)
71 D Kay (Sco) (T14) 
73 B Alexander (Sco) (am) (T23)
74 C Lutton (Sco) (T29)
77 L Harper (Sco) (T50)
Field of 78 players

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE 

Ross McConnachie explains why Peterculter 

had to scratch from Maitland Shield

FROM ROSS McCONNACHIE
Peterculter Golf Club PGA profssional
Not overly impressed by the Scottishgolfview.com article about us scratching from the Maitland Shield.

The full story is that we got caught short in submitting our pool of six players. As I am new to the role of picking the team and still not entirely familiar with all the competitions, I did not realise that a pool of six players had to be submitted one week prior to the competition. I had to send out an email to our squad of players at extremely short notice to check their availability. 
By the time we had to submit our pool of six players I had only four positive responses. The two other spaces in the pool were filled by players whom I had hoped would be available.

As it turned out, they were not available so we were left with the original four. Circumstances had changed for one player and unfortunately we now only had three.
A number of players have consequently replied and were available but they were not in the original pool of six players.
I'm not against the rules as I feel it is a fair system and hopefully we will be better organised in the future but with the way things are in Aberdeen right now, perhaps golfers have less flexibility  to leave work early to commit to successive nights' golfing.

South of Scotland Golfers' Association Drennan Salver

    Dumfriesshire win title at Portpatrick

                                    Dumfriesshire team with the Drennan Salver

         Back row: Craig Scobie (Lochmaben), Liam Johnston (Dumfries and Co), Chris Finnie (Lockerbie), Michael Grunwell (Dumfries and Galloway) capt.,  Andrew Kerr (Crichton), Ryan Johnston (Dumfries and Co).

          Front: Danny McConnachie (Dumfries and Co),  Allan Birdsall (Dumfries and Co).

REPORT FROM GRAEME SHARP

The Drennan Salver is a match-play competition between eight-man teams from Wigtownshire, Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. This year the competition was played at Portpatrick Golf Club on a beautiful sunny day with only light winds from the south in the morning. 

In the afternoon the wind changed to the north and increased in intensity but not enough to affect the excellent standard of golf produced by the competitors. The course had recovered well from the ravages of the winter weather and was in excellent condition. 

An exciting day of golf between 24 of the area’s best golfers was anticipated as the first four set off for the morning foursomes.

Dumfriesshire showed their intention early and got off to a great start by beating Wigtownshire by 1½ games to ½. In the match between Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire honours were even at one  game all while in the match between Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire, the Dumfriesshire team continued their good start by beating Kirkcudbrightshire 2-0.

In the afternoon singles Dumfriesshire whitewashed Wigtownshire 4-0. Wigtownshire again shared the honours with Kirkcudbrightshire at 2-2 and Dumfriesshire proved their superiority on the day by beating Kirkcudbrightshire 3-1. 

Dumfriesshire won the trophy by winning 10 games, halving one and losing only one. A remarkable effort, particularly as the only Dumfriesshire player to lose was the captain in his singles match!

RESULTS

Morning Foursomes

Wigtownshire ½, Dumfriesshire  1½

J Telfer and D McCreadie lost to M Grunwell and A Kerr 5 and 4

E Adamson and I Johnstone halved with C Scobie and C Finnie

Wigtownshire 1, Kirkcudbrightshire  1

C Bennewith and J Caldwell bt C Heuchan and C Riddick  4 and 3

R Hughan and A Chalmers lost to G Blayney and R Kerr 7 and 6

Dumfriesshire 2, Kirkcudbrightshire  0

L Johnstone and D McConnachie bt D King and R Murray 4 and 3

A Birdsall and R Johnstone bt A Bendall and M Kirkwood 4 and 3

Afternoon Singles

Wigtownshire 0, Dumfriesshire  4

C Bennewith lost to L Johnstone  4  and 3

J Caldwell lost to D McConnachie 2 holes

R Hughan lost to A Birdsall  3 and 2

A Chalmers lost to R Johnstone 3 and 2

Wigtownshire 2, Kirkcudbrightshire  2

J Telfer lost to D King 3 and 1

D McCreadie lost to R Murray 1 hole

E Adamson bt A Bendall 4 and 3

I Johnstone bt M Kirkwood 1 hole

Dumfriesshire 3  Kirkcudbrightshire  1

M Grunwell lost to C Heuchan 5 and 4

A Kerr bt C Riddick 1 hole

C Scobie bt G Blayney 2 and 1

C Finnie bt R Kerr 2 and 1

Match Result

Wigtownshire  ½ , Dumfriesshire 5½

Dumfriesshire 5, Kirkcudbrightshire 1

Wigtownshire 3, Kirkcudbrightshire 3