McGhee and Hillson in the mix with round to 

go at PGA Four-ball Championship

PGA NEWS RELEASE
By NATHANIEL SYLVESTER
Alex Belt helped fellow competitor James McGhee out with painkillers for a bad back but still left his Scottish rival with a headache as he and Mathew Webb carded another 62 to lead the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship at Carden Park Golf Club, Cheshire..
Snainton Golf Centre-based Belt and Bedlingtonshire Golf Club’s Webb bagged nine birdies plus an eagle finish to overpower the Jack Nicklaus designed course for the second day in succession.
Their second ten under par tally leaves them 20 under for the SkyCaddie and BMW supported event and three ahead of playing partners McGhee (Whitehill House) and Mark Hillson (Kilconquhar Castle) who carded a 63.
Tied second with the Scottish pairing is defending champion Lee Clarke (Beeston Fields) whose partnership with PGA Cup team-mate Jason Levermore (Channels) bore fruit with a 62.
Despite a three shot cushion going into the final round of the £32,500 event, Webb insists they will retain their aggressive tactics.
“Because of the type of format it is you’ve got to go for birdies, if you don’t you are going to get caught so we’ve got to be aggressive,” he said.
Belt blamed a mental error for the pair’s solitary bogey on 15 but other than that is confident of carving out more gains over the Cheshire course in pursuit of the £5,500 first prize.
“With the par fives and some short par fours I don’t think it’s unachievable to do three 62s in a row really,” he said.
“When he’s not been in it, I’ve been in it and vice versa which obviously helps. It’s always nice to be in the mix and we won’t be doing anything different.”
Meanwhile McGhee and Hillson kept a bogey off their card but were again left to rue the par five 18th, having only parred it.
“The funny thing is we’ve come off having shot 64 and 63 but have parred the last on both days, so feel a bit sick because you know it’s a shot gone and playing with those guys, they’ve eagled it both days so we’ve lost four shots on the last hole,” said Hillson.
McGhee though, who tweaked his back before the round, is enjoying the format and won’t be phased going into the final round in contention.
“I don’t feel a great deal of pressure, although this is a big event it feels like a ‘play with your mates’ fun thing,” he added.
“Alex and Matt are good golfers, play aggressively and go for everything and after six or seven holes yesterday we knew that if you keep pace with these guys you are going to be there or thereabouts.
“All you are trying to do is hole shots. It’s getting to the stage where par isn’t good enough.”
Also hoping to hang on the coattails of the leaders are Clarke and Levermore.
The pair finished with six straight birdies but Levermore revealed it was a three putt on 13 that fired them up.
“We both hit it on the green, both hit if five feet past and both missed it coming back and that sort of gave us a bit of a kick up the backside because we were just plodding along,” he said.
Clarke and last year’s partner, Jack Lynch, fired a final round 62 to reach 27 under and he believes that will be required again if he is to again reclaim the title.
“We’re going to need that tomorrow, looking at the scores, there are a lot of good players there. We’ll just do the best we can and see what happens.”

SECOND-ROUND LEADERS
Par 144 (2x72)
124 Matt Webb (Bedlingtonshire) and Alex Belt (Snainton) 62 62
127 Lee Clarke (Beeston Fields) and Jason Levermore (Channels)
65 62,  Mark Hillson (Kilconquhar Castle) and James McGhee (Whitehill House) 64 63

SELECTED SCORES
131 Gareth Wright (West Linton) and Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf) 67 64 (T7)
136 Cameron Marr and Norman Huguet (Musselburgh) 70 66 (T21)

 MISSED THE CUT (to leading 24 teams and ties)
139 Gareth Hardy (Prestwick St Nicholas) and Michael Rae (Drumoig) 69 70.

For full leaderboard click here. https://pgagbi.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgagbi16/event/pgagbi16636/contest/1/leaderboard.htm

No Brits in Europe's Junior Ryder Cup team

FROM THE EUROPEAN GOLF ASSOCIATION

Europe’s Junior Ryder Cup Captain, Maitena Alsuguren, has unveiled her 12-strong team to take on the United States at Interlachen Country Club from September 26-27.

Falko Hanisch, winner of the recent 90th Boys’ Amateur Championship at Muirfield, was the leading male qualifier, and the German will be joined in Minnesota by Finland’s Matias Honkala, who was placed third in the Junior Ryder Cup Order of Merit after a highly consistent campaign.

As the Order of Merit winner, Max Schmitt, has been chosen to represent his native Germany in the Eisenhower Trophy from September 21-24, so ruling him out of the Junior Ryder Cup, his place will instead be taken by Sweden’s Marcus Svensson, who was succeeded as Boys Amateur Champion by Hanisch.  

The qualifiers were supplemented by three more Captain’s picks, with Alsuguren calling up the talented trio of Denmark’s Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen, who placed fifth in the 2016 French International Amateur (Murat Cup) and son of former European Tour player Jacob Rasmussen; Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan, who was the leading qualifier in the 2015 European Boys’ Team Championship in Finland; and Frenchman Adrien Pendaries, winner of the Irish Boys Amateur Open Championship in 2015.

For the girls, Sweden’s Julia Engström (pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency) led the way after topping the Junior Ryder Cup Order of Merit, thanks chiefly to her victory in this year’s Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Dundonald Links, where the 15-year-old became youngest winner in the tournament’s history.

Engström, currently sitting third in the European Golf Rankings and 24th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will be joined at Interlachen by her fellow automatic qualifiers, Italian Emilie Alba Paltrinieri and France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.

Paltrinieri has tasted success twice in 2016, firstly winning the European Girls’ Team Championship Stroke Play qualification ahead of Roussin-Bouchard, before adding the Girls’ British Open Amateur Championship at Royal St David's Golf Club, Harlech in Wales last week whilst Roussin-Bouchard won the 2016 Spanish Ladies’ International Stroke Play in Spain.

In addition to the three automatic qualifiers, Alsuguren selected as her trio of wildcards Sweden’s Frida Kinhult, whose elder brother Markus Kinhult represented Europe in the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup and is now a fully-fledged European Tour Member, impressed when she represented Europe in the Patsy Hankins Trophy against Asia-Pacific earlier this year; her compatriot Beatrice Wallin, who clinched victory at the 2016 ANNIKA Invitational Europe at Bokskogens Golf Club; and Austrian Emma Spitz, who kicked off her 2016 season in style with a two-shot victory at the European Nations Cup (Ladies) in Spain.

Alsuguren said: “Firstly, I would like to congratulate the players selected in the European team. They are all very talented players, and fully deserve their selection. I am extremely honoured and excited to be their Captain, and am looking forward to a great match with the US team at Interlachen this September.”

Participants in the 2016 Junior Ryder Cup will also play a nine-hole ‘Friendship Match’ on September 28 at Hazeltine National Golf Club, in Minnesota, host venue of The Ryder Cup.

Nicol, O'Neil and Henry only Scots to beat 

EuroPro Tour cut at East Sussex

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Kris Nicol (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre), pictured below, had an inward half of 31 (one eagle and three birdies) in a second-round 68 for 143 to beat the 36-hole cut with a shot to spare in this week's PGA EuroPro Tour event at East Sussex National Golf Club.

But stablemates Sean Lawrie (73 for 147), Craig Lawrie (74 for 149) and Newmachar's John Duff (79 for 153) missed out.

The only Scots to make the cut alongwith Nicol were Conor O'Neil (Mearns Castle) (73-70) and John Henry (Clydebank and District) (71-72), tied for 33rd place on 143 - eight shots off the pace being set by Englishman Curtis Griffiths (Wentworth) with scores of 70 and 65 for seven-under 135.

James Steven (Clydeway Golf), leading Scot overnight with a 69, slumped to a 77 second time round and was two shots over the limit on 146. 

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD

Par 142 (2x71)

135 C Griffiths (Eng) 70 65

136 A Chesters (Eng) 67 69, P Tarver-Jones(Eng) 69 67.

SCOTS' SCORES

143 K Nicol (Paul Lawrie GC) 75 68, C O'Neil (Mearns Castle) 73 70, J Henry (Clydebank and Dist) 71 72 (T33)

MISSED THE CUT (144 and better qualified)

146 B Neil (unatt) 78 68, R Campbell (Falkirk) 79 67, J Steven (Clydeway Golf) 69 77.

147 S Lawrie (PLGC) 74 73

148 N Fenwick (Dunbar) 76 72

149 P McKechnie (Braid Hills) 75 74, C Lawrie (PLGC) 75 74

152 M Stewart (Troon Welbeck) 79 73

153 J Duff (Newmachar) 74 79

154 J McColl (Kingsbarns PA) 79 75

157 C Sutherland (Cherry Lodge) 80 77

160 S Borrowman (Dollar) 74 86

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES AND SCORECARDS

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  NEWS RELEASE FROM NICK TEALE

Curtis Griffiths carded a second-round 65 to lead the Matchroom Sport Championship by one stroke on nine under par ahead of the final round of the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour event on the East Course at East Sussex National.

Ashley Chesters (Hawkstone Park; 67, 69) and Peter Tarver-Jones (Worthing Golf Club; 69, 67), a two-time winner on the EuroPro Tour, share second on eight under with Nick Marsh (Huddersfield Golf Club; 70, 68) and Phillip Price (70, 68) two back. Price finished second in the European Open at East Sussex National in 1993.

Griffiths (Wentworth) carded eight birdies in his second round, with a solitary bogey at the 9^th. His round got off to a flier when he broke par at the 1^st and 2^nd, and a third birdie of the front nine came at the 6^th.

Coming in, the 24-year-old shot five more birdies to sign for a second-round 65, seven under par, and top the leaderboard by one on nine under. With four top-ten finishes to his name already this season, a win could propel Griffiths into the all-important Race to Desert Springs Order of Merit top five. 

“I have been playing pretty steadily over the last two weeks, but haven’t had many putts go in,” he said. “Today was the day it all dropped and I was hoovering them up.

“This week and last week at Caversham Heath have been quite similar, with the rough quite high. My driver is usually my good point so it has been good.

“I will approach the final round like any other day and if it comes out that I win then spot on, but we will see. My mindset will be to take every shot as it comes.”

A cut to the leading 50 players and ties has now been made, with all those level par or better proceeding to play the final round.

The Matchroom Sport Championship carries a £50,000 prize fund with the winner taking home £10,000, which will be a valuable addition on the Race To Desert Springs Order of Merit, from which the top five at the end of the season earn a Challenge Tour card for 2017.

Highlights from East Sussex National will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Tuesday, August 30. Spectator entry is free throughout the event, and live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com.

Simmers Trophy men's foursomes at Cruden Bay, Sun, Aug 28 revised draw

8.10am	Deeside 1		Peterhead 2
8.20am	Peterhead 1		Deeside 2
08.30 am	McDonald Ellon 1		Cruden Bay 2
08.40 am	Fraserburgh 1		McDonald Ellon 2
08.50 am	Murcar Links 1		Cruden Bay 1
09.00 am	Fraserburgh 2		Murcar Links 2
09.10 am	Inverallochy 1		Portlethen 1
09.20 am	Banchory 2		Inverallochy 2
09.30 am	Portlethen 2		Kintore
09.40 am	Royal Tarlair		Banchory 1
09.50 am	Westhill 1		Nigg Bay 1
10.00 am	Nigg Bay 2		Bon Accord 2
10.10 am	Bon Accord 1		Hazlehead
10.20 am	Northern 2		Westhill 2
10.30 am	Caledonian 1		Northern 1
10.40 am	Duff House Royal 1		Caledonian 2
10.50 am	Torphins 1		Royal Aberdeen 1
11.00 am	Royal Aberdeen 2		Torphins 2		Duff House Royal 2

 Christopher Currie has record 61 (-8) to win 

£1,250 prize at Douglas Park pro-am

 By Colin Farquharson
Christopher Currie (Caldwell) shaved a shot off the previous lowest round with an eight-under-par 61 to set a new course record in winning the D M Hall Douglas Park pro-am at the Bearsden, Glasgow course today.
Currie won the £1,250 prize by four shots from Paul O'Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure) with Greg McBain (Newmachar) third on 65.
Currie, pictured with the trophy by Carol Fell, had birdies at the first, second, sixth, seventh, long 10th, short 12th, long 123th, short 17th and 18th in halves 31 (three under) and 30 (five under), He had one bogey, at the eighth.
O'Hara had six birdies and two bogeys in halves of 34 and 31 to earn £1,000.
McBain had three bogeys before the turn in his 66. He too came home in 31 to earn £750.
Greig Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo), who tied for fourth place with Michael Patterson (Kilmacolm), added a £150 bonus to his £506 payslip by leading the D M Hall trio of Alan Gordon (10), Graeme Todd (15) and Graeme Anderson (6) to a three-stroke victory in the pro-am team event with a net score of 20-under-par 118.
PRO SCORES
Par 69
61 C Currie (Caldwell) £1,250
65 P O'Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure) £1,000
66 G McBain (Newmachar) £750
67 M Patterson (Kilmacolm), G Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo) £506 each.
69 G Paxton (Ralston), P Robinson (Largs), S Binning (Mearns Castle) £325 each.
70 G Brown (Montrose Links), D Orr (Eastwood), C Ronald (Carluke), M Kerr (Dalmahoy), A Forsyth (Mearns Castle) £195 each.
71 V Brown (Logos Golf Ministries), R Arnott (Bishopbriggs), S Gray (Lanark), S Henderson (Kings Links), P Wardell (North Berwick) £125 each
72 C McMaster (Wellsgreen), C Kelly (unatt) £81 each
74 G Niven (Ping), J Gallacher (Westerwood).
76 A Waugh (Clydebank and Dist)
77 J Lomas (Caprington), C Elliott (Haggs Castle)
79 F Rummins (Canmore).
80 G McFarlane (Clober)
83 A Hutchison (Douglas Park), K Hutton (Downfield), J McCreadie (Largs)
84 R Irvine (Douglas Park).
87 N Colquhoun (Merchants of Edinburgh)





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Leading Irish qualifier Galbraith confident

 of winning again at Ballyliffen

FROM IRISH GOLF NEWS
Whitehead’s John-Ross Galbraith claimed the leading qualifier’s silver medal at Ballyliffin and insisted he’s aiming to maintain his 100 percent record in the AIG Irish Amateur Close by winning it for the second time.
The 22-year old international recovered from a double bogey on the second at the  stunning and testing Glashedy Links in Donegal’s Inishowen Peninsula, firing six birdies and dropping just one more shot as he added a 69 to his opening 71 to lead the qualifiers on four under par 140.
The Co Antrim star, one of Ireland’s Home Internationals heroes at Nairn last weekend, finished a stroke ahead of Tramore’s Robin Dawson (70-71) with overnight leader Thomas Mulligan (69-73) from County Louth the only other player to finish the 36-hole qualifying race in the red on two under par.
“I’ve only played the Close once and won it once!” joked Galbraith, who triumphed at Seapoint in 2014 and hopes one day to become a professional.
“I’m just being a wee bit more professional about things, playing in a few pro events has taught me a lesson, how the boys go about their business.
“I’ve really tried to implement that in my game, more practice, doing everything a bit more in control, I’m just trying to get a bit more professional about my golf.
“You have to do that if you want to get somewhere in this game. I’m going to stay amateur next year and try to push for Walker Cup.”
The “cut” fell at 12 over par 156 and exactly 64 players on that mark or better, avoiding the need for playoffs after the countback condition was abandoned in favour of sudden-death for this year’s ”West” and “Close” championships.
Following slow play difficulties in the first round, the GUI implemented a “Ready Golf” policy for the first time yesterday.
Round times were reduced by up to 45 minutes on round one, averaging around four hours and 15 minutes, which was 12 minutes quicker that the “time par” set out by the Championship director.

Do you know what "ready golf" means? Check out the GUI's guide:

• Hitting a shot when safe to do so if a player farther away faces a challenging shot and is taking time to assess their options
• Shorter hitters playing first from the tee or fairway if longer hitters have to wait
• Hitting a tee shot if the person with the honour is delayed in being ready to play
• Hitting a shot before helping someone to look for a lost ball
• Putting out even if it means standing close to someone else’s line
• Hitting a shot if a person who has just played from a greenside bunker is still farthest from the hole but is delayed due to raking the bunker
• When a player’s ball has gone over the back of a green, any player closer to the hole but chipping from the front of the green should play while the other player is having to walk to their ball and assess their shot
• Marking scores upon immediate arrival at the next tee, except that the first player to tee off marks their card immediately after teeing off.

Fife Golfing Association Order of Merit for Mackay Bowl

Positions after 17 events: 

1 Connor Syme (Drumoig) 360 pts

2 David Mitchell (Leven Th) 320

3 Alan Sutherland (Cupar) 300

4 Blaine McGowan (Thornton) 240 

5 Alister Hain (St Andrews) 230

6 Andrew Collier (The Duke’s) 173

7 Greg Forrester (Lundin) 164

8 Hamish Gorn (Aberdour) 160

9 Andrew Davidson (Charleton) 140

T10 Scott Brownlie (Burntisland GHC), Calum Giffen (Lundin),  Stuart Meiklejohn (Aberdour), Ryan Walsh (Kirkcaldy) 125

Presented by www.MyGolfRanking.net,

FIFE GOLFING ASSOCIATION

2016 BOYS’ ORDER OF MERIT

Positions after 20 events

1 John Paterson (St Andrews New) 494 pts

2 Calum Giffen (Lundin) 465

3 Jonas Summers (Leven Thistle) 335

4 Sam Nicholson (Lundin) 332

5 Jack Lockhart (Pitreavie) 315

T6  Liam Duncan (Dunnikier Park), Stewart Philp (Lundin) 245

8 Christian Barbour (Cupar) 225

T9 Keith Bowman (St Andrews New), John Vogelpohl (Pitreavie) 220

Presented by www.MyGolfRanking.net

 Carnoustie major overhaul planned for   

clubhouse area before 2018 Open

A view of the 16th green on the Carnoustie championship course with the Golf Hotel in the background. Part of the present starter's box and clubhouse can be seen on the right of the picture.
                                            Picture by Cal Carson Golf Agency
NEWS RELEASE
Carnoustie Golf Links, hailed as the most challenging course on The Open rota, has been given the go-ahead for a major redevelopment of its golf centre, with works due to be completed in time for The Open Championship in 2018.

The planned enhancements will see the current club building receive a complete renovation with a focus on creating modern, open spaces for dining and relaxing after a round.

“The planning permission has come through at an exciting time for us as we’ll be able to showcase the completed developments to a global audience during The Open Championship in 2018,” commented Pat Sawers, Chairman of the Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee.

“The new facilities will offer 21^st century style and convenience to all of our visitors throughout the year, whether they’re world class professionals from across the globe, or locals looking for a place to relax and enjoy the stunning scenery.”

The star feature of the project will be the full length windows that will be installed throughout the upper floor of the building. This viewing gallery will reveal never-before-seen panoramas of the notoriously challenging closing holes of the links course, and will be accessible to all who visit the golf centre.

As well as extensive renovations to the club building, cutting-edge golf simulator bays will be installed at the driving range to provide players with the latest technology to use during their warm-up and practice routines.

 

The team at Carnoustie are continually looking to develop and evolve the centre to meet the needs of the modern day, global golfer, and see this investment as the perfect representation of the forward-thinking nature that the venue prides itself upon: 

“Service levels across the world are constantly improving, and we are continually working to enhance the experience that we can offer to those coming to our club,” commented Graeme Duncan, General Manager of the Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee.

“We want everyone who visits Carnoustie to be impressed by the experience that they have, and leave with the desire to come back and experience it all again.”

For more information on Carnoustie Golf Links, visit www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk.

 

Connor Syme loses first-round tie at USA Amateur Championship

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Connor Syme (Drumoig) is not going to follow in Richie Ramsay's footsteps as a winner of the United States Amateur Championship - well, not this year!.
Connor lost by two holes in the first round of match-play at Oakland Hills, Michigan to an American Dylan Meyer who went on to KO the top seed, compatriot Alex Smalley by 4 and 3 in the second round.
There were wins for Englishmen Sam Horsfield (3 and 1), Scott Gregory (7 and 5) and Welshman David Boote (3 and 2).
Bradley Moore of England lost by one hole and Irishman Jack Hume went down by one hole. 



TO VIEW ALL THE FIRST-ROUND RESULTS


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 World No 1 amateur McNealy failed to
 survive 23-man play-off
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Michigan Top-ranked amateur Maverick McNealy was millimetres away from advancing to the Round of 64 at the U.S. Amateur.
His 4-footer for birdie on the second play-off hole at Oakland Hills’ North Course, the par-4 11^th, horseshoed out. Had it gone in, what started as a 23-for-8 playoff would’ve ended and the Stanford senior would’ve been moving on to match play.

Related Coverage

• Complete coverage: 2016 U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills

Instead, McNealy made par and eventually saw his championship come to a close on the fifth playoff hole, the par-3 10^th, after he failed to get up-and-down for par from behind the green. (Texas’ Taylor Funk also was eliminated on the fifth playoff hole.)
While McNealy couldn’t get a putt to drop on the second playoff hole, his former Stanford University team-mate David Boote of Wales did. From 20 feet, Boote sank a birdie roll to earn a match-up against Texas senior Gavin Hallon Wednesday afternoon.
Boote’s putt came right after Englishman Bradley Moore drained a 45-footer.
“I knew it was coming off the left a little and I thought it would straighten up at the end,” said Moore, who now faces Lipscomb junior Dawson Armstrong. “Halfway down the hill, I knew it was good.”
Also making birdie on No. 11 was Oklahoma State commit Matthew Wolff and Pepperdine sophomore Sahith Theegala, each of whom knocked his approach shot tight. Vanderbilt sophomore Will Gordon, Stanford junior Franklin Huang and Houston grad Blair Hamilton moved on, as well, with birdies on the first playoff hole, No. 10.
That left one spot, which 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Scott Harvey won on the seventh playoff hole with par, two holes shy of tying the U.S. Amateur playoff record.