No sweat for Scots as they book La Cala places

JENNA AND HEATHER MAKE
IT THROUGH TO L E T
FINAL QUALIFYING SCHOOL

Jenna Wilson (jt 13th) and Heather MacRae (jt 35th) were among the 50 players with 72-hole totals of 10-over-par 298 or better who qualified from the Ladies European Tour preliminary qualifying eliminator at Le Fonti Golf Club, Italy today.
They go forward to join the players who were exempt from Stage 1- Lynn Kenny, for example - to make up a field of approximately 90 for the LET Final Q School at La Cala Golf Resort, Mijas on Spain’s Costa del Sol from November 22 to to 25 where there will be a cut after three rounds to the leading 50 and ties.
Jenna had rounds of 70, 72, 74 and 72 for a level par total of 288. Playing as an amateur, the Strathaven player birdied the fourth, seventh, eighth and 11th in her final round to coast through this event.
On the same mark of 288 was Irish Curtis Cup player Martina Gillen with 71, 72, 76 and 69. Martina also entered as an amateur.
Another Irish Curtis Cup player, Claire Coughlan, also playing as an amateur, qualified with a two-under-par total of 286. She scored 70, 71, 76 and 69.
Heather, pictured above right, scored 76, 74, 71 and 75 for eight over par 296. Birdies at the first, seventh and 14th were almost cancelled out by a double bogey 6 at the eighth in her final round.
France's Jade Schaeffer was the tournament winner with a 14-under-par total of 274. She had three shots to spare from Yorkshire amateur, Rachel Bell, whose 11-under-par 277 total must be the best she has ever produced in an extended stroke-play event.
There were no surprises among the non-qualifiers. The teenage English champion, Kiran Matharu, who turned professional after this summer’s Curtis Cup, made it with nothing to spare on 10-over 298. Her rounds were 72, 77, 78 and 71.
LEADING TOTALS
Par 72
274 (-14) Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 68 71 68 67.
277 (-11) Rachel Bell (am) (Eng) 73 69 69 67.
281 (-7) Louise Stahle (Swe) 70 71 69 71, Anna Rossi (am) (Ita) 69 73 69 70.
Other qualifiers included:
285 Sophie Walker (Eng) 66 75 71 73 (jt 9th).
286 Claire Coughlan (am) (Ire) 70 71 76 69 (11th).
288 Jenna Wilson (am) (Sco) 70 72 74 72, Martina Gillen (am) (Ire) 71 72 76 69 (jt 13th).
291 Felicity Johnson (Eng) 70 71 76 74 (jt 23rd).
293 Stephanie Evans (am) (Wal) 72 77 72 72 (jt 30th).
296 Heather MacRae (am) (Sco) 76 74 71 75 (jt 35th).
298 Kiran Matharu (Eng) 72 77 78 71.
+A total of 50 players with totals of 298 (+10) qualified.

European Tour Final Qualifying School Day 3

OLDCORN AND ROBERTSON BOTH
IMPROVE IN SECOND ROUND

Norwegian Eirik Tage Johansen continued to lead the day on-day off European Tour Final Qualifying School six-round tournament over the San Roque New Course on the southern end of Spain's Costa del Sol today.
As has been the format since Thursday - only half the field of 156 were in action. The other half, including Scott Henderson, Eric Ramsay, Euan Little, David Drysdale and George Murray, will complete their second rounds on Sunday.
The waterlogged Old Course should have dried out sufficiently for it to come into play for the first time on Monday when the whole field will play over the two courses at the same time.
Johansen followed up his 65 with a 71 to be on eight-under-par 136. Bearing in mind the lopsided state of the leaderboard, the Norwegian, at the moment, leads by four shots from Spaniard Carl Suneson (71-69).
The only Scots in action were two former European Tour players, Andrew Oldcorn, pictured above, and Dean Robertson. Oldcorn lost his Big League card only this past season. He shot a 70 today for 145 while Robertson, who won the Scottish professional title during a successful campaign on the Tartan Tour in 2006, improved by seven shots with a 71 for 149.

SCOREBOARD
136 (-8) Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 65 71.
140 Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 69.
141 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 70, Notah Begay (US) 72 69, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 73, Johan Skold (Swe) 71 70.
Scots scores:
145 Andrew Oldcorn 75 70.
149 Dean Robertson 78 71.

East Aberdeenshire Golf Centre First Winter Open

CAPTAIN MALCOLM ALLAN WINS ON
CARD COUNTBACK AFTER TIE ON 76

Malcolm Allan, captain of the host club, won the East Aberdeenshire Golf Centre’s first Winter Open today – on a countback.
He and M Lynch of Hazlehead tied with 76s. Victory went to Malcolm by virtue of the better inward half.
A Elmslie (McDonald Ellon) was third with a 79, also thanks to a better inward half.

Collated scoreboard

EAST ABERDEENSHRIE GOLF CENTRE
Winter Open
Leading scores:
SCRATCH
76 M Allan (East Aberdeenshire) (bih), M Lynch (Hazlehead).
79 A Elmslie (McDonald Ellon) 79 (bih).
HANDICAP
Class 1 (0 to 18)
69 J Allan (East Aberdeenshire) (12).
71 T Duff (East Aberdeenshire) (16).
72 G Thomson (East Aberdeenshire) (11).
Class 2 (19 to 28)
81 C Mew (East Aberdeenshire) (22).
84 A Stewart (East Aberdeenshire) (26).
88 A Lawrie (Oldmeldrum) (24).

Martin Gray finishes joint 11th after disappointing 75

YORKSHIREMAN BRAND WINS
FINAL SENIORS TITLE
AFTER BAHRAIN PLAY-OFF

By Steven Franklin
Press Officer, European Seniors Tour
sfranklin@europeantour.com

Former Ryder Cup player Gordon J Brand came through the field to win the Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship at Riffa Views in Bahrain today, eventually defeating Argentine Adan Sowa on the third hole of a sudden-death play-off.
The Yorkshireman fired a final round of six-under-par 66 - by two shots the lowest score of the final round - to tie with Sowa, the joint overnight leader, who closed with a 71, at five-under-par 211.
Two return trips to the 18th were halved in par before Brand secured the €63,393 (£42,365) first prize and the final title of the 2006 European Seniors Tour season with a birdie 4 at the last, after Sowa had hooked his drive into the water and failed to make the green with his third shot.
It was an impressive performance from Brand, who came from five shots back to capture his second title of the year despite losing his regular caddie, wife and former Ladies European Tour professional Lyn, to injury after two holes of the final round.
MARTIN GRAY FINISHES JOINT 11th
“To be honest I wasn’t really thinking about winning today as there were so many good players in front of me. However, when they are 50 or older, good players don’t always do what they did when they were 25, and that’s the way it turned out for some of them today,” commented Brand.
Among those who failed to make the expected charge was defending champion Des Smyth, who closed with a 73 for seventh place on 214.
One stroke off the lead playing the ninth, the Irishman had 104 yards to the pin but duffed his lob wedge into the rocks at the edge of a lake 40 yards ahead.
After a drop, Smyth made a double bogey 6 and with it went his chances of victory.
“I just stone cold duffed it. It was lying perfect and I had the exact same yardage as the previous two days. To be honest, though, I played rubbish all day,” said Smyth.
Sowa’s second placed finish, his best result to date on the European Seniors Tour, earned him a full card for 2007, as he leapt from 45th spot on the Order of Merit to 22nd thanks to a €42,262 (£28,243) cheque.
Ladybank's Martin Gray, in with a definite chance of his maiden over-50s victory after a pair of 71s, went backwards with a final round of 75 to finish joint 11th on 217.
Riffa Views, Bahrain (par 72)

Final scores and collated totals

211 Gordon J Brand (Eng ) (pictured left) 73 72 66, Adan Sowa (Arg) 69 71 71 (Brand won play-off at third hole).
212 Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 72 71 69.
213 John Bland (SAf) 71 69 73, Simon Owen (NZ) 72 72 69, Stewart Ginn (Aus)74 71 68
214 Des Smyth (Ire) 69 72 73.
215 Horacio Carbonetti (Arg) 74 70 71, Jim Rhodes (Eng) 73 70 72.
216 Jimmy Heggarty (NI) 71 75 70.
217 Denis O'Sullivan (Ire) 74 74 69, Gavan Levenson (RSA) 72 74 71, Martin Gray (Sco) 71 71 75, Gery Watine (Fra) 73 73 71, Bob Cameron (Eng) 76 72 69
218 Pete Oakley (US) 72 76 70, Bobby Lincoln (SAf) 79 71 68, Terry Gale (Aus) 74 74 70, José Rivero (Spa) 78 72 68, Mike Miller (Sco) 73 74 71
219 Bertus Smit (SAf) 73 75 71, Tony Johnstone (Zim ) 72 72 75, Guillermo Encina (Chi ) 74 70 75
220 David Good (Aus) 74 71 75, Nick Job (Eng) 75 71 74.
221 Bruce Heuchan (Can) 77 74 70, Bob Larratt (Eng) 76 70 75, Doug Johnson (US) 76 72 73
222 Angel Fernandez (Chi ) 72 76 74, Manuel Piñero (Esp ) 74 77 71, John Chillas (Sco ) 74 73 75
224 Bill Longmuir (Sco) 82 72 70, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 78 75 71
225 Juan Quiros (Spa) 78 75 72, Martin Poxon (Eng) 80 73 72
226 Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 78 75 73
227 David J Russell (Eng) 81 71 75, Abdulla Sultan (Am) (Brn) 77 74 76
230 John Mills (am) (Eng) 77 78 75
231 Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 74 74 83, Jerry Bruner (USA) 83 73 75
239 Victor Garcia (Esp) 82 76 81
240 Daij Ahmed (Am) (Brn ) 81 78 81
243 Ali Sager Al Noaimi (Am) (Brn) 82 84 77
252 Khalid Salem (am) (Brn) 85 84 83
259 Mike Massie (am) (Sco) 84 91 84
Retired during first round: Carl Mason (Eng), Sam Torrance (Sco)

Another Scottish girl prospect heading for United States

REBECCA WATSON SIGNS
UP FOR UNIVERSITY
OF TENNESSEE

University of Tennessee women’s head golf coach Judi Pavon has announced the signing of Edinburgh teenager Rebecca Watson to a Letter of Intent, which means she has committed herself to enrolling at the university next autumn.
"I'm very excited about Rebecca becoming a Lady Vol," Pavon said. "She is a very solid player with a good golf swing. She will be a great addition to our programme. Rebecca is also a very good student and well spoken young lady. We are looking forward to her presence and attitude next season."
Rebecca, pictured right, who will be 18 on March 3, is the older sister of Sally Watson, 15,
recent winner of the Daily Telegraph girls championship final at Dubai Creek and beaten finalist in this year’s British girls’ championship.
Sally is already based in the United States, having started at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Florida in August.
Both Rebecca and Sally have played for the same Scotland Under-18 girls team.
Rebecca captained the Mary Erskine School golf team for three years and helped it win the Edinburgh schools' golf tournament in 2005. In the same year, she was tied for third in the Scottish girls’ national rankings.
Rebecca was also a member of last year’s winning Scotland girls team in the annual schools international against England.In addition to her numerous accolades in Britain, Rebecca Watson travelled to Florida on three occasions for competitions and came home with two trophies.
TO MAJOR IN BUSINESS STUDIES
She is a member of the East of Scotland Institute of Sport and played basketball for East of Scotland in 2004. The South Queensferry girl plans to major in business studies at the University of Tennessee of which its main campus is at Knoxville.
Tennessee has one of the top-ranked women’s golf teams on the American college circuit.
Rebecca is the second Scottish girl golf prospect to sign up for a leading American university in the past week or two. Scottish Under-18 champion Roseanne Niven from Crieff will enroll at the University of California Berkeley in the New Year.
Counting youngsters Sally Watson and Carly Booth (Comrie), both pupils at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, there are 28 Scottish young men and women currently on golf scholarships at American universities or colleges.

Winds in China fail to blow Scot off course

MARC WARREN OUTSCORES
TIGER AGAIN TO BE IN
4th PLACE BEHIND GOOSEN

South African Retief Goosen soared in the winds at the HSBC Champions on Saturday, battling to a three-under-par 69 for a one-stroke third round lead.
The two-time Major champion pulled ahead of Korea's Yang Yong-eun, who carded the day's best of 67 at Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai while overnight leader Jyoti Randhawa of India slipped to third after a battling 72.
The roar of the Tiger was stifled by the buffeting winds that hit the Chinese metropolitan as the world No 1 left himself with a mountain to climb after a 73 pt him five shots off the pace in tied fifth place with England's Paul Casey and Italian Francesco Molinari
The smooth-swinging Goosen, who has a three-day total of 12-under-par 204, is bidding for a Chinese hat-trick at the US$5 milllion event, Asia's richest, as he successfully defended his Volkswagen Masters-China title on the Asian Tour last month.
"Whenever you're leading into the final round, it's great. I've got somebody tomorrow that I have to watch out that I don't know. Yang is obviously playing extremely well. Obviously Tiger is still in there. We know what he's capable of. Hopefully it's not as windy and cold as it was today," said Goosen, who carded five birdies against two bogeys.
Goosen, the world's No. 6, recently hired a swing coach, Gregor Jamieson, for the first time in nine years and is reaping immediate rewards. Apart from winning in China last month, he was also fourth in the Tour Championship in the US last week.
"I'm feeling quite comfortable with the course. Today was a tough day to get through. I probably thought one‑under or somewhere around there would be a good round, but to shoot three‑under is a good."
High winds threw the field off course but Marc Warren from East Kilbride, the European Tour Rookie of the Year, outscored Tiger Woods for the second time with a 70 for 207 - two ahead of Tiger. The Scot, pictured above, is in fourth place on his own, only three shots behind leader Goosen.
A day after equalling the course record of 64, Woods failed to warm the hearts of thousands of Chinese fans who braved the winds and chilly conditions. He was especially frustrated to drop two closing bogeys, the last after a wayward drive found water.
"As good as it was yesterday it was as bad as it was today. That goes from the full swing to the shorter swing with the putter. I was just struggling all day," said Woods.
"I was just trying to hang in there, trying not to be too far behind the leaders. The last two holes, I put myself on my back. I will have to shoot a great round tomorrow and hope that it's enough. Goose is a tough man to catch, he's playing solid but I've got to go out there and take care of my own business. We'll see what happens."
Leading third round scores
204 - Retief Goosen (SAf) 68-67-69.
205 - Yang Yong-eun (Kor) 66-72-67
206 - Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 65-69-72
207 - Marc Warren (Sco) 66-71-70
209 - Tiger Woods (US) 72-64-73, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72-68-69, Paul Casey (Eng) 73-68-68
210 - Padraig Harrington (Ire) 67-70-73, John Bickerton (Eng) 68-71-71, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 70-69-71, Luke Donald (Eng) 70-69-71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 76-64-70, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73-68-69.
211 - K J Choi (Kor) 68-72-71, Bradley Dredge (Wal) 71-70-70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68-74-69.
212 - Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71-67-74, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72-69-71.
213 - Michael Campbell (NZ) 66-70-77, Jim Furyk (US) 73-66-74, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 72-70-71, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 75-67-71
214 - Anton Haig (SAf) 71-71-72
215 - Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 69-70-76, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 72-69-74, Charl Schwartzel (SAf) 72-72-71, Kevin Stadler (US) 74-70-71.

++Mor details on http://www.asiantour.com/

Elizabeth Stuart finishes joint 13th in Florida

SCOT'S DAUGHTER MAKES
THE GRADE AT FUTURES
TOUR QUALIFYING

Tampa-born Elizabeth Stuart, whose father emigrated to the United States from Glasgow, finished joint 13th in the United States Futures Tour qualifying tournament at Lakeland, Florida.
Elizabeth, pictured right, had scores of 80, 68, 70 an 64 for four-over-par 292.
Londoner Polly Willett and Natasha Morgan from South Wales finished joint 82nd and 88th respectively.
Their ranking for next year’s Futures Tour will depend on how many of the field, who have qualified for the LPGA Tour Final Q School make the grade.
Polly had scores of 75, 77, 77 and 76 for a total of 305. Natasha, still an amateur golfer and a student at Lynn University, Boca Raton – a team-mate of Katy McNicoll from Carnoustie, had scores of 73, 81, 75 and 77 for 306.
The final two rounds were played over the Cleveland Heights course.
Winner of the event was 18-year-old schoolgirl and amateur player, In-Kyung Kim from Seoul, South Korea. She birdied three of the last four holes to retain the lead from playing partner, Paige MacKenzie, 23, a leading member of this year’s United States Curtis Cup team.
Kim had scores of 71, 72, 70 and 68 for seven-under-par 288.
Paige, who bogeyed two of the alst three holes, finished with 71, 74, 69 and 68 for 282.
Both Kim and Paige will be bidding to win places on the LPGA Tour at its upcoming final qualifying tournament.