ALL THE NEWS FROM THE FOUR SPANISH
VENUES FOR EUROPEAN TOUR'S
QUALIFYING SCHOOL STAGE 2

Welshman Sion Bebb, who achieved a career-best fourth in the Omega European Masters in September, got his quest to rejoin the European Tour off on the right track after an opening 65, seven under par, gave him the lead in the Qualifying School Second Stage at Sherry Golf, Jerez, Spain today.
A total of 74 qualifying places at the Final Q School at San Roque (November 15 to 20) are available to the 308 hopefuls teeing up at four courses in Spain – Costa Ballena Club de Golf, Arcos Gardens Golf Club, Sherry Golf and PGA Golf de Catalunya.
The top 30 and ties after that six-round examination at next week's Final Qualifying School will graduate to the 2008 European Tour.
Bebb finished the season in 155th place on the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit and is now looking to make a second successive graduation on his 12th Qualifying School appearance. Bebb leads Frenchman Sarel Son Houi by a shot at Sherry Golf where the top 18 will progress to the Final Stage.
Also at Sherry Golf, the Doherty brothers, Jack and Paulo, are sharing 31st place on 73 - two shots ahead of Euan Little from Portpatrick. Euan is in joint 53rd place. Worst off is Scott Henderson in joint 66th place after a 76 at Sherry Golf.
At Arcos Gardens, England’s David Dixon shot the low round of the opening day, a five under par 67, taking him two clear of Welshman Ryan Thomas., South African Michael Bothma, Finland’s Tuomas Tuovinen and England’s Matthew Cort.
Walker Cup player Lloyd Saltman was also in action at Arcos Gardens, shooting an opening par round of 72 to lie joint 17th while Gareth Maybin, who will be representing Ireland in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China in a fortnight, shot a round of 73 to lie joint 28th after the first round. The top 19 players from Arcos Gardens will go through to the Final Stage.
Maybin’s World Cup partner Michael Hoey opened his account with a three over par 75 at Costa Ballena Club de Golf where fellow Northern Irishman Damien Mooney led the way with an opening 65, seven under par. The leading 20 players from Ballena Club de Golf will tee up at San Roque next week.
Elliot Saltman did better than his younger brother Lloyd with a two-under-par 70 at Costa Ballena to be lying joint 10th. Also at this venue, Graeme Fox from West Kilbride had a 71 to be joint 19th; Edward Thomson from Largs a 72 to be joint 30th, and there were three Scots sharing 39th place on 73 - Graeme Brown from Montrose, Craig Lee of Stirling and Grantown on Spey's Duncan Stewart.
The start of Second Stage at PGA Golf de Catalunya, Girona was delayed 30 minutes due to early morning frost but when play did get underway, England’s Gareth Davies shot the low round of the day with a six under par 66 to lead Swede Petter Bocian by a stroke. The top 17 players after Saturday’s final round will move on to San Roque.
Tartan Tour pro Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) made a good start with a 69 to be joint fifth at the end of Day 1 at the Girona venue. David Drysdale had a par 72 to be joint 23rd at this venue.
LEADING SCORES

COSTA BALLENA
Par 72. 6,893yd.
65 D Mooney (NIr).
67 A Bland (Aus), J Morrison (Eng).
68 J Theunis (Bel).
69 L S James (Eng), B-T Lecuona (Fra), M Mouland (Wal), A Salto (Spa), S Scahill (NZ).
Other scores:
70 E Saltman (Sco) (jt 10th).
71 G Fox (Sco) (jt 19th).
73 G Brown (Sco), C Lee (Sco), D Stewart (Sco) (jt 39th).

ARCOS GARDENS
Par 72.
67 D Dixon (Eng).
69 M Bothma (SAf), M Cort (Eng), R Thomas (Wal), T Tuovinen (Fin).
70 A Bossert (Swi, T Fourner (Fra), M King (Eng), P Larrazabal (Spa), M Richardson (Eng).
Other score:
72 L Saltman (Sco) (jt 17th).

PGA de CATALUNYA
Par 72
66 G Davies (Eng).
67 P Bocian (Swe).
68 L Dodd (Eng), B Teilleria (Fra).
69 C Costilla (Arg), J G del Moral (Spa), J McCreadie (Sco), J Parron (Spa), S Thornton (Ire), M Tullo (Chile.
Other score:
72 D Drysdale (Sco) (jt 23rd).

SHERRY GOLF
Par 72
65 S Bebb (Wal).
66 S Son Houi (Fra).
68 M Merilainen (Fin), M Searle (Eng).
69 E Dominguez (Arg), C Farrelly (Eng), P Pinto (Arg), S Reale (Ita), M Sofietti (Ita).
Other scores:
73 J Doherty (Sco), P Doherty (Sco) (jt 31st).
75 E Little (Sco) (jt 53rd).
76 S Henderson (Sco) (jt 66th).

PRESTONFIELD'S WILLIE LAING WINS WITH NET
67 AT ROYAL MUSSELBURGH ALLIANCE

By DUNCAN IRELAND
Secretary, Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance.
A total of 89 players today for a very pleasant but very windy day at Royal Musselburgh Golf Club.
There was also a total of 29 No Returns - a third of the entire field, which shows how tough the conditions were and everyone who returned a score managed to get some points towards the Scratch Order of Merit.
Once again, we were magnificently looked after by John Henderson and his team and everyone commented on how good the greens were throughout the course, even those that couldn't putt - Andrew "Chalky" White even managed to four-putt!!!
Congratulations goes to the winner of the Bootland Trophy - Willie Laing from Prestonfield. His net 67 just managed to pip Gordon Law, David Patrick, Ewan Hogarth and Harry Cartmill (who is off to speak to the European Parliament tomorrow - but not, I'm reliably informed, about Willie Laing's handicap!) by one shot.
As you'll see, the scores were very tight with only two shots separating the first eight handicap scores.
Over on the scratch side of things, we had a three-way tie for first place between, Gordon Law, David Patrick and Ewan Hogarth. They all managed 68s, one better than Andrew Erskine and amateur Kevin Connachan.
We move on to West Linton in a fortnight and I hope as many of you as possible manage along to support our long overdue return there. It should be a great day.
TODAY'S LEADING RETURNS
BOOTLAND TROPHY - Royal Musselburgh
Overall Winner: W Laing (Prestonfield) (6) 67
SCRATCH
68 G Law (Uphall), D Patrick (Mortonhall), E Hogarth (Peebles) (£80 each).
69 A Erskine (Rahto Park), K Connachan (Royal Musselburgh) (£30 each).
HANDICAP
Prizes in vouchers
67 W Laing (Prestonfield) (6) (£100).
68 H Cartmill (Bathgate) (6) (£80).
69 J T Anderson (Kingsknowe) (8), D Jeffrey (Whitekirk) (6), P Ritchie (Bathgate) (9), P Sewell (West Linton) (8), W Smith (Harburn) (10) (£28 each).
Trainee professional
70 S Lamb (Broomieknowe) (£20).

WIND-TAMER LEE VANNET WINS MIDLANDS
ALLIANCE WITH 73 OVER TORRANCE COURSE

Carnoustie Links professional Lee Vannet played very well in a high wind over the Torrance Course at Fairmont St Andrews (formerly St Andrews Bay) today to win the Midlands Alliance, sponsored by Grants Promotions.
Lee returned a one-over-par 73, a shot better than amateur Gary Tough, the course manager at Letham Grange.

LEADING SCRATCH
Par 72
73 L Vannet (Carnoustie Links) p.
74 G Tough (Letham Grange)
75 T McLevy (Blairgowrie)
75 C Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) ap.
75 D McKay (Wellsgreen) p.
76 I McLeod (Monifieth) p.

LEADING TEAM SCORES

137 C. Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) ap, J McCormack (Kirriemuir), I McMurray (Downfield)
& D Skinner (Downfield).
137 G Tough (Letham Grange), D Smith (Crail), F McKay (Drumoig) & J Milne (Drumoig).
138 T McLevy (Blairgowrie), M Niven (Alloa), D Cameron (Pitlochry) & D Spaven (Pitlochry).

Next week's meeting is at Montrose on Tuesday (November 13). Tee reserved:8.30 to noon.

North-east Alliance field of 109 finish in darkness

PETERCULTER WINNER URQUHART

SAYS HE OWES IT ALL TO WATCHING

JUSTIN ROSE ON TV!

Murcar Links two-handicap amateur Bill Urquhart won a race against time to finish in daylight and take first prize in the North-east Golfers’ Alliance competition at Peterculter Golf Club today.
Urquhart, the 2003 NE Alliance champion and one of the last men to finish in a field of 109 players, was the only one to match the par of 71 on day that was sometimes blustery on the higher ground.
“It was difficult to see the flag at the last two holes so I was quite glad to make par at both after holing a 25ft putt for a birdie at the 17th,” said Urquhart, pictured right.
“I played a lot better this week – and I owe it all to Justin Rose! I watched him win the Volvo Masters on TV at the weekend and I was so impressed with his rhythm and timing. I tried to copy it.”
Urquhart won by one shot from Newburgh professional Ian Bratton who finished earlier in the day with a triple bogey 7 – an out of bounds drive followed by three putts – and Deeside assistant Nick Reid, who was playing with Urquhart and who bogeyed the last.
Paul Lawrie's older brother Stephen and former Dons winger Jimmy Wilson tied for first place in the Class 2 handicap section with net 70s.
RON MENZIES CONCERNED
On a serious note, Alliance secretary Ron Menzies is concerned by the increasingly slow pace of play which is of crucial concern with the fields holding up over the 100-mark and the daylight hours going down by 20min a week.
By the end of today's play, the rounds were taking the best part of 4 1/2 hours. There were a lot of No Returns, many players walking when they got fed up with just how slow the play was.
Perhaps it is time to adopt the Midlands Alliance procedure of giving a threesome who take well over their allotted time a "yellow card." Tough on the player within a three who is not the slow one but it is up to him to chase on the others. Two yellow cards mean a player is "suspended" for one meeting, i.e. he is debarred from playing in it.
One doesn't need a crystal ball to see big problems looming up at next Wednesday's Alliance competition at Newmachar. Every tee time is booked from 8.16am (the first available) to 12.21 (the last available).
That means a capacity field and it will be dark at 4.30pm, maybe earlier if it is a dull day.
In a perfect world, Ron Menzies would be out there acting as a kind of course ranger, chasing on the slowcoaches. But Ron cannot be everywhere. He is a one-man band as an organiser. He needs the co-operation of the players to get their fingers out and get near a 4hr round for a threesome.

Leading scratch scores at Peterculter.
Par 71
71 W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).
72 I Bratton (Newburgh), N Reid (Deeside).
73 G Esson (Portlethen), W Main (Murcar Links), C Stephen (Meldrum House), M Lees (Pine Lodge).
74 S Scott (Auchmill), G H Paterson (Northern).
75 A K Pirie (Hazlehead), D Clark (Duff House Royal), J Mooney (Turriff), D Raitt (Royal Aberdeen).
77 A Campbell (Deeside), J Nicolson (Auchmill), S Davidson (Banchory), D Read (Banchory), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), R McDonald (Kemnay).
78 S Pert (Huntly), A Graham (Portlethen), I D Smith (Hazlehead), A Innes (Murcar Links), G Bruce (Westhill), D Corkey (Murcar Links).
79 F Bisset (Banchory), S Lawrie (Portlethen), G Mitchell (Braemar), N Williamson (Banchory), A McInnes (Murcar Links), C Alexander (Murcar Links), C Carnegie (Kemnay).
80 L Taylor (Auchmill), H Roulston (Stonehaven), J Wilson (Deeside).

Leading handicap

Class 1 – W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2) 69; S Scott (Auchmill) (4) 70; N Williamson (Banchory) (8) 71; W Main (Murcar Links) (1), G Mitchell (Braemar) (7), I D Smith (Hazlehead) (6) 72; A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), D Read (Banchory) (4), A Graham (Portlethen) (5) 73.

Class 2 – S Lawrie (Portlethen) (9), J Wilson (Deeside) (10) 70; W Forbes (Murcar Links) (2) 71; D Lawrie (Inchmarlo) (13) 72; S Youngson (Turriff (14) 73; H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) (10) 74; W D Rae (Kemnay) (13), D Wood (Newburgth) (14), A Dent (McDonald Ellon) (16) 75.

SCORECARD FOR PETERCULTER (Par 71) :
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-4-5-3-4--36. IN: 3-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--35

BILL URQUHART 71
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-4-6-3-3--36. IN: 3-4-4-4-5-3-3-5-4--35.

NICK REID 72
OUT: 4-4-2-3-5-5-5-4-4--36. IN: 4-4-4-3-5-3-3-5-5--36.

IAN BRATTON 72
OUT: 4-4-3-3-4-5-4-3-4--34. IN: 3-4-4-3-5-3-4-5-7--38.

CRAIG STEPHEN 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-3-5-2-67--36. IN: 3-4-5-4-4-4-4-6-3--37.

GARY ESSON 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-6-5-5-3-4--38. IN: 3-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--35.

BILLY MAIN 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-4-5-5-4-4--37. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--36.

MARK LEES 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-4-6-3-4--37. IN: 4-4-4-5-5-3-4-4-3--36.

Hugh Hunter's Clackmannanshire news

CALLUM MACAULAY IS
SCOTLAND'S GOLFER OF
THE YEAR

In 104 years of Clackmannan County Golf Union history, there has never been a finer individual performance by a County golfer. On the 31st October, Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan) was the top Scot in the Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, in 34th position, six places ahead of Wallace Booth (Comrie).
As a result of this, Callum takes the title of “Scottish Golfer of the Year” and the Kirkwood Trophy to add to the Order of Merit title for Scotland, also finishing ahead of Wallace Booth. It was a tremendous performance to take the double, showing his great sustained consistency throughout the 2007 golfing season, and of course must set him up for 2008.
County President Sam Kinnaird was delighted with the news. He said: “Callum has been a great ambassador for golf, and we are all looking forward to the Scottish Golf Union Dinner in March 2008 when these awards will be presented. Hopefully this success will inspire other golfers in the Wee County to follow in Callum’s footsteps. Well done indeed.”
+Thanks to Callum's mum for the above picture of Callum and Scott Borrowman at The Bunkered Challenge dinner.

CLACKMANNANSHIRE SPORTS COUNCIL AWARDS

Clackmannan County Golf Union submitted three nominations for the Annual Sports Council Awards. Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan) and Scott Borrowman (Dollar) were both nominated for the Senior Sports Personality of the Year, while the Alva Golf Club Boys Team was nominated for the Team of the Year Award.
All three nominations have been short listed for the final stages of the awards, Callum and Scott will compete against four other finalists from Equestrian Vaulting, Rally Driving, Swimming and Tae Kwon Do. In the Team final, the Alva Boys will compete against three other teams from Gymnastics, Wrestling and Football.
Provost Derek Stewart will welcome these finalists to a gala awards evening to be held in Alloa Town Hall on the 15th November, when other awards for the Citizen of the Year, Arts Forum Awards and Enterprise in education will also be made.
County Golf Union President Sam Kinnaird (Tillicoultry) was highly delighted that all three of the Golf nominations had all reached the final stages. “Callum and Scott have both had and outstanding golf season – especially Callum who has taken the Order of Merit and Scottish Golfer of the Year award. It is also good to see recognition for the hard work put in by the Alva Boys over the last two years leading up to their County Boys League win”

LARA REPLACES INJURED OLAZÁBAL
IN SPANISH TEAM FOR WORLD CUP

José Maria Olazábal’s persistent injury problems have forced his withdrawal from the Spanish team competing at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China. José Manuel Lara will now join forces with Miguel Angel Jiménez under their national flag in the 28-team field from November 22-25.
With the tournament being played over the course carrying the famous Olazábal signature at Mission Hills Golf Club, the Spanish team had hoped to carry a distinct advantage over their opponents.
However, Olazábal’s battle with rheumatism, affecting his shoulders and groin, has prematurely ended his 2007 season, much to the two-time Masters Tournament winner’s disappointment, given that he has not played since August and was hoping to return to competition alongside his good friend, Jiménez.
Olazábal said: “The joints in my shoulders and groin have been inflamed and even sitting down for any length of time has been painful. The good news is that the tests indicate a marked improvement and my long term aim is to get back in action in January. I believe I have another five or six good years in me and I want to get playing as soon as possible.
“I am devastated to miss the Omega Mission Hills World Cup as I was desperate to represent my country over a course I designed. I pushed as hard as I could to get there – even if it meant playing without any preparation - but it wasn’t possible. I have told my friends at Mission Hills how disappointed I am and I wish Miguel Angel and José Manuel the best of luck.”
Olazábal’s misfortune has opened the door for 30 year old Lara to make his debut in the event and to try to secure Spain’s fifth World Cup triumph with Jiménez – and the camaraderie will not be in any way diminished by the change in partner.
Jiménez was among the first to congratulate his compatriot when he secured his breakthrough maiden European Tour victory in the Far East a year ago, when he won the UBS Hong Kong Open by a stroke, having led for all four days in Fanling.
“Miguel knew the final round was a tough day for me,” recalled Lara. “I have been close many times in the past and he knew that. He said to me forget about everything and you are alone on the course. I tried to stay in my bubble and it was a great day.
“So of course, I am very happy to be playing with Miguel at Mission Hills. He has been a great help and friend to me, and I very much look forward to representing Spain and playing in this big tournament for my country.”
Jiménez and Olazábal had previously teamed up in the World Cup in 2000 at Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they finished seventh behind the United States, while Jiménez also came close to winning the title in 2004 in partnership with Sergio Garcia, finishing runners-up to England at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, coincidentally another Olazábal-designed course.
“We nearly won in 2004 in Sevilla with Sergio where we came second,” recalled Jiménez. “We played very well that week but not quite well enough to lift the trophy which would have been great in front of the home crowds, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“But this year we will be trying our hardest again. I enjoy playing in China and have won in Shanghai and Hong Kong, so why not a win for Spain?”
Although he will be absent, Olazábal remains confident the course he designed will offer a fair but stern challenge to the 28 nations gathered at Mission Hills Golf Club.
“I hope the players enjoy the course and the challenges facing them,” he said. “I think you will see a bunch of birdies. The par-3s are not too long and the par-5s are reachable in two. You can attack the pins and there should be loads of birdie opportunities.”