Liam MacDonald-MacLeod retains Brora title

NORTH GOLF ROUND-UP
By ROBIN WILSON

Home-grown golfer, Liam MacDonald-MacLeod, who 12 months ago won for the first time the Brora Scratch Salver in dramatic style, retained the trophy as a Royal Dornoch member last week, beating Brora clubmate Roddie Cameron on the final green.

MacDonald-MacLeod arrived at the final hole twelve months ago and holed a monster putt to extend his tie against Inverness’s David Joel into extra holes and won at the 21st.

Last Friday afternoon, in the final, former winner Cameron had him on the rack through the first five holes, winning three of them, and not until the holder produced back to back birdie putts on the 7^th and 8^th greens did the final become a real test.

Cameron's remaining one hole lead was held until after finding an awkward lie from his drive at the 14^th hole brought MacDonald level and only on the last hole did MacDonald-MacLeod get his nose in front to register a one hole win.

He had carried his driving honour from the 15^th tee to the final tee from where he found the putting surface while Cameron came up short and rolled into the hollow below the green. Choosing to putt from the fairway cut his first attempt was not firm enough and his ball rolled back to his feet. His next effort stayed on the green but he had not lost his turn and when his putt for four missed MacDonald-MacLeod had three putts to win and Cameron conceded.

The first handicap final coming behind was for the McRobert Thistle Cup and featured the 2003 winner and also defending champion Alistair Polson (Peterculter and Helmsdale) against Ross Powell (Deeside), a nephew of former scratch winner Iain Powell (Murcar Links).

Gifted the first two holes, Polson sped to a four hole lead before Powell won his first hole with birdie at the twelfth. It heralded a Polson collapse. He lost the 14^th, 15^th and sixteenth holes to permit Powell (20) draw level and with the second final approaching the last green it was Powell who found the final green from the tee and win the hole and the match by one. The result complimented Powell's ace at the ninth hole during the first qualifying round.

Alistair Polson's son John (23) charged into the final with a win over Brora Shield holder Donald Sutherland to play former winner, Golspie's Billy Melville. Melville had received a semi-final walk-over from Steve Richards (Worthing) who was unable to change his Friday flight home.

A much stronger player, Polson junior controlled this game throughout and cruised to a fourteenth hole win to ensure one trophy returned to Peterculter. 

From the qualifying rounds local teenager Calum MacKay won the new Peter Thomson Salver as leading nett qualifier with an aggregate of 125. He faced an experienced Ian Adamson (Lundin Links) in the final of the Auchroisk Cup and when the teenager found the burn from the 13^th tee Adamson reinstated his earlier four hole lead and went on to win by 3 and 2.   

At only twelve years of age Harry Hawthorn, a young member of Murrayfield Golf club, caught the eye with his excellent swing but against the wind and older golfer, ex local junior Steven Murdoch, he could not cope and lost in the final of the Supplementary Plate competition.

Picture of Brora Winners -   On the right Robert Walker (General Manager of the Royal Marine Hotel) presenting Liam MacDonald-MacLeod with the Brora Salver. On the left Ian Adamson (Auchroisk Cup) and in front John Polson (Brora Shield) and Ross Powell (McRobert Thistle Cup).

Tain Golf Week, Win for McAlpine

The retention of the scratch McVitie and Price Trophy at the end of the MacDonald Haulage Contractor's Tain Golf Week marked a special achievement for local member Lyle McAlpine after beating clubmate Munro Ferries in last Friday's final.

The adage in Tain has always been. “Winning the 36 hole stroke play Abdul Ghani Cup ruled you out as a contender for the McVitie & Price”.

Only one member has achieved this double, James Macleod, now  resident caddie master at Lake Tahoe Country Club in North California and the son of Tain's course manager, Ian Macleod. Macleod junior won both competitions in 1991 and also holds the distinction of being club champion in the same year.

McAlpine, approaching his 25^th birthday next week, lost in the final of this season's club championship but captured the Abdul Ghani stroke play trophy by a seven shot margin before carrying his medal play +4 handicap credentials into the qualifying rounds of the 4-Day with cards of 69 and 70 to head the 16 qualifiers.

Arriving in the final after his his toughest game of the week against Billy Ferries he came up against the younger Ferries brother, Munro. Munro was no stranger to the final but in all his years as a Tain member he had yet to win the McVitie & Price Trophy but he held his + 4 handicap opponent to just one hole after the first nine.

Ferries had his best spell before the heavy rain showers hit the course from the Struie Hill. He won the first inward hole when McAlpine pulled left into bushes then took a one hole lead after eleven. But his lead was short lived when his customary fine iron play deserted him.
The left-hander overshot the par five 13th green for McAlpine to square the tie with birdie, then a Ferries miscued iron to the fourteenth green found trouble in the broom and when he missed the fifteenth green with wedge all to quickly McAlpine was dormy three up. The trophy was captured for the first time with an easy half in par three on the next green.
Tain's first handicap trophy, the Stirling Cup left the burgh and made the short journey to Muir of Ord. Davy Grant was recently made redundant, giving him lots of time on the golf course.
From the extra practice he was more than a match for local member, Stuart Campbell, to win his first big competition. Two holes to the good after nine Grant won the first two inward holes but lost the 13^th.
Receiving a stroke at the fourteenth he escaped with a half to remain three ahead. When the local lost two golf balls on the fifteenth hole Grant emerged with a 4 and 2 success.

Ian Wlodarczyk enjoyed his first Tain Week match-play success in the section for the Munro Rose Bowl.  His opponent, Andy MacFarlane, is a member of the Royal Automobile Club's golfing section and also a country member at Tain. But it was the local who steered himself to a win with a sterling inward half. A winning net birdie on the par five forged him three in front and although cut back to dormy two he ended the game on the next hole leaving the RAC member stranded.

Also a country member at Tain but travelling all the way to take part from his California home was Tim Pierce to win the final of the Brookes Cup.  The American did it the hard way, two down after nine then on the inward half winning three holes on the bounce to seal victory on the last green by one hole over local Alistair McKinlay. 

Picture of winners from the Tain Tournament. Tain Club Captain Graeme Ross (centre) with his champions, left to right, Tim Pierce, Lyle McAlpine, Davy Grant and Ian Wlodarczyk

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Link to first round scores in Senior Open Amateur Championship at Sunningdale

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Kellett and Neil two off the pace   in Northern Ireland   EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS Gary King’s seven birdies took him into a share of the Galgorm Resort and Spa Northern Ireland Open  lead as he signed for a five under par opening round of 66. The Englishman, winner of last year’s Montecchia Open, has now shot in the 60s in each of his last four rounds at Galgorm Castle, with today’s total his lowest in four years of competing at the Ballymena venue. He was later joined at the top of the leaderboard by Nick McCarthy and Ricardo Santos but the 27-year-old was delighted with the start he has made to his bid for a second career European Challenge Tour title. “I’m very happy,” he said. “To start with a five under round on a golf course like that, which is playing really tough – certainly tougher than I’ve ever seen it in the past few years – is a great round of golf. “The rough’s a lot thicker and they’ve grown it in in quite a few places as well, so it’s a bit tighter, but the greens are perfect, probably the best we’ve played all year, and I’m really pleased with the start I’ve made. “Tee to green is definitely the key. You’ve got to drive it straight, I only missed two fairways out there today, and that was what resulted in the score really – if you drive it in play you can make some birdies but if you’re hitting the driver off line it can certainly go the other way.” This year’s tournament sees a groundbreaking format change, with the final day becoming ‘Shootout Sunday,’ a series of head-to-head knock-out stroke play matches contested over six holes by the top 24 following Round Three. King, whose best result of the season on the Road to Oman was a share of 20th at Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge last month and who is desperate to improve his Ranking of 191st, is not looking beyond the job in hand for the time being. “I’m trying to approach the tournament the same as any week,” he said. “I’ll treat it as a three round stroke play event and then take it from there on Sunday, but the aim is to win the three days and then go again on Sunday. “The game’s definitely heading in the right direction. I’ve felt it’s been coming in practice and I haven’t quite translated it onto the course, there’s been good patches, but I’ve known in the last week or so it’s really stepped up and it showed out there today.”   Scores after Round One: par 71 66 R Santos (Portugal), G King (Eng), N McCarthy (Eng)  67 D Huizing (Netherlands), T Linard (Fra) , M Schwab (Austria) , P Maddy (Eng) , G Hurley (Ire) , V Riu (Fra) , T Murray (Eng) , M Nixon (Eng)  68 O Lengden (Swe), J Carlota (Por) , M Rohwer (SAf) , J Harrison (Eng) , D McGrane (Ire) , J Girrbach (Switz) , S Thornton (Ire) , J Lando Casanova (Fra) , L Nemecz (Austria) , C Sharvin (NIre) , M Laskey (Wales) , R Kellett (Sco), B Neil (Sco)  69 C Del Moral (Spn) , D Law (Sco) , J Maw (Eng) , C Moriarty (Ire) , M Hoey (NIre) , N Ravano (Ita) , B Rusch (Switz , N Geyger (Chile) , G Migliozzi (Ita) , E Dubois (Fra) , C Mivis (Belgium) , D Van Driel (Netherlands) , S Brown (Eng) , J Kunzenbacher (Ger) , M Orrin (Eng) , A Maestroni (Ita) , C Ford (Eng) , A Pavan (Ita) , J Hood (am) (NIre)  70 R James (Wal) , C Braeunig (Ger) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , R Gonzalez (Arg) , W Besseling (Netherlands) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , P Mejow (Ger) , J Brun (Fra) , G Porteous (Eng) , C Griffiths (Eng) , N O'Briain (Ire) , S Henry (Sco) , C Blomstrand (Swe) , C Gane (Eng) , J Allan (Eng) , R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) , M Baldwin (Eng) , T Lawrence (SAf) , J Doherty (Sco) , S Kim (USA) , M Ovesen (Den) , L Gagli (Ita) , K Phelan (Ire) , C Fairweather (am) (NIre)  71 A Velasco (Spn) , A Zemmer (Ita) , M Godoy (Arg) , F Daux (Fra) , R McNamara (Ire) , R Saxton (Netherlands) , R McGee (Ire) , A Tadini (Ita) , P Howard (Eng) , B Eccles (Australia) , M Haastrup (Denmark) , S Hutsby (Eng) , R Echenique (Arg) , J Dantorp (Swe) , M Dobias (Switz) , M Kramer (Ger) , M Cort (Eng) , R McCarthy (Australia) , D Foos (Ger) , A Chesters (Eng) , C Koepka (USA) , E Cuartero Blanco (Spn)  72 P Eriksson (Swe) , G Moynihan (Ire) , R Finch (Eng) , T Shadbolt (Eng) , R Hjelm (Denmark) , C Selfridge (NIre) , P Shields (Sco) , M Ford (Eng) , J Rutherford (Eng) , M Lampert (Ger) , E Johansen (Norway) , E Goya (Arg) , J Parry (Eng) , M Schneider (Ger) , O Farr (Wales) , S Einhaus (Ger) , C Aronsen (Norway) , J Galbraith (am) (NIre)   73 C Sordet (Fra) , I Cantero Gutierrez (Spn) , O Lindell (Finland) , M Cabrera-Bello (Spn), A Wennstam (Swe) , R Enoch (Wales) , R Caron (Netherlands) , D McElroy (NIre) , J Hansen (Denmark) , B Virto (Spn) , M Simonsen (Denmark) , H Joannes (Belgium) , S Grant (Ire) , P Whiteford (Sco) , M Trappel (Austria) , J Winther (Denmark) , L Acikalin (am) (Turkey)   74 M Fenasse (Fra) , D Suchan (Czech) , T Santos Silva (Portugal) , D Gaunt (Australia) , R Davies (Wales) , M Delpodio (Ita) , B McCarroll (Ire)  75 D Loftus (Ire) , M Ortolani (Ita) , C Bezuidenhout (SAf) , B Poke (Denmark) , A Bernadet (Fra) , K Eriksson (Swe) , J Senior (Eng) , A Dalgliesh (Eng) , N Kearney (Ire)  76 S Jeppesen (Swe) , E España (Fra) , P Hendriksen (Eng)  77 J Cafourek (Cze) , J McLeary (Sco) , B Robinson (Eng) , S Robins (Eng) , T O'Driscoll (Ire) , O Wilson (Eng) , T Mulligan (am) (Ire)   78 L Robinson (Eng) , R Whitson (NIre) , C Bouniol (Fra)   79 A Schwartz (Fra) , L Cianchetti (Ita)  83 K Le Blanc (Ire)

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Lloyd Saltman shoots lowest round of the day, a 66, as Wrisdale leads by two on EuroPro

 

Jordan Wrisdale holds a two-shot lead on nine under par (65, 70) ahead of the final round of the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s Motocaddy Masters at Wychwood Park in Cheshire.

Wrisdale (Boston) carded a solid second-round 70, two under par, to maintain the same lead he held at the end of the first round.

He said: “I hit some good shots at the right time today, I wouldn’t say I played fantastic but I managed to get it done and grind a result out.”

Picking up a total of three birdies including one on the difficult par 4 14^th hole, and just one bogey, the 21-year old feels confident heading into the final round as leader.

He said: “I’m hoping the experience I’ve had from my three-previous top 10 finishes this season will help me tomorrow. At the start of the week I said -14 or -15 would win the tournament and that’s still well within my reach.”

He is closely followed by Steve Uzzell (Hornsea Golf Club) (67, 70) and 16-year old Min Kyu Kim (Golfmind Korea) (68, 69), both at seven under par, and will be looking to produce strong finishes.

The second round  at Wychwood also saw South Africa’s Darryn Lloyd (Ping) get a hole in one on the 6^th hole, and James Wilkinson (Penrith) make the cut with two eagles in his last three holes.
The lowest round of the day came from Scotland's Lloyd Saltman with a 66 for 140 which has him in T10 position.

Three-time winner on this year’s tour Chris Lloyd (The Kendleshire) finished level par (70, 70) after hitting the back nine in 40 on his second round. 

A cut to the leading 50 professionals and ties has now been made, with those at one over par or better proceeding to play the final round, after which the winner will take home £10,000 from a £50,000 fund as well as a brand new Motocaddy S5 CONNECT electric trolley as a special winning prize.

 

Spectator entry is free of charge and live scoring is available at www.europrotour.com. Highlights from the Motocaddy Masters at Wychwood Park Golf Club will air on Sky Sports Golf on Tuesday, August 22.
LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2x72)
135 J Wrisdale (Eng) 65 70.
137 S Uzzell (Eng) 67 70, Min Kyu Kim (S Korea) 68 69.

SCOTS' SCORES
140 L Saltman 74 66 (T10)
142 J Henry 74 68 (T19)
143 P McKechnie 71 72, W Booth 72 71, D Kay 73 70 (T23)
144 L Gaughan 72 72, S Lawrie 72 72 (T34)
145 J McColl 78 67 (T49)

MISSED THE CUT (145 and better qualified)
146 N Fenwick 72 74 L Allan 73 73, D Hendry 76 70.
147 M Stewart 73 74 R Campbell 72 75.
149 P Robinison 76 73.
154 J Mullaney 78 76.
157 J Gallagher 79 78, C O'Neil 77 80



TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

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Scots boys go down fighting to champions

England: wins by Bruce, Scott and Watt

Scotland finished last in the Boys' Home Internationals table at St Annes Old Links, Lancashire but they lost narrowly, 8-7, to England who retained the title as their nearest rivals, Wales, lost 10-5 to Ireland.
It was England's 16th win in the U18s' series and their fifth capture of the title in the past seven years, during which Scotland (2015) and Ireland (2013) squeeze in victories.
The Scots were hammered 4-1 by England in the morning foursomes but raised their game to "win" the singles 6-4 when their winners were Callum Bruce (Duff House Rouse), Jack Broun from Ayrshire, Calum Scott (Nairn), Marc Watt (Inverallochy), Lewis Irvine and John Paterson (St Andrews New).
The final placings were:
1 England 3pt.
2 Ireland 1.5pt
3 Wales 1pt.
4 Scotland 0.5pt

Quote from Scotland captain, Gordon Watt

 

"From Scotland's point of view it's been a bit disappointing. With the Irish match we sneaked a draw and we threw it away a bit against Wales.

 

"We always knew we were going to be up against it with England, who are a very strong team. We let it slip in the foursomes but then came back strongly in the singles.

 

"Our two 13-year-olds, Callum Scott and Aidan O'Hagan have been superb. We were expecting one or two points from them but they've excelled themselves. Great for the team and kept a smile on everyone's face.

 

"We just haven't been good enough round the greens. Nothing to do with the greens. They're beautiful greens and the whole course is in great condition.”

THURSDAY DETAILS
ENGLAND 8, SCOTLAND 7
FOURSOMES (4-1)
C Strickland and T Briggs bt E McIntosh and D Howie 4 and 3.
B Jones and J Pagdin bt C Bruce and J Broun 4 and 3.
C Gough and R Williams bt J Paterson and C Gibson 2 hols.
T Plump and A Fitzpatrick lost to C Scott and A O'Hagan 1 hole.
J Cope and D Daniels bt L Irvine and G Dalziel 3 and 2.
SINGLES (4-6)
Briggs bt Howie 2 and 1.
Strickland bt McIntosh 1 hole.
Jones lost to Bruce 4 and 2.
Pagdin lost to Broun 1 hole.
Williams lost to Scott 1 hole.
Gough bt O'Hagan 3 and 1.
Fitzpatrick bt Dalziel 4 and 3.
Plump lost to Watt 3 and 2.
H Goddard lost to Irvine 2 and 1.
Cope lost to Paterson 4 and 3.

Other match:
IRELAND 10, WALES 5

Eden Trophy semi-finalists all from England

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
All four semi-finalists in the Eden Trophy tournament at St Andrews are from England.
Steven Lane (Worcestershire) beat joint top seed Henk Geldenhuys (South Africa) by one hole in the morning third round. Geldenhuys had KOd the defending champion, Geoff Nixon, earlier in the tournament.
Lane went on to beat Samuel Henfrey (Northamptonshire) by one hole in the quarter-finals and will now play Jamie Melton (Nuneaton) for a place in the final.
Henry had removed the last Scot from the tournament, Cairn Smith (Clober), by 6 and 5 in the third round.
Melton won his quarter-final by 2 and 1 over Richard Wells (Longcliffe).
The other semi-final will feature the surviving joint top seed Jack Hawksby (Millbrook) and Daniel McCoy (Houldsworth). Hawksby had two big wins on Thursday, beating Joe Murray (Huyton and Prescot) 7 and 6 in the morning, followed by a 7 and 5 win in the quarter-finals against Chris Dixon (Hadley Wood).
McCoy got through at the 20th in the morning against Tom Rogers (Gof Magog) but had it easier in the quarter-finals, winning by 6 and 5 against Richard Baird (Vicars Cross).

RESULTS
THIRD ROUND
S Lane (Worcestershire) bt H Geldenhuys (S Africa) 1 hole.
S Henfrey (Northamptonshire) bt C Smith (Clober) 6 and 5.
R Wells (Longcliffe) bt J Mellor (Nuneaton) 2 and 1.
J Melton (Nuneaton) bt A Batty (Beaconsfield) 2 and 1.
J Hawksby (Millbrook) bt J Murray (Huyton and Prescot) 7 and 6.
C Dixon (Hadley Wood) bt T Rogers (Gog Magog) at 20th.
D McCoy (Houldsworth) bt C Carney (Morecambe) 6 and 5.
R Baird (Vicars Cross) bt C Ferguson (Vicars Cross) at 21st.
QUARTER-FINALS
Lane bt Henfrey 1 hole.
Melton bt Wells 2 and 1.
Hawksby bt Dixon 7 and 5.
McCoy bt Baird 6 and 5.

HANDICAP (Eden Tankard)
QUARTER-FINALS
C Burton (Bradley Hall) (9) bt T Lundgren (Sweden) (4) at 19th.
K Vamplew (Stanton on the Wolds) (6) bt A Holden (Tyneside) (7) at 19th.
Dean Mitchinson (Cotswold Hills) (5) bt Ian Macdonald (East Renfrewshire) (14) 4 and 3.
J Heron (Ramside Hall) (3) bt  A McInnes (Leven Th) (5) 3 and 2.








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