Hemstock Wins Play-off at Concra

Billy Hemstock won the Kingspan Concra Wood Open after beating Wallace Booth in a play-off following a gripping final day in Ireland.

The pair both shot two-under-par 70s in their final round to finish on six under par and send the event to a play-off starting on the ninth, where Hemstock shot a birdie two to claim the £10,000 winner’s cheque.

Hemstock (Teignmouth) began his day four under par, two shots off overnight leader Liam Burns (Sunridge Park). He made birdie, bogey, birdie at the first three to climb up the leaderboard and added a third birdie at the par-three sixth, taking him to six under for the week.

Booth (Comrie Golf Club), teeing off with Burns one group behind Hemstock, also made birdie, bogey, birdie at the start of his final round and then made four at the par-five fourth to move to six under par.

Another birdie followed for Booth at the eight but back-to-back bogeys at 10 and 11 saw him drop two strokes down the leaderboard. Hemstock also bogeyed the 10th but returned to six under par with a birdie at 14, leaving him to sign for a final round score of 70.

Booth quickly made up for his two dropped shots with consecutive birdies at 12 and 13 to take a one-shot lead over Hemstock. However, when the Scotsman took five at the par-four 17th he knew he needed to avoid dropping a shot on the 18th.

He made par and both headed to the ninth tee for the first hole of a sudden death play-off. Hemstock made birdie at the par-three, leaving Booth a long putt to remain in contention. The Scotsman came close but was unable to sink it for two and made par, handing Hemstock the victory.

Overnight leader Burns shot a four-over-par 76 in the final round and finished as one of seven players tied for sixth.

Stuart Manley (Machynys Peninsula) shot a four-under-par 68 to finish third on five under, one shot behind the top two. Bogeys at 14 and 17 denied him victory but the Welshman earned vital money to consolidate his place in the Order of Merit top five.

James Hepworth (Ilkley Golf Club) remains fifth on the Order of Merit after finishing the week fourth on four under par, largely thanks to a 69 in the final round. Elliot Saltman (Archerfield Links) finished the event two over par and tied for 29th, extending his lead at the top of the Tour Order of Merit. 

The Scotsman will not be in action at Frilford Heath next week due to his participation in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Lawrie and Lowry Stay in Touch

Peter Lawrie and Shane Lowry signed for rounds of three under at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on Friday  to finish three strokes off the pace on nine under.

Padraig Harrington also signed for a 69, which was only good enough at 6 under for a share of of 33rd place at Castle Stuart.

It was Sweden’s Alex Noren which secured a closing birdie for second straight round of 66 to set the clubhouse target at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

The former Wales Open champion is trying to keep up with his girlfriend Emelie - she won in Norway on his 30th birthday yesterday.

"She sent me some flowers - that's the first time I've had flowers," he said.

Noren started with back-to-back birdies, double bogeyed the long 12th, then hit back with three further gains and an eagle at the par five sixth.

His 12 under par total left Noren one ahead of Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez, and overnight leader Francesco Molinari.

The Italian was amongst the later starters and one under through his first five holes.

Phil Mickelson made a brilliant charge through the field at Castle Stuart Golf Links - and Martin Kaymer was back in form too.

Mickelson was down in 123rd place after an opening 73, but made it all the way to joint 11th place with eight birdies in the first 15 holes of his second round.

It was a dramatic way to end a worrying run of eight successive rounds over par - that had never happened in his career before - and suddenly the American star was in contention at an event he entered only on Saturday.

The three-time Masters Tournament champion left his family on holiday in Rome to add another tournament to his schedule before moving onto Royal Lytham, where he will try next week to improve on his joint runner-up finish behind Darren Clarke last year.

Looking for an early boost when he teed off, he did not have to wait long. His 60 yard pitch to the tenth went into the hole for an eagle two.

Mickelson had to wait until the 16th for his next birdie, but then came four in a row around the turn and a pitch to six feet at the long sixth brought him another.

Kaymer, meanwhile, was hitting back from finishing last of those who made the cut at the Alstom Open de France last week.

Resuming on five under he had five birdies in six holes from the 11th and after bogeying the short 17th had two more in the next three.

That took Germany's former World Number One, winner of the title at Loch Lomond three years ago, to 11 under par and alongside Noren and Gonzalez.

Mickelson finished with a 64 - the same score he had to win at Pebble Beach in February while playing partner Tiger Woods was shooting 75.

"I'm really glad I added the tournament and it's very helpful to see my game progress so quickly," Mickelson said as he found himself seven under and five behind 

Kaymer fell back to nine under and joint fourth with bogeys at the seventh and ninth for a 68, but given his 78-77 finish in Paris he was happy enough.

The home fans had something to cheer when Pete Whiteford aced the 168 yard 11th, turned in 30 and stood eight under after 13 holes.

That hole-in-one might have been worth 168 bottles of champagne to him, but England's Andrew Johnston claimed that prize yesterday.

Molinari had begun his second round with a bogey, but came back with birdies at the second and third, and when he added another on the long sixth he was alongside Noren at 12 under, one ahead of Gonzalez and two in front of Indian SSP Chowrasia.

World Number One and defending champion Luke Donald matched Molinari's first two birdies to be seven under.

Damien McGrane, Paul McGinley, Simon Thornton and Gareth Maybin all missed the cut.

Liam Burns Leads at Concra Wood

Liam Burns smashed his way to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Kingspan Concra Wood Open on Thursday.

Burns (Sundridge Park), who came second to Dan Seymour in a play-off in the season opener at Wensum Valley in April, signed for an eight-under-par 64 in his second round to move to six under for the tournament, two shots ahead of his closest contenders.

The Englishman is currently 12th on the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour Order of Merit but could jump to the top of the pile should he claim victory at Concra Wood on Friday.

Wallace Booth (Comrie Golf Club) and Billy Hemstock (Teignmouth) both carded second round 67s, five shots under par, to move to four under overall and are tied for second behind Burns.

The course record at Concra Wood is a four-under-par 68, set by European Tour player Simon Thornton. However, because the preferred lies rule is in effect, none of the scores made on Thursday can be officially recognised as a course record.

Having carded a two-over-par 74 on Wednesday, Burns began Friday’s second round on the first tee and got off to a confident start with a birdie four. However, back-to-back bogeys at the par-four second and third pushed his score in the wrong direction.

With just six events to follow the Kingspan Concra Wood Open before the Tour Championship in the autumn, chances to earn a card on next season’s Challenge Tour by concluding the summer in the all-important Order of Merit top five are beginning to thin out.

Knowing that another above-par round could see him miss the cut, Burns forced a change in his fortunes with a four at the par-five fourth and kept going to record five consecutive birdies through to the eighth.

A bogey at the 10th proved only to be a brief setback and Burns continued to dominate the course with five back-nine birdies to see him return home to sign for 64.

Booth started his round at the 10th and a solitary birdie at 15 saw him turn home at level par for the tournament following a 73 on Wednesday. Four birdies on his back nine; at one, three, four and seven, moved him up the leaderboard and the Scotsman signed for 67 at the end of his second round.

Like Booth, Hemstock had also finished his first round one above par and made five under on Thursday to move to four under overall. Starting at the first tee the Englishman was three under the card when he turned home but he dropped a shot with a bogey at 10. He soon made amends though, with birdies and 12, 14 and 18.

Four players are three shots behind Burns on three under par while nine golfers are a further shot off the lead.

A cut of the top 50 and ties has now been made with all those who have total scores of three over par or better progressing to the final round, which gets underway at 7:30am with the leading group due off the tee at 11:15am.


Leaderboard

Lowry and Lawrie Lead Irish Efforts

Shane Lowry finished the first round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open dropping three strokes and signing four a round of 66, having completed the back nine in 30, for a share of fifth place with Peter Lawrie.

But the day belonged to Francesco Molinari - who had a thought for his brother Edoardo - even after a ten birdie course record 62 at Castle Stuart Golf Links against a field that included World Number One Luke Donald and ten Major Champions.

Edoardo won the title at Loch Lomond two years ago, three months before he and Francesco became partners in The Ryder Cup. But the older of the pair had left wrist surgery two weeks ago and, having not played for a month, is likely to spend the entire summer rehabilitating.

"It would be nice to do well this week for him as well - to cheer him up a little bit," said Francesco, who looks in the form of his life after finishing second in the Alstom Open de France on Sunday thanks to a closing 64.

If he wins this weekend it would be only the second time in European Tour history that brothers have won the same event. Spaniards German and Antonio Garrido were Madrid Open champions in 1973 and 1977, respectively.

At ten under after 15 holes, Molinari - on course to earn a second cap against the Americans in September - admits he did work out that three more birdies would give him the circuit's first-ever 59.

It did not happen - he parred them all - but he can still claim to have broken 60 for 18 holes. In Paris he played his last nine in 29 and here he turned in 30.

The 62 matched the lowest round of his European Tour career and was a far cry from his first experience of links golf.

That came in an amateur event at St Andrews over a decade ago. Anybody seeing him give a fist-pump of celebration when he birdied the last would have thought he had had a good day - but it was to break 90.

Not that he was the only one to suffer that day. One of his partners had "ten or 11" attempts to get out of a bunker on the short eighth, gave up and walked in.

Molinari is now a Ryder Cup and Omega Mission Hills World Cup winner, also has a World Golf Championships victory to his name, and will see his odds for next week's Open Championship cut even more if he goes on like this.

"I know it's not going to last forever," he added, "but I hope to keep this going a little bit longer - obviously next week, but the next month or so is really big for The Ryder Cup.

"That, probably more than The Open, is in my mind."

Two behind is Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares, who birdied his last six holes to match Molinari’s 29 strokes on the front nine.

Dane Søren Kjeldsen and France’s Raphaël Jacquelin lie one further back on seven under, while defending champion Donald began well with a five under par 67.

Phil Mickelson, who missed out on a trip to the Vatican to play, might need some help from above to win it after an opening 73 left him 11 behind Molinari.

Not that the three-time Masters Tournament champion is waiting for divine intervention.

"I think everybody is looked on equally and you have to make your own destiny," said Mickelson, who left his family in Italy because he felt the need to play more before going to Royal Lytham for next week's Open Championship.

The 42 year old, joint runner-up behind Darren Clarke at Sandwich last summer, began well enough with two birdies in his first three holes.

But his problems of late resurfaced with three bogeys and also a seven at the long 12th.

At one over, the same as playing partner Paul Lawrie, Mickelson is well outside the top 100 going into the second round.

Padraig Harrington finished three under par after a round of 69.

Paul McGinley was two strokes further behind.

Gareth Maybin continued to struggle with form and at one over par is well outside the cut, along with Damian McGaane.

Simon Thornton finished two over par after the opening round on Thursday..

Only the top 65 and ties make it through the 36-hole cut.

Leaderboard

Five Share Lead at Kingspan Concra Wood

Five players share a one-shot lead on two under par after a weather-disrupted first day of the Kingspan Concra Wood Open in Ireland.

Play was suspended shortly after 2:30pm in the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour event due to stormy weather but resumed at 4:15pm.

Lee Clarke, Paul O’Hanlon, Duncan Stewart, Andrew and George Woolgar all signed for two-under-par 70s and share a one-shot lead over 11 golfers who are tied for fifth.

Clarke (Everbuild Building Products) began his round from the 10th tee but bogeyed the par-four hole. He hit back immediately with an eagle two at the 11th but struggled at 12 where he made five at the par three.

Birdies at 13 and 15 saw Clarke move to one under par and he also broke par at seven and eight. A bogey four at his final hole, the ninth, prevented him from taking the outright clubhouse lead but the Englishman will be happy to have signed for 70.

O’Hanlon (The Curragh GC) also endured a mixed opening round, despite beginning with an eagle three at the first and improving his card with a birdie at the par-five fourth. His early work was undone, however, when he made four consecutive bogeys from the fifth to see him fall to one over par.

Turning home he made up for a disappointing conclusion to his front nine with birdies at 11, 13 and 14 to sign for a 70 and take a share of the lead.

Stewart (Grantown on Spey) made birdie five times but bogeys at 14, two and five saw him card a first round of 70. Willey (Notts Golf Club) started with a bogey at 10 before making a birdie at 15 and another bogey at 16.

On the back nine he eagled the par-five first before making bogey at two. Back-to-back birdies at three and four restored his score to two under par.

Woolgar (Capital Services), who also started at the 10th, has an eagle three at the first to thank for his share of the lead. He made four birdies in his round but also suffered four bogeys.

The Kingspan Concra Wood Open continues with the second round on Thursday, after which a cut of the top 50 plus ties will be made ahead of Friday’s final round.