ALTHOUGH, after nine years of sponsorship, Bell's have withdrawn from
the Scottish Open Golf championship, the title will survive and the
Gleneagles Hotel courses will not be lost to tournament golf of some
kind. That much was made clear on Saturday before the final round.
Allan Callan, the championship's chairman, said that next year there
would be no single sponsor, rather a number of supporting companies --
in his opinion the way for the future of promoting major international
events. Discussions have been held at a number of alternative venues and
a decision will be made soon.
The new course at Loch Lomond and the championship links at Carnoustie
have been mentioned as possibilities for next year. The latter may be
more favoured by the players since it would enable them to prepare on a
seaside course in the week before the Open Championship, a date it is
intended the Scottish will keep. The hotel's managing director, Peter
Lederer, said that after a break next year, and then following the PGA
Cup match which will be played at Gleneagles in 1996, he wanted a
tournament again. Whether to hold it over the King's Course or the Jack
Nicklaus-designed Monarch would then have to be determined.
The last of the Scottish championships under the aegis of Bell's did
not go out with a bang, more like a damp squib. The cold, wet and windy
weather had much to do with justifying that description -- so also did
the manner of Carl Mason's victory. After 20 seasons without winning,
during which he was second six times, Mason, at 40 at last broke into
the winner's circle in the Andalucia Open. At Montecastillo he won by
two strokes from Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal, despite having been
bunkered twice at the seventy-second hole.
Mason, who embarked on his professional career after having won the
1973 British Youths title, gained the reputation of backing off with
success in sight. If the first victory did not come easily, the second
was no less difficult, although certainly more rewarding.
A first prize of #100,000, double that in Mason's baptism of winning
fire, and exemption into the Open, came only after a four-stroke lead
after the turn over playing partner Peter Mitchell had shrunk to just
one with the last to play -- 525 yards -- but downwind and downhill
within reach of a No.6 iron.
The deterioration in the conditions -- from shirt-sleeves to
waterproofs in 24 hours -- was reflected in the scoring. In the third
round 51 players scored under the par of 70 for the King's course. On
Saturday, the teeth its defences badly needed were sharpened to the
extent that only 17 did so, the majority before the worst of the weather
set in.
At the last, having bogeyed the two previous holes with a bunkered tee
shot and then a decidedly-tentative short putt, Mason had begun to
realise that, far from being easier than the first win, the second was
becoming ''10-times worse'', but from two exemplary drives there was no
denying the greater authority of Mason's second shot over Mitchell's.
All the same, Mason's name had seemed destined to be engraved on the
trophy when, at the tenth and eleventh, he established his insuperable
lead. First he holed a chip shot of 25 feet for a birdie three, and then
a chip and run of some 60 feet for a birdie 2 -- naturally, as he later
saw them, the key shots.
Even so, given the course's reputation for aggravating self-inflicted
wounds, the target of 12-under set by Colin Montgomerie's 66, the best
score in the most hostile elements, could not be disregarded.
In the event, though, Montgomerie who was second two years ago, had to
be content with fourth place. Although the examination at Turnberry this
week will be of a very different nature and undertaken in greater
pressure, Montgomerie was well satisfied with an aggregate which worked
out at level 67s. ''I was in contention,'' Montgomerie said, before he
knew he had been overtaken, ''and I'm looking forward to next week.''
Thus Mason, not for the first time, gained eleventh-hour exemption
into the Open, as did Mitchell. The three other places available went to
Andrew Oldcorn, Miguel Martin and the American Jim McGovern, after a
play-off in which the Australian Brett Ogle was eliminated.
Oldcorn, incidentally, is reapplying to the European Tour to be
recognised as Scottish for representative purposes. A previous
application was turned down but Oldcorn, born in Bolton but long
resident in Edinburgh, who won the English amateur title and played on
English teams, has been encouraged to try again by the example of Gordon
Manson. He was born in St Andrews, but now wants to represent his
adopted country, Austria. Final aggregates:
265 -- C Mason 67, 69, 61, 68 (#100,000).
266 -- P Mitchell 67, 64, 65, 70 (#66,660).
267 -- J Parnevik (Sweden) 70, 65, 64, 68 (#37,560).
268 -- C Montgomerie 67, 66, 69, 66 (#30,000).
270 -- D Clarke 67, 67, 67, 69; J Lomas 66, 66, 68, 70.
271 -- J McGovern (US) 71, 65, 68, 67; B Ogle (Australia) 72, 66, 66,
67; P Curry 72, 64, 67, 68; A Oldcorn 70, 63, 67, 71; M A Martin (Spain)
70, 65, 65, 71.
272 -- M Roe 72, 67, 69, 64; B Marchbank 68, 68, 69, 67; P Senior
(Australia) 69, 69, 64, 70; D A Russell 68, 65, 67, 72.
273 -- P Moloney (Australia) 69, 68, 70, 66; M A Jimenez (Spain) 68,
68, 65, 72; H Twitty (US) 64, 70, 65, 74.
274 -- P Baker 66, 69, 71, 68; N Fasth (Sweden) 70, 66, 70, 68; H
Clark 69, 69, 65, 71; P Jacobsen (US) 71, 67, 65, 71; P-U Johansson
(Sweden) 66, 66, 69, 73; P Broadhurst 67, 69, 65, 73.
275 -- I Woosnam 66, 71, 70, 68; P Eales 71, 68, 68, 68; S Luna
(Spain) 67, 67, 70, 71; W Westner (SA) 68, 66, 70, 71; T Price
(Australia) 72, 67, 65, 71; M Springer (US) 70, 67, 66, 72.
276 -- A Binaghi (Italy) 72, 67, 68, 69; P Hedblom (Sweden) 72, 67,
67, 70; A Sherborne 73, 66, 66, 71; D Feherty 67, 69, 68, 72; R Alvarez
(Argentina) 69, 64, 69, 74; E Romero (Argentina) 69, 64, 68, 75.
277 -- G Orr 70, 69, 69, 69; A Gillner (Sweden) 70, 67, 70, 70; S Ames
(Trinidad) 69, 69, 69, 70; S Torrance 73, 66, 68, 70; J Townsend (US)
69, 68, 69, 71; A Murray 70, 68, 67, 72; M Mouland 72, 66, 67, 72.
278 -- J Spence 70, 68, 68, 72; M Sunesson (Sweden) 70, 69, 66, 73; D
J Russell 70, 63, 71, 74; G Nicklaus (US) 69, 69, 66, 74.
279 -- M McNulty (Zimbabwe) 67, 69, 69, 74; A Hunter 69, 70, 65, 75; V
Singh (Fiji) 68, 70, 64, 77.
280 -- G J Brand 73, 63, 71, 73; G Evans 71, 67, 68, 74; B Lane 67,
71, 68, 74; P Fulke (Sweden) 70, 68, 64, 78; M James 73, 65, 63, 79.
281 -- T Lehman (US) 68, 69, 71, 73; J Bland (SA) 70, 69, 69, 73; S
Bowman (US) 71, 68, 67, 75; L Clements (US) 66, 68, 68, 79.
282 -- J M Carriles (Spain) 70, 69, 74, 69; M Miller 68, 71, 71, 72; D
Cooper 74, 65, 71, 72; V Fernandez (Argentina) 67, 71, 68, 76.
283 -- D Hospital (Spain) 70, 68, 72, 73; J Daly (US) 68, 71, 69, 75;
I Garrido (Spain) 68, 68, 71, 76.
284 -- P Lawrie 71, 68, 73, 72; B McCallister 70, 67, 75, 72; M
Mackenzie 73, 64, 73, 74.
* LEADING places in the Volvo European Tour order of merit after the
Scottish Open:
1, J M Olazabal (Spain) #303,190; 2, B Langer (Germany) #268,740; 3, C
Montgomerie #229,874; 4, E Els (SA) #199,599; 5, R Allenby (Australia)
#194,869; 6, N Faldo #192,099; 7, M Roe #190,924; 8, C Mason #175,419;
9, M A Jimenez (Spain) #156,737; 10, S Ballesteros (Spain) #154,54.
11, P Hedblom (Sweden) #129,156; 12, G Hjerstedt (Sweden) #128,735;
13, D Gilford #128,388; 14, J Lomas #125,635; 15, P Mitchell #122,256;
16, P Curry #116,049; 17, H Clark #115,393; 18, P Eales #113,044; 19, E
Romero (Argentina) #109,759; 20, J Haeggman (Sweden) #108,610.
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