European Tour School 2nd stage

Hi all, apologies for my absence over the past week or so. I have just arrived in Spain where I am caddying for my friend Shaun McAllister. Over the next few days I will have a chance to see some of our top guys in action and will be posting scores from all 3 venues.

European Tour School

As a lot of people will know the second stage of tour school is fast approaching and with this in mind I would like to bring up the subject of how expensive it is. The entry cost alone is around £1500 and then on top of that you have got expenses for first, second and even third stage if you get that far. I feel this would be a great time for potential sponsors to back Scottish amateurs and professionals as even if the finance were made available to fund tour school at the end of it a sponsor may be backing a European Tour player. The cost for the whole of tour school will be around £5000 and you can play great an get through first and second stage but if you miss the cut at third stage you are left with nothing. The question I ask is this, is the potential cost of tour school pricing our guys out of entering?

Woods 'Majors are more impotant than no.1 spot'!

Tiger Woods has come out and said that after being knocked off the top of the world rankings by Lee Westwood that his main aim now is to beat the major record set by Jack Nicklaus. This for me brings up the questions of how important is the world ranking and how fair is the points system. Lee Westwood has play some great golf in recent times but should a player who has not won a major be the top ranked player in the world? What do you think?

Spread the word!

I would like to thank everyone who has visited my site so far. If my campaign for funding and a Scottish Golf Tour for our professionals is to become a success the word needs to be spread. If anyone who visits the site and would like to make my ideas become a reality please post my link on websites, blogs and social networking sites. This would really bolster my site and the more people that get behind this campaign the more chance there is of turning round the fortunes of the Scottish game. http://www.scottishprofocus.blogspot.com/! Copy and paste wherever you can!

Another great week for Laird!

After narrowly missing out on victory last week Martin Laird has continued his great form by finished tied for 3rd in the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic. This is great for Scottish golf but is playing in America the reason why Martin continues to be our highest ranked player?? Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

Where is the funding?

The majority of feedback I have been receiving so far is without funding and sponsorship how can our professionals play. Our amateur golfers seem to get a good amount of funding and by no means is that a bad thing but surely a fund should be put into place to help professionals. Even a fund to cover entry fees which lets be honest are ridiculous. £275 to play 1 Euro Pro event is just not on! Times that by 15 and it becomes a fortune to play a full season. Some guys are almost afraid to turn professional cause they lose the funding they receive as a top amateur and suddenly playing golf is not financially viable. With the current state of the economy it is harder than ever to attract sponsorship. We are not all as good as the likes of Rory McIlroy who made it big time straight away. Like any profession it takes time to reach the top so lets financially support our guys and give them time to realise their true potential.

Laird beaten by Byrd hole-in-one!

Martin Laird narrowly missed out on victory in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at the weekend. As darkness fell in a 3 man playoff a hole-in-one from Jonathan Byrd at the fourth extra hole was enough to secure victory. With Martin Laird being the top ranked Scottish golfer at the moment it opens up the PGA Tour vs European Tour argument. Martin Laird plays the majority of his golf on the PGA Tour and I probably like many feel the feeder tours in the USA are far superior as to what we have to offer. You only need to look at the how much better the money is on the Nationwide Tour in comparison to the Challenge Tour. I believe for some of our guys America could be a better option. Now I may be talking rubbish but what does that say for us. Whether you agree or disagree I would really like to get your opinions on this matter!