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Scotsman
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
'I retired the driver and 3-wood' - winning formula at Blairgowrie on Tartan Pro Tour
Rory Franssen records impressive three-shot success in second event of new season Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Rory Franssen put a frustrating 2024 campaign behind him to land an impressive win in the Blairgowrie Perthshire Masters presented by Petrasco - the second event of the new Tartan Pro Tour season. The 26-year-old, who is attached to Auchterarder but is currently based in St Andrews, followed opening rounds of 71-65 with a closing 69 for an 11-under-par total to land a £4500 top prize by three shots. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Former Scottish Boys' champion Will Porter and Glenbervie's Fraser Moore shared second spot as Franssen added to a breakthrough win on Paul Lawrie's circuit almost exactly two years ago at Fairmont St Andrews. Aucterarder-attached Rory Franssen shows off the trophy after winning the Blairgowrie Perthshire Masters presented by Petrasco | Tartan Pro Tour 'Yeah, it is always a nice way to start the year,' he admitted of landing an early success, with anyone who can claim three title triumphs this season earning automatic promotion to the Hotel Planner Tour. Asked what had been the secret behind his victory, he replied laughing: 'To be honest, I just retired the driver and 3-wood after the first round! I didn't have a 2-iron in the bag, but I put it in for the 3-wood for the second and third round. 'I was in play more so had more looks basically. It was really firm and rolling out loads, so you could get away with a 2-iron and still have lots of looks if you got it close.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Second-round 65 contained eight birdies Franssen's second-round effort on the Lansdowne Course contained eight birdies, including five in six holes on the front nine, while he carded five birdies on the final day and three bogeys, including one to finish. 'Not until the last, to be honest, and I made a bit of a mess of it,' he said when asked when he thought it was going to be job done on this occasion. 'I never find it comfortable coming down the back nine, but once I was on the fringe and had a few putts for it I was able to relax a bit.' For the second year running, two Hotel Planner Tour cards are up for grabs on the circuit and Franssen looks as though he is determined to make up for lost time last season. 'This is my third full season as a pro, though I missed half a season last year with a wrist injury,' said the former Scotland international. 'I missed seven events on the Tartan Pro Tour, so my goal is to try and stay healthy for the full season this year and give it a good go. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Winner 'still finding feet' in paid ranks 'The more you play professional, probably the more comfortable you become with it. I think I am still finding my feet in terms of that and playing for money is obviously different. Yeah, just gradually starting to feel more comfortable with it all, I would say.' Franssen, who grew up in Inverness, dabbled a bit on the Alps Tour at the start of his professional career but is feeling a lot happier trying to progress his career on home soil. 'It's a great chance,' he said of the opportunities that are provided on the Tartan Pro Tour since it became an official Satellite Tour for the Hotel Planner Tour. 'It's such a well-run tour. Yeah, it is just brilliant as the chance is there for you. 'Every year there seems to be something else added in, which is more incentive to stay in Scotland and play. Yeah, you should just play this tour if you are at this level - there is no point in travelling when you have a brilliant tour on your doorstep.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Tartan Pro Tour 'getting better and better' Englishman Mark Young won the season-opening Montrose Links Masters presented by Montrose Port Authority last week as way more players from the south of the border start to turn their attention to the Scottish circuit. 'They are obviously catching on to how good a tour it is,' noted Franssen, who does a bit of caddying at Kingsbarns Golf Links when he's not playing. 'It is going to be getting better and better so you need to keep trying to produce your best golf and hopefully it pays off.' Each picking up £2875, Porter started birdie-birdie in last round and went on to add three more gains before dropping his sole shot of the day at the last while Fraser Moore was out in 30 in his second round and started the closing circuit with an eagle.
Irish Examiner
22-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Goodman gears up for Cork glory
Louis Goodman believes preparation and confidence are key as the County Louth golfer gets set to make the trip to Cork Golf Club as one of the contenders hoping to get his hands on the coveted Flogas Irish Boys' Amateur Open Championship trophy. Ninety of the best up and coming golfers, including eight international players from countries such as France, Norway, Germany, and the USA, are set to tee it up at the Little Island course this week. It has been a busy start to the season for Goodman, having already competed at the Scottish Boys' and the French International Boys' U18 Championship in recent weeks. Now as the 18-year-old returns to more familiar surroundings, the experience gained from taking on some of the best talent from across the globe could prove vital. 'Since last year, I've just been doing bigger and bigger tournaments, gradually building it up, and it's definitely been a nice experience and a new experience, because it's all the higher level, you get to see much stronger fields, better players,' said Goodman. 'Because all the tournaments are in such quick succession at the moment, I know where my strengths and my weaknesses are in my game, just from reviewing the previous tournaments so I know what areas to focus on more, so my game is more complete.' Having been a part of the 2024 Irish Boys' Home Internationals team last August, Goodman will have plenty of his teammates to contend with this week including John Doyle (Fota Island), Finlay Eager (Royal Belfast) and Rory Gallagher (Galway Bay). Now in his Leaving Certificate year at Clongowes Wood College, Goodman, like many other elite amateurs his age, strives to strike a balance between his studies and his golfing ambitions with his parents Jane and Laurence continuing to be two of his biggest supporters on his journey. 'They've been unbelievable, truly', said Goodman. 'Particularly my mum, she's driving me everywhere and at the same time letting me do all this golf at the moment. She still pushes me to get my work done and all that sort of stuff, but I suppose we both make the plan, make sure we're organized, just so we can get both done as efficiently as possible.' As his focus turns to the Flogas Irish Boys' Amateur Open Championship, Goodman knows that the confidence gained, and preparation completed from his recent events will be important components when looking towards success this week. 'Knowing I'm able to go out there, do what I need to do, do what I know I have to do, just adds to the confidence going into each event that I could be in', said Goodman. 'If you don't put in the prep, you don't expect the results.'
Scotsman
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Scottish golf round up: Battle Trophy, Helen Holm, SGF and Junior Tour reports
All the latest from grass-root events around Scotland from Martin Dempster Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Home comfort for Andrew Davidson in Battle Trophy Host club member Andrew Davidson won Crail Golfing Society's Battle Trophy, adding to his victory in the 50th edition of the East of Scotland Open at Lundin in 2023. Davidson followed an opening 72 with a six-under-par 66 to lead by four shots at the halfway stage before closing with rounds of 71 and 70 to finish with a 279 total. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Host club member Andrew Davidson shows off the Battle Trophy after his win in the Crail Golfing Society event | Contributed Bathgate's James Wood, the 2024 Scottish Boys' champion, finished as his closest challenger, with Schloss Roxburghe's Jack McDonald, the 2023 winner, ending up two shots further back in third. "It's good to win such a prestigious trophy as the Battle Trophy on your home course", said Davidson, who is the first player to achieve the feat since Ross Forgan in 2003. "This is about the eighth occasion I have contested the event and it always attracts one of the best amateur fields of the year, being one of the first big events of the year, so I'm delighted for the win.' Ireland's Roisin Scanlon poses with the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open trophy after her impressive win at Royal Troon | Chris Young/Scottish Golf Ireland's Roisin Scanlon wins Helen Holm Trophy at Troon A week after finishing runner up in the Scottish Girls' Open at Arbroath, Ireland's Roisin Scanlon enjoyed a first round to remember at Royal Troon as she claimed a five-shot win in the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scanlon, 17, carded rounds of 72 and 69 on Royal Troon's Portland Course before signing off with a splendid one-under-par 71 on the Old Course at the Ayrshire venue to finish well clear of England's Jess Hall. 'I was nervous and it was due to the fact that the last round is on a different golf course,' she admitted after joining Martina Gillen (2005), Leona Maguire (2008), Danielle McVeigh (2009) and Olivia Mehaffey (2015) as Irish winners of the prestigious event. 'This is my first time playing this event and it's really special that we're even allowed out here and we get to play. We're very privileged." Scanlon also finished third in the Scottish Girls' Open just a few miles up the coast from Troon at Irvine as a 14-year-old in 2022. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad North Berwick's Grace Crawford, the 2022 winner, and Abigail May (St Regulus) Ladies) shared the honour as leading Scots, finishing joint-sixth on four over. Baberton's Luca Smith with the SGF Classic trophy after his win at Goswick Links in Northumberland | Contributed Goswick glory for Luca Smith and Sabrina Wong Baberton's Luca Smith and Sabrina Wong (Cathkin Braes) were the trophy winners in the Stephen Gallacher Foundation Classic at Goswick Links. In testing conditions at the Northumberland course, Smith bookended the 72-hole boys' event with rounds of 67 and 71 to win by eight shots with a one-under-par total. Wong, meanwhile, underlined her star potential by landing a 13-shot success in the girls' event over 54 holes, having opened with rounds of 75-74 before signing off with an 81. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The events counted towards a new Stephen Gallacher Foundation World Amateur Golf Ranking Order of Merit, with the winners of separate boys' and girls' points list securing support for 2026 events. The next counting tournament is The Foundation Trophy at Blairgowrie on 4-6 May. Inverness player Summer Elliot won the Junior Tour Scotland season-opener at Tain and Royal Dornoch | Contributed Summer Elliot off to flyer on 2025 Junior Tour Scotland Summer Elliot (Inverness) produced a strong start to the new Junior Tour Scotland season in the Highlands. Held at Tain and Royal Dornoch, the Scottish Girls' international carded polished efforts of 74-76-75 to win by an impressive nine shots. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Carly McDonald (St Regulus Ladies) finished joint-second with Ireland's Gemma McMeekin, while Royal Troon's Jodie Graham was a further shot back. The boys' event was won by Belgium's Jules De Langhe, who carded efforts of 7068-73 to pip Aberdour's Nathan Tait by two shots.
