Paul Doherty, the former Scottish boys matchplay champion based in South Wales, earned £5000 as runner-up in the EuroPro Tour's WSL Open at Collingtree Park GC, Northampton, writes Colin Farquharson. He had rounds of 66, 71 and 72 for seven-under 209 to finish one shot behind Ilkley's James Hepworth. Doherty let first prize slip through his fingers with bogeys at the 15th and 17th.
bowls
Lanarkshire South are the only side to have secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cities & Counties Championships as the final round of group matches goes ahead today, writes Anne Dunwoodie.
They are unbeaten leaders of the South section with 12 points, four ahead of Stewartry who have to keep Dumfries, Ayrshire South and Glasgow East at bay if they are to secure the second qualifying berth. Dumfries must beat Stewartry at Lockerbie to have a chance of qualifying.
Aberdeen & Kincardine (10 points), Northern Counties and Bon Accord (8 each, and separated by just three shots) are the leading contenders in the North Section. Four teams are in the mix in the East Section: West Lothian have a 24-shot lead over Edinburgh & Leith, with Midlothian and West Fife leading the chasing pack. In the West Section, Ayrshire North, Lanarkshire West and Renfrewshire South all have 10 points and shots differences of 165, 90 and 67 respectively.
canoeing
Olympic silver medallists Campbell Walsh and David Florence cruised through to today's semi-finals at the slalom World Cup near Barcelona yesterday, writes Lorin McDougall. Walsh, from Bridge of Allan, has shown signs of his old form after missing out on a place in Britain's Olympic team, and the former European champion needed only one run to reach the K1 kayak semis, qualifying sixth-fastest in 85.02sec. "It was a good first run," he said. "I was lying third, so I skipped the second run to save energy for the semi-finals. There's only 2.2 seconds separating the top 20." Florence, from Edinburgh, was sixth-quickest in the C1 heats.
hockey
The under-21 Celtic Cup may have been diminished by the absence of France, – the Scots play only Ireland and Wales in Wrexham – but it remains the only tournament-style preparation for the European Junior Nations Championships in August for the coaches Dave Stott (women) and Graham Moodie (men), writes Craig Madden.
Stott said: "Since Wales have pulled out of the European competition, the game against Ireland is our benchmark and a must win." His team arrives in Wrexham on the back of an unbeaten run of six games, culminating in a 5-1 crushing of Ulster last weekend. "Our level of fitness is good and we are starting to play with more tempo, as we have very quick forwards in Nicola Skrastin, Ali Howie, Sarah Robertson and Louise Campbell," added Stott. "These players can make chances and take them."
The competition will mark the debut of Graham Moodie as men's under-21 coach in an official tournament. He is no stranger of top-level international hockey – he played for Great Britain in the Athens Olympics – but his task now is to take his inexperienced squad of 18 to success in Wrexham. Moodie will be in at the deep end in the Europeans, as his charges are in the top flight and have Belgium, Germany and Spain in their pool competition.
"This is our first set of competitive matches since the Great Britain Super League in April, and we're keen to see how far we've developed as a squad since then," he said. "We lost both our games against the Welsh side in the GBSL, so our match against them this weekend will provide a good indicator of progress."
ICE HOCKEY
Jade Galbraith, the 30-year-old Canadian forward, re-signed for Braehead Clan yesterday despite having had offers from throughout the UK, Europe and North America, writes Nigel Duncan.
Last season, he was named the Elite League Player of the Year, League Forward of the Year, League Top Points Scorer, Clan Top Points Scorer, Clan MVP (voted for by the fans), Ice Hockey Journalists UK Player of the Year and included in the EIHL 1st All Stars Team, after finishing the season with 101 points from 58 games, having scored 38 goals with 63 assists.
He said: "The offers all had different conditions or terms attached, so I really had to take some time to weigh them all up before I jumped in. I decided to come back to the Clan as I really enjoyed my time there. Glasgow is a beautiful city and I really felt at home. I feel I have more to give and so does the Clan. I want to be a part of taking this team to the next level."
shinty
Garry Macpherson, the Inveraray talisman, knows the Argyll side could pay a heavy price if they treat unfancied Taynuilt lightly in today's final of the 108th AJG Parcels Celtic Society Cup at Strachur, writes Kenneth Stephen.
The Premiership side are widely viewed as cup specialists – they are in the semi-finals of the Macaulay Cup and the quarters of the Camanachd Cup –and could secure their first trophy of 2012 today. "People are calling this a David v Goliath clash but they have to remember that, when we started winning this trophy, we were in the same position as Taynuilt are in now," he said. "No one thought we would do what we have, so it would be a big mistake to treat them lightly."
Inveraray's ranks will be depleted today as stalwart Andrew McMurdo is getting married.
SPEEDWAY
Edinburgh Monarchs meeting with the Premier League leaders Newcastle Diamonds was rained off last night as the worst run of postponements because of the weather suffered by the team – they have only held two meetings, on May 25 and June 1, since May 4 – in years.
