In-form Scot sets up chance to secure automatic HotelPlanner Tour promotion

07/07/2025

By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman

Rory Franssen lands his second win of season on Tartan Pro Tour

Rory Franssen teed up a chance to secure an automatic step up to the HotelPlanner Tour after landing his second win of the season on the Tartan Pro Tour.

The St Andrews-based player carded a bogey-free four-under 68 in the closing circuit to land a two-shot success in the Cardrona Classic presented by Martin Gilbert at Cardrona Hotel, Golf & Spa near Peebles.

Franssen also won the Blairgowrie Perthshire Masters presented by Petrasco earlier in the year and will secure his HotelPlanner Tour card straight away if he can add a third title triumph in a single season on the Scottish circuit.

Rory Franssen shows off the trophy after winning the Cardrona Classic presented by Martin Gilbert | Tartan Pro Tour

The chance for players to secure the instant step up to the DP World Tour’s feeder circuit was set up through the Tartan Pro Tour becoming an official Satellite Tour this year.

“It’s an amazing opportunity,” added Franssen. ”It’s great that it has become a Satellite Tour for the HotelPlanner Tour. It’s unreal for the guys who are only playing in Scotland.”

In addition to a top prize worth £4315, Franssen also secured a spot in the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A, which is taking place this year at Schloss Roxburghe near Kelso.

“That’s a nice bonus,” he admitted. “I’ve played in that the past few years at Newmachar. It’s a great event and I am buzzing to be in it again.”

Having opened with rounds of 69 and 65 before adding his polished final-day effort, Franssen finished with a 14-under total as he won on this occasion from both Graeme Robertson and Chris Maclean.

“Yeah, it was a great win,” he said. “It was a tough week weather-wise, so I was ecstatic to pull through in the end.

“It was great to finish with a bogey-free round. I find it quite a stressful course off the tee. It is fairly wide but, if you miss the fairway, it’s a lost ball.

“I didn’t check the leaderboard but, when I posted my score and thought about how windy it was, I reckoned I’d be in with a good shout.”

On the back of his eye-catching start to the season, Franssen tops the Order of Merit ahead of three-time HotelPlanner Tour winner heading into next week’s Downfield Masters presented by Piper Sandler.

“I think my putting has improved, I think that’s probably the biggest difference this year,” he admitted. My friend James Blake who caddies for New Zealander Kazuma Kobori on the DP World Tour bought a putter on ebay.

“It was too short for him, which was lucky for me. I went in for a putter fitting at Auchterlonies and the guy said ‘listen mate, I could sell you a L.A.B. putter but the one you’ve got is probably better for you’.

New putter has ‘kind of freed me up’

“That gave me the belief that it was the right stick for me. Ever since then, it has kind of freed me up and I’ve just been working on trying to get a smoother stroke, which has been going well so far.

“I’m usually a pretty streaky putter but this season it has become a lot more steady and from inside eight feet it’s been great, which is a nice change.”

The Cardona event on the circuit run by Paul Lawrie was sponsored by former Aberdeen Asset Management CEO Martin Gilbert.

“I played with Martin in the Dunhill Links a few years ago when he was partnering Marc Warren,” said Franssen, who is looking forward to playing in this week’s Gleneagles Pro-Am. “He’s done so much for Scottish golf and it is great that he was sponsoring this event on the Tartan Pro Tour.”

Scott Henry is Scottish Par 3 Champion

10/06/2025

By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman

‘Borderline embarrassing’ - Scottish golfer on fighting back to become winner again

Scott Henry is a winner again after going to hell and back as he battled two separate injuries and feeling that his game had become “borderline embarrassing”.

The 38-year-old, who was one of Scotland’s brightest prospects when he won the Kazakhstan Open on the Challenge Tour in 2012, returned to winning ways when landing the Scottish Par 3 Championship at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

In the latest event on this season’s Tartan Pro Tour, Henry carded rounds of 52-52-51 for a seven-under-par total, which was matched by Chris Maclean following scores of 51-54-50.

In a sudden-death play-off on the superb Devenick Course, Henry came out on top with a birdie at the first extra hole to pick up a cheque for £4,500, admitting it was great to feel as though a nightmare period in his career was finally over.

“I’ve worked really hard to get some sort of fitness back and be able to have my golf back to a decent standard again, so I’m delighted, to be honest,” said Henry after joining Mark Young (Montrose Links Masters) and Rory Franssen (Blairgowrie Perthshire Masters) on the list of early winners on Paul Lawrie’s circuit this season.

Two injuries were ‘working against each other’

“I can’t take you through all of it as it is too painful to go back over, if I am being perfectly honest,” he admitted in reply to being asked how difficult things had actually got for him after making around 80 appearances on the DP World Tour and more than 170 on the Challenge Tour, which has now been rebranded as the Hotel Planner Tour.

“I had an issue with my back and I got a poor diagnosis with that early on and I ended up injuring my leg as well, so I had two injuries working against each other over quite a period of time without realising how serious both were.

“So I just couldn’t recover and my game went from being always at a very strong standard to just not being able to compete. For pretty much most of my pro career, the lowest level of standard was the top end of the Challenge Tour competing to get my main tour card.

“Then I got basically to the point where I couldn’t even compete within Scotland, so it feels great to be getting closer to what it should be, though it will never quite be the same physicality that it used to be.

“I’m older now as well and it is nice to feel that I can compete properly again. I have felt better physically for the last year, but it’s just taken time to get my game up to a decent standard.”

Scot twice came close to winning on DP World Tour

Henry, who recorded two second-place finishes - both in the Madeira Islands Open - on the DP World Tour, added: “If I knew it was going to take as long as it has, I probably wouldn’t have done it because I’ve lost a lot of money doing it. I’ve put in a hell of a lot of effort and had a lot of failed rehabs.

“Those were pretty painful experiences when I wasn’t getting the issues fixed and, honest to god, the standard my golf felt was borderline embarrassing. It was genuinely that bad.

“So to have the mental fortitude to grind away at it and be able to get my game to a much better standard now is great, though I still have a long way to go.”

Tartan Pro Tour - Portlethen Classic

10/06/2025

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Rory Franssen records impressive three-shot success in second event of new season

22/05/2025

By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman

'I retired the driver and 3-wood' - winning formula at Blairgowrie on Tartan Pro Tour

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.

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.

“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.”

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.

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.”

Tartan Pro Tour Montrose Links Masters

14/05/2025

Link to today’s 1st round Leaderboard

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Big Johnsons Tour

11/04/2025

Will Porter & Rory Franssen share the win on -6

for our 36 hole event played over Jubilee & Castle course the past two days St Andrews Links

#golf

Tartan Pro Tour Tournament Schedule 2025

06/02/2025

Tartan Pro Tour Tournament Schedule 2025

Greg Dalziel wins Tartan Pro Tour Gleneagles Masters

26/09/2024

Tartan Pro Tour

Gleneagles Masters

PGA Centenary Course, Gleneagles

Greg Dalziel storms to victory at Gleneagles.

Greg Dalziel (Scott Clelland Golf Technology) shot a final round 66(-6) to leapfrog the leaders and claim a fantastic victory by two shots from the consistent Graeme Robertson (Grangemouth)

Link to final leaderboard

https://tartanprotour.co.uk/results?

Pictured: Greg Dalziel with the Gleneagles Masters trophy

#scottishgolf #tartan #pro

#golflife #gleneagles

Sam Locke shoots 64(-8) in round 2 but Graeme Robertson leads - again !

Link to round 2 leaderboard

https://tartanprotour.co.uk/results?

Sam Locke wins again on Tartan Pro Tour

19/09/2024

Sam Locke is our 2024 St Andrews Links Classic Champion

#OfficialFeederTour

Graeme Robertson - A future star of Scottish Golf / by Alan Tait

06/09/2024

Can’t say enough about this fine chap Graeme Robertson…. Arguably the biggest and hottest gig in town right now, and dominating Scottish Professional Golf

.

Successfully defended his Scottish The PGA National Championship last week at Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club shooting 19 under par for 72 holes

. And he’s just followed that up yesterday with a 7 shot win in the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Tartan Pro Tour at Macdonald Spey Valley Championship Golf Course after shooting 16 under for 3 rounds!! His last round being an astonishing 9 under 62, equalling a certain Brooks Koepka’s course record

!!

Here’s the thing though

….. Stephen Gray and I played with him in a PGA winter stableford about 5 or 6 years ago. I remember saying to Grayso in the morning, “who’s this Joe Mutant we’re playing with today, never heard of him”

. Grayso replied, “aye he’s meant to be awright

”!!

I remember after only a few holes I was like “OMG Grayso, how good is this”? There was no chance of Graeme hearing me, as Grayso and I were about 70 yards behind him every hole