THE recent spell of cold and wet weather was partly to blame for the poor entry of just 35 at the North Golf Alliance fixture played over the Tain links last Sunday, where resilient Caithness golfers headed the leader boards in all three categories.
In the opening fixture of 2012, Thurso duo Dougie Thorburn and Bryan Ronald went head to head for the honour of winning the scratch section and it was Thorburn who marked up his third win of the season.
The plus-one-handicap rated Thurso member has now won the last three fixtures. At the beginning of November he won on a better inward half count at Brora from Wick's Ronnie Taylor and then at the end of the same month at Wick, the last fixture played in 2011, he beat Tain's Mike Sangster to first place by one shot.
The six-week gap in fixtures due to weather postponements has not affected Thorburn's form and again on Sunday he was involved in another tie for first place following his excellent score of 73.
When it came to the card comparison Thorburn's inward half count of one-under-par 34 edged out his Thurso club mate Bryan Ronald.
Ronald was home in 35 but denied recording a second win of the season following his victory in the opening fixture at Durness.
Out on the course when the morning wind and rain was at its most miserable, local club captain and champion Munro Ferries had a 76 while his fellow club member Mike Sangster didn't take the opportunity to post another score to maintain his aggregate scratch quaich challenge. He failed to return a card on his home patch.
Playing with a handicap of two, Ronald's nett score of 73 headed the class one returns by a four-shot margin from Thurso club mate Malcolm Morrison, before Tarbat's Hamish Skinner got a prize for third place with nett 76, off seven. Behind him were Invergordon's Mike Moran (7) and local Andrew Watt (8) both a shot more.
Spread-eagling the class two section was 11-handicapper Ian Ross (Reay) who matched the 76 from the Tain champion with his sparkling finish of birdie two, par three, and birdie three to take him home in 36 and nett 65.
Francis Keith in second place added a nett 71, off 12, to add to his already recorded nett scores of 69 and 73 and launch his bid for the MacKintosh Salver.
The next fixture on the rota will be played over the Reay course on February 5.
Results:
Scratch – 73, D. Thorburn (Thurso) (39/34), B. Ronald (Thurso) (38/35). 76, M. Ferries (Tain), I. Ross (Reay).
Handicap class one – B. Ronald (Thurso) (2) 71; M. Morrison (Thurso) (8) 75; H. Skinner (Tarbat) (7) 76; M. Moran (Invergordon) (7) 77; A. Watt (Tain) (8) 77.
Class two – I. Ross (Reay) (11) 65; F.R.M. Keith (Durness) (12) 71; A. Mackay (Reay) (14) 77; A. Gunn (Reay) (11) 79.
