Debut victory for Swart after a pretty poor start
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ON Thursday and Friday round seven of the Newsbeat Summer League was played at Thurso Golf Club.
Grant Swart, who only got a handicap at the beginning of the season, had a poor start to his round when he failed to score at the first hole. After three holes he had three Stableford points but recovered well to reach the turn with 19. He failed to register a score at the 10th but then played the remainder of the back nine holes well for 22 points and a total of 41.
Two other players, Stuart Ross and Hamish Boyd, also scored 41 points. Both failed to score at the 16th hole, with back-nine hole scores of 20 and 19 points respectively, leaving Swart to register his first competitive victory.
Octogenarian Jim Buchan played steady golf for equal halves of 20 points and fourth place. Next best was Alan Simmonite with 38 points, one ahead of Ronnie Gray and Nicky Doherty.
On Friday Derek
Richardson, who was beaten into second place by his son the previous two Fridays, made a poor start to reclaiming some family standing.
However, after not scoring at the first hole the senior Richardson proceeded to amass 20 points to the turn. A further 18 points on the inward half gave him a winning total of 38.
Andy Miller scored at every hole to take second place with 37 points, two ahead of Greg McEwan who was keeping his powder dry for the next day.
The Blargoans June Monthly Medal was played on Saturday. This round was also the final qualifying round for the club championship.
After spending a good deal of time working on the course over the last few weeks McEwan knew the course layout well. Apart from a lapse on the fourth he used his skill and knowledge to navigate his way to a score of gross 76, nett 66 and claim the medal.
There was a four-way tie on nett 68 and countback was required to determine the finishing order. After an up-and-down first nine Innes Mitchell covered the inward half in two over par, helped by back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th, to take second place.
Ian Macphee’s birdie at the last hole enabled him to take third spot ahead of Keith Dreaves and Gordon Morris.
Five players matched the course par of 69 and finished in the order of Nicky Docherty, David Dunbar, Trevor Henderson, Alan MacKenzie and Ronnie Gray. Steve Spargo was one shot behind. Dunbar and Bryan Ronald shared the best gross on the day with a score of 74.
On Sunday round two of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield was played. The better inward half was required to decide the winner after Mick Ross and Colin Mackay both returned nett 67s. Mackay had birdies at the 15th and 18th in a back nine of 39, but Ross also had two birdies, at the 13th and 17th, for 37 and Ross therefore took the honours.
The remainder of the competitors were some way behind with the next best score, 72, being returned by Stevie Cowie. Jim Hawthorn won round 10 of the EGGS Summer Stableford on Tuesday with a 38-point effort.
Hawthorn had 20 points for the front nine, with four of those at the fourth hole, and played steadily for 18 more points on his back nine.
Gary Henderson endured a couple of blank holes on his way to 37 points and second place after countback from Ronnie Williamson and Ron Ritchie. Williamson’s was the steadiest round of the three and Ritchie had the best outward nine of the day with 21 points. Peter Knight had the best inward nine of 20 points, despite a blank at the 14th, on his way to a 36-point total that was shared by last week’s winner, Jim Buchan.
Buchan’s score gave him a 10-point improvement on his best five-round total. His new total of 168 points gives him a one-point lead over Pat Valentine and Jim Telfer, with Hawthorn a further point back. Tuesday saw the ladies playing their June Monthly Medal which was also the third qualifying round for the club championship.
Winner of the medal with a nett 71 was Jean Clasper. Laura Durrand was second with nett 72 and also had the best scratch round of 77.
