Ross shows he has lost none of his class
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THE ninth round of the Newsbeat Summer League has been played at Thurso Golf Club.
Scoring was good on the Thursday with Stuart Ross showing he has lost none of his class after his year sabbatical. He covered the front nine holes in level par, after a birdie, bogey start for 23 Stableford points.
A five over par back nine for 18 points and a total of 41 was good enough to win and attract the attention of the handicap secretary.
Stevie Cowie, after halves of 20 and 19, took second spot. The better inward half was required to determine third place after Bob Robertson and Sandy Wright returned scores of 38. Robertson’s inward 19-point total was one point better than Wright’s score.
Three players – Andrew Lannon, Ruari McCartney and Davy Irvine – returned totals of 37, one more than Ronnie Matheson and Hamish Boyd.
On the Friday, the procession of Richardson wins continued. Derek Richardson was well ahead of the remainder of the field after scoring 20 points for each half. In second place, five points behind, was Andy Miller. Jim Telfer was a further point adrift.
There was some fine scoring in the penultimate round of the EGGS Summer Stableford on Tuesday. Ronnie Gray, John Morrison and Sandy Reid all scored 38 points, with Morrison coming out on top with a sparkling back nine that yielded 21 points. After getting a birdie at the eighth, Morrison slipped up with a blank at the ninth. But that was forgotten as he covered the inward nine in four over par.
With 19 points for each nine Reid claimed second place but was disappointed with his finish of four points on the last three holes. Gray also had four points for the last three holes after getting to the turn in two over par for 21. His outward nine included birdies at the fifth and seventh holes.
Bob Robertson birdied the fifth in a level par outward nine and 21 points but a couple of dropped points at the 13th and 14th meant he had to settle for 37 points and fourth place.
Bob Black had the best outward nine of the day with 22 points but a couple of blanks on the way in limited him to a 36-point total.
These results produced many changes to the leaderboard. Reid improved by eight points and now shares the lead with Black who also improved, by two points, to a best five-round total of 175 points. Gray had a massive 10-point improvement and is in third place with 172. Jim Telfer is on 171, one better than Pat Valentine and Paul Giggle.
The women played for the SLGA Brooch at their competition on Tuesday. The better inward half was required to decide the winner after Angela Williamson and Alison Campbell returned nett scores of 73. Williamson got the nod. Jean Clasper took third with 75.
The juniors recently held their June Medal. In the oldest section, the "Golfers", Craig Chambers finish first just ahead of Kyle Fell. Winner in the "Bogeys", the mid-section, was Robbie McCoustra ahead of Logan Mackay and Kye Mackay who tied for second place.
The "Greenhoppers" section was won by Laura Bain with John George McKenzie second and Jack Sibald third.
