Scratch success for Smith and O’Brien in Reay championship finals
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The club championship finals night at Reay saw five matches played on a course in excellent condition. Clear skies, a slight breeze and fast-running fairways provided the platform for some excellent golf.
The gents’ scratch final saw defending champion Michael Smith take on another previous winner, Lee Parnell. Parnell took the first hole with a par, with Smith levelling the tie with his own par at the second.
Further wins at the fifth, seventh and eighth, courtesy of a birdie three, propelled Smith to a lead of three up at the turn. Parnell reduced the deficit to two up with a par at the 11th and, after the 12th was halved in pars, both players birdied the 13th and 14th holes to leave Smith two up with four holes to play. With the 15th, 16th and 17th halved in pars, Smith was able to secure a two and one victory to retain his crown.
The ladies’ scratch final featured two players who have been in excellent form, Mollie O’Brien and Eleanor Tunn. After the first two holes were halved in pars, O’Brien took the third with a par and the fourth with a birdie to move to two up.
Further wins at the sixth, eighth and ninth moved O’Brien to five up at the turn, leaving Tunn with a mountain to climb. After O’Brien won the 11th to go six up, Tunn started what she hoped would be an epic comeback to win the 12th.
However, O’Brien showed her ruthless streak to win the 13th and seal an excellent six and five victory.
In the gents’ handicap final Doug Mackenzie took on David Mackay. After the first was halved in par, Mackenzie took an early lead at the second and after further wins at the fourth and fifth he moved to three up.
An excellent birdie at the sixth allowed Mackay to reduce the deficit to two up, but Mackenzie took the ninth with a par to re-establish his three-up lead.
Mackay won the 10th but wins for Mackenzie at the 11th and 13th moved him to four up. Mackay continued to battle away and won the 15th to once again reduce the leeway to three up, but any hopes of a comeback were soon thwarted after an errant tee-shot at the 16th found the out of bounds. This allowed the super-consistent Mackenzie to seal the win by a margin of four and two.
The ladies’ handicap final saw Laura Bain take on Carole Cameron. An excellent start by Bain saw her win the first three holes, but Cameron took the fifth to reduce the leeway to two up.
After Bain won the sixth and seventh, Cameron struck back to win the eighth. After the ninth was halved Bain reached the turn three up. Cameron took the 10th, but further wins for Bain at the 11th and 12th moved her to four up.
After the 13th was halved, Bain delivered the winning blow at the 14th to win five and four.
The gents’ senior final pitted Stuart Greig against Evan Sutherland. In an extremely tight affair neither player was able to move more than two holes ahead before being pegged back.
Sutherland had a lead of one up on the 18th tee, but Greig won the last to force extra holes. After the 19th and 20th holes were halved, Grieg took the 21st with a birdie to seal the win by the finest of margins.
