Slicers not Hookers are first first all-female Safari winners at Reay
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Saturday saw Reay hosting its annual Safari Open sponsored by NDL. A very strong wind from the south-west made scoring particularly tough with no-one in the field managing to post a nett score below par.
In the unique format, players were competing in teams of four, with the three lowest nett scores counting towards the team total.
Fourteen teams took to the links to battle for the coveted Safari Trophy and history was made as the Slicers not Hookers quartet of Carol Paterson, Eleanor Tunn, Pam Bain and Rebecca Munro became the first all-female team to win it.
Eleanor Tunn produced a sparkling round of 74 for nett 71 with birdies at the second, eighth and 16th helping her along the way, while Pam Bain posted a matching nett 71 with a birdie at the 13th the highlight of her round.
A solid round of 83 for nett 72 from Carol Paterson, and a round of 89 for nett 75 from Rebecca Munro, gave the ladies an aggregate score of 214 which proved too good for the rest of the field.
Runners-up were the Harper's Heroes combination of Gavin Gunn, Simon Harper, Alex Anderson and Andreas Edler who had made the trip from Gort Golf Club in Galway to compete. Gunn produced an excellent round of 79 for nett 70, aided by birdies at the second and 14th, to fire his team up the leaderboard and he also picked up the Murray McGlasson Quaich for posting the best individual score of the day.
A nett 71 from Anderson backed up by a nett 75 from Harper helped the team to a fine tally of 216.
Third place was bagged by the Weapons of Grass Destruction team of Lee Malcolm, Tom Ross, Brent Munro and Alison Ross on 217. Alison Ross fired a round of nett 71 to set the team on their way, and a nett 74 from Tom Ross, courtesy of the lowest gross score of the day, and a nett 72 from Brent Munro who was helped by a birdie at the 14th, secured a podium finish for the team.
Nearest-the-pin prizes were won by Murdo Macdonald (fifth hole) and Stewart Ross of Wick (18th hole).
In the contest for best individual score, Emma Durrand of Thurso and Kenny Farmer Snr matched Gavin Gunn’s winning score of nett 70 but were edged out on countback.
In other club business, Willie Steven won the latest round of the North Point Distillery Senior Stableford competition after four birdies helped him to an excellent winning score of 39 points. Despite two non-scoring holes Hugh Millar took second place on 38, with Billy Moore third on 35.
Donald Mowat and Stuart Greig were next best on 34.
In the overall standings Willie Steven has moved into the lead on an aggregate score of 235, ahead of Colin Struthers on 232, and Jack Johnstone and Mike Halliday who are both on 227.
Carol Paterson triumphed in the ladies' Quinlan Trophy after a birdie at the sixth helped her to a winning score of nett 69 after a round of 79. Nicola Campbell maintained her recent good form to take second place on nett 73, while Pauline Craig birdied the second on her way to third place after she also carded a nett 73.
Cammie Ross topped the standings in round 16 of the Summer Cup after a round of 76 gave him a Stableford score of 35 points. A birdie at the final hole helped John O’Brien take second place on 34, with Jimmy Meiklejohn and Iain Dunnett next best on 31.
In the overall standings, with one round to go, Jimmy Meiklejohn leads the way on 223, ahead of Lee Malcolm on 217, Cammie Ross on 216 and Iain Dunnett on 212.
This Saturday the gents will be competing for the Pilkington Cup, while on Sunday the course hosts the Bighouse Estate four-ball Texas Scramble.
