Swanson is Thurso club champion for sixth time
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Thurso's club championship finals saw Alan Swanson emerge as scratch champion while Cameron Reid won the handicap section and Walter Rutherford took the honours in the seniors.
The quarter-finals went ahead on Monday, with the semis on Wednesday and the finals on Friday, and course was in immaculate condition throughout the week.
In the scratch final Alan Swanson was two up after three on David Dunbar, but Dunbar won the fourth and sixth to level the match.
Swanson then birdied the seventh and eighth to go two up at the turn. Another birdie at the 10th saw him three up.
The next two holes were halved in par but Swanson birdied the 13th to go four up. Alan saw out the match with the next two holes halved in par to become club champion for the sixth time.
In the handicap category, Cameron Reid was one up after nine and was one under his handicap against Stevie King, who was on his handicap. By the 14th Reid was two up but this was reduced to one on the 18th.
A par at the last from King was enough for this match to go to the extra hole. Again a par from Cameron was enough to win.
In the senior category, Walter Rutherford emerged the victor over Clark Grant after the first play-off hole. A tight match saw Rutherford one up at the turn only for Grant to be level with six to play.
Rutherford won the 13th and 14th but Grant won the next two. Rutherford then took the 17th but a drive into the trees at 18 saw the match go to a play-off. Walter won the match with a par at the first extra hole.
Quarter-finals – Scratch: David Dunbar beat Bryan Suttar; Jordan Youngson beat Ben Gordon; Jim Sangster beat Graeme Henderson; Alan Swanson beat Ed Wyllie. Handicap: Cameron Reid beat Ali Simpson; George Munro beat Jim Buchan; Ross Sutherland beat Stephen Fidler; Stevie King beat Davie Calder. Seniors: Clark Grant beat Davie Irvine; Jim McLeod beat Jim Telfer; Walter Rutherford beat Ronnie Dunnet; Alan Coghill beat Lachie Sutherland.
Semi-finals – Scratch: D Dunbar beat J Youngson; A Swanson beat J Sangster. Handicap: C Reid beat G Munro; S King beat R Sutherland. Seniors: C Grant beat J McLeod; W Rutherford beat A Coghill.
Round 21 of the A&A Mackay Builders Summer League was won by Ross Sutherland with 37 points, two points clear of Ian Macdonald, Alan Swanson and Ronnie Gray. The winner of round 22 was James Durrand with 39 points, three clear of Jordan Youngson and Bryan Suttar.
