Swanson, Mackenzie and Osborne take honours in club championship finals at Thurso
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Alan Swanson, Alan Mackenzie and Steve Osborne emerged as scratch, nett and senior winners respectively in Thurso Golf Club's championship finals played on Friday night.
There was no difference in shots in the senior final. Osborne went three up after four against Alan Coghill, only for Coghill to reduce the deficit to one at the turn.
Osborne won the 10th and 11th to go back to three. Although Coghill took the 13th, Osborne won the match three and two.
In the nett final there wasn't much between Steven Lowe and Alan Mackenzie, with Mackenzie receiving nine shots.
Lowe played the front nine at two under his handicap to establish a lead of two holes at the turn. Mackenzie won the 10th with an excellent par but went two down again at the 14th after the previous three holes were halved.
The 15th was halved but Mackenzie parred the 16th and 17th to level the match. The 18th was halved and so it went to an extra hole where Mackenzie emerged as the victor.
In the scratch final, Jordan Youngson parred the first to take an early lead over Alan Swanson. The next three holes were halved, only for Swanson to shoot four threes in the next five holes to take a three-hole lead at the turn.
Swanson kept up the pressure by winning the 11th, and the 12th was halved. Swanson then parred 13 and 14 to win the championship.
Quarter-final results – Scratch: G Henderson beat J Sangster; J Youngson beat A Main; T Gordon beat D Dunbar; A Swanson beat I Dunnett.
Nett: S Lowe beat C Reid; P Mackay beat C Sinclair; AS Mackenzie beat J Begg; D Bain beat J Fidler.
Seniors: I Mitchell beat I MacDonald; S Osborne beat G Souter; A Coghill beat T Mackay; D Calder beat K Dreaves.
Semi-final results – Scratch: J Youngson beat G Henderson; A Swanson beat T Gordon.
Nett: S Lowe beat P Mackay; AS Mackenzie beat D Bain.
Seniors: S Osborne beat I Mitchell; A Coghill beat D Calder.
In round 16 of the A&A Mackay Summer League, Darren Sinclair (handicap 9) was the clear winner with 40 points. Sinclair made good use of his chipper club as he had six up-and-downs on the front nine to go out in 20 points.
Three threes from the 12th set him up nicely for the closing holes, and even with a lost ball at 17 he matched his front nine with 20 points.
Andrew Main (7) started with a seven but twos at the third and 12th, along with a birdie at the eighth, saw him return 38 points.
Steven King (16) maintained his form with 37 points, alongside Alan Swanson who had birdies at the par fives. However, the highlight of Swanson’s round was his tee shot at the ninth which he holed.
James Moodie (25) and Jim Sangster (2) both had 36 points.
