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Thurso championship honours go to Rutherford, Swanson and Coghill


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Walter Rutherford (left), Thurso's senior champion, Alan Swanson (centre), the scratch champion, and Alan Coghill, handicap champion.
Walter Rutherford (left), Thurso's senior champion, Alan Swanson (centre), the scratch champion, and Alan Coghill, handicap champion.

The match-play stages of the club championship at Thurso were played on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

After some great matches on Monday and Wednesday the seniors’ final was between Terry Mackay and Walter Rutherford. Both players have been showing some good form recently, so a tight match was expected – especially as the difference in handicaps was only one stroke, Mackay playing off 12 and Rutherford 11.

Rutherford was probably the slight favourite, and this was demonstrated by his superb start.

A par four at the difficult first hole was good enough to put him one up. This was followed by a bogey at the second, par at the third and a birdie at the par-five fourth hole to have him four up and in a commanding position early on.

Mackay managed to stop the rot with a hole winning par at the fifth, making it Rutherford three up. Rutherford then added a second birdie at the sixth hole but this time Mackay responded well with a matching birdie three – hole halved.

Both players parred the par-five seventh before Rutherford increased his lead at the eighth with a steady par four.

With the ninth hole halved in fours, the lead was four at the turn.

Rutherford covered the first nine holes in one-over-par 36 so it was no surprise that he had a big lead. After halving the 10th, a fine four at the 11th increased Rutherford’s lead to five.

The writing now appeared to be on the wall for Mackay. The long par-three 12th was halved, as was the 13th, taking the match to dormie five.

Mackay now needed a miracle of Medinah proportions, but this was too much to ask and the match was duly closed out on the 14th as the hole was halved, resulting in a fine five and four win for Rutherford – a very deserving 2020 senior champion.

The handicap championship final was between club captain Alan Coghill and the immediate past club captain, Jocky Begg.

Begg plays off 11 and Coghill 12, meaning that Coghill would receive one shot at the long 16th hole. This turned out to be a very close match with the lead changing hands several times.

A nervy start from both players saw the first hole halved, before Begg moved ahead with a par at the second hole. The par-three third was halved before Coghill struck back to take the fourth with a par five.

The next two holes were halved to leave the match level after six holes.

Begg’s drive found trouble in the trees at the par-five seventh as Coghill took the lead for the first time, but Begg responded immediately to birdie the eighth and square the match once more.

Coghill took the lead again at the ninth, only to see an excellent four from his opponent at the long 10th take the match back to level again.

Coghill’s drive found the ditch at 11th, leading to a concession to put Begg one up.

Neither player seemed to be able to consolidate their lead when given the chance, and it was no surprise that Coghill levelled the match with a fine par at the 12th hole. However, another wayward drive from Coghill saw him one down again after 13 holes.

There was a rare half at the 14th before Coghill’s par at the 15th had the match back to all square. Coghill moved ahead, yet again, by playing a delightful pitch onto the green at the 16th to win the hole.

The 17th was halved, so Begg needed to win the 18th to take the match into extra holes. Both players got their drives away safely at the 18th but, with a very strong right-to-left wind blowing across the fairway, the second shots were far from easy.

Unfortunately for Coghill his approach went with the wind to find some serious trouble on the left. This led to a concession, so the match went into a sudden-death play-off on the first hole.

With the wind and rain now making the conditions near impossible, Begg drove first. It wasn’t his best drive of the night, but it was in play. Coghill then hit a near-perfect drive, low into the gale, splitting the fairway.

Begg’s second shot was pulled left, only just staying in bounds, while Coghill’s shot landed safely short of the green. An errant third shot from Begg found trouble to the left of the green and unfortunately a lost ball.

Begg reloaded and played up just short off the green. So the door was open for Coghill and he duly took advantage, with his wedge shot landing 20 feet from the pin. Begg’s final chance was to chip in and hope that Coghill three-putted. He didn’t manage this, and he conceded the hole, ending a great contest and giving Coghill his third championship win.

The scratch final was between Peter Sangster and Alan Swanson. The match got off to a steady start with both players parring the first.

At the second hole, a superb wedge to three feet from Swanson was followed by Sangster’s approach which finished 12 feet away. Both putts were holed as the match remained level.

After an excellent tee shot, Swanson birdied the third to draw first blood and go one up. The fourth and fifth were halved in par as Swanson remained one up.

A poor drive at the sixth from Sangster allowed Swanson to go two up and another birdie from Swanson at the par-five seventh saw the lead extended to three.

At the eighth hole a fine drive from Sangster found the front of the green while Swanson missed the green on the right. Swanson hit a decent pitch, but it ran past the hole and came to rest just off the back of the green.

As Sangster putted down to beside the hole for a conceded birdie, it looked like he was going to get a hole back. Swanson had other ideas as he rolled his 25-footer into the centre of the cup to stay three up.

The ninth was halved in par threes, Swanson getting up and down after missing the green – Swanson three up at the turn.

Both players found the 10th fairway with their drives. Swanson, playing his approach shot first, found the green to set up another birdie chance. Sangster played a good approach which finished in good position just off the green.

He then played up to beside the hole and the putt was conceded.

Swanson rolled in his birdie putt to move four up. Both players again hit good drives on the 11th but this time it was Sangster who hit the better approach, setting up a birdie chance.

Swanson found the green but was a little short of the hole. His first putt was close enough to be conceded, leaving Sangster with a chance to reduce the deficit.

The birdie was putt was easily holed, leaving Swanson three up after 11.

The 12th was halved in bogey four, Sangster just missing a tricky downhill putt for a win. At this stage of the match the weather was becoming a factor with wind and rain in abundance.

A superb three wood tee shot from Sangster at the 13th was not suitably rewarded as his ball, unluckily, found the greenside bunker.

Swanson found the fairway and then played a fine pitch to six feet. Sangster’s bunker shot was good but didn’t threaten the hole, resulting in a par four.

So the door was open for Swanson to increase his lead with another birdie but his effort slid past the hole and the match score stayed at three up.

Sangster found the green at the par three 14th and Swanson tried to follow suit, but his shot came up well short. A two-putt par was good enough for Sangster to take the hole and reduce the deficit to only two as the match entered the home stretch.

Sangster hit a huge drive down the 15th, missing the fairway to the right as Swanson hit the fairway to set up a wedge approach shot. Both players found the green with neither shot being close, resulting in a halved hole.

The 16th was also halved, despite a wayward drive from Swanson to leave him dormie two. Both players found the 17th fairway and both were faced with difficult approach shots as the right-to-left wind, probably in excess of 30 mph, swept across the course.

Swanson, erring on the safe side, pushed his shot to the right. However, being two down, Sangster didn’t have the luxury of playing conservatively and had to go for the pin.

Sangster’s shot had a bit of draw spin on it and the wind carried it way offline to the left, resulting in a lost ball. His second ball found the front of the green and, with Swanson chipping his ball onto the front of the green, Sangster was in desperate need of a chip in to save the hole.

A gallant attempt followed that slid past the hole and the match was graciously conceded, giving Swanson the championship for the fifth time.


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