TAYLOR (68) WINS BY FIVESHOTS IN NORTH
ALLIANCE AT BRORA
By ROBIN WILSON
After their failings at Tain the previous week, when neither returned a card, Wick’s Ronnie Taylor and Thurso’s Doug Thorburn made amends at Brora on Sunday by finishing first and second respectively to surge ahead in the North of Scotland Alliance Quaich rankings.
Switched to Brora due to the scheduled Struie course at Dornoch still recovering from the heavy rainfall over the past months, the Brora fixture came close to being called off even before the Caithness members arrived. An early morning gale made play near impossible.
The Alliance Secretary (Robin Wilson) said after his round: “I can’t remember playing the second hole in such difficult conditions as I did on Sunday. It was near impossible to find the fairway from the tee and while I was searching in the bent for the two balls I played, other golf balls from the players behind, whom I waved through, were flying over my head and onto the beach. I really did think of suspending play.”
After their failings at Tain the previous week, when neither returned a card, Wick’s Ronnie Taylor and Thurso’s Doug Thorburn made amends at Brora on Sunday by finishing first and second respectively to surge ahead in the North of Scotland Alliance Quaich rankings.
Switched to Brora due to the scheduled Struie course at Dornoch still recovering from the heavy rainfall over the past months, the Brora fixture came close to being called off even before the Caithness members arrived. An early morning gale made play near impossible.
The Alliance Secretary (Robin Wilson) said after his round: “I can’t remember playing the second hole in such difficult conditions as I did on Sunday. It was near impossible to find the fairway from the tee and while I was searching in the bent for the two balls I played, other golf balls from the players behind, whom I waved through, were flying over my head and onto the beach. I really did think of suspending play.”
STERNER STUFF
But Alliance golfers are made of sterner stuff and the gale abated slightly to allow Taylor and Thorburn show their class. Taylor opened with two birdies, something close to impossible had he been out an hour earlier, and, taking further advantage of Brora’s excellent greens, the Wick +2 handicapper recorded three more birdies in halves of 33 and 35 to win by five shots from Thorburn.
Scratch player Thorburn matched Taylor’s birdie 2 on the ninth hole but was five behind with 38. He also matched Taylor over the next nine holes to remain five behind with a 73.
But Alliance golfers are made of sterner stuff and the gale abated slightly to allow Taylor and Thorburn show their class. Taylor opened with two birdies, something close to impossible had he been out an hour earlier, and, taking further advantage of Brora’s excellent greens, the Wick +2 handicapper recorded three more birdies in halves of 33 and 35 to win by five shots from Thorburn.
Scratch player Thorburn matched Taylor’s birdie 2 on the ninth hole but was five behind with 38. He also matched Taylor over the next nine holes to remain five behind with a 73.
It was significant that the handicap winners also came from where they are exposed to windy conditions. Early starter Bruce Fraser (Tain) posted a very creditable net 72 but was overtaken on the inward nine-hole count by Steve Efemey (Reay) with Robin Wilson recovering after his opening problems to get a third place.
Ullapool members will tell you something about gales and their weather experience paid off in the higher handicap section. Gary MacDonald became the first Ullapool member to take a first place in an Alliance outing. Almost last off the course. he recorded a 71 to win by five from clubmate Angus MacDonald.
Ullapool members will tell you something about gales and their weather experience paid off in the higher handicap section. Gary MacDonald became the first Ullapool member to take a first place in an Alliance outing. Almost last off the course. he recorded a 71 to win by five from clubmate Angus MacDonald.
+Picture shows Ron Taylor and son William getting in some putting practice before the round at Brora (picture by Robin Wilson).
Results:
SCRATCH
68 R Taylor (Wick).
73 D Thorburn (Thurso).
75 M Ferries (Tain).
77 B Fraser (Tain), B Ferries (Tain), D MacKay (Reay), W Taylor (Wick), L Parnell (Reay).
HANDICAP
Class 1 – S Efemey (Reay) (9), B Fraser (Tain) (5) 72; R J Wilson (Brora) (5), W R Taylor (Wick) (4), P O’Hare (Thurso) (9) 73.
Class 2 – G MacDonald (Ullapool) (13) 71; A MacDonald (Ullapool) (15) 76; D Mackenzie (Thurso) (12), P Etheridge (Brora) (11) 77.
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, January 29, 2007
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