North-East Golfers' Alliance competitor in the wars

FLORENCE ENDS UP IN HOSPITAL
AFTER BEING STRUCK BY DRIVE
AT MURCAR LINKS

North-east Golfers' Alliance competitor Stuart Florence from Oldmeldrum was struck on the head by a wayward drive from the second tee as he approached the first green at Murcar Links Golf Club today.
Stuart was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by ambulance and released after having several stitches inserted in the wound.
Banchory assistant professional Stewart Davidson, pictured right, scored his second win of the Alliance season with a one-under-par round of 68 on a day of non-stop rain. The 25-year-old from Braemar scored his first-ever Alliance win at Portlethen in late November.
Highlight of Stewart’s card at Murcar Links was an eagle 2 at the 323yd ninth hole.
He backed that up with birdies at the sixth, 10th, 15th, 16th and 17th , cancelling out bogeys at the third, fourth, seventh, eighth, 13th and 14th in halves of 36 (one over par) and 32 (two under par).
Davidson won by one stroke from professionals Neil Murray (Cruden Bay) and Graeme McInnes (Murcar Links), both of whom had halves of 36 and 33.

CAMPBELL BACK IN 31

Fourth-placed Andrew Campbell, the scratch Deeside amateur, had the best inward half of the day - 31 shots with four birdies and a bogey in the last six holes. He finished on 70.

Host club professional Gary Forbes was not able to finish at all after going out in 37. He tore the muscles of his upper right arm in trying to stop his caddie car, heavier than usual with an umbrella attached, toppling over.

"It happened at the seventh and I managed to play a couple of holes but it was so painful playing the shots that I had to close my eyes and I couldn't see where the balls were going. So I walked in after nine," said Gary.

Another Murcar Links player, Nigel Parker, ran up a 10 - including five bunker shots - at the par-4 last when he was heading for a respectable score.

A total of 92 players braved the rain but the fact that there were 31 No Returns underlines that the conditions were pretty miserable even by mid-winter Alliance standards.

Hopefully, the sun will shine next Wednesday at Newburgh-on-Ythan Golf Club.

LEADING SCORES
(Par 69)

SCRATCH
68 S Davidson (Banchory).
69 N Murray (Cruden Bay), G McInnes (Murcar Links).
70 A Campbell (Deeside).
71 T Mathieson (Murcar Links), R McDonald (Kemnay).
72 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club), G Ingram (Inverurie).
73 W Main (Murcar Links), S Murray (Aspire).
74 N Reid (Deeside), D Yeats (Newmachar).
75 S Elrick (Kemnay), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links)..
76 M Kidd (Newburgh), S Kidd (Newburgh), R Penny (Portlethen).
77 A K Pirie (Hazlehead), I Welsh (Nigg Bay), J Roberts (Cruden Bay), R Stewart (Cruden Bay), S Scott (Auchmill), S Finnie (Caledonian), D Garrett (Huntly), S Fraser (Northern).
78 C Hood (Alford), G Grimmer (Nigg Bay), A S Buchan (Newburgh).
79 F Bisset (Banchory), A Grant (Portlethen), D Leighton (Murcar Links), A Thouless (Nigg Bay).
80 M Lawrie (Kemnay), A Innes (Murcar Links).

81 T Collie (Kemnay), A Graham (Portlethen).

82 B Harper (Newburgh), K Smith (Aboyne).

HANDICAP
Class 1 – G Ingram (Inverurie) (4) 68; S Kidd (Newburgh) (7) 69; A Campbell (Deeside) (scr), S Elrick (Kemnay) (5), J Roberts (Cruden Bay) (7), D Wilson (Duff House Royal) (5) 70; A S Buchan (Newburgh) (6), A Grant (Portlethen) (7) 72; T Mathieson (Murcar Links) (+2), W Main (Murcar Links) (scr), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2), F Barclay (Kintore) (7) 73.

Class 2 – M Kidd (Newburgh) (10) 66; D Barr (Murcar Links) (10) 67; C Hood (Alford) (19) 68; T Collie (Kemnay) (10) 71; M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (14) 73; D Wood (Newburgh) (14) 77; D Randall (Banchory) (11), B Lumsden (Northern) (16) 78.

LEADING SCORECARDS

MURCAR LINKS WINTER COURSE PAR 69

OUT - 4-4-4-4-3-4-4-4-4-35; IN - 4-4-3-4-3-4-4-4-4-34

STEWART DAVIDSON 68

OUT - 4-4-5-5-3-3-5-5-2-36; IN - 3-4-3-5-4-3-3-3-4-32

NEIL MURRAY 69

OUT - 4-4-4-5-3-5-4-4-3-36; IN - 3-4-4-4-4-3-4-4-3-33

GRAEME McINNES 69

OUT - 3-4-4-3-4-4-6-4-4-36; IN - 3-4-3-4-3-4-4-4-4-33

ANDREW CAMPBELL 70

OUT - 5-4-3-5-3-5-5-5-4-39; IN - 4-4-3-3-4-3-4-3-3-31

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