RONNIE McDONALD COMES
WITH LATE BIRDIE RUN
TO WIN AT NEWBURGH

Kemnay club professional Ronnie McDonald, in the second last group to finish in a field of 88, covered the last 10 holes in five under par at Newburgh on Ythan today on his way to a first victory of the season on the North-east Golfers’ Alliance circuit.
McDonald, who would dearly love to get on the European Seniors Tour, was three over par after eight holes in quite windy conditions, but he got his game into gear with birdies at the ninth, 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th for 32 home and a two-under-par score of 70.

At the last hole, he sank a 6ft putt to save par and clinch a one-shot victory.

Playing partner David Corkey (East Aberdeenshire) said: "I thought Ronnie drove the ball very well. That was the key part of his game and I had a feeling that putt he holed at the last would prove crucial - and so it did."
Earlier Ronnie had bogey 5s at the fourth, sixth and eighth.
McDonald's 70 demoted the long-time clubhouse leader Meldrum House amateur Craig Stephen, who plays off +2. Stephen had earlier birdied four holes in a row from the ninth to the 12th and returned a 71.
Until late slips at the 16th and 18th, Craig's only shot dropped had been at the first hole.
Four-handicapper John Nicolson (Auchmill) and Colin Nelson, the professional at MacKenzie Club Shop at Hazlehead, tied for third place on 73.
Nicolson has been playing well this winter season and this was another gutsy round in testing conditions. He dropped shots at the second and eighth, but got one back with a birdie 4 at the long ninth to turn in one-over 37.
Coming home, John had a string of pars before dropping a shot at the 16th. Once again he hit back right away with a birdie at the 17th to come home in level par 36.
Colin Nelson gave himself too much ground to make up after bogeying the second, third and fifth to be out in three-over-par 39. He began to make amends with birdies at the 10th and 12th but dropped a fourth shot at the 16th and a birdie 3 at the 17th was needed to share third place.
Conditions were tough, especially for those with double-figure handicaps. One, who shall remain nameless, finished 10-5-11 for an inward half of 56. But that's winter alliance golf.
As one player said to me as he handed his scorecard to Ron Menzies, "That's it! I'm giving this game up .... until next Wednesday."

Leading scores (par 72)

SCRATCH
70 R McDonald (Kemnay) p.
71 C Stephen (Meldrum House).
73 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club) p, J Nicolson (Auchmill).
74 P Lovie (Inchmarlo) p, S Fraser (Northern).
75 A Campbell (Deeside), T Mathieson (Murcar Links), D Corkey (East Aberdeenshire).
76 N Murray (Cruden Bay) p, A K Pirie (Hazlehead), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) s.
77 I Bratton (Newburgh) p, S Murray (Aspire) p, S Finnie (Caledonian), E Kennedy (Stonehaven).
78 I Welsh (Nigg Bay), G Ingram (Inverurie).
79 R Pirie (Caledonian), C Alexander (Murcar Links) s.
80 R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) s, R Stewart (Cruden Bay) p, D Wilson (Duff House Royal), A Graham (Portlethen), A Grant (Portlethen).
81 S Kidd (Newburgh).
82 C Cassie (Nigg Bay), D Leighton (Murcar Links).
83 B Harper (Newburgh), J Roberts (Cruden Bay), N Reid (Deeside) ap, N Parker (Murcar Links) s.
84 A Innes (Murcar Links).
85 S Elrick (Kemnay), J M Hamilton (Murcar Links), N Williamson (Banchory).
86 C Hood (Alford), M Lawrie (Kemnay), P Cornfield (Auchmill), F Bisset (Banchory).
87 A Nelson (Banchory).
88 J Murray (Banchory), D McKay (Caledonian) s, D Moir (Murcar Links), D McGlachan (Inverurie).

HANDICAP
Class 1 – J Nicolson (Auchmill) (4) 69; C Stephen (Meldrum House) (+2), A Grant (Portlethen) (7), S Fraser (Northern) (1), D Corkey (East Aberdeenshire) (2) 73; C Cassie (Nigg Bay) (8), S Kidd (Newburgh) (7), A K Pirie (Hazlehead), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2) s 74; A Campbell (Deeside) (scr), R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) s, D Wilson (Duff House Royal), G Ingram (Inverurie) (3) 75; J Roberts (Cruden Bay) (7), R Pirie (Caledonaian) (3), A Graham (Portlethen) (4), C Alexander (Murcar Links) (3) s 76; B Harper (Newburgh) (6), T Mathieson (Murcar Links) (+2), K Smith (Aboyne) (6), S Finnie (Caledonian) (scr), E Kennedy (Stonehaven) (scr), D Leighton (Murcar Links) (5), N Parker (6) s 77.
Class 2 – P Cornfield (Auchmill) (11) 75; C Hood (Alford) (10), D Moir (Murcar Links) (12) 76; D Lawrie (Inchmarlo) (12), C Carry (Inchmarlo) (11) 78; M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (14) s, W Forbes (Murcar Links) (15) s 79; D Wood (Newburgh) (14) s, W D Rae (Kemnay) (11) s, G Kennedy (Meldrum House) (11), J Penny (Huntly) (12) 80; K Duncan (Cruden Bay) (12) 81; J Robb (Turriff) (11), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (12) s 82; I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (11) s; D Randall (Banchory) (11) s 84; B Lumsden (Northern) (16) 85; G Homer (Lumphanan (12) 86; T Collie (Kemnay) (10) 87.

p denotes professional; ap assistant professional; s senior.

SCORECARD FOR NEWBURGH WINTER COURSE: Par 72
OUT: 4-3-5-4-3-4-4-4-5-36. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-36

RONNIE McDONALD 70
OUT: 4-3-5-5-3-5-4-5-4-38. IN: 4-4-3-3-4-3-4-3-4-32

CRAIG STEPHEN 71
OUT: 5-3-5--4-3-4-4-4-4-36. IN: 3-3-3-4-4-4-5-4-5-35

COLIN NELSON 73
OUT: 4-4-6-4-4-4-4-4-5-39. IN: 3-4-3-4-4-4-5-3-4-34

JOHN NICOLSON 73
OUT: 4-4-5-4-3-4-4-5-4-37. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-5-3-4-36

NEXT WEDNESDAY'S ALLIANCE COMPETITION IS AT CRUDEN BAY.
WE HOPE TO HAVE SOME NEWS ON THIS WEBSITE BEFORE THEN OF WHICH COURSE WILL BE IN OPERATION FOR ALLIANCE MEMBERS THAT DAY.