Alliance Golf

By Robin Wilson

Tarbat Golf Club Green keeper, Mike Keay (pictured to the right in the photograph) a first season member of the North Golf Alliance emerged with the Mackintosh Salver the reward for consistent scoring over the winter season when the fixtures drew to a close at Tain Golf Club last weekend.

Wick’s scratch player member Ron Taylor (pictured left in the photograph) came to Tain to set his seal on another Alliance Quaich success but although he triumphed for a third successive season he had to give way to local five handicapper Steve Holmes for Sunday’s individual return giving Holmes his first Alliance scratch win.

Holmes shot a 72 to Taylor’s 73 in bright sunny conditions against a field of 55 where the scoring was not all that low due to tricky putting surfaces. But Holmes found no problems holing putts. Three single putts on the 2nd, 6th and 7th greens took his card to three under par after seven holes before dropping pack to a one under par 34 for the first nine with bogies on the final two outward holes. His momentum was maintained with a birdie three at the Alps only to let it slip away with a bogey six at the long 13th.where he took three from the front of the green and then another six arrived from an out of bounds wayward drive from the 15th tee. But it is great what a two does on a card and when Holmes chipped in for his fifth birdie of the round at the next hole he salvaged an inward 38 for 72 and first scratch success.

Keay had also done enough before Sunday’s final fixture and his late challenger for the handicap silverware was not his closest rival, Richard MacDonald (Reay) with whom he went into the fixture tied on aggregate scores of 276 but from the eventual scratch winner.

Neither Keay nor MacDonald made any improvement on their scores for the Salver so they remained tied and the separation came on comparison of away scores. Keay won this by ten shots from his two net returns of 68 in Caithness while MacDonald mustered only a 71 and a 75 at venues out with his home county. After his handicap was applied Steve Holmes’s gross 72 became a net 67 to climb into third place, just a stroke back on 277.

Taylor has just past his 53rd birthday but he has maintained a consistency that twenty years ago raised the standard of play at Wick and made him a regular selection in North District teams. Not long from the tee by today’s standards his strength is in his accuracy rarely missing a fairway. From a simple flawless swing his iron play is sound and he still holds onto a plus rating handicap.

Doug Thorburn (Thurso) resigned himself to second place in the Quaich competition by not playing at Tain and it would have been unlikely he would have closed the gap after Taylor carded another consistent round from halves of 36 and 37 to finish with 281 and Thorburn the runner up with 286.

Only visitors Ron Barker (Wick) and Francis Keith (Durness) broke the local stranglehold in the Class 1 Handicap section that was headed by Phil Blyth a net 68, off 8, and Bruce Fraser a net 70, off 5. Barker came third with net 73 and then the Salver winner, Mike Keay the best of two others with a similar score of 74.

The Class 2 winner Gerald Klein with a net 69 raised Durness to the Team trophy (Durness team pictured right) with a net total of 293, 13 ahead of second placed Reay. Completing the Durness total were Francis Keith, Martin Mackay and Lachie Ross. Hosts Tain, despite all their low scores in Class 1, were disadvantaged by having no players in the higher handicap section from where two scores had to be submitted in the team competition.

Results. Scratch – 72 S. Holmes (Tain). 73 R. W. Taylor (Wick). 75 B. Fraser (Tain). 76 P. Blyth (Tain). 77 M. Sangster (Tain). 79 B. Ferries (Tain). 80 L. Parnell (Reay), R. Barker (Wick). 81 M. Ferries (Tain), C. Ilett (Tain), M. Keay (Tain) W.R. Taylor (Wick).
Handicap Class 1 – P. Blyth (Tain) (8) 68. B. Fraser (Tain) (5) 70. R. Barker (Wick) (7) 73. M. Keay (Tain) 97), M. Sangster (Tain) (3), F. Keith (Durness) (10) 74. Class 2 – G. Klein (Durness) (20) 69. D. MacKenzie (Thurso) (12), L. Ross (Durness (11) 72. A. MacKay (Reay) (19), J. MacKenzie (Durness) (17) 75.

Club News. Results from Tain’s six-club stableford competition last Saturday were;
1st C Bottomley (6) 37 pts B.I.H. 2nd R Phillips (9) 37 pts and 3rd M Ferries (scr) 36 pts. leaving the Tain scratch player wondering how he can score a gross 70 with six clubs and twenty four hours later with all fourteen not get round in under 80!
Pairs - R Phillips & C Watson (11) 72 pts