ESSON AND McINNES TO PLAY

OFF FOR NORTH-EAST

ALLIANCE TITLE

From COLIN FARQUHARSON

Portlethen +3 amateur Gary Esson and Murcar Links staff professional Graeme McInnes, pictured right, will meet over the latter’s home course next Thursday (8.30 am) in a play-off to decide who is the North-east Golfers’ Alliance champion.
They tied on four-under-par 134 after the second round of the 36-hole championship at Fraserburgh Golf Club today.
Esson overtook halfway leader Terry Mathieson (Murcar Links), who shot a 64 at Duff House Royal in the first round last week, to take the clear clubhouse lead for several hours with a one-under-par 69 to add to his first-round 65.
Gary overcame a bogey-bogey start to birdie the seventh, 10th, 12th, 14th and 17th
Terry, who has a +2 rating, could not get a birdie putt to drop over the last 11 holes and parred every one for a 71 (36-35) and 135.
Then, playing in the last threesome in a field of 85, McInnes, sank birdie putts of 15ft at the 17th and 10ft at the last for a superb score of five-under-par 65 and an aggregate of 134.

ESSON LOST PLAY-OFF LAST YEAR
Esson was involved in a play-off for the championship last year – and lost to Ryan Fitzpatrick. McInnes won this title as an amateur in 1996 and a professional in 2001.
Billy Main (Murcar Links) made it an all-amateur 1-2-3 with a fine round of 67 for 139. Like Gary Esson, Billy started with back-to-back bogeys but birdied three in a row from the fourth and actually covered the last 15 holes in five under par because he birdied the 10th and 15th in halves of 34 and 33.
Retired professional Ian Smith, who had been given a handicap of six this past winter season to compensate for his age, rolled back the years in both rounds of the championship to finish up the winner of Class 1 of the Handicap Section.
Ian had a net 67 at Banff and then a net 65 at Fraserburgh to finish four strokes clear of the Class 1 field with a net total of 132.
"I could have been a lot better today, you know, but I did get up and down quite a few times when I missed the green. I'll suppose I'll be back to scratch for the start of the next North-east Alliance season," said Ian.
You can say that again, Mr Smith!
Paul Cornfield, an 11-handicapper at Auchmill, was No 1 in the Class 2 Handicap Section with net rounds of 71 at Duff House Royal and 68 at Fraserburgh for 139 - two shots ahead of clubmate Graeme Travis, who plays off 15.

ESSON-McINNES MEET AGAIN IN PRO-AM FOURSOMES
In the computer-drawn foursomes ties for Murcar Links next Thursday, Graeme McInnes and Gary Esson will meet again, immediately after their play-off is completed, in the first round of the Evening Express Shield pro-am tournament.
Graeme has young Dean Yeats as his partner while Gary will be partnered by Kings Links Golf Centre staff professional Steven Troup.

FINAL TOTALS
First round: Duff House Royal, Par 68.
Second round: Fraserburgh, Par 70
134 G Esson (Portlethen) 65 69, G McInnes (Murcar Links) 69 65.
135 T Mathieson (Murcar Links) 64 71.
139 W Main (Murcar Links) 72 67.
141 P Cormack (Inchmarlo) 67 74, P Lovie (Inchmarlo) 69 72.
142 G Grimmer (Nigg Bay) 69 73, C Stephen (Meldrum House) 69 73, D Yeats (Newmachar) 68 74.
143 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club) 71 72.
144 R Stewart (Cruden Bay) 69 75, R Hyland (Hazelehead) 73 71, I D Smith (Hazlehead) 73 71.
145 S Pert (Huntly) 70 75, S Fraser (Royal Aberdeen) 73 72.
146 S Finnie (Caledonian) 70 76.
147 A Campbell (Deeside) 69 78, B Ritchie (Inverallochy) 74 73, N Reid (Deeside) 77 70, S Troup (Kings Links) 70 77, C Alexander (Murcar Links) 71 76.
148 S Scott (Auchmill) 75 73, J Roberts (Cruden Bay) 72 76, L Barbour (Cruden Bay) 75 73, I Welsh (Nigg Bay) 79 69, R McDonald (Kemnay) 72 76.
149 J Nicholson (Auchmill) 72 77.
150 A K Pirie (Hazlehead) 74 76.
151 S Davidson (Banchory) 78 73.
152 J M Hamilton (Murcar Links) 74 78, A Innes (Murcar Links) 74 78.
153 S Chalmers (Banchory) 76 77.
154 D Nelson (Aboyne) 78 76, D Corkey (East Aberdeenshire) 74 80.
155 C Hood (Alford) 77 78, R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) 76 79, N Williamson (Banchory) 75 80.
159 B Harper (Newburgh) 76 83, J Kinsella (Braemar) 77 82, D Leighton (Murcar Links) 79 80.

LEADING HANDICAP TOTALS
CLASS 1
132 I D Smith (Hazlehead) (6) 67 65. 136 J Roberts (Cruden Bay) (6) 66 70. 137 C Hood C(Alford) (9) 68 69. 138 G Grimmer (Nigg Bay) (2) 67 71. 139 W Main (Murcar Links) (+2) 72 67, T Mathieson (Murcar Links) (+2) 66 73, S Pert (Huntly) (3) 67 72. 140 G Esson (Portlethen) (+3) 68 72. 141 C Alexander (Murcar Links) (43) 68 73, J Nicolson (Auchmill) (4) 68 73. 142 S Scott (Auchmill) (3) 72 70, J M Hamilton (Murcar Links) (5) 69 73, A Grant (Portlethen) (7) 71 71,D Nelson (Aboyne) (6) 72 70. 143 J Kinsella (Braemar) (8) 69 74, B Ritchie (Inverallochy) (2) 72 71, N Williamson (Banchory) (6) 69 74, S Fraser (Royal Aberdeen) (1) 72 71. 144 A Buchan (Northern) (9) 65 79. 145 R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) 95) 71 74, R Hyland (Hazlehead) (+1) 71 74.

CLASS 2
139 P Cornfield (Auchmill) (11) 71 68. 141 G Travis (Auchmill) (15) 68 73. 142 I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (11) 70 72. 144 B Lumsden (Northern) (16) 71 73, W McBain (Turriff) (13) 68 76. 146 W D Rae (Kemnay) (11) 73 73, D Wood (Newburgh) (14) 74 72, G Kennedy (Meldrum House) (11) 75 71, M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (14) 71 75, D Moir (Murcar Links) (12) 70 76. 147 N A Ogston (Turriff) (11) 70 77, J Wilson (Deeside) (10) 72 75. 150 J Short (Murcar Links) (14) 75 75. 151 R Alison (Deeide) (13) 76 75, R Addison (Newburgh) (18) 74 77, J Jessiman (Oldmeldrum) (14) 74 77. 152 W Forbes (Murcar Links) (15) 73 79.

FRASERBURGH PAR SCORECARD 70
OUT: 4-4-4-4-3-5-3-4-4-35. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-5-4-3-4-35

GRAEME McINNES 65
OUT: 4-4-3-4-3-5-3-4-4-34. IN: 3-4-3-4-3-5-4-2-3-31

BILLY MAIN 67
OUT: 5-5-4-3-2-4-3-4-4-34. IN: 3-4-4-4-3-4-4-3-4-33

GARY ESSON 69
OUT: 5-5-4-4-3-5-2-5-4-37. IN: 3-4-3-4-2-5-5-2-4-32

IAN WELSH 69
OUT: 4-5-3-3-3--5-4-4-4-35. IN: 3-4-4-5-3-4-4-3-4-34

NICK REID 70
OUT: 5-4-4-6-3-4-3-4-4-37. IN: 3-4-4-4-3-4-4-3-4-33

TERRY MATHIESON 71
OUT: 4-5-3-4-3-5-4-4-4-36. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-5-4-3-4-35

Draws for next Thursday and Friday's pro-am and am-am match-play foursomes competitions at Murcar Links:

EVENING EXPRESS SHIELD
First round

9.0 N Reid (Deeside) & C Stephen (Meldrum House) v S Davidson (Banchory) & T Mathieson (Murcar Links).

9.10 R McDonald (Kemnay) & S Fraser (Royal Aberdeen) v I D Smith (Hazlehead) & W Main (Murcar Links.

9.20 S Troup (King's Links) & G Esson (Portlethen) v G McInnes (Murcar Links) & D Yeats (Newmachar).

9.30 P Cormack (Inchmarlo) & R Hyland (Hazlehead) v P Lovie (Inchmarlo) & G Grimmer (Nigg Bay).

PRESS & JOURNAL SHIELD
First round

9.40 J Roberts (Cruden Bay) (6) & P Cornfield (Aucmhill) (11) v C Alexander (Murcar Links) (3) & I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (11). Roberts & Cornfield receive two strokes.

9.50 B Ritchie (Inverallochy) (2) & D Wood (Newburgh) (14) v S Scott (Auchmill) (3) & W McBain (Turriff) (13). Level match.

10.00 A Grant (Portlethen) (7) & W D Rae (Kemnay) (11) v J M Hamilton (Murcar Liks) (5) & G Travis (Auchmill) (15). Hamilton & Travis receive one stroke.

10.10 C Hood (Alford) (9) & B Lumsden (Northern) (16) v D Nelson (Aboyne) (6) & G Kennedy (Meldrum House) (11). Hood & Lumsden receive four strokes.