CLACKMANNAN COUNTY'S NEW

BOY MATCH-PLAY CHAMPIONS

By HUGH HUNTER

New boy match-play champions were crowned at the conclusion of the 2007 events. The premier event was for the Ponton shield and the resultant senior boy match-play champion was Scott Clark of Braehead with a surprisingly easy victory over the stroke-play champion Grant Dowie (Alloa).
Scott, a fifth year student at Alloa Academy, established a two-hole lead by the seventh, and gradually increased it with confident play to close out Grant by 6 and 5 and deny him the chance of doing the double.
Both Scott and Grant had comfortable wins in their semi-finals although Scott lost two out of the first three holes before fighting back against Gary Elliot (Alva).
In the junior final for the Anderson Trophy, Lawrence Allan (Alva) once again produced an amazing performance to take the title on the last green from Gary Chalmers (Dollar).
In a close match, which was square at the 10th and square again after 16 holes, the 12-year-old Alva star finished with two pars to edge out Gary again and add the match-play title to the stroke-play title which he won recently. And he still has another six years in boys’ golf!!
In the semi-finals at Tillicoultry, Lawrence got the better of his fellow Alva golfer Daniel Ashe, while Gary was awarded his tie after his opponent failed to turn up at his allotted tee time.
The final of the handicap event between William Nelson and Martin Hall looked as if it would finish early with William moving into a three-hole lead by the ninth. However, Martin fought back reducing the lead, but ran out of holes eventually, and left William as the Jubilee trophy winner.
In their semi-finals, Martin reversed a one-hole deficit at the turn, while William took until the last few holes to overcome 10-year-old Brian Macadam who must have found the hills of Tillicoultry golf course a bit of an ordeal on the second circuit.
The support of this event by Mr Kenneth Thomson of Thomson printers from Alloa is much appreciated by the players and Clackmannan County Golf Union.

Caption for Hugh Hunter's picture above. Front row (left to right): Lawrence Allan, Scott Clark, William Nelson. Back row: Mr Kenneth Thomson (Alloa Printers), Gary Chalmers, Martin Hall and Grant Dowie.

FULL RESULTS

PONTON SHIELD
Semi-finals – S Clark (Braehead) bt G Elliot (Alva) 4 and 3, G Dowie (Alloa) bt S McPherson (Dollar) 7 and 6.
Final – Clark bt Dowie 6 and 5.

ANDERSON TROPHY
Semi-finals – L Allan (Alva) bt D Ashe (Alva) 5 and 4, G Chalmers (Dollar) w.o. J Pollock (Braehead) scr.
Final – Allan bt Calmers 2 holes.

JUBILEE TROPHY
Semi-finals – W Nelson (Alloa) (23) bt B McAdam (Alloa) (26) 4 and 2, M Hall (Alva) (16) bt N. Forbes (Alva) (14) 2 and 1.
Final – Nelson bt Hall 2 and 1.

Now that the boys’ championships have been decided, the boys will turn their attention to the boys’ league matches, starting soon between the county clubs. At the same time, the selectors will be choosing four boys to represent Clackmannanshire in the national boys’ area team championship to be held at Forres Golf Club on June 10.
It’s now almost 30 years since Clackmannanshire won this title when it was played at Alloa Golf Club in 1978.