LAURIE PHILLIPS WINS THE

TROPHY HIS GREAT

GRANDFATHER DONATED

Cruden Bay champion Laurie Phillips achieved a golfing ambition at Royal Aberdeen today – he won the prestigious Phillips Trophy, donated by his late great grandfather Jocky Phillips.
“It’s only fairly recently that Cruden Bay members have been eligible to play in this 36-hole event. It used to be a tournament for members of Aberdeen golf clubs only. Once, the rules were changed and I could play – I set my heart on winning it, for the Phillips family, you might say,” said Laurie, a 28-year-old drilling engineer with an oil company.
Winner of the Cruden Bay club championship for a third time last week, Phillips, whose +3 rating makes him one of the top amateur golfers in the North-east, continued his good form over a Balgownie links which is so tough off the very back tees – 6,900yd – that first rounds were taking up to 5hr to complete.
“We were playing an even longer course than when Tom Watson won the Senior British Open here a couple of years ago, some 600 yards longer than my own Cruden Bay course,” said Laurie, “but I love Balgownie. It’s a great test, and a fair one, of links golf, it really is. If you can hit the fairways, you can score well. If you don’t, you won’t.The greens were perfect as well.”
Phillips, who hit the ball solidly throughout, had rounds of 73 and 72 over the par-71 lay-out for a three-over-par total of 145. The CSS for the morning round was 76 and 77 for the afternoon/evening
Laurie won by four shots from Kris Nicoll (Fraserburgh) and defending champion Allan Reith (Royal Aberdeen) despite three-putt double bogeys at the fifth and ninth in his second round.
He more than compensated with birdies at the second, the fourth (where he holed a bunker shot), the sixth, seventh and 15th. His bag of birdies for the day totalled seven.
There were 16 No Returns in a field of 69.
The Phillips Trophy tournament is sponsored by Ritson Smith.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 142 (2 x 71) CSS 76 77
145 L Phillips (Cruden Bay) 73 72.
149 K Nicol (Fraserburgh) 73 76, A Reith (Royal Aberdeen) 73 76.
150 N McKinnon (Murcar Links) 74 76, M Halliday (Royal Aberdeen) 74 76.
152 B Innes (Murcar Links) 78 74.
153 G Stewart (Murcar Links) 80 73.
154 F Milne (Fraserburgh) 73 81.
155 D Macandrew (Royal Aberdeen) 77 78.
156 A Bews (Murcar Links) 80 76, M Buchan (Cruden Bay) 78 78, M Lynch (Hazlehead) 76 80.
157 I Galbraith (Murcar Links) 74 83, R Evett (Northern) 79 78.
158 D Raitt (Murcar Links) 82 76.
159 A Campbell (Deeside) 78 81, I Welsh (Nigg Bay) 81 78, C McKen (Murcar Links) 76 83.
160 M W N Wilson (Royal Aberdeen) 77 83, G Paterson (Northern) 80 80.
161 K Duthie (Hazlehead) 81 80.
162 A Styles (Caledonian) 82 80, W Main (Murcar Links) 86 76, R Nielsen (Nigg Bay) 80 82.
163 S Buchan (Royal Aberdeen) 82 81, C Fraser (Royal Aberdeen) 80 83, S Burt (Murcar Links) 81 82, S Jamieson (Nigg Bay) 78 84.
164 R Barr (Newmachar) 82 82, L Shand (Portlethen) 80 84, R Hewitt (Caledonian) 80 84.
165 A Fiddes (Murcar Links) 84 81, N Sadler (Murcar Links) 86 79, E Keith (McDonald Ellon) 83 82.
166 F Clark jun (Royal Aberdeen) 81 85, D S S Smith (Portlethen) 85 81..
167 G Sharp (Murcar Links) 82 85.
168 D Corkey (East Aberdeenshire) 90 78.
169 M Clark (Royal Aberdeen) 83 86.
170 A Powell 87 83.
171 M Dunn (Bon Accord) 87 84, J W Johnston (Royal Aberdeen) 83 88, G Nethercott (Caledonian) 84 87.
176 A Doig (Caledonian) 88 88, B Mitchell (Murcar Links) 88 88, S McCulloch (McDonald Ellon) 87 89.
177 N McCulloch (Cruden Bay) 89 88, W Ross (Caledonian) 94 83.
178 G Grimmer (Nigg Bay) 95 83.
179 J Dickson (Caledonian) 88 91.
181 D Forman (East Aberdeenshire) 92 89.
182 N Harper (Deeside) 90 92.
187 R Forbes 95 92.
190 J Fowles (Oldmeldrum) 93 97.
201 A Haining (Bon Accord) 104 97.
NRs: S Finnie, I Powell, G Hogg, B Taylor, D McKay, E Laird, I Thomson, J Findlay, J Mitrchell, J Allan, R Hyland, R Ord, R Rimmer, R Tait.

++Apologies to Mr C McKen (Murcar Links) for listing him as one of the "No Returns" until Tuesday morning when we received a message from him, pointing out that he had scores of 76 and 83 for 159. Mr McKen was listed as a "No Return" in the official print-out by the organisers at the conclusion of the tournament.