THREE NAIRN MEMBERS SURVIVE CUT AS
IRISHMAN PIERSE LEADS BY TWO

Nairn Golf Club member Patrick Tomisson is rubbing shoulders with the elite of the over-55s circuit as the British senior men’s amateur golf championship moves into its third and final round over his home links tomorrow.
Patrick has shot 73 over both the Nairn and Nairn Dunbar courses for a very tidy two-over-par tally of 146.
And there must be something to the theory that local knowledge is worth a couple of shots around on these courses because two other Nairn members, Peter Saggers and Robin Patson also beat the cut which reduced the massive field of 250+ to the leading 60 and ties after 36 holes.
Those who scored 10-over-par 154 or better made it through to the final day.
At the top of the board we have an international cast – former Walker Cup player and Tipperary garage owner Arthur Pierse, Spain’s Miguel Preysler who is related through marriage to singer Julio Iglesias, and Graham Cooke from Hudson, Quebec, billed as a “legend in Canadian amateur golf” in the reference books.
Preysler, 59, from Malaga, last year’s European senior amateur champion and third in this year’s event, set the early second-round target of four-under-par 140 after a two-under of 70.
In cooler, windier conditions than prevailed for the first round, Preysler made his score at Nairn Dunbar with an outward half of three-under-par 32.
He birdied the first, second, sixth and ninth with only one bogey at the fifth.
The Spaniard had to battle for his figures after the turn and bogeyed the 10th, 14th and 15th but birdies at the 11th and 16th helped him salvage a one-over-par inward 38.
Then Preysler was dislodged from the pole position by Arthur Pierse in mid-afternoon, by which time, the flags were barely stirring.
Pierse shot a 71 at Nairn Dunbar for seven-under-par 137.
Arthur played in the 1983 Walker Cup team captained by Charlie Green at Hoylake where the team included Scots George Macgregor, Andy Oldcorner, Lindsay Mann and David Carrick.
Pierse is a remarkable man in many ways. He was a fixture in the Ireland amateur international team from 1976 to 1987 – yet he maintains he has never had a golf lesson and learned how to play golf by reading Ben Hogan’s book “The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” several times.
“I would recommend it to anybody who wants to become a better golfer,” says Arthur who birdied the second, 13th, 14th and 16th with bogeys at the third, 10th and 15th in so-steady halves of 35 and 36.
Canadian Graham Cooke has strung together a pair of 70s to be alongside Preysler on 140. Astonishingly, the seven-time Canadian Mid-Amateur champion and twice Canadian senior title-holder, had a triple bogey 7 at the sixth hole at Nairn Dunbar. That lit the fire under him and he covered the last 12 holes in five under with birdies at the seventh, 13th and 14th and an eagle 3 at the 16th for 33 (four under par) home.
On the same two-over-par 146 mark as Tomisson – sharing 10th place overall - is former Newtonmore shinty star John Fraser whose teaching profession took him from Aberdeen to Edinburgh and from Murcar Links to Royal Burgess golf club.
Fraser can swing a golf club as well as he used to wield a caman. John salvaged a 73 at Nairn Dunbar after going out in one-under 34 and then crashing to a double bogey 6 at the 10th and a bogey 4 at the short 11th.
He was able to birdie 13th and 16th.
Two members of the Scotland team to defend the European seniors title in Slovenia next week, John Johnston (Royal Aberdeen) and Monifieth maestro Ian Hutcheon qualified with ease on 149. Hutcheon had a 73 at Nairn Dunbar for 149, the same score as Johnston who looked in trouble after a 79 at Nairn on Thursday. But his round of 70 at Nairn Dunbar was bettered only by former British champion Joel Hirsch’s 69.
John looked on his way out of the tournament when a double bogey 6 at the fifth saw him turn in two over par 37, but he birdied the 11th,13th, 15th and 16th in a sparkling four-under-par inward half of 34.
Scottish seniors champion three times in the past five years, Ian Hutcheon from Monifieth assured himself a place among the qualifiers with a 73 at Nairn Dunbar for 149.
Hutcheon had a dreadful start, bogeying the third, fourth, fifth and sixth before he settled to birdie the eighth, ninth, 11th, 12th and 16th in halves of 37 and 36.
Two Aberdonians who have been playing well on the new SGU Scottish seniors circuit, George Paterson (Northern) and Alastair Fiddes (Murcar Links) made it through on 150 and 152 respectively. Both sagged a little on the second day, George with a 77 and Alastair with a 79 but they can be quite proud to have reached the final day of a British championship.
So too can Nairn's Peter Saggers and Robin Paton who made it through on 151 (75-76) and 154 (75-79) respectively.
Surprising non-qualifiers – with just one shot too many – former Walker Cup player George Macgregor (Glencorse) with an 80 for 155 and Mike Bell, the reigning US Senior amateur champion from Indianapolis. Mike too had an 80.