North-east Alliance weekly report

NEW PUTTER HELPS CRAIG STEPHEN

A TWO-SHOT WIN WITH A 64

AT BALLATER

FROM COLIN FARQUHARSON
Meldrum House +2 amateur Craig Stephen put a new putter in his bag and “holed everything” in winning today’s North-east Golfers’ Alliance meeting at Ballater with a six-under-par 64 to head a field of 93 by two strokes.
“I haven’t putted well for ages so I decided to do something about it. I discarded my old Ping putter and tried out a heavier one to see if it would make any difference,” said Stephen, pictured right.
“The change worked a treat – on the Ballater greens anyway!”
After an hour’s delay because of lingering overnight frost, Stephen birdied the first, seventh, eighth, 11th, 14th, 15th and 18th and had one bogey, at the third, in halves of 33 (two under par) and 31 (four under par).
Murcar Links staff professional Graeme McInnes, recent winner of the Scottish Alliance championship, finished runner-up on 66 after being ahead of Stephen with an outward half of 32.

The lowest outward half was a 31 by Simon Cruickshank (Deeside), making an Alliance comeback after a lengthy absence. Simon finished in a tie for third place on 67 with George Bruce (Westhill) and Stewart Finnie (Caledonian) after an inward half of 36, which included a four-over-par run from the 12th to the 15th.
The lowest net score was a 59 off 11 by Stuart Garden (Hazlehead). It was the first sub-60 net return for some time on the winter circuit.
Winter greens were used at the first 13 holes because of the frost.
Leading scratch
Par 70
64 C Stephen (Meldrum House) 33-31.
66 G McInnes (Murcar Links) 32-34
67 S Cruickshank (Deeside) 31-36, S Finnie (Caledonian) 33-34, G Bruce (Westhill) 32-35.
68 G Esson (Portlethen) 32-36, A Campbell (Deeside) 35-33.
69 J Mooney (Turriff).
70 S Garden (Hazlehead), P Lovie (Inchmarlo), C Carnegie (Kemnay)..
71 S Scott (Auchmill), L Taylor (Auchmill), G Allan (Newmachar), D Thomson (Murcar Links), S Davidson (Banchory), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links), A Grant (Portlethen), A McInnes (Murcar Links), R Pirie (Caledonian), D Nelson (Aboyne).
72 G Mitchell (Braemar), D Garrett (Huntly).
73 R Grant (Caledonian), J Nicolson (Auchmill), I D Smith (Hazlehead), A Graham (Portlethen), D McKay (Caledonian), M Lawrie (Kemnay).
74 S Chalmers (Banchory), H Roulston (Stonehaven), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), I McGregor (Nigg Bay), S Lawrie (Portlethen), R Stephen (Turriff).
75 M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), N K Parker (Murcar Links).
76 A Nelson (Banchory), J Forrest (Northern), F Bisset (Banchory), M F Rogers (Kemnay), R Hyland (Hazlehead), T Collie (Kemnay).
77 N Hardie (Kintore), J M Hamilton (Murcar Links), A Petrie (Oldmeldrum), C Alexander (Murcar Links).
78 J Kinsella (Braemar), J Dalgarno (Hazlehead), C Cassie (Nigg Bay), P Vaid (Westhill), I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen), D Clark (Duff House Royal), A Stewart (Hazlehead).
79 S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen), W McBain (Turriff).

Leading handicap
Class 1 – D Nelson (Aboyne) (7) 64; S Cruickshank (Deeside) (2), G Mitchell (Braemar) (7), A Grant (Portlethen) (6), D McKay (Caledonian) (8) 65; L Taylor (Auchmill) (5), C Stephen (Meldrum House) (+2), S Finnie (Caledonain), L Taylor (Auchmill) (5), A McInnes (Murcar Links) 66; S Scott (Auchmill) (4), I D Smith (Hazlehead) (6), C Carnegie (Kemnay) (3), N K Parker (Murcar Links) (8) 67.
Class 2 – S Garden (Hazlehead) (11) 59; D Thomson (Murcar Links) (11) 60; G Allan (Newmachar) (9), M F Rogers (Kemnay) (14) 62; P Vaid (Westhill) (15) 63; N Agnew (Duff House Royal) (16) 64; R Lumsden (East Aberdeenshire) (18), S Lawrie (Portlethen) (9) 65; T Collie (Kem nay) (10), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (13), W McBain (Billy) (13), I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (12) 66; J Forrest (Northern) (9) 67.

LEADING SCORECARDS AT BALLATER

PAR FOR THE COURSE: OUT - 5-4-3-4-3-4-5-4-3--35. IN - 4-5-4-3-4-4-4-3-4--35=70

CRAIG STEPHEN (64)
OUT: 4-4-4-4-3-4-4-3-3--33. IN: 4-4-4-3-3-3-4-3-3--31

GRAEME McINNES (66)
OUT: 4-4-3-4-4-3-4-3-3--32. IN: 4-4-4-3-5-4-3-3-4--34

SIMON CRUICKSHANK (67)
OUT: 3-5-3-4-3-3-4-3-3--31. IN: 4-4-6-4-4-5-3-2-4--36

STEWART FINNIE (67)
OUT: 4-4-2-4-3-4-4-4-4--33. IN: 3-4-4-3-4-5-4-3-4--34

GEORGE BRUCE (67)
OUT: 4-4-3-3-3-4-4-4-3--32. IN: 4-4-5-3-4-4-4-3-4--35

GARY ESSON (68)
OUT: 3-4-3-4-3-4-4-4-3--32. IN: 4-4-4-3-4-5-4-4-4--36

ANDREW CAMPBELL (68)
OUT: 5-4-3-4-3-4-5-4-3--35. IN: 5-4-4-2-3-4-4-3-4--33

Next Wednesday's North-east Alliance competition is at Edzell.