NEW TURRIFF PRO MOONEY'S FIRST WIN ON
NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE CIRCUIT

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

It's not often these days that anyone wins a North-east Alliance competition with a par-matching round.
But it happened today in testing, squally, sometimes very wet conditions at Insch Golf Club where James Mooney, the 29-year-old recently-appointed Turriff Golf Club professional, scored his first win on the North-east winter circuit with a par-equalling score of 69
It was a day when most players in the field of 101 - the highest of the season so far - found the outward half difficult and some found the inward nine a good deal easier.
Mooney, who hails from Edinburgh, had been professionally attached to Gourock Golf Club for the past five years. He stepped up a gear after requiring 39 shots (four over par) to negotiate the first nine holes.
He made an inauspicious start with a double-bogey 6 at the first where he took four shots to reach the green and after seven pars in a row - birdie chances going a-begging - he completed the outwared half with a second double bogey, a three-putt 7 after being in the trees.
That was the end of the fair-to-middleing golf. From there on James looked a different player.
He birdied the 10th, 13th, 15 and 17th and missed a 15ft birdie putt at the last hole which would have got him home in 29.
“I’d never played the course before so I took nine holes to get to grips with it,” he said. “But, I got it going on the inward half and it was disappointing not to get under 30.”
Former Walker Cup player Sandy Pirie (Hazlehead), winner of the seniors’ title at the recent Scottish Alliance championship, finished second with a 70 after coming home in one-under-par 33.
Clark Alexander (Murcar Links), who tied for third place on 71 with clubmate Bill Urquhart and Roy Pirie (Caledonian), had his score inflated by a quadruple bogey 8 at the par-4 second.
"I took four shots to reach the green via the cemetary and then four-putted. But for that I would have won an Alliance for only the second time," said Clark who had five birdies in halves of 36 and 35.
Roy Pirie was out in 37 and home in 34 while Bill Urquhart had halves of 38 and 33.

LEADING SCRATCH
Par 69
69 J Mooney (Turriff).
70 A K Pirie (Hazlehead).
71 W S Urquhart (Murcar Links), C Alexander (Murcar Links), R Pirie (Caledonian).
73 A Campbell (Deeside), S Pert (Huntly), J Nicolson (Auchmill), C Clark (Mackenzie Club), S Finnie (Caledonian), P Lovie (Inchmarlo), A Bews (Murcar Links).
74 S Davidson (Banchory), N Reid (Deeside).
75 G Bruce (Westhill).
76 C Hood (Alford), L Roger (Royal Aberdeen), M Lawrie (Kemnay), A McInnes (Murcar Links).
77 D Wilson (Duff House Royal), D Nelson (Aboyne), C Carnegie (Kemnay).
78 A Graham (Portlethen), J Murray (Banchory), A Innes (Murcar Links), M Barnard (Inchmarlo).
79 G Leslie (Newburgh), K Minty (Turriff), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal).
80 N Parker (Murcar Links).
81 G Mitchell (Braemar), A Grant (Portlethen), C Crombie (Oldmeldrum), S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen).
82 P Farnan (Royal Aberdeen), S Scott (Auchmill), G Homer (Lumphanan), H Roulston (Stonehaven), I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen).
83 D Bisset (Banchory), F Bisset (Banchory), J Harrison (Newmachar), S Garden (Hazlehead).

LEADING HANDICAP
CLASS ONE
C Alexander (Murcar Links) (5) 66; A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), R Pirie (Caledonian) (3) 68; L Roger (Royal Aberdeen) (7) 69; J Nicolson (Auchmill) (3), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (1), D Nelson (Aboyne) (7) 70; S Pert (Huntly) (2), J Murray (Banchory) (7), A McInnes (Murcar Links) (5), M Lawrie (Kemnay) (5) 71; D Wilson (Duff House Royal) (5), S Finnie (Caledonian) (1), N Parker (Murcar Links) (8) 72; A Graham (Portlethen) (5) 73.
A Campbell (Deeside) (+1), G Mitchell (Braemar) (7), C Carnegie (Kemnay) (3) 74; A Grant (Portlethen) (6), J Harrison (Newmachar) (8), A Innes (Murcar Links) (3) 75; P Farnan (Royal Aberdeen) (6), A Bews (Murcar Links) (+3) 76; H Roulston (Stonehaven) (5), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal) (2) 77; S Scott (Auchmill) (4), I McGregor (Nigg Bay) (6), R Steven (Turriff) (6) 78; L Taylor (Auchmill) (5), D McKay (Caledonian) (8) 79.
CLASS TWO
C Hood (Alford) (9) 67; G Leslie (Newburgh) (10) 69; G Homer (Lumphanan) (12), K Minty (Turriff) (9), N Agnew (Duff House Royal) (16), I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (12), G Telfer (Murcar Links) (16), I Grant (Huntly) (18) 70; C Crombie (Oldmeldrum) (10) 71; G Kennedy (Meldrum House) (14) 72.

CARD OF THE COURSE FOR INSCH (5,350yd, par 69).
OUT: 4-4-4-4-4-3-4-3-5--35.
IN: 4-4-4-3-4-4-5-3-3--34

JAMES MOONEY 69
OUT: 6-4-4-4-4-3-4-3-7--39.
IN: 3-4-4-2-4-3-5-2-3-30.

SANDY PIRIE 70
OUT: 5-4-4-4-4-2-4-4-6--37
IN: 4-4-4-3-4-4-4-3-3--33

BILL URQUHART 71
OUT: 4-6-4-3-6-4-3-3-5-38
IN: 5-3-3-4-4-4-4-2-4--33

CLARK ALEXANDER 71
OUT: 4-8-3-4-3-3-3-3-5--36
IN: 5-5-4-3-3-4-6-3-2--35

ROY PIRIE 71
OUT: 5-5-4-3-6-2-4-3-5--37
IN: 5-5-4-2-4-3-5-3-3--34