North-east Alliance field of 109 finish in darkness

PETERCULTER WINNER URQUHART

SAYS HE OWES IT ALL TO WATCHING

JUSTIN ROSE ON TV!

Murcar Links two-handicap amateur Bill Urquhart won a race against time to finish in daylight and take first prize in the North-east Golfers’ Alliance competition at Peterculter Golf Club today.
Urquhart, the 2003 NE Alliance champion and one of the last men to finish in a field of 109 players, was the only one to match the par of 71 on day that was sometimes blustery on the higher ground.
“It was difficult to see the flag at the last two holes so I was quite glad to make par at both after holing a 25ft putt for a birdie at the 17th,” said Urquhart, pictured right.
“I played a lot better this week – and I owe it all to Justin Rose! I watched him win the Volvo Masters on TV at the weekend and I was so impressed with his rhythm and timing. I tried to copy it.”
Urquhart won by one shot from Newburgh professional Ian Bratton who finished earlier in the day with a triple bogey 7 – an out of bounds drive followed by three putts – and Deeside assistant Nick Reid, who was playing with Urquhart and who bogeyed the last.
Paul Lawrie's older brother Stephen and former Dons winger Jimmy Wilson tied for first place in the Class 2 handicap section with net 70s.
RON MENZIES CONCERNED
On a serious note, Alliance secretary Ron Menzies is concerned by the increasingly slow pace of play which is of crucial concern with the fields holding up over the 100-mark and the daylight hours going down by 20min a week.
By the end of today's play, the rounds were taking the best part of 4 1/2 hours. There were a lot of No Returns, many players walking when they got fed up with just how slow the play was.
Perhaps it is time to adopt the Midlands Alliance procedure of giving a threesome who take well over their allotted time a "yellow card." Tough on the player within a three who is not the slow one but it is up to him to chase on the others. Two yellow cards mean a player is "suspended" for one meeting, i.e. he is debarred from playing in it.
One doesn't need a crystal ball to see big problems looming up at next Wednesday's Alliance competition at Newmachar. Every tee time is booked from 8.16am (the first available) to 12.21 (the last available).
That means a capacity field and it will be dark at 4.30pm, maybe earlier if it is a dull day.
In a perfect world, Ron Menzies would be out there acting as a kind of course ranger, chasing on the slowcoaches. But Ron cannot be everywhere. He is a one-man band as an organiser. He needs the co-operation of the players to get their fingers out and get near a 4hr round for a threesome.

Leading scratch scores at Peterculter.
Par 71
71 W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).
72 I Bratton (Newburgh), N Reid (Deeside).
73 G Esson (Portlethen), W Main (Murcar Links), C Stephen (Meldrum House), M Lees (Pine Lodge).
74 S Scott (Auchmill), G H Paterson (Northern).
75 A K Pirie (Hazlehead), D Clark (Duff House Royal), J Mooney (Turriff), D Raitt (Royal Aberdeen).
77 A Campbell (Deeside), J Nicolson (Auchmill), S Davidson (Banchory), D Read (Banchory), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), R McDonald (Kemnay).
78 S Pert (Huntly), A Graham (Portlethen), I D Smith (Hazlehead), A Innes (Murcar Links), G Bruce (Westhill), D Corkey (Murcar Links).
79 F Bisset (Banchory), S Lawrie (Portlethen), G Mitchell (Braemar), N Williamson (Banchory), A McInnes (Murcar Links), C Alexander (Murcar Links), C Carnegie (Kemnay).
80 L Taylor (Auchmill), H Roulston (Stonehaven), J Wilson (Deeside).

Leading handicap

Class 1 – W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2) 69; S Scott (Auchmill) (4) 70; N Williamson (Banchory) (8) 71; W Main (Murcar Links) (1), G Mitchell (Braemar) (7), I D Smith (Hazlehead) (6) 72; A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), D Read (Banchory) (4), A Graham (Portlethen) (5) 73.

Class 2 – S Lawrie (Portlethen) (9), J Wilson (Deeside) (10) 70; W Forbes (Murcar Links) (2) 71; D Lawrie (Inchmarlo) (13) 72; S Youngson (Turriff (14) 73; H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) (10) 74; W D Rae (Kemnay) (13), D Wood (Newburgth) (14), A Dent (McDonald Ellon) (16) 75.

SCORECARD FOR PETERCULTER (Par 71) :
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-4-5-3-4--36. IN: 3-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--35

BILL URQUHART 71
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-4-6-3-3--36. IN: 3-4-4-4-5-3-3-5-4--35.

NICK REID 72
OUT: 4-4-2-3-5-5-5-4-4--36. IN: 4-4-4-3-5-3-3-5-5--36.

IAN BRATTON 72
OUT: 4-4-3-3-4-5-4-3-4--34. IN: 3-4-4-3-5-3-4-5-7--38.

CRAIG STEPHEN 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-3-5-2-67--36. IN: 3-4-5-4-4-4-4-6-3--37.

GARY ESSON 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-6-5-5-3-4--38. IN: 3-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--35.

BILLY MAIN 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-4-5-5-4-4--37. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--36.

MARK LEES 73
OUT: 4-4-3-4-5-4-6-3-4--37. IN: 4-4-4-5-5-3-4-4-3--36.