ANTHONY BEWS CLICKETY

-CLICKS TO HEAD A FIELD
OF 85 AT MONTROSE
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Murcar Links’ amateur Anthony Bews lived up to his +3 handicap with a three-under-par 66 to head a field of 85 and win the North-east Golfers’ Alliance at Montrose Links today.

It was Bews’ second win of the 2007-2008 winter circuit - he won the third competition at Ellon - and the 22-year-old, who works in his home club’s pro shop, had no trouble pointing out the secret of his success.
“I hit 18 greens in regulation and could have scored lot lower. I did miss a few putts but basically I played percentage golf. I didn’t use my driver a lot because Montrose is a tight course in places,” said Bews (pictured at Montrose).
His bogey-free halves of 33 (one under par) and 33 (two under par) included birdies at the second, 11th and 15th.
Anthony has not lost his ambition to be a tour pro some day. He plans to have a real go on the Scottish amateur circuit in the new season to see if he can satisfy himself that he has got what it makes to make the grade.
Late finisher Bews toppled the clubhouse leader, Paul Lawrie protégé Philip McLean from Peterhead who highlighted his 67 with an eagle 2 at the 292yd fifth where he drove the green and holed a 6ft putt for a 2. There was further evidence of McLean’s length off the tee when he got home at the 555yd 15th with a drive and a seven-iron for a two-putt birdie 4.
McLean recently spent a week in Spain with Paul Lawrie and his coach Neil Marr. A Scotland youth cap, he is shaping as a contender for a step up to the full international team in the new season.
The only other player to break the par of 69 - the second hole is being played as a par-3 while counter-erosion work takes place - was Craig Stephen, the +2 Meldrum House player, with a 68. Craig was out in three-over 37, after a double-bogey 6 at the ninth. Then he caught figure with birdies at four of the first five inward holes on his way to a four-under 31 for the back nine.

Leading scores (Par 69)
Scratch
66 A Bews (Murcar Links).
67 P McLean (Peterhead).
68 C Stephen (Meldrum House).
69 S Davidson (Banchory).
70 N Reid (Deeside), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).
71 A Campbell (Deeside), D Corkey (Murcar Links), D Garrett (Huntly), C Alexander (Murcar Links), H Roulston (Stonehaven), D H Clark (Duff House Royal), G H Paterson (Northern).
72 A K Pirie (Hazlehead), R L Nicoll (Murcar Links).
73 P Lovie (Inchmarlo), R McDonald (Inchmarlo).
74 B Harper (Newburgh), S Finnie (Caledonian), K Minty (Turriff), C Carnegie (Kemnay), A Innes (Murcar Links).
75 S Scott (Auchmill), C Cassie (Nigg Bay), J M Hamilton (Murcar Links), J Murray (Banchory), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), J Robb (Turriff).
76 A Styles (Caledonian), J Forrest (Northern), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), S Lawrie (Portlethen).
77 J Dalgarno (Hazlehead), L Taylor (Auchmill), R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen), G Kelly (Peterculter).

78 P Anderson (Deeside), S Pert (Huntly), S Elrick (Kemnay), S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen), D Cruickshank (Duff House Royal), C Hood (Alford), A Graham (Portlethen)..
79 P Cornfield (Auchmill), F G Gray (Deeside).
HANDICAP
Class 1 - H Roulston (Stonehaven) (5), C Alexander (Murcar Links) (5), R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) (6) 66; J Murray (Banchory) (8) 67; W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2), B Harper (Newburgh) (6) 68; D Corkey (Murcar Links) (2), J M Hamilton (Murcar Links) (6), P McLean (Peterhead) (+2), A Bews (Murcar Links) (+3) 69; A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), C Stephen (Meldrum House) (+2), D H Clark (Duff House Royal) (1) 70.
Class 2 - J Robb (Turriff) (12) 63; G Kelly (Peterculter) (13) 64; K Minty (Turriff) (9), I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (12) 65; C Cassie (Nigg Bay) (9) 66; J Forrest (Northern) (9), S Lawrie (Portlethen) (9), P Anderson (Deeside) (11), R Brown (Craibstone) (13), D Moir (Murcar Links) (13) 67; S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen) (10), J Jessiman (Oldmeldrum) (14) 68; P Cornfield (Auchmill) (10) 69.

+++Next Wednesday's scheduled Alliance meeting at Deeside is in some doubt because of the excessive rainfall in recent weeks on the Bieldside course. Even if the competition does go on at Deeside, no caddie cars will be permitted. There is a possibility that secretary Ron Menzies will switch the venue to Craibstone.

MONTROSE LINKS SCORECARD Par 69.
OUT: 4--3-3-4-4-4-4-4-4--34. IN: 4-4-3-4-4-5-3-4-4--35.

ANTHONY BEWS 66
OUT: 4-2-3-4-4-4-4-4-4--33. IN: 4-3-3-4-4-4-3-4-4--33

PHILIP McLEAN 67
OUT: 4-3-3-4-2-4-5-4-4--33. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-4-3-4-4--34.

CRAIG STEPHEN 68
OUT: 4-3-3-4-4-5-4-4-6--37. IN: 3-4-2-3-3-5-3-4-4--31

STEWART DAVIDSON 69
OUT: 5-3-3-4-3-4-4-3-5--34. IN: 4-4-3-4-3-4-4-4-5--35

NICK REID 70
OUT: 5-4-3-4-4-5-3-3-4--35. IN: 4-4-3-4-5-4-3-4-4--35

ALLIANCE CHAMPIONSHIP VENUES SWITCHED
Secretary Ron Menzies has switched the North-east Alliance championship venues. The first round - at Duff House Royal - will be played on March 12. The second round - at Cruden Bay - will be played on March 19.

TEMPORARY BLIP IN OUR ALLIANCE COVERAGE POSSIBLE

Colin Farquharson will be at Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort in Spain running a Women's Winter Golf Festival from February 9 to February 24 - so our standard of coverage of the North-east Alliance competitions may dip a bit.

Colin and Ron will endeavour to communicate at long distance but please be understanding if the arrangement falls through.

If all else fails, Ron Menzies will get the scores in the P&J on the two Thursday mornings.