Hugh Hunter's weekly round-up of Clackmannan County news

Clackmannan county boys' championship leading prizewinners at Dollar. Front row (left to rght) with trophies Lawrence Allan (Alva) and Gary Chalmers (Dollar). County president Sam Kinnaird (Tillicoultry) is on the right. Image by courtesy of Hugh Hunter.

TOP GOLF FROM CLACKMANNAN BOYS


Both the golf and the players' attirebrightened up a dull day at Dollar in the Clackmannan county boys' championship.
Both the favourites in their age groups came through, although home player Gary Chalmers had to work for a narrow win in the older boys' event. He raced to the turn in 31 with figures of 3 2 3 5 4 4 4 3 3, coming back in 37 for a 68.
Tillicoultry’s Scott Baird matched Gary’s outward nine (2 4 4 4 4 2 4 4 3), but a 6 at the 17th allowed Gary to take the title by one shot. Scott had the consolation of taking the first handicap prize.
It was also a brothers' day with the Dowie and Boyd families taking four of the prizes in the scratch and handicap events, and they all qualified for the match-play championship as well!.
Results:
SCRATCH
G Chalmers (Dollar) 68; Grant Dowie (Alloa) 70; Steven McPherson (Dollar) 71.
HANDICAP
Scott Baird (Tillicoultry) (4) 65; R Millar (Alva) (8) 66; S Watson (Tillicoultry) (9) 66.
In the junior boys' event, from a much smaller entry, Lawrence Allan (Alva) had a much easier win by six shots from Jack Dowie (Alva)
Results:
SCRATCH
L Allan (Alva) 70; J Struthers (Braehead) 85; C Boyd (Alloa) 85.
HANDICAP
J Dowie (Alva) (12) 64; A Boyd (Alloa) (17) 69; S Beattie (Braehead) (21) 70.
Qualifiers for the Match-play championships, starting at Tillicoultry on May 4 at 5 pm
SENIOR BOYS - Baird v Thomson, Chalmers v Dowie, Ashe v McPherson, Salmond v Millar.
JUNIOR BOYS -Hall v Struthers, Dowie v C Boyd, Alexander v Allan, McAdam v A Boyd.
HANDICAP (Senior-Junior) - Hunter v Watson, Bruce McAdam v Carmichael, Murray v Graham, Comrie v Beattie.
Clackmannan county president Sam Kinnaird was delighted with the results at Dollar: “There was some great golf played, and it was good to see the golfers smartly dressed as well.”

PROVAN SALVER
It was not third time lucky for the Clackmannan county team when they played the third and final match of the Provan Salver series against Fife at Burntisland. The team went down by 5 1/2- 2 1/2.
The only Clackmanna winners were Ross Benvie (Braehead) and Iain Munro (Tulliallan).

EDWARD TROPHY
Dollar’s Scott Borrowman continues his quest in the National Order of Merit events normally played over 72 holes. In the latest one, held over the Glasgow Gailes course, curtailed by lightning to 54 holes, he finished down the field with 224 (74-72-78), 13 shots behind the winner Paul O’Hara who beat James White at the second hole of a sudden death play-off.
Scotland’s top amateurs make the trip to Royal Lytham this weekend for the Lytham Trophy to test themselves against strong competition over the Open Championship course.

CLACKMANNAN SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIP
The Clackmannan senior championship, played over Braehead, produced a fair number of good Stableford points scores with Braehead’s S Anderson coming out on top. In the team event, Braehead took the title quite easily.
Results (all Braehead unless indicated)
Age Group 50-58
Scratch - V Allan (Dollar) 32pt, W Carmichael (Alloa) 31.
Handicap - S Anderson 41pt, R Docherty 41 W Hatley (Alloa) 37
Age Group 59-68
Scratch - B Christie 31pt, M M Niven (Alloa) 31.
Handicap - A Malcolm 41pt, W Crews 40, M Speirs 37.
Age Group 69 and over
Scratch - A McKinnon (Tulliallan) 25pt, J Syme 24.
Handicap - W Dysart (Tillicoultry) 38pt, A B Lyons (Tulliallan) 38, P Cunningham 37

EUROPEAN TOUR
After a break of a few weeks, Tulliallan’s Callum Macaulay is back in action over the next three weeks, starting with the Spanish Open this week, followed by the Italian Open and the Irish Open.
He will be feeling particularly confident because the courses used are well known to him, having played them during his amateur career.
Clackmannan county golfers will all be wishing him well and hoping he will move a lot closer to retaining his Tour card for next year.