North District re-introduce men's

Order of Merit on trial basis

By ROBIN WILSON
Many a North golfer has often questioned selections into North District teams for representative matches and wonder why they are being overlooked.
Now after missing out on Scottish area team finals for the past few years, the North Executive are hoping that by re-introducing for a trial year a North District Order of Merit table they may unearth some hidden talent by way of a points system based on rankings at their own championship and selected club tournaments.
A similar merit table ran for six years, from 1992 to 1998, when with a bit more finance to spare and some sponsorship the North District were able to provide prizes. The re-introduced merit table with less funds and no sponsor will be self-financing and have an entry fee of £10.
The OOM counting events will have two points-awarding structures, one for seven 36-hole open tournaments, where 124 points will be assigned to the top nine finishers, ignoring competitors not members of a North District club, and 100 points at three nominated 18-hole tournaments. A player can play in as many events as they wish but points from only five will count towards the individual's final total.
The 36-hole qualifying fixtures will start with the North District championship at Fortrose & Rosemarkie on May 23 and continue at six other events:
June 13: Badenoch Open at Kingussie & Newtonmore.
June 27: Braid Open at Brora.
July 4: Brodie Trophy at Forres.
July 18: Balblair Trophy at Tain.
August 8: Ness Motors at Inverness.
August 29: Glen Grant Tantalus at Lossiemouth.
Recognising that some clubs do not have 36-hole events but hold prestigious and well-supported one-round competitions, three 18-holers have been included:
August 9: Walkers Shortbread at Elgin.
August 15: Torvean Open at Inverness.
September 5: Loch Ness Open at Inverness.
Individual Entry Forms to the men's OOM can be downloaded from the North District website – www.sgunorthgolf.com

NOMINATED JUNIOR OPENS
Sandy Aird, the Forres Golf Club professional, continues his sponsorship of the the North District's junior boys' Order of Merit in two age groups, under-14 and under-16 on January 1. The nominated junior opens are:
Friday, April 10: Elgin.
Sunday, April 19: Royal Dornoch.
Sunday, April 26: Spence Trophy (Inverness).
Sunday, July 5: Bain Trophy (Thurso).
Friday, July 10: Kingussie.
Thursday, July 16: Strathpeffer Spa.
Friday, August 7: Torvean.
Friday, August 14: Invergordon.
October 19-20: Match-play qualifying rounds (Forres).

The last men's Order of Merit winner in 1998 was Robbie Sheils (Moray). Other winners over the seven seasons were:
George Paterson (Fortrose & Rosemarkie) 1992-1993, Ian Cameron Muir of Ord) 1994, Neil Hampton (Nairn) 1995-1996 and Stewart Wilson (Royal Dornoch & Inverness) 1997.

FIXTURE LIST CHANGES AT TAIN
Tain Golf Club have this season made two significant changes to their traditional fixture list.
Balblair Distillery have given their name and sponsorship to a men's 36-hole open (now listed in the North District Order of Merit tour).
This date was previously the pipe-opener to their August Golf Week but on the sponsor's request to raise the competition's individual profile, the date has been brought forward to Saturday, July 18.
Tain Golf Club's previous five-day Golf Week competition reverts to a four-day event from Monday, August 3 to Thursday, August 6 and added into it is a women's event with the same format, two qualifying medal rounds preceding match-play.
The women's inclusion came by way of a suggestion at the end of last year from the “Golf Week Widows” who had to wait until the end of the week for a competitive game in the mixed open competition.
It was taken on board by the Tain Committee and becomes the the first ladies' open qualifying and match-play event in the North. There is clearly a demand for such a competition for a similar event at Duff House Royal is always over-subscribed and already Tain has attracted entries from the Banff club's waiting list.