HUGH HUNTER'S CLACKMANNAN NEWS

No surprises at the county foursomes at Alva

The first round of the 2009 Clackmannan county fousomes championship over the Alva golf course produced no surprise results. Tulliallan, the holders, came through against Tillicoultry and the home club took full advantage against Braehead. The scoring is the traditional method where all matches play to the 18th and the sum of holes up and down decide the match.
The match between Tulliallan and Tillicoultry was closely fought with Tulliallan pulling away on the inward nine. In the top match, Bob Stewart and Gordon Lyons had a tough game against Neil Mitchell and Scott Baird. The match was all square after nine and included a hole in one by Neil (his second in as many weeks) at the seventh ... “a wedge hit out the middle."
Undaunted, the Tulliallan couple moved ahead on the inward holes and finished two up.
In the second match, the Tillicoultry youngsters could make no headway against the Tulliallan couple, finishing six down and in the last match it was Tulliallan who pulled away from a square match the ninth.
In the other match it was the Alva players who demonstrated their skills over the tricky lay-out. The only crumb of comfort for Braehead came when their second couple took the last couple of holes for a narrow win.
RESULTS
TULLIALLAN bt TILLICOULTRY by 11 holes.
(Tulliallan names first)
Bob Stewart & Gordon Lyons bt Neil Mitchell & Scott Baird 2 up.
Iain Munro & Phil Dempsey bt Kevin Ross & Scott Hunter 6 up
Steven Horne & Stewart Raeburn bt John Gullen & Jim Malcolm 3 up

ALVA bt BRAEHEAD by eight holes
(Alva names first)
Allan Aitken & Steven McIvor beat David Finlayson & James Muir 3 up
Gregor Kennedy & Lawrence Allan lost to Sandy Douglas & David Beaton 1 down
Kevin McFarlane & Michael Robertson beat Ross Benvie & David Finlay 6 up

SEMI-FINALS
Alloa v Tulliallan.
Alva v Dollar.

BOB DEFENDS HIS SENIOR TITLE
Scottish Senior Champion Bob Stewart (Tulliallan) will be in action in the next two weeks trying to defend his national title against strong opposition over the 6,330 yd par-70 Barry links at the Panmure club, Angus from May 19 to 21.
The field contains 144 senior golfers with handicaps 4.7 or better and Bob tees off at 9.20am with the legendary Ian Hutcheon--- a game that is sure to attract a fair amount of local following.
Prior to that, Bob competes in the Gailes Open Seniors. Fellow club golfer Ian Peddie is also taking part.

WANTED!…..COUNTY UNDER-14 GOLFERS.
Clackmannan county are on the look-out for under-14 ( that is on January 1, 2009) golfers to play at Largs on Friday, July 10 in the National Under-14s championship. For the last two years, the Clackmannan County Golf Union, to their credit, have organised a minibus to transport the boys to the venue.
President Sam Kinnaird is hoping for more interest this year. “We provide transport free of charge to any boy wishing to play. It has always been a great day out with the boys supporting each other. “
Any boys wanting to play should contact their junior organiser - entries (entry fee £18) close on June 4. The handicap limit is 20.2, but it is probably safer to be a bit less, maybe about 14. Who knows ... this could be the start of some golfing success.

SPANISH SUCCESS ELUDES CALLUM
After a brilliant first round of seven under par 65, Callum Macaulay could not maintain that form, and fell down the field with a trio of 76s which nevertheless earned him a respectable amount of Euros. Horrendous weather on the second day resulted in high scoring for many, including Colin Montgomerie who missed the cut.
Callum is in action this week at the Italian Open. However, at the time of writing he is still on the reserve list for the Irish Open the week after.