Play-off drama at Peterhead

Philip McLean (left) and Kris Nicol after their play-off for the North-east District Open championship at Philip's home club, Peterhead, this evening (Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency; click on it to enlarge).

Kris Nicol beats Philip McLean in Battle

of the Buchan Loons for NE title

Fraserburgh’s Kris Nicol, eight strokes clear of the field with one round to go, finally had to win a play-off against another “Buchan loon,” home-course favourite Philip McLean, to chalk up a roller-coaster victory in the North-east District Open golf championship over the Peterhead Golf Club links today.
McLean, 22-year-old winner of last week’s Leven Gold Medal, finished like the proverbial train with a four-under-par 66 for a 72-hole total of seven-under-par 273.
He birdied the sixth, seventh, eighth, 10th, 13th and 15th in halves of 34 and 32 in a round which featured some prodigious driving down wind. Philip drove the green at the 349yd sixth for a two-putt birdie and was only 40yd short of the green at the 409yd third.
Nicol had made it a procession over the first 54 holes .. three shots clear after an opening 65 and five shots ahead at half way after another 65 in the second round. A Sunday morning 69 saw him go eight shots clear with McLean now taking up second place.
But Nicol, the 25-year-old Fraserburgh greenkeeper, suddenly lost his touch in the fourth round – and his lead quickly disappeared as he bogeyed fiveholes in a row from the second.
“I just hit a string of poor iron shots,” said Nicol who reached the turn in 40.
McLean's barrage of birdies enabled the former Scotland youth cap to catch him and, playing ahead of his rival, Philip led by a shot with three to play.
But Nicol summoned up one of the great birdies he had been chalking up so nonchalantly earlier in the tournament to hole a 30ft putt at the 17th.
He had a chance to win the title on the 72nd green but his putt from 20ft stopped on the lip. Nicol had closed with a 74 - an eight-shot turnaround in McLean's favour over 18 holes - to match Philip's clubhouse total of 273.
Home course record-holder McLean was the favourite to win the play-off, having just come off a great round while Nicol had been glad to get back in the clubhouse to clear his thoughts.
But it was McLean who drove into the rough and got a bad lie at the first sudden-death play-off hole. He hacked out and holed a putt to salvage a par 4, leaving Nicol, safely home in two, to hole a shortish birdie putt for his second SGU Order of Merit event victory.
He won last year’s North of Scotland open amateur title, which he will defend this coming weekend at Lossiemouth.
Stirling University student James White (Lundin) finished third on 277 after a very good last round of 66. White, a former Scottish boys' match-play champion, was the only other player apart from Nicol and McLean to finish the 72 holes under par, which says much for Peterhead's testing links, not long by modern standards but, with the help of an almost constant wind, a test for the best, whether amateur or professional.
Best round of the last day was a fourth-round 65 from former Scotland youth champion and past Palmer Cup player Scott Borrowman (Dollar) who finished on 281. If the tournament had only been over 36 holes on Sunday, Borrowman would have won with a splendid 36-hole tally of 133.

But he had saddled himself with two moderate rounds of 74 on the Saturday and had to settle for a final placing of fourth - a shot behind recent Scottish amateur championship semi-finalist Bryan Innes (Murcar Links) who partnered McLean in his final round and returned a 68 himself as the two sparked each other to great effect.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 280 (4x70). 6147yd CSS 71 71 71 71
273 Philip McLean (Peterhead) 71 69 67 66, Kris Nicol (Fraserburgh) 65 65 69 74 (Nicol won sudden-death play-off at first extra hole).
277 James White (Lundin) 72 69 70 66.
280 Bryan Innes (Murcar Links) 71 69 72 68.
281 Scott Borrowman (Dollar) 74 74 68 65.
282 Michael Daily Erksine) 68 67 73 74, Martin Lawrence (Newmachar) 70 69 73 70.
285 Gordon Yates (Hilton Park) 71 71 74 69.
288 Alex Main (Thornton)
71 77 71 69.
289 Kevin Duncan (McDonald Ellon) 71 72 74 72, Barrie Edmond (Bon Accord) 74 69 70 76, Aaron Sweeney (Carnoustie) 69 68 72 80.
290 Andrew Campbell (Deeside) 72 76 71 71, Christopher Forman (Peterhead) 74 71 75 70.
291 James Ross (Royal Burgess) 72 71 73 75.
292 Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh 74 75 72 71, Colin Thomson (East Renfrewshire) 72 76 73 71, Bobby Rushford (Grangemouth) 73 73 67 79, Steven Smith (Dalmahoy Hotel) 72 71 71 78, Richard Gill (Craigmillar Park) 71 71 73 77, Gavin Greer (Murcar Links) 71 70 79 72..
293 Clark Brechin (Portlethen) 78 75 70 70, Gordon Munro (Fraserburgh) 75 72 75 71, Kyle McClung (Wigtownshire Co) 75 72 71 75, Iain Galbraith (Murcar Links) 74 72 71 76.
296 Scott Larkin (Banchory) 76 69 73 78.
298 Anthony Bews (Murcar Links) 75 75 76 72, Neale Barnes (Deeside) 73 74 76 75, Steven J Buchan (Royal Aberdeen) 78 69 74 77..
299 Billy Main (Murcar Links) 76 76 74 73.
301 John Duff (Newmachar) 73 77 72 79.
303 Alexander Culverwell (Dunbar) 70 82 76 75.
304 Andrew Carrell (Peterculter) 77 76 73 78, David Corkey (Murcar Links) 73 78 74 79, Garry Esson (Caledonian) 73 77 78 76.
308 Daniel Somerville (St Andrews) 80 71 79 78.
309 Ewan McIntosh (McDonald Ellon) 76 73 77 83.
310 Graeme Duncan (Shotts) 76 76 79 79.
Retired: Michael Buchan (Cruden Bay) 69 71 78 -