McLean Magic - 29 for second nine - wins

NE Alliance over home Peterhead links

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
With Gavin Dear, Wallace Booth and Paul O'Hara - the backbone of the Scottish amateur international team - gone to the pro ranks, the chance will be there in 2010 for young men like Peterhead's Philip McLean to step forward to fill the gaps.

On the evidence of today's North-east Alliance competition over his home Craigewan Links at Peterhead Golf Club, 22-year-old McLean, a former Scotland youth cap but still waiting for a full honour and a +3 player, is ready to make a bigger name for himself next year.

McLean came storming home in six-under-par 29 to head a field of 94. His round of five-under-par 65 saw him finish a shot ahead of unattached professional Graham Gordon and Banchory +2 amateur Scott Larkin who has definitely come home from four years on the US college circuit a better all-round player than when he went there in the first place..

Philip McLean was not going particularly well, by his lofty standards, when he turned in one-over-par 36 after a lost-ball, double bogey 6 at the ninth, more than cancelled out a lone birdie at the seventh. It could have been even worse because he was plugged in a bunker at the eighth and had to hole a 20ft putt to salvage a par 5.

But it was a different story on the inward half. McLean showed his interntional class by birdieing the 11^th, 14^th, 15^th, 16th. And he finished with an eagle 3 at the 498yd par-5 18^th, where he got home in two blows and sank the putt to complete a memorable inward nine.

Philip's father commented: "He's the course record holder and he's had a lot of good scores over the course but I don't think he's ever come home in 29."

Philip McLean has an American trip to look forward to in the New Year. He is one of a group of players being sent by the Scottish Golf Union to play in the Jones Cup at Sea Island.

Graham Gordon had two halves of 33, which included seven birdies, for his 66 while Larkin, winner of the alliance fixture at Insch in mid-October, also went 33-33 with a bag of eight birdies, including the last three in a row.
Adam Dunton, for the second week in a row, was hampered by fading light and it's amazing that he managed to birdie the 15th, 16th and 17th before parring the last for 31 home and a 67, which gave him a share of fourth place with Billy Main (Murcar Links).

Give Adam the eagle 3 Philip McLean had at the 18th and they would both have been on 65 - that's how close the Ellon lad was to victory.

The conditions at Peterhead were fairly benign overhead - hardly a breath of wind - but the rough was punishing. Several players had No Returns after losing balls. Scottish senior match-play champion George Paterson (Northern) was a case in point. He lost a ball at the 313yd 17th and in the fading light did not go back to the tee to play another one.

LEADING SCORES (Par 70)

SCRATCH

65 P McLean (Peterhead).

66 G Gordon (unatt), S Larkin (Banchory).

67 W Main (Murcar Links), A Dunton (McDonald Ellon)..

68 A Bews (Murcar Links).

69 I Bratton ( Newburgh ), A K Pirie (Hazlehead).

70 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club), K Nicol (Fraserburgh), R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).

71 J Duncan ( Newburgh ), A Lindsay (Banchory), S Pert (Huntly).

72 S Finnie (Caledonian), D McKay (Caledonian), M Merchant (Newmachar).

73 D Corkey (Murcar Links), I Fowler (Royal Aberdeen ), R Bruce (Aboyne), C Law (Hazlehead).

74 K Nelson (Murcar Links), J Forrest (Northern), K Duncan (McDonald Ellon).

75 S Sharp ( Newburgh ), C Cassie ( Nigg Bay ), P McIntosh (Bon Accord), R Lamb (Newmachar), D Clark (Duff House Royal), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal).

76 H Love (Oldmeldrum), F G Gray (Newmachar), J Forbes (Aboyne), C Alexander (Murcar Links), A Innes (Murcar Links), F Bisset (Banchory).

77 D Philip ( Newburgh ), K Beveridge (Aboyne).

78 B Brooks (Meldrum House), B Harper (Newburgh), J Dalgarno (Hazlehead), H Roulston (Stonehaven), N Parker (Murcar Links), S Elrick (Kemnay), J Murray (Banchory), S Mackie (Kemnay)..

79 J Borthwick (Craibstone), J B D Smith ( Cruden Bay ), G Homer (Lumphanan), D Bisset (Banchory)..

80 L Roger (Royal Aberdeen ), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), J Scott (Peterculter).

HANDICAP

Class 1 – J Duncan (Newburgh) (5), D McKay (Caledonian) (6), L Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) (7), J Forrest (Northern) (8) 66; W Main (Murcar Links) (scr), A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), M Merchant (Newmachar) (5), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (3) 67; P McLean (Peterhead) (+3), S Larkin (Banchory) (+2), R Bruce (Aboyne) (5) 68.

Class 2 – N Parker (Murcar Links) (9), G Homer (Lumphanan) (10), M Booth (Kemnay) (12), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (12), C Sinclair (Aboyne) (14), M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (15) 69; I Strachan (Royal Aberdeen) (12), D Bisset (Banchory) (9), J Scott (Peterculter) (10), D Randall (Banchory) (15) 70; L Roger (Royal Aberdeen) (9) 71; S Kennedy (Craibstone) (13), W Forbes (Murcar Links) (13), R Alison (Deeside) (15) 73.

PETERHEAD SCORECARD: Par 70 (35-35). 6147yd
OUT: 4-3-4-4-4-3-4-5-4--35. IN: 3-4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5--35.

PHILIP McLEAN 65
OUT: 4-3-4-4-4-3-3-5-6--36. IN: 3-3-4-4-3-3-2-4-3--29

GRAHAM GORDON 66
OUT: 4-4-3-4-4-3-3-4-4--33. IN: 4-5-4-3-3-4-3-3-4--33

SCOTT LARKIN 66
OUT: 4-3-3-5-4-2-5-4-3--33. IN: 3-3-4-5-4-5-2-3-4--33

ADAM DUNTON 67

OUT: 4-3-4-5-3-3-5-5-4--36. IN: 3-3-4-4-4-3-2-3-5--31

BILLY MAIN 67

OUT: 4-3-3-5-4-3-3-4-4--33. IN: 3-3-4-6-3-4-3-3-5--34

NEXT WEDNESDAY'S FIXTURE IS AT PORTLETHEN G C