IAN BRATTON'S 64 WINS NE ALLIANCE AT EDZELL

Ian Bratton: what a difference a week makes!

By COLIN FARQUHARSON (Colin@scottishgolfview.com)
Newburgh club professional Ian Bratton scored his second North-east Golfers’ Alliance win of the year over a short Edzell Golf Club winter course today.

Bratton, a winner of the event at his home course on January 5, was bemoaning only last week at Montrose how badly he was playing. But he found his touch again with a 64, seven under the summer par of 71.

He had a bag of one eagle (at the 15th) and eight birdies in halves of 32 (four under par) and 32 (three under). Bogeys at the second, 13th and 14th did not prevent him heading a field of 89 by one shot from Kippie Lodge pro Craig Stewart who missed a tiddler at the 17th for his only bogey and also a 3ft birdie putt at the last which would have tied clubhouse leader Bratton. Stewart’s halves were 32-33.
Chris Law (Kings Links), older brother of David, winner of the Scottish boys’ and men’s amateur match-play titles in 2009, had his best finish since he turned pro recently, coming third with a 66 (33-33).
Chris had a very tidy, bogey-free card of six 3s and 12 4s.
It was the first professional 1-2-3 finish to a North-east Alliance for some time, explained to some extent by the fact that the district’s star amateurs are meantime in South Africa with the SGU Elite Squad.

CLUBHOUSE CHAT
Professional gardener Nigel Parker (Murcar Links) has not had much to smile about since his 4x4 and trailer, containing all his tools, old and some brand new, were stolen before his very eyes in a "posh" neighbourhood of Aberdeen a few weeks back ... and burned to a frazzle after being abandoned at Hazlehead: £10,000 worth up in smoke, literally.
It took a great golf round at Edzell today to put the smile back on big Nigel's face - a gross 70 (37-33) for a net round of 60. His score was the best scratch by a senior (aged 55 and over) and the lowest in Class 2 of the handicap section.
As no player can win more than one prize, the organisers gave the bigger reward for winning Class 2 to Nigel and divided the senior prize (for a 72) between Les Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) and David McKay (Caledonian).
Retired Hazlehead professional Ian Smith - who had a creditable round of 76 in his first game of golf for three months - thinks there should be a weekly Super Senior Prize, perhaps for over-70-year-olds or even over-75-year-olds (like him!). Any seconders?
Ian also made the point that I should mention who has won the senior prize in the weekly competitions. Point taken. And that service started today!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE SLOW PLAYERS?
Yours truly was able to get home in daylight from today's Alliance meeting at Edzell because a field of 89 got round and back in the clubhouse, all before 3.50pm. Amazing! It doesn't seem all that long ago there were complaints every week about slow play. Did the "snails" not rejoin for the 2010-11 season or did the message finally get through to everybody?

SCOREBOARD
SCRATCH
Par 71.
64 Ian Bratton (Newburgh).
65 Craig Stewart (Kippie Lodge).
66 Chris Law (Kings Links).
67 Brian Nicolson (Auchmill), John Duff (Newmachar).
68 Gary Geddes (Auchmill), Robert Lamb (Newmachar).
69 Colin Nelson (MacKenzie Club), Scott Larkin (Royal Aberdeen).
70 Brian Harper (Newburgh), John Nicolson (Auchmill), Fergus Bisset (Banchory), Nigel Parker (Murcar Links).
71 Laurence Prouse (Hazlehead), Steven Chalmers (Banchory), Stewart Finnie (Caledonian), Robert O’Donnell (Oldmeldrum), Keil Beveridge (Inchmarlo).
72 David Mackay (Newmachar), Paul McIntosh (Newburgh). Gordon Munro (Fraserburgh), Les Fowler (Royal Aberdeen), David McKay (Caledonian).
73 Albert Smith (Turriff), Charles Cassie (Nigg Bay), Joel Hopwood (Carnegie), David Leslie (Westhill), Colin Duffus (Kemnay), Mark Lawrie (Kemnay), Jim Murray (Banchory), George Stevely (Murcar Links).
74 Grant Leslie (Newburgh), John Duncan (Newburgh), David Fleming (Portlethen), David Wilson (Duff House Royal), Sean Lawrie (Portlethen).
75 Benny Lumsden (Northern), John Roberts (Cruden Bay).
76 Steve Scott (Auchmill), Raymond Brown (Inverurie), Alistair Graham (Aboyne), Alistair Petrie (Oldmeldum), Ian Smith (Hazlehead).

77 Craig Carnegie (Kemnay), John Short (Peterculter), Norman Stewart (Northern), Martin Forster (Cruden Bay), Chris Brindley (Banchory).

78 John Dalgarno (Hazlehead), John Hamilton (Murcar Links), Leslie Roger (Royal Aberdeen), Jackie Forrest (Northern), Tom Collie (Kemnay).

79 Steven Kennedy (Craibstone), John Borthwick (Craibstone), Paul Cornfield (Auchmill), Ian Strachan (Royal Aberdeen), Mike Ord (Royal Aberdeen), Mike Rogers (Kemnay), Mike Booth (Kemnay), David Bisset (Banchory).

80 Colin Ord (Auchmill), David Bingham (Newburgh), Stuart Higgins (Royal Aberdeen), David Philip (Newburgh), Jim Lumsden (Auchmill), Don Lawrie (Inchmarlo).

LEADING NET SCORES
CLASS 1
62 Gary Geddes (Auchmill) (6).
64 J Murray (Banchory) (9), R Lamb (Newmachar) (4).
65 B Harper (Newburgh) (5), D McKay (Caledonian) (7) 75.
CLASS 2
60 N K Parker (Murcar Links) (10).
61 B Lumsden (Northern) (14).
62 R Brown (Inverurie) (14), G Stevely (Murcar Links) (11).
63 G Leslie (Newburgh) (11).

LEADING SENIOR SCRATCH SCORES
55 years and over
70 N K Parker (Murcar Links)
72 L Fowler (Royal Aberdeen), D McKay (Caledonian).
76 A Petrie (Oldmeldrum), I D Smith (Hazlehead).
77 N Stewart (Northern).

EDZELL PAR OF 71 - OUT: 4-4-4-4-4-3-4-4-5--36. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-4-4-3-5--35
+The use of winter greens shortens the Edzell course considerably, probably to around a par of 68 or 69, maybe less. But in the absence of a winter course scorecard (as Montrose Links have!), we just have to go with the spring-summer-autumn scorecard and par.

IAN BRATTON 64
OUT: 3-5-4-3-3-3-3-4-4--32. IN: 3-4-4-5-4-2-3-3-4--32

CRAIG STEWART 65
OUT: 3-4-3-4-4-3-3-4-4--32. IN: 3-4-4-4-3-3-3-4-5--33

CHRIS LAW 66
OUT: 3-4-4-3-4-3-4-4-4--33. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-3-4-3-4--33

JOHN DUFF 67
OUT: 3-5-3-5-4-4-3-4-4--35. IN: 4-4-3-4-3-4-3-3-4--32

BRIAN NICOLSON 67
OUT: 5-5-3-3-4-3-3-4-4--34. IN: 4-4-4-4-2-3-4-4-4--33

GARY GEDDES 68
OUT: 3-4-5-5-3-3-5-4-4--36. IN: 4-4-3-5-2-3-4-3-4--32

ROBERT LAMB 68
OUT: 5-4-4-5-4-2-4-4-4--36. IN: 3-5-4-4-2-4-3-3-4--32

COLIN NELSON 69. OUT: 36. IN: 33

SCOTT LARKIN 69. OUT: 36. IN: 33