BRIAN NICOLSON, RYAN FITZPATRICK SHARE HONOURS WITH 78s

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Six-over-par rounds of 78 were good enough to put Inchmarlo Golf Centre staff pro Ryan Fitzpatrick, pictured right, and one-handicap Auchmill amateur Brian Nicolson at the top of the leaderboard in today's North-east Alliance competition in bright but very breezy conditions at Newburgh Golf Club.
It was so windy that 36 players out of a field of 87 had No Returns, something of a record for the Alliance.
"It was a five-club wind," said Keil Beveridge, teaching pro at Inchmarlo Golf Centre.
Joel Hopwood, the staff professional from Carnegie Club, Skibo Castle, came in late with a 79 to finish third. Joel thought putting in a wind as strong as that - with some challenging pin placings on slopes on the greens - was just as difficult as moving the ball accurately through the air.
"I three-putted the sixth from just about 12 feet because of the pin placement rather than anything else," said Joel who was out in 41 and home in 38. He had one birdie, at the long ninth.
Kemnay pro David Brown thought that it would have been impossible to play in the summer when there would have been less grass on the putting surfaces and the balls would have been blown away before a player could putt.
David might well have joined several other pros in the "No Returns" ranks after starting with a four-putt triple bogey 7, followed by a double bogey 5 at the second and bogeys at the third and fourth.
But he soldiered and actually covered his last 10 holes in level par - which was some going.
Brown birdied the long ninth to turn in eight-over 44 but came whistling home in 37 with a 2 at the short 17th and bogeys at the 11th and 18th.Fitzpatrick started double bogey, bogey but got down to damage limitation after that in halves of 39, which included birdies at the seventh and 14th, while Nicolson kept a double bogey off his card - no mean feat - in halves of 40 and 38. He had one birdie, at the 12th.
I have no doubt that if the European Tour had been running today's Alliance they would have made allowances for the severity of the wind before the start of play by reducing the length of the course by some 600 yards, using the forward tees rather than the back tees which were in operation, and easing the pin placements.
All of these moves are standard European Tour practice if the wind is blowing over 25mph at one of its tournaments. But European Tour pros are playing for big money; the North-east Alliance is a homespun organisation, lacking the manpower even to have an official starter, but it is none the worse for that. I like to think of them as a band of golfing brothers.

NEWBURGH A TOP LINKS LAY-OUT WHEN WIND BLOWS
All links courses need a wind to make them really difficult and Newburgh, even though at 6,423yd off the back tees it is a lot shorter than some of the "major" links lay-outs, would test an Open championship field with a wind like today blowing.
In fact, I would suggest that Newburgh's 18th hole is one of the best finishing holes on any links course, and I am well aware of the last at Lossiemouth. From the magnificent vantage point of the elevated clubhouse, Newburgh's 18th fairway looks as wide as the Pittodrie football pitch but the number of shots that land in the whins that border both sides of it is considerable.
Several players marked up scores for each the first 17 holes today - and then had No Returns because the 18th was a double-figure job for them!
Speaking of the view from the Newburgh clubhouse. The sands on the other bank of the Ythan looked stunning in the sunshine. TV golf producers would give their eye teeth for a backdrop like that.

CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS NEXT WEDNESDAY
The first round of the 36-hole North-east Alliance championship will be played at Duff House Royal next Wednesday with the second round at Buckpool the following week.

All Today's Scratch Scores
Par 72. Yardage 6,423
78 B Nicolson (Auchmill), R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo) p.
79 J Hopwood (Carnegie) p.
80 I Bratton (Newburgh) p, S Finnie (Caledonian).
81 D Brown (Kemnay) p, R O’Donnell (Oldmeldrum).
82 F Bisset (Banchory), W Skene (Deeside)..
83 J Nicolson (Auchmill), D A Fleming (Portlethen), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal) s.
86 G Geddes (Auchmill), K Beveridge (Inchmarlo) p.
87 G Paterson (Northern) s.
88 C Cassie (Nigg Bay), L Prouse (Hazlehead), Laura Murray (Alford).
89 P McIntosh (Newburgh), D Leslie (Westhill).
90 B Harper (Newburgh), S Elrick (Kemnay),
91 D Phillip (Newburgh), S Kennedy (Craibstone).
92 M F R Rogers (Kemnay) s, D McKay (Caledonian) s.
93 Alistair Graham (Banchory).
94 J Roberts (Cruden Bay), N K Parker (Murcar Links) s.
95 G Allan (Newmachar), R Brown (Inverurie), D Randall (Banchory) s.
96 T Collie (Kemnay).
97 D Nelson (Aboyne) s, C Duffus (Kemnay).
98 H McNaughton (Cruden Bay), D Bisset (Banchory) s, G Stevely (Murcar Links).
100 J Mackintosh (Auchmill).
101 D Lawrie (Inchmarlo).
103 B Lumsden (Northern), J Forrest (Northern) s, J L Gall (Caledonian) s.
104 S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen) s, I Mundie (Newburgh).
108 M Rendall (Stonehaven), J Lumsden (Auchmill).
109 J McPherson (Auchmill), C Farquhar (Northern).
114 N Stewart (Northern) s.
115 B Lumsden junior (Auchmill).

PRIZEWINNERS
SCRATCH
1st B Nicolson and R Fitzpatrick.
3rd J Hopwood.
4th I Bratton and S Finnie.
HANDICAP
Class 1 (0-9)
73 W Skene (Deeside) (9).
78 R O'Donnell (Oldmeldrum) (3) and D A Fleming (Portlethen) (5).
80 F Bisset (Banchory) (2), J Nicolson (Auchmill) (3) and G Geddes (Auchmill) (6).
Class 2 (10-18)
77 M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (15)
81 S Kennedy (Craibstone) (11), R Brown (Inverurie) (14).
82 A Graham (Banchory) (11).
83 D Randall (Banchory) (12).


LEADING SENIORS (55 years or over)
SCRATCH
83 Mike Jenkins (DHR).
87 George Paterson (Northern).
92 Mike Rogers (Kemnay), Dave MacKay (Caledonian).
94 Nigel Parker (Murcar Links).
95 Derek Randall (Banchory).
97 David Nelson (Aboyne).
98 David Bisset (Banchory).

NEWBURGH SCORECARD - 72 PAR
OUT: 4-3-5-4-3-4-4-4-5--36. IN: 4-4-4-4-4-4-3-4-5--36

BRIAN NICOLSON 78
OUT: 5-3-5-4-3-5-5-5-5--40. IN: 4-4-3-5-4-5-3-5-5--38
RYAN FITZPATRICK 78
OUT: 6-4-5-4-3-4-3-5-5--39. IN: 4-5-5-4-3-5-3-4-6--39.
JOEL HOPWOOD 79
OUT: 5-3-5-4-4-6-5-5-4--41. IN: 4-4-5-4-4-5-3-4-5--38.
IAN BRATTON 80
OUT: 6-3-5-3-4-3-4-5-7--40. IN: 4-4-4-4-3-5-3-6-7--40.
DAVID BROWN 81
OUT: 7-5-6-5-3-5-4-5-4--44. IN: 4-5-4-4-4-4-2-4-6--37.
ROBERT O'DONNELL 81
OUT: 6-3-6-5-4-4-4-4-6--42. IN: 4-6-4-4-3-4-4-4-6--39.