JAMES WHITE WINS NORTH OF SCOTLAND OPEN AMATEUR STROKE

JAMES WHITE with the prestigious David Blair Trophy after his victory in the North of Scotland open amateur stroke-play championship at Nairn Dunbar GC today. Image by courtesy of Peter Abbott of the North District SGU.


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Fifer James White scored his second win on the SGU's Order of Merit 72-hole tournament circuit today when he  drew clear of the field over the final round of the the North of Scotland open amateur stroke-play championship for the David Blair Trophy at Nairn Dunbar Golf Club.
Lundin Golf Club member White, the Scottish boys match-play champion in 2006, followed up his victory in the Tennant Cup in Glasgow, with four so-steady rounds of 69, 70, 70 and 69 for a impressive aggregate of 10-under-par 278 over a testing course.
It was a well-earned £400 first-prize voucher plus, of course, the prestigious trophy which bears the name of Major David Blair, the Nairn Golf Club member who played in two Walker Cup matches in the 1950s.
White, whose father was a Tartan Tour pro for a number of years, won in the end by three shots from Peter Latimer (St Andrews New) with Daniel Kay (Dunbar), beaten finalist in the Scottish men's amateur championship by David Law, having his best finish at this level in third place on 286, a shot ahead of Kris Nicol (Fraserburgh).
White and Philip McLean (Peterhead) were the half way leaders on 139 but McLean dropped out of the picture with a disastrous third-round 79 and White was joined in the lead by Latimer who couldn't produce the last-round birdies needed to stay shoulder to shoulder with White and slipped three shots behind with a 72.
Latimer, who was also in the final pair off the tee with the Leven Gold Medal winner Ross Bell at the Fife venue earlier this month, is knocking on the door and he needs a confidence-boosting win, having had little good fortune since he won the East of Scotland Open by seven or eight shots last year.
Kay's Sunday rounds of 70 and 69 lifted him up to third place.
Best score of the weekend was a seven-under-par 65 in the final round by Alexander Culverwell, which lifted the Dunbar man up to the level par 288 mark, joint fifth with McLean and Jordan Milne (Elgin).
Fraserburgh's Gordon Munro had a hole in one at the eighth hole in the second round.