Tuesday, August 30, 2011

NORTHERN OPEN HAS THE MAKINGS OF A CRACKING CONTEST


GREIG HUTCHEON BIDDING TO
BE FIRST MAN SINCE KEVIN
STABLES (1993-94) TO WIN
TITLE TWO YEARS IN A ROW

FROM THE PGA E-BULLETIN
with additional words by Colin Farquharson
Walker Cup team selection James Byrne from Banchory will tee up alongside his club's tour pro, defending champion Greig Hutcheon, pictured, in the Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open at Meldrum House Country Hotel and Golf Course, Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire tomorrow morning.
Byrne, having played all four rounds of the European Tour event at Gleneagles at the weekend, is one of 15 amateurs joining the 90 qualifying professionals in the £25,000 tournament over 72 holes with the final two rounds on Friday after a cut at the end of 36 holes.
The Northern Open's leading amateur traditionally wins the Bookless Cup and this is arguably the strongest ever amateur field assembled for the North and North-east's premier pro championship.
The last amateur to win the Northern was Hazlehead's Sandy Pirie in 1970, three years after he played in the Walker Cup.
Banchory tour pro Hutcheon will be defending his title and believes that his failure to survive the halfway cut in the Johnnie Walker Championship at the weekend may have been a blessing in disguise in that it gave him a weekend off duty to recharge his batteries.
Prior to Gleneagles, Hutcheon had won three Tartan Tour 18-hole events in a span of four or five days.
The last man to win the Northern Open two years in a row was Elgin Golf Club pro Kevin Stables in 1993 and 1994.
Another Banchory man Scott Larkin, now a member at Royal Aberdeen GC, who finished runner-up to Hutcheon in last year’s rain-shortened event, is unable to take up the offer of a place in the field due to injury.
Rowallan Castle’s Graham Fox, an eight-time winner on the Tartan Tour this season, is the third player in the group which tees off at 9am.
Scottish amateur champion twice in the past three years, David Law, who narrowly missed out on Walker Cup selection, has the honour of getting play underway at 7.40am, playing in a three-ball which also includes former champion Peter Smith now flourishing among the over-50s and holding down a teaching post under Deeside Golf Club pro Frank Coutts.
Ross Kellet, second reserve behind Law for GB and I in the Royal Aberdeen event, is paired with current Scottish PGA champion, and two-time Northern Open winner Chris Doak, and the experienced Aberdonian Scott Henderson at 9.25am.
Stephen Gray (Hayston) and Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills Golf Range), currently second and third behind Hutcheon in the 2011 Scottish Money List, provide another attractive pairing, teeing off with Leven-based amateur James White at 8.50am.
This year the field for the Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open includes two women, Michele Thompson, a former Scottish women's champion and 2008 Curtis Cup player at St Andrews, and Nicola Melville, who hope to upstage their male counterparts.
Revealing the draw, Michael MacDougall, PGA Scottish regional secretary, said: “Aberdeen Asset Management’s support has enabled us to assemble a very strong field.
“Meldrum House proved to be a very popular venue for the players last year and we are looking forward to returning there. We are anticipating a tremendous championship and it is very difficult to predict a winner.”
+Peter Smith's four-round total of 264 in winning the Northern Open at Murcar Links in 1994 still stands as the tournament record low and is believed to be the lowest total recorded for any 72-hole Tartan Tour event.

NORTHERN OPEN'S RECENT WINNERS
2010 Greig Hutcheon. Venue: Meldrum House
2009 Craig Lee. Venue: Spey Valley.
2008 Chris Doak. Venue: Spey Valley.
2007 Murray Urquhart. Venue: Skibo Castle.
2006 Jason McCreadie. Venue: Skibo Castle.
2005 Chris Doak. Venue: Skibo Castle.
2004 Jason McCreadie. Venue: Skibo Castle.
2003 Gordon Law. Venue: Cruden Bay.
2002 Fraser Mann. Venue: Newmachar.
2001 Graham Rankin. Venue: Murcar Links.
2000 Jim Payne. Venue: Forres.
1999 Alastair Forsyth. Venue: Nairn Dunbar.
1998 Lee James. Venue: Royal Aberdeen.
1997 David Thomson. Venue: Elgin.
1996 Scott Henderson. Venue: Cruden Bay.
1995 Joe Higgins. Venue: Nairn.
1994 Kevin Stables. Venue: Royal Dornoch.
1993 Kevin Stables. Venue: Nairn Dunbar.
1992 Peter Smith. Venue: Murcar Links.
1991 Craig Cassells. Venue: Lossiemouth.
1990 Colin Brooks. Venue: Nairn Dunbar.
1989 Colin Brooks. Venue: Cruden Bay.

WEDNESDAY TEE TIMES AT MELDRUM HOUSE
All from first tee
07:40 David Law (a), Peter Smith, Malcolm Isaacs
07:50 Joel Hopwood, Scott Crichton (a), Sandy Aird
08:00 Andrew Cooper, Fraser McKenna (a), Terry Mathieson
08:10 Jonas Hedberg, Colin Brodie (a), Ryan Buckley
08:20 Lewis Burnett, Clarke Lutton, Grant Smith
08:30 Mark Kerr, Christopher Currie, Terence Burgoyne
08:40 Ross Cameron, Alan Lockhart, James McKinnon
08:50 James White (a), Paul McKechnie, Stephen Gray
09:00 Greig Hutcheon, Graham Fox, James Byrne (a)
09:15 Robert Arnott, Steven Duncan, Greg McBain
09:25 Scott Henderson, Ross Kellet (a)
09:35 Chris Kelly, David Patrick, Paul Shields (a)
09:45 Graeme Brown, Ross Dixon, Fraser Malcolm
09:55 Mark King, Jamie Carver, Sean Thompson
10:05 Lee Harper, Lindsay Mann, Craig Gordon
10:15 Stuart Morrison, Stuart Reekie, Paul Brookes
10:25 Joseph McBrearty, Neil Colquhoun, Alistair Brown
10:35 Jordan Ramanauskas, Greg Paxton, Chris McCalman
10:45 Nathan Keast, James Erskine
10:55 Alan Reid, Jonathan Lomas, Scott Herald
11:05 James McGhee, Brian Mason, Ian Taylor
11:15 Andrew Crerar, Graeme Robertson (a), Gareth Wright
11:30 Paul Wardell, Alastair Mackenzie, Ian Graham
11:40 Craig Matheson, Scott Grieve, Daniel Kay (a)
11:50 Anthony Mackrell, Sean O'Donnell, Duncan Williamson
12:00 Steven Taylor, David Thomson, Colin Gillies
12:10 Philip McLean (a), Neil Fenwick, Kenneth Hutton
12:20 Stephen McAllister, William Colquhoun, Nick Robson (a)
12:30 Alan Tait, Graham Forbes, Michele Thomson
12:40 Jason McCreadie, Greg Paterson (a), Campbell Elliott
12:50 Mark Loftus, Craig Ronald, David Broadfoot
13:00 David Orr, Kris Nicol (a), Stewart Savage
13:10 Callum Trahan (a), Stuart Williamson, Christopher Robinson
13:20 Ewan Davie, Nicola Melville, James Smallwood
13:30 Paul Wytrazek, Jonathan Porteous, John Ruth

(a) denotes amateur.

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