CRAIG RONALD WINS TO HEAD SPRINT SERIES QUALIFIERs

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com Carluke's Craig Ronald headed the 36 qualifiers for the Sprint Series Final at The Duke's Course, St Andrews on October 3-4 with a sparkling round of five-under-par 67 in the fourth and final qualifying competition at The Roxburghe course, near Kelso today. Ronald, pictured, had an eagle 3 at the long seventh and birdies at the first, ninth, long 11th, 12th and 14th with a couple of bogeys, at the short fourth and short eighth, to offset that. His reward on the day was £1,000 and the clinching of a place at the head of the qualifiers for the 36-hole shoot-out. Alastair Mackenzie (Renaissance Club) earned £750 today with a round of 68 in which he birdied the sixth, long seventh, long 11th short 13th, long 14th before his only bogey of the round, at the 16th. Scott Grieve (Turnhouse), Stephen Lamb (Macdonald Cardrona) and Ross Dixon (Renaissance Club) tied for third place on 70 and each received £433. The qualifying table was based on players' best two rounds from the four Sprint Series events. The top 10 qualifiers are 1 Craig Ronald, 2 Graeme Brown, 3 Greig Hutcheon, 4 Graham Fox, 5 Gareth Wright, 6 David Orr, 7 James McKinnon, 8 Ken Campbell, 9 Scott Grieve, 10 Alastair Mackenzie. Heather MacRae (Gleneagles) made it through in 33rd place but Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) finished below the qualifying mark in 44th place. Men who just missed out were 37 Iain Colquhoun, 38 Fraser Clarke, 39 Craig Gordon, 40 Stuart Reekie. Of course, the Sprint Series is an invitational event and it is not guaranteed that all 36 qualifiers will accept the invitation to play at The Duke's. In which case some of those who just missed out might well be drafted into the field. SPRINT SERIES - Fourth qualifier The Roxburghe GC, Kelso LEADING SCORES Par  72 67 Craig Ronald (Carluke) £1,000. 68 Alastair Mackenzie (Renaissance Club) £750. 70 Scott Grieve (Turnhouse), Stephen Lamb (Macdoald Cardrona), Ross Dixon (Renaissance Club) £433 each. 71 Tom Buchanan (Duddingston), Craig Gordon (Edinburgh GC), John Ruth (Clydeway Golf), Stephen McAllister (Renaissance Club), Alan Reid (West Lothian) £250 each. 72 Sean Thompson (East Renfrewshire), David Orr (East Renfrewshire), Michael McAllan (Glenbervie), Graham Fox (Rowallan Castle) £142 each. 73 Paul Brookes (Pitreavie), Jonathan Porteous (Craigielaw), James McGhee (Duddingston), Alan Lockhart (Ladybank), Paul Wardell (Whitekirk), Owen Leslie (Piperdam), Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), Gareth Wright (West Linton), Christopher Currie (Caldwell), Scott Herald (Adam Hunter Golf) £10 each.