HUTCHEON AND FLEMING WIN NE ALLIANCE SCRATCH FOURSOMES

 Greig Hutcheon (left) and David Fleming in front with Scott Larkin and Euan Kenndy behind. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Banchory's Greig Hutcheon, runner-up to Stephen Gray in both the domestic Order of Merit and money table last year, sharpened up for the start of the new Tartan Tour season at Dundonald on April 11, by winning the North-east Alliance match-play foursomes at sunny but quite windy Murcar Links today.
Hutcheon and his amateur partner, Portlethen five-handicapper David Fleming (Portlethen) beat the all-amateur pairing of Scott Larkin, who plays off +2 at Royal Aberdeen, and one-handicapper Euan Kennedy (Newmachar) by two holes in the final.
The handicaps did not come into the equation in this the scratch final for the Evening Express Shield but gives one an idea of the quality of the amateurs who were not overawed by competing with and against  a Tartan Tour star
Hutcheon and Fleming won the first three holes and were four up after six but had been pulled back to square by the 12th. Larkin and Kennedy birdied the seventh and eighth and the ninth was halved in birdies, leaving Hutcheon and Fleming two up at the turn.
Larkin and Kennedy won the 10th and 11th to get back on terms for the first time in the match but lost the 12th, 13th and 15th to be three down with three to play, the 14th having been halved in birdies.
Larkin and Kennedy once more really and won the 16th and 17th to be one down on the 18th tee.
Unfortunately, Kennedy drove into a bunker on the right at the last and Larkin, up against the face, could only splash out sideways.
On in two, Hutcheon and Fleming doubled their margin of victory with a par 4.
The winners were roughly one or two over par, not bad scoring in the wind.
Hutcheon earned £130 for his success, small beer by Tartan Tour standards but neverthless a morale-boosting victory as he shapes up for a new Scottish season in which he seeks to regain his No 1 status.
Former Scottish tennis champion and past P and J Editor Harry Roulston (Stonehaven) and Alister Petrie (Oldmeldrum) were beaten 5 and 4 in the handicap final for the Press and Journal Shield by Mark Lawrie (Kemnay) - no relation to Paul - and Paul Cornfield (Auchmill) who won the first five holes.
Roulston, who has his 70th birthday last Monday, and Petrie won each of the three holes at which they had to concede a stroke but they were always playing catch-up golf following Lawrie and Cornfield's one-under-par opening run which put them five up on the sixth tee.
Cornfield, despite his 15-handicap rating, hit the fairway with each of his seven alternate-shot drives. Roulston and Petrie three times cut their deficit to four holes - at the sixth, eighth and 10th - but it was a case of so far and no further.
Wins by Lawrie and Cornfield at the 11th and 12th, making them six up, left Roulston and Petrie with "mission impossible" and the tie ended with a half on the 14th green.

Joint North-east Alliance secretary David Wilson (centre), flanked by Press and Journal Shield winners Paul Cornfield (left) and Mark Lawrie, with beaten finalists Harry Roulston (extreme left) and Alister Petrie (extreme right) also in the picture.

RESULTS

SCRATCH - Final - G Hutcheon (Banchory) and D Fleming (Portlethen) bt S Larkin (Royal Aberdeen) and E Kennedy (Newmachar) 2 holes.

HANDICAP - Final - M Lawrie (Kemnay) (7) and P Cornfield (Auchmill) (15) bt H Roulston (Stonehaven) (7) and A Petrie (Oldmeldrum) (10) 5 and 4.