JAMES BRAID OPEN PICTURE AND REPORT FROM BRORA

JAMES BRAID OPEN  REPORT BY ROBIN WILSON

A birdie two on the 36^th hole against a bogey four separated  the leading scratch pair of James MacBeath (Brora) and Chris Mailley (Royal Dornoch) in the James Braid Open at Brora last Saturday and there was a welcome return to the trophy table by Calum Stewart who received the Royal Marine Hotel Trophy for overall nett aggregate.

Brora's  flagship open stroke play cup, The Howey, has spent the last seven years outside the club, the last four in Dornoch and  triple winner Chris Mailley posted his opening defence with a sound level par card  of 69 to have it matched by eventual winner MacBeath who was the last local winner in 2004.

Local Head Greenkeeper, MacBeath was two over par after his first three holes but put red on his scorecard for the first time  with birdie on the fourth hole and with his second red figure at the 16th  brought in a level par 69 from halves of 36 & 33.  Even on the first round Mailley erred with bogey on the final hole but still managed his 69 with 34&35 and in the clubhouse they found another 69, from Golspie exile Darren Hexley the runner up in the recent County Championship, he also dropped a shot to par on the final par three.

But leading with a one under par card of  68 was Inverness's David Joel who had teed off at 6.30am and with the aid of birdies on the 8th and ninth holes reached the turn in 35. His inward half of 33 ended with a birdie two on the final hole. A double bogey seven from the Inverness player at the par five 8^th hole proved a weighty burden in his second round of 74 to drop him back to a fourth scratch place but still emerging with the low nett of 136 in Class 1 and the winner of the Kidd Cup.

Local Calum Stewart, since winning the North of Scotland Boy's championship in the spring of last year has seen his handicap rise from one to three with some sole searching scores. Albeit a handicap win  his second round one under par gross 68 (35/33) still shows he has real potential. The second round nett 65 added to his first round nett 70  edged Joel out of winning the Royal Marine Hotel Trophy by a stroke. 

Hexley faded to a second round 75, his score rescued by two 2's on his the inward stretch of 33 after struggling out in 42 leaving the afternoon duel to be fought between MacBeath and Mailley.  The Howey Cup defender went in front from an opening birdie three and forged two strokes in front with his eagle three on the par five hole. MacBeath's birdie at the ninth brought the difference back to one shot, an outward 35 against Mailley's 34 before they made the turn for home. 

The holder began his inward card 4,5,3,2 against MacBeath's 4,5,4,3 to increase his advantage to three shots before a two shot swing change at the 14^th, , a MacBeath birdie three  to a Mailley bogey five after the Dornoch member  failed to find thegreen with his second shot.  After his long drive from the 17^th tee Mailley failed again to find the green in regulation this time ending up in the greenside bunker to bogey the hole and the pair went to the final tee on level terms.

For the second time of the day Mailley missed the green, long and left and took three more to hole out leaving MacBeath two putts for the win from eight feet but finishing off in grandstand fashion he holed for birdie two and the Howey Cup was back in Brora.

Two more trophy winners had to be found and it was local John MacGregor who landed his first 36 hole success capturing the Duke of Sutherland's Dunrobin Cup with a nett 144, off 20 two shots ahead of Edinburgh based member Ian Blyth.

James Braid Society Captain, Malcolm Campbell, invited Braid Society member David Grounds from St. Andrews to step up for the Society's confined James Braid Trophy after he won it with scores of 83 & 74 then Marjory Mackie, a Great Granddaughter of the five time Open Champion was welcomed back to Brora to make the presentation of all the other trophies and cups.

Results: CSS members and visitors 70 each round.

Scratch – Howey Cup 137 J G MacBeath (Brora) 69/68. 139 C Mailley (RDGC) 69/70. 144 D Hexley (Muir of Ord) 69/75.  Handicap Class 1 – Kidd Cup  D Joel (Inverness) (3) 136. M MacLean (Brora) (9) 137. R Woodside (Blairgowrie) (8),  R Carr (Fortrose)  (7) 138. J Innes (Castle Heather (9) 139. Handicap Class 2 -Duke of Sutherland Dunrobin Cup   J MacGregor (Brora) (18) 144. I Blyth (Prestonfield) (15) 146.  Royal Marine Hotel Trophy, (overall nett) - C Stewart (Brora) (3) 135.     

Royal Marine Hotel Mixed Foursomes

The James Braid weekend at Brora rolled on into Sunday with the Society’s headquarters, The Royal Marine Hotel sponsoring a mixed foursomes competition which attracted an entry of forty couples.

In a stiff wind the scoring was  that normal and no couple managed to break eighty.  With a card of 80 the Lybster pairing of John Gunn and Lorna MacMillan won the Links Trophy for the best gross score after equal halves of 40. With a second podium place in the space  of twenty four hours, but this time as a runner up, was James MacBeath with his partner Lynda Mackay who grossed 83 (42/41)

The overall nett winner and recipients for the first time of the Royal Marine Hotel Trophy were summer residents from Chicago , Bill and Jan Beaton. Their nett card of 69½ from a handicap of 24½ edged home by a shot from Club Captain Ken Lorimer and Wife Sheila , nett 70½ .The Lorimers had the consolation of leading the Class 2 handicap returns while the best nett in Class 1  came from Braid Society members David and Mrs. B Grounds (St. Andrews)

Results

Scratch Links Trophy – J Gunn and L MacMillan (Lybster) 80. J MacBeath and L Mackay (Brora) 83. M and F Ford (Gullane/Murrayfield) 86.

HANDICAP

Class 1 - D and B Grounds (St. Andrews) (15) 71. J and L Beaney (Brora) (14½) 72½. J Turner and A MacBeath (Tyneside/Brora) (12) 75.

Class 2 – K and S Lorimer (Brora) (19½) 70½. D Sutherland and S Bruce (Brora) (22½) 71½. J and L Husband (Carnoustie/Forfar (22½) 71½. Royal Marine Hotel Trophy -  B & J Beaton (Brora/Chicago) (24½) 69½.

Saturday's Picture line up left to right – Malcolm Campbell (Captain James Braid Society), James MacBeath Howey Cup) Marjory Mackie, Calum Stewart (Royal Marine Trophy), John MacGregor  Dunrobin Cup.

Two Trophies now for Golspie Ladies at Inter County Club Fixtures

Golspie Golf Club with three teams entered into the Ross-Sutherland Inter club women's event at Fortrose & Rosemarkie last Saturday saw their third quartet win the Connon Trophy for handicap scores while Tain extended their hold on the scratch Gordon Salver to twelve years.

The Golspie heroines who outshone their first and second team selections were Ann Duff, Hazel Proctor, Lauren Bonner and Lesley Cranna leaving their first team of Anne Macrae, Helen Ewan, Noel Mackay and Sheila Robertson as runners up.

The Golspie winning team score from their best three cards was Ann Duff (31) 72, Hazel Proctor (25) 85, Lauren Bonner (21) 83 and Lesley Cranna (28) 83 for a total of 229 and two in front of Golspie 1, Macrae (11) 74, Ewan (16) 76, Mackay (15) 81 and Robertson (12) 82 for their 54 hole total of 231.

Tain' Scratch winning team total of 239 came from Anne Ryan 81, Claire Ross 77, Mary Smith 81 and Linda Thomson 103. Royal Dornoch's first team were second with 250 – Alison Bartlett 82, Claire Riddell 83, Dorothy Lloyd 85, and Denise McBride 96.       

The winning nett result means the Golspie women now hold both handicap trophies from inter county club competitions, the Beatrice Trophy won last September in the  Caithness/Sutherland club fixture at Brora.