KELLY WINS NORTHERN OPEN CURTAIN-RAISER

                                              CHRIS KELLY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON 
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Cawder pro Chris Kelly warmed up for this week's Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open Championship at Meldrum House, Oldmeldrum by leading the Salamis team to victory in the curtain-raising pro-am with a net 12-under-par total of 128.
His amateur partners were Kenny Bennet (handicap 4), Gus Smart (16) and Gary Cruickshank (17).
Runners-up on 129 were the teams led by Northern Open defending champion David Law (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) and Banchory's James Byrne.
Kelly won the first pro prize of £150 and Law, who won the title as an amateur 12 months ago, received £100 after a card countback with Byrne's team.
Individual pro scores were not returned.
Said David Law later:
"The course is looking fantastic especially considering the torrential rain in Aberdeen and its suburbs. I'm playing well so looking forward to the days ahead and would, of course, love to defend my title."
The 72-hole tournament, with a cut to the leading 40 and ties after 36 holes, begins Tuesday and ends on Friday, instead of the traditional Northern Open format of two rounds on the final day.
The first prize will be around the £4,000 which runner-up pro Stephen Gray (Hayston) collected for finishing two shots behind amateur winner Law last year.
There are 11 amateurs in the field this year. David Law's 2011 performance apart, the amateurs are competing for the Bookless Cup, donated by the late Jack Bookless (Inverness) who was Scottish amateur champion in 1929 - two years before the Northern Open was first played, at Balgownie.

TARTAN TOUR ORDER OF MERIT LEADERS

1 Greig Hutcheon (Banchory)
2 David Patrick (Elie SC)
3 Scott Henderson (Kings Links)
4 Gareth Wright (West Linton)
5 Neil Fenwick (Dunbar)
6 Stephen Gray (Hayston).

LEADING MONEY WINNERS 2012

1 Greig Hutcheon (Banchory) £26,568

2 Graham Fox (Rowallan Castle) £22,764

3 Stephen Gray (Hayston) £21,656

4 Scott Henderson (Kings Links) £21,211

5 Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) £13,486

6 David Orr (Mearns Castle) £12,201

7 David Patrick (Elie SC) £11,545

8 Neil Fenwick (Dunbar) £11,300

9 Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) £11,183

10 Chris Kelly (Cawder) £10,771

11 Christopher Currie (Caldwell) £10,682