KRIS NICOL JOINS THE ROUND-IN-59 SELECT CLUB OF WORLD GOLFERS

KRIS NICOL IN THE MONTROSE MERCANTILE CLUBHOUSE WITH HIS                MEMORABLE SCORECARD FOR A 10-UNDER-PAR 59 TODAY                         Picture by Cal Carson Golf Agency By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com Fraserburgh tour pro Kris Nicol today joined the select few golfers around the world who have returned a tournament score of 59. He did it in the North-east Alliance over the winter course at Montrose - one of the oldest links layouts in the world - which is only 5,566yd long and has a par of 69 - but, nevertheless, it was a fantastic display of precision golf by the 28-year-old who plies his trade on the Alps Tour. Nicol's figures were: OUT - 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4: 29 (five under) IN - 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 - 30 (five under) He did not chip in at any hole and had 25 putts in claiming 10 birdies in a bogey-free round. Another highlight was seven consecutive 3s from the second to the eighth inclusive. "It was a perfect, sunny day for golf, with no wind at all" said Kris later. "I was fairly relaxed about it all until I stood on the 17th tee and knew I had to finish par-birdie or birdie-par to get a 59. That made me a bit nervous! "I had to settle for a par 4 at the 17th which really put me under pressure to birdie the last. It boiled down to a 6ft putt on the 18th green, which I managed to hole to complete my memorable round. "I think my wedge play had a lot to do with it. I was wedging it pretty close to the hole all the way round." Nicol won a £150 prize for heading a field of 97 players. Runner-up with a 62 was Tartan Tour supremo Greig Hutcheon who also covered the outward half in five-under-par 29 but hooked a ball out of bounds to bogey the 13th and could not repair the damage well enough to threaten Nicol who was winning for the fourth time in eight weeks. "No disgrace to be beaten by a 59 - that was some round by Kris!" said Hutcheon who had won three of the previous four weeks' competitions. Nicol's wins have been at Aboyne, Inchmarlo, Buckpool and Montrose. Hutcheon's three wins were at Cruden Bay, Newburgh and Craibstone. There have been 11 NE Alliance fixtures so far this season and Nicol and Hutcheon have won seven between them. Fraserburgh amateur Justin Duff climbed into third place on the back of a grandstand finish - four 3s in a row: eagle at 15th, par at 16th, birdies at 17 and 18 for 31 home and a 65. On a balmy day of brilliant score,  we also had arguably the highest ever one-hole score - a 15 at the par-4 14th by Ian Grant (Huntly) who went on to finish with 104 strokes to his credit. Good for Ian that he did not settle for a No Return. "I got into a little bit of bunker trouble at the 14th," said the jovial Ian. "Having got out of the sand in umpteen strokes, I promptly pitched back into the bunker again!  I played out backwards in one that time."  There were other oddities on a day when one or two players said they were bothered with the sun in their eyes - and they were not joking!  Nevada Bob-attached pro Steven Mann went out in 42 and back in 32. And David Law (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) surprisingly did not share in the low scoring bonanza. He took 76 blows to get round. He had a triple bogey 7 at the fifth and a double bogey 6 at the ninth in taking 40 to the turn. Inchmarlo teaching pro Keil Beveridge, who will soon be off to Morocco with girl friend and Scottish amateur champion Laura Murray (Alford) for the Ladies European Tour Q School at Marrakech, played some of his "best golf for years" to come home in 30 after taking 39 for the first nine.     The Rev Manson Merchant (Newmachar) had a No Return after marking up decent enough scores for the first 17 holes. What calamity befell him at the 18th, I can only guess.     NORTH-EAST ALLIANCE SCOREBOARD Montrose Links SCRATCH Par 69. SS 68 Yardage 5,566 59 K Nicol (Fraserburgh) 29-30 62 G Hutcheon (Banchory) 29-33 65 Justin Duff (Fraserburgh) 34-31 66 F Clarke (Newmachar) 32-34, John Duff (Newmachar) 33-33 68 G Munro (Fraserburgh) 35-33, P McLean (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) 36-32, K Duncan (McDonald Ellon) 35-33. 69 C Nelson (Mackenzie Shop) 34-35, S Finnie (Caledonian) 33-36, L Morgan (Kemnay) 36-33, K Beveridge (Inchmarlo) 39-30 70 C Dempster (Inchmarlo) 39-31, C Lamb (Newmachar) 36-34, A Dunton (McDonald Ellon) 37-33, R McConnachie (Peterculter) 35-35 71 D Macandrew (Royal Aberdeen) 32-39, D Leslie (Northern) 37-34, B Nicolson (Auchmill) 35-36. 72 A Campbell (Deeside) 33-39, G Milne (Newburgh) 36-36, C Trahan (Meldrum House) 35-37, J Emslie (Royal Aberdeen) 36-36 73 S Murray (Craibstone) 34-39. 74 G Mitchell (Braemar) 36-38, R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo) 37-37, S Mann (Nevada Bob) 42-32, D Fleming (Portlethen) 35-39 , J Forrest (Newmachar) 37-37, J Hopwood (Royal Aberdeen) 34-40, A Graham (Aboyne) 37-37 75 Claire Prouse (Hazlehead) 38-37, D Nelson (Aboyne) 38-37 76 K Watson (Deeside) 39-37, D Law (P Lawrie Golf Centre) 40-36, A Petrie (Oldmeldrum) 37-39, B Mitchell (McDonald Ellon) 39-37, I Taylor (Inchmarlo) 36-40, C Duffus (Kemnay) 36-40 77 H Roulston (Stonehaven) 39-38, K Zeynlove (Portlethen) 39-38, P Murray (Kemnay) 39-38 78 B Harper (Newburgh) 37-41, L Prouse (Hazlehead) 41-37, M Lawrie (Kemnay) 38-40. 79 J Duncan (Newburgh) 39-40, R Lamb (Newmachar) 38-41, M Smith (Inverurie) 36-43. 80 S Thomson (Caledonian) 40-40, R Orr (Kemnay) 43-37, C Carnegie (Kemnay) 40-40 81 R Brown (Newburgh) 41-40, J Borthwick (Craibstone) 39-42, P Morrison (Oldmeldrum) 39-42, W Skene (Deeside) 41-40, R Duncan (Royal Aberdeen) 37-44, D Wilson (Duff House Royal) 42-39, N K Parker (Murcar Links) 40-41 82 J Dalgarno (Hazlehead) 43-39, D McKay (Caledonian) 39-43, L Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) 43-39, B Lumsden (Northern) 41-41, T Littlechild (Peterculter) 42-40,  G Allan (Newmachar) 39-43 , D Bisset (Banchory) 42-40 83 L Roger (Royal Aberdeen) 39-44, G Homer (Northern) 45-38, C Moir (Ballater) 84 D Mackay (Newmachar) 40-44, W Shaw (Banchory) 41-43, N Chisholm (Kemnay) 40-44 85 D Wright (Portlethen) 40-45, H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) 46-39 87 M Winton (Caledonian) 88 G Leslie (Newburgh) 89 I D Smith (Hazlehead) 90 C Cassie (Nigg Bay)J, M Brown (Newburgh) 44-46, C Brindley (Banchory) 92 P Leech (Oldmeldrum), D Randall (Banchory) 42-50 93 D George (Kemnay) 41-52 96 S Dillon (Kemnay) 99 E Adams (Ballater). 104 I Grant (Huntly) 58-46 HANDICAP PRIZEWINNERS Class 1 - J Forrest (Northern) (9) 64; G Milne (Newburgh) (6), A Graham (Aboyne) (8) 66; D Leslie (Northern) (4), Claire Prouse (Hazlehead) (8) 67. Class 2 - A Petrie (Oldmeldrum) (10), M Smith (Inverurie) (13) 66; N K Parker (Murcar Links) (14) 67; R Orr (Kemnay) (12), R Brown (Newburgh) (13) 68. MONTROSE LINKS WINTER COURSE SCORECARD OUT: 4-4-3-4-4-4-4-3-4: 34    IN: 4-4-3-4-4-5-3-4-4: 35  Par 69. CSS 68 KRIS NICOL 59 OUT: 4-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-4: 29    IN: 3-3-3-4-3-4-3-4-3: 30 GREIG HUTCHEON 62 OUT: 4-4-2-2-3-3-3-3-5: 29    IN: 4-4-2-5-4-4-3-4-3: 33   JUSTIN DUFF 65 OUT: 4-4-2-3-5-4-3-3-6: 34    IN: 4-4-2-4-5-3-3-3-3: 31  FRASER CLARKE 66 OUT: 4-4-3-4-3-3-3-3-5: 32    IN: 5-4-3-3-4-5-3-4-3: 34 JOHN DUFF 66 OUT: 4-4-3-3-2-6-4-4-3: 33    IN: 4-4-3-3-4-4-3-4-4: 33