HUTCH LEADS NE ALLIANCE CHSHIP BY TWO AT HALFWAY

            GREIG HUTCHEON .... two shots of a start in second round at Banff
 
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolview.com
Tartan Tour No 1 Greig Hutcheon, runner-up in last year's North-east Golfers' Alliance championship, is hot favourite to go one better in this year's 36-hole event.
The Banchory tour pro opened up a two-stroke lead at the end of the first round with a six-under-par 64 over a snow-free Montrose Links today
Only four players in the field of 77 got under the 70 par mark with Kevin Duncan (McDonald Ellon), pictured below left, Hutcheon's nearest challenger on 66 when the second round tees off at Duff House Royal next Wednesday.



The others to break 70 were John Duff (Newmachar) with a 67 (33-34) and Craig Lawrie (Deeside) with a 68 (34-34).
Hutcheon crammed seven birdies into his round - at the second, fourth, fifth, 12th, 13th, 15th and 18th. His only slip was a bogey at the 10th in halves of 32.
Duncan was leading the field when he turned in 31 with the help of birdies at the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth to offset a bogey at the first. 
But he came slightly off the boil on the inward nine with bogeys at the 12th and 16th cancelling out birdies at the 10th and 17th.
John Duff was the only one of the leaders not to have a bogey on his card in halves of 33-34. He birdied the fourth, eighth and 17th.
Craig Lawrie started moderately with bogeys at the first and third but then had a four-under-par run over six holes, of which his father would have been proud - birdies at the fifth, sixth, ninth and 10th. 
A bogey at the 12th robbed him of some of his momentum but always nice to finish with a birdie, which he did to be on the two-under 68 mark on his own.
Former Aberdeen Links champion Stewart Finnie (Caledonian) did not look like matching the par of 70 when he took 38 to the turn - and had, in some players' opinion, the more difficult half to come. But Stewart rattled home in 32 with three birdies and no bogeys.
Also on the 70 mark, the best score yet from Kamran Zeynalov from, and I will not attempt to spell it, but it begins with an "A" and has a "z" in it and finishes "an."
Playing out of Portlethen and working behind the counter at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre, Kamran had halves of 35. He will have the bragging rights over another young Portlethen member North-east boys champion Sam Kiloh whose 87 reflects one of those days when very little went right for him.
Scotland international Adam Dunton (McDonald Ellon) would have been expecting to do better than a one-over 71.  He could have done with Stewart Finnie's inward half because it cost Adam 37 blows for the second nine after turning in 34.   

MONTROSE LINKS

Par 70
64 G Hutcheon (Banchory) 32-32
66 K Duncan (McDonald Ellon) 31-35
67 J Duff (Newmachar) 33-34
68 C Lawrie (Deeside) 34-34
70 S Finniie (Caledonian) 38-32, K Zeynalov (Portlethen) 35-35.
71 A Dunton (McDonald Ellon) 34-37.
72 C Nelson (Mackenzie Shop) 37-35.
74 G Paterson (Northern) 36-38, F Clarke (Newmachar) 40-34, C Carnegie (Kemnay) 38-36, J Nicolson (Auchmill) 36-38.
75 S Murray (Craibstone) 37-38, J Hopwood (Royal Aberdeen) 35-40, H Roulston (Stonehaven) 36-39.  
76 D Leslie (Northern), J Emslie (Royal Aberdeen), S Mackie (Auchmill).
78 J Duncan (Newburgh), J Hamilton (Murcar Links), A Campbell (Deeside), K Watson (Deeside).
79 C Cassie (Nigg Bay), M Winton (Caledonian), M Forster (Cruden Bay), F Bisset (Banchory), I Bratton (Newburgh).
80 A Graham (Aboyne), K Beveridge (unatt).
81 D McKay (Caledonian), G Milne (Newburgh), B Harper (Newburgh).
82 P Adams (Ballater), I D Smith (Hazlehead), D Mackay (Newmachar), M Duncan (Murcar Links).
83 L Roger (Royal Aberdeen), S Thomson (Caledonian).
84 T Collie (Kemnay), D Bisset (Banchory), D Fleming (Portlethen), H McNaughton (Cruden Bay), A Petrie (Oldmeldrum).
85 A Gall (Deeside), N Chisholm (Kemnay), J Borthwick (Craibstone), L Prouse (Hazlehead).
86 W Shaw (Banchory).
87 M Merchant (Newmachar), E Allan (Newmachar), S Kiloh (Portlethen), D Nelson (Aboyne), C Brindley (Banchory).
88 N Stewart (Northern), B Lumsden (Northern), D Wilson (Duff House Royal).
89 G Homer (Northern), R Brown (Newburgh), P Cheyne (Northern), J Forrest (Northern), G Dillon (Kemnay).
90 M Smith (Inverurie).
91 D Wright (Northrn).
92 P Cornfield (Auchmill), M Brown (Newburgh), M Rogers (Kemnay).
97 S Dillon (Kemnay).

TOP CARDS' BIRDIES-BOGEYS
GREIG HUTCHEON: 64
Birdies: 2-4-5-12-13-15-18
Bogey: 10

KEVIN DUNCAN: 66
Birdies: 3-4-5-7-8-10-17
Bogeys: 1-12-16

JOHN DUFF: 67
Birdies: 4-8-17
Bogeys: 0   

CRAIG LAWRIE: 68
Birdies: 5-6-9-10-18
Bogeys: 1-3-12
  
HANDICAP PRIZEWINNERS
Class 1 - K Zeynalov (Portlethen) (4) 66; H Roulston (Stonehaven) (7) 68; C Carnegie (Kemnay) (4) 70; J Hamilton (Murcar Links) (7), J Nicolson (Auchmill) (3) 71. 

Class 2 - M Winton (Caledonian) (11) 68; I D Smith (Hazlehead) (11) 71; T Collie (Kemnay) (12), L Roger (Royal Aberdeen) (11), S Thomson (Caledonian) (11) 72.

+SECOND ROUND WILL BE PLAYED AT 
DUFF HOUSE ROYAL GC, BANFF NEXT 
WEDNESDAY   

TEE TIMES FOR ROUND 2 
OF CHAMPIONSHIP
 

08:15 Charlie Cassie, Keith Watson, Brian Harper

08:23 Ian Bratton, David Mackay, Andrew Campbell

08:31 Stephen Dillon, G Dillon.

08:39 Donald Macandrew, Fraser Clark,  Gordon Munro

08:47 Grant Leslie, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ed Allan

08:55 S Davidson, Mike Brown, Raymond Brown

09:03 Harry Roulston, John Hamilton, John Borthwick

09:11 Michael Rendall, Leslie Roger, John Duff

09:19 

09:27 Hamish McNaughton, Lawrence Prouse, Colin Nelson

09:35 Christopher Lamb, Robert Lamb, Manson Merchant
09:43 Stuart Thomson, Mike Winton, Stewart Finnie

09:51 John Jessiman, Alister Petrie

09:59 Jackie Forrest, Norman Stewart, George Paterson

10:07 Ian Grant, Mike Smith

10:15 Peter Walker, Alan Gall, Martin Forster

10:23 Jim Emslie, Les Fowler, David Fleming

10:31 Willie Shaw, David Leslie, Gary Homer

10:39 Peter Cheyne, Dick Wright, Benny Lumsden

10:47 Neish Chisholm, Philip Adams, Eric Adams

10:55 

11:03 Robbie Duncan, Alister Clark, Willie Skene

11:19 Craig Carnegie, Tommy Collie, Mark Lawrie

11:27 Nigel Parker, Peter Guthrie, Mike Rogers

11:35 Jim Duncan, Gordon Milne, Duncan Clark

11:43 Chris Brindley, Fergus Bisset, Greig Hutcheon

11:51 David Nelson, Alister Graham, Mike Booth

11:59 Adam Dunton

12:07 David Bisset, Derek Randall, Jim Murray

12:15 Kamran Zeynalov, Sam Kiloh, Craig Lawrie

12:23  
12:31
12:39
12.47
12:55 John Nicolson, Paul Cornfield

13:03 Steve Allan, Scott Mackie, Steve Murray