GAITTENS LOCAL HERO AT FORTROSE AND 

ROSEMARKIE IN NORTH SCOTTISH ALLIANCE

ROBIN WILSON REPORTS 

Local member, Chris Gaittens, whose best result since becoming a member of the North Scottish Golfers' Alliance was a joint first place with Scot Dingwall (Grantown on Spey) at Grantown in October 2013, enjoyed home comfort to record his first individual

scratch triumph at Fortrose and Rosemarkie on Saturday.

The Channory Point peninsular course on Ross-shire's Black Isle has a reputation of being very difficult when wind sweeps across it so Saturday's benign condition caught out quite a lot of players and the scoring was not as low as expected., only two in the field of 89 breaking par and just one local member smashing his handicap.

Wedged between two birdies at the fifth and seventh holes, Gaittens' bogey at the long sixth hole was his second in an outward half of par 36 before a two under par inward 33, highlighted by an eagle 2 at the 265yd 14^th, for a two under par  69 to win the by one stroke from former Scottish international Bryan Fotheringham.

Fotheringham, the reigning Alliance champion, had birdie 2s on his outward card at the fifth and ninth holes to arrive on the tenth tee at two under par 34.
 But two shots were dropped on his run for home, at the 11^th and 15th, one recovered with birdie at the same hole that Gaittens eagled for a one over 36 and a second place 70.

Matching the par of 71, with a birdie 2 at the final hole, were local Alan Cameron (39-32) and John Campbell (Grantown on Spey)  (36-35), whose double bogey 6 at the 15^th was repaired by birdies at the 14^th and 17th, and Elgin's Neil MacWilliam whose card featured four birdies and also an eagle 2 at the 14^th, but was cluttered with six bogies. in par-matching halves of 36 and 35.

A third local to figure in the top eight was Lewis Reid (35-37), joined on 72 by Gordon Hay (Grantown on Spey) and Bruce Thomson (Torvean). 
Hay's net 71 raised him into second handicap place in Class 1 for the second week running. The winner with a net 70 was Elgin's McWilliam.

Only in the higher handicap section was there one player to make an early spring bloom. Local Donnie MacLeod, with a handicap of 13, bogeyed the first four holes then matched par to the 12th before a birdie at the 14th, and then dropping three shots on the final two holes, which he could well afford, for his gross 78 gave him a net 65 and a seven-shot winning margin,.

The fog postponed November fixture at Nairn Dunbar has been rearranged for Saturday, February  21 and the fixtures return to a scheduled Ross-shire venue (Muir of Ord) on Saturday, Februray 28.

NORTH SCOTTISH GOLFERS' ALLIANCE
Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club.
LEADING SCRATCH
Par 71
69 C Gaittens (Fortrose & Rosemarkie)
70 B Fotheringham (Inverness)
71 J S D Campbell (Grantown), A Cameron (Fortrose & Rosemarkie), N Mcwilliam (Elgin)
72 G H Hay (Grantown), L Reid (Fortrose & Rosemarkie), B J Thomson (Torvean)
73 D Hector (Elgin), D Ramsay (Moray) p
74 B Cruickshank (Spey Bay)
75 K Godsman (Moray), R H Stewart (Torvean)
76 J Simpson (Forres)
77 J R Ingram (Boat of Garten), J Shaw (Boat of Garten), G Allan (Moray), D Joel (Inverness)
78 D F Sharp (Boat of Garten), A Waterson (Grantown), R McKerron (Forres), I Murray (Boat of Garten), D M Macleod (Fortrose & Rosemarkie), J Wright (Forres)
79 C C Macdonald (Elgin), R Kinnaird (Grantown), A Hutchison (Inverness), W Donnelly (Fortrose & Rosemarkie), W R Duncan (Moray), R Wilson (Brora), W Weatherall (Muir of Ord), P Masson (Rothes)
81 R Stewart (Nairn Dunbar), F Mackellar (Grantown)
82 G Cruickshank (Spey Bay), T Madden (Elgin), S Mullen (Elgin), M McDonald (Boat of Garten), A Henry (Inverness)

LEADING HANDICAP
Class 1 (7 and under)
70 N McWilliam (Elgin) (1)
71 J R Ingram (Boat of Garten) (6), Hector (Elgin) (2), G H Hay (Grantown) (1), L Reid (Fortrose & Rosemarkie) (1)
Class 2 (8 to 18)
65 D M Macleod (Fortrose & Rosemarkie) (13)
72 I Grant (Grantown) (13)
73 G Cruickshank (Spey Bay) (9), T Madden (Elgin) (9), F Mackellar (Grantown) (8), I Mackellar (Grantown) (11), A McWilliam (Moray) (16)