Broch player wins N E Alliance with a 64 at Oldmeldrum

JUSTIN DUFF FLYING HIGH ALL DAY!

Fraserburgh's Justin Duff, an offshore worker, was on the Oldmeldrum golf course within an hour of coming in from the North Sea by helicopter - and the +1 amateur proceeded to win the North-east Golfers' Alliance competition with a fine three-under-par round of 64 over the winter course, writes Colin Farquharson.

 
"Working out on the rigs restricts my golf but doesn't seem to affect it," said Justin, pictured. "This was only the second time I had been able to play in an Alliance fixture this season - I also won a voucher the first time - but I managed to birdie six holes today."
After bogeys at the third and fourth, Duff took off again with birdies at the fifth, sixth, eighth, 11th and 15th before bogeying the 17th and birdieing the last for halves of 32.
He won the first prize of £100 as an amateur voucher.
Runner-up was another member of the Duff clain, John, who is unrelated to Justin but also a +1 player.
Newmachar amateur John, who has won three times this Alliance season, finished three off the lead with a 67 (33-34) after being the clubhouse leader until Justin, one of the last men to finish, came in with his tournament-winning round.
Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie GC), looking forward to making her debut at Agadir, Morocco as a Ladies European Tour player, finished third in a field of 70 with a 68 (34-34).
Banchory golf writer Fergus Bisset was the only player to match winner Justin Duff's inward half of 32. Fergus had a 71.
Congratulations to joint Alliance secretary Dave Mackay (Hazlehead) and Kemnay's Neish Chisholm for winning the Class 1 and Class 2 handicap sections respectively.
Neish won Class 2 with rather more ease than Dave did in his category. Chisholm shot a gross 72 and, less his handicap of 12, he had the "useful" net score of 60, winning Class 2 by seven shots. 
Nice one, Neish!
Now for the NE Alliance championship, the first round of which will be at Duff House Royal, Banff next week.
Alliance joint sec Dave Wilson, who is a member out there, assures one and all that the "normal" greens will be in play and mats will certainly not be required for shots off the fairway. 
The second round of the championship is at Craibstone the following Wednesday with the qualifiers, scratch and handicap, going forward to contest the scratch and handicap foursomes at Craibsone on the next two days.
In recent years, the foursomes finale to the season has lost its "pull" with members and sometimes it is a case of "Are you available to play?" rather than "You have qualified to play."
Let's hope that members make themselves available for the scratch and handicap sections.

+LOOK out tomorrow for the updated Brimmond Bistro North-east Alliance Scratch Order of Merit table.

HANDICAP PRIZEWINNERS
Class 1 - D Mackay (7) 65; A Graham (5) 66; D Fleming (5) bih, G Milne (6) bih, S Mackie (4) 67.
Class 2 - N Chisholm (12) 60; G Allan (12) 67; B Lumdsen (10) bih, A Benton (14) 68; M Brown (18) 69.
SCRATCH SCORES
Par 67
64 Justin Duff (Fraserburgh) 32-32
67 John Duff (Newmachar) 33-34
68 Laura Murray (Paul Lawrie GC) 34-34
69 T Robertson (Peterculter) 33-36
70 L Vannet (Craibstone) 35-35
71 R Ord (Meldrum House) 38-33,  F Bisset (Banchory) 39-32, A Graham (Aboyne) 34-37, S Mackie (Hazlehead) 33-38, D Buchan (Peterhead) 37-34
72 D Mackay (Hazlehead) 36-36, D Fleming (Portethen) 38-34, D Leslie (Northern) 35-37, S Finnie (Royal Aberdeen) 35-37, N Chisholm (Kemnay) 36-36
73 P Morrison (Oldmeldrum) 35-38, G Milne (Newburgh) 36-37, G Moir (Hazlehead) 36-37
74 A Smith (Turriff) 35-39, R O'Donnell (Oldmeldrum) 37-37, A Gall (Deeside) 34-40, L Fowler (Royal Aberdeen) 38-36,  J Hopwood (Royal Aberdeen) 39-35, Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne) 37-37
75 B Harper (Newburgh) 39-36, S Davidson (Northern) 40-35, B Nicolson (Hazlehead) 38-37
76 M Duncan (Murcar Links) 38-38, M Forster (Cruden Bay) 38-38
77 Keil Beveridge (Kippie Lodge) 35-42, D Lane (Deeside) 39-38, J Duncan (Oldmeldrum) 38-39, J Borthwick (Craibstone) 42-35
78 A Campbell (Murcar Links) 37-41, C Cassie (Nigg  Bay) 40-38, B Lumsden (Northern) 40-38, D Bisset (Banchory) 38-40, D McDougall (Nigg Bay) 36-42,
79 G Allan (Newmachar) 41-38, J Forrest (Northern) 40-39, D McKay (Caledonian) 39-40
80 H Roulston (Stonehaven) 39-41, S Allison (Caledonian) 36-44, G Mackie (Caledonian) 39-41, D Nelson (Aboyne) 40-40
81 H McNaughton (Cruden Bay) 40-41, C Duffus (Kemnay) 37-44 , P Low (Craibstone) 38-43
82 A Benton (Kemnay), J Murray (Banchory), W Skene (Deeside)
83 D Townsley(Peterculter), I Clark (Deeside), M Winton (Caledonian)
84 N Stewart (Northern), L Duncan (Craibstone), N K Parker (Murcar Links)
85 L Roger (Royal Aberdeen), D Lawrie (Aboyne).
86 R Masson (Auchmill), M Rendall (Stonehaven), M Rogers (Kemnay)
87 M Brown (Kemnay)
89 R Brown (Kemnay)
90 D Wright (Northern)
93 I Grant (Kemnay)
95 S Dillon (Kemnay)

BEST SCORECARDS
+Today's course for the North-east Alliance was somewhere between the 64 listed on the Oldmeldrum winter scorecards and 
the 70 listed on the normal club scorecard. 
Sorry we cannot list all the pars but we take winner  Justin Duff's
word for it that he birdied the fifth, sixth, eighth, 11th, 15th and 18th, and had bogeys at the third, fourth and 17th.