Scott MacPherson continues good form in Autumn Trophy’s new home at Alyth

 

By BEN PHILIP

Scott MacPherson (Stirling University) carried on his good early season form by  sharing the lead at the 14^thAutumn Trophy after round one at Alyth Golf Club today (Monday).

 

Although cold, the early starters definitely had the better of the day at the new home of the Autumn Trophy, with heavy rain coming in over the course of the afternoon to make scoring more and more difficult.

 

MacPherson was one of those early starters and he used a bogey-free front nine to get to 3 under par on the 11^th. After dropping a shot on the par 3 14^th, the hardest hole of the day, he was able to get back to 3 under with a birdie on the final par 3, the 17^th, to shoot a 67.

 

Joining Scott at the top of the leaderboard was the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Alistair McNaughton. He birdied both par 3s on the front nine to help him to two under, one more birdie at the 12^thtaking him to his three under total.

 

Completing the podium places after day one was McNaughton’s UHI team-mate Michael Schinkel. Schinkel had a more up and down day than the two leaders, combining five birdies with three bogeys on his way to a two-under 68.

 

With the top ten all at level or better, Day 2  is going to be crucial in setting players up for the final day.

 

In the team event, UHI’s strong presence at the top of the individual leaderboard is reflected with a four-stroke lead over Stirling I (-1), with St Andrews I and Durham 1 a further six strokes back at +5.

 

In the women’s competition,  last year’s Autumn Trophy 3^rdplaced competitor Alexa Hammer (St Andrews) leads the way after a solid round of level par. With a birdie and a bogey on the front and the back nines, it was a very good display of consistent golf from Alexa.

 

One stroke back from the leader is RGU’s Jasmine Mackintosh, who after finding herself at +3 after six holes, turned her round around with a birdie on the ninth contributing to her getting back to one over for the day.

 

St  Andrew’s Georgina Hirst completes the top three at two over par. Hirst’s start was even tougher than Jasmine’s as she dropped five shots in the first four holes. However, a birdie at 5 arrested the slide and although she gave that shot back on the 9^th, she started the back nine birdie-eagle-birdie to get back to one over. A dropped shot at the 16 did little to sour a very strong first round of 73.

 

In the team event, St Andrews I (+4) lead their second team by one stroke with Stirling I four strokes adrift.

 

Round two starts from 8.30am Tuesday and a full tee sheet, along with results from day one can be found by clicking on the following links:

 https://www.golfbox.dk/livescoring/tour/?language=2057#/competition/1628002/leaderboard/1705978

LEADING MEN
Par 71 CSS 71
67 S Macpherson (Stirling), A McNaughton (UHI)
68 M Schinkel (UHI)
69 J Glenn (Durham), J Nash (Stirling), C Edgar (Stirling), F Milne (Stirling).
70 J Pope (Exeter), P Kerr (St Andrews), G Minton (UHI).

Selected scores:
71 C Leith (RGU) (T11)
72 E Innes (St Andrews) (T16)
73 I McCormack (UHI) (T19)
76 C Franssen (St Andrews) (T36)

LEADING WOMEN
par 71 CSS 71
71 A Hammer (St Andrews)
72 J Mackintoh (RGU)
73 G Hirst (St Andrews_
74 C Boat (UHI), M Fraser (Stirling), K Napoleaova (St Andrews)
75 K Brown (St Andrews)
77 J Rankine (Stirling).