NORTHERN COUNTIES CUP

TORVEAN KEEP THE INVERNESS FLAG
FLYING AT ROYAL ABERDEEN

Both Inverness Golf Club teams and Castle Heather were knocked out on the opening day of the Northern Counties Cup men’s double foursomes match-play golf tournament at Royal Aberdeen today.
That leaves Torvean as the sole representatives of the Highland capital in the last 16 of one of the oldest tournaments – first played in 1900 – on the golfing calendar.
Torvean’s David Sandison, Graeme Anderson, Scott Chisholm and Steve McIntosh beat Nairn 2 in the morning first by the combined margin of nine holes.
It was much tighter for Torvean in their second-round tie against Elgin. They won through at the 19th against Elgin after Andrew Rollo and Steven Milne had given Elgin a two-hole lead which was cancelled out by Chisholm and McIntosh’s two-hole win for Torvean in the second string tie.
Torvean now play the holders, Moray, who are through to the third round without have struck a ball. As last year’s winners, they were given a bye in the first round. Then their second-round opponents, Reay, did not turn up.
The oldest partnership in the tournament - Brora 2's Robin Wilson and Ian Hamilton - won their tie by two holes after being three down on the eighth tee against McDonald Ellon 2's John Godward and Martin Garvie.
Unfortunately for the "old stagers," Ellon's second string of Bruce Mitchell and Jim O'Brien finished six up on Brora's Robbie Sim and Ken Lorimer, giving Ellon 2 an overall winning margin of four holes.
Robin and Ian were back in Brora by the evening - no doubt drowning their sorrows at Brora Golf Club.
Both Cruden Bay teams made it through to the last 16 – and they could figure in two of the best ties of Thursday morning's third round.
Cruden Bay 2 -- not the same four players – won this 106-year-old title when the tournament was last played over the Balgownie links in 2000.
That perhaps inspired David Milne, Dominic King, Bill Livingston and Alan Duff to dig deep and scrape through at the 19th against Deeside’s Andrew Campbell, Simon Cruickshank, John Robertson and Mark Vass in the second round.
Milne and King finished two up on Campbell and Cruickshank while Robertson and Vass levelled matters by winning the second-string tie by two holes.
Both sets of Cruden Bay players won the first extra hole. Now they play Royal Aberdeen’s Steven Buchan, Francis Clark, Bill Barclay and Euan Laird. They finished 11 holes to the good of Fortrose & Rosemarkie 2.
Cruden Bay 1’s team of Ross Cooper, Scott Buchan, Ian Castles and Russell Willox lived a little dangerously in winning by two holes over Orkney’s Martin Fleet, Andy McGinn, Peter McKinlay and Steven Rendall.
Cooper and Buchan finished one down in a tight match against Fleet and McGinn.
Castles and Willox saved the day for Cruden Bay by finishing three holes up on McKinlay and Rendall. Now Cruden Bay 1 play three of the Nairn quartet who won the Northern Counties Cup two years ago - Neil Hampton, Robert Smith and Stephen MacDonald (Andrew Scott is the newcomer).
Nairn beat Inverness 2 by two holes.
McDonald Ellon’s young team of Kevin Duncan, Adam Dunton, Ronnie Yule and Chris Brodie despatched Forres’s Stuart McLennan, Ross McLeod, Craig Duncan and Willie Donnelly by a seven-hole margin.
The pair who did the damage for McDonald Ellon were Duncan and Dunton who finished seven up on McLenn and McLeod with some of the best scoring of the day – four birdies and four bogeys for a level par round.
Finally, a word of praise for the hard-working Northern Counties Cup tournament secretary, Eddie Sherwood, pictured above. Eddie arrived at the Royal Aberdeen clubhouse at 7am and had to do the starting himself all day, as well as collect results and post them on the scoreboard.
He got away home to Ellon not much before 7pm - a 12-hour day with no breaks.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS

Torvean bt Nairn 2 by nine holes (D Sandison and G Anderson 10, G Morrison and B A Watson 0; S Chisholm and S McIntosh 0, P Tomisson and P Saggers 1).
Deeside bt Castle Heather by 18 holes (A Campbell and S Cruickshank 5, S MacPherson and A Murdoch 0; J Robertson and M Vass 13, J Treasurer and K J McKenzie 0).
Murcar 2 bt Orkney 2 by 10 holes (G Paterson and A Holbrook 1, A McGinn and G Flett 0; N Sadler and B Mitchell 9, G Bell and E Rendall 0).
Cruden Bay bt Elgin by nine holes (R Cooper and S Buchan 9, J Sutherland and G Duncan 0; I Castles and R Willox 0, A McKenzie and G Mavor 0).
McDonald Ellon 2 bt Brora 2 by four holes (J Goddard and M Garvie 0, I D Hamilton & R J Wilson 2; B Mitchell and J O’Brien 6, R G Sim and R Lorimer 0).
Duff House Royal bt Nigg Bay by four holes (D Morrison and M Jenkins 2, L Vitesse and I Welch 0; R McAuslin and C Farquhar 2, S Jamieson and G Stewart 0).
Turriff bt Inverness by one hole (G Robertson and J Williamson 0, E Forbes and A Cameron 2; R Webster and C Ironside 3, B Fraser and B Thomson 0).

SECOND ROUND

Moray (I Geddes and P McPherson, C Stuart and K Thomson) w.o. Reay scr.
Torvean bt Elgin at 19th (D Sandison and G Anderson 0, A Rollo and S Milne 2; S Chisholm and S McIntosh 2, bt D Hector and S Stables 0).
Royal Aberdeen bt Fortrose & Rosemarkie 2 by 11 holes (S Buchan and F Clark 7, B Main, J Belshaw 0; B Barclay and E Laird 4, A Orr and M Ross 0).
Cruden Bay 2 bt Deeside at 19th (D Milne and D King 2, A Campbell and S Cruickshank 0; B Livingston and A Duff 0, J Robertson and M Vass 2).
Moray 2 bt Duff House Royal 2 by 10 holes (M MacLeman and J Edwards 5, A Morrison and C Miller 0; R McConnachie and B Hendry 5, D Stadames and A Milne 0).
Newmachar bt Murcar Links 2 by two holes (E McIntosh and J Wilson 2, G Patterson and A Holbrook 0; K Riley and C Simpson 0, N Sadler and B Mitchell 0).
Nairn bt Inverness 2 holes (N D Hampton and R W Smith 1, W A McLennan and J D Forbes 0; A Scott and S MacDonald 1, M Fraser and D Hexley 0).
Cruden Bay bt Orkney by two holes (R Cooper and S Buchan 0, M Fleet and A McGinn 1; I Castles and R Willox 3, P McKinlay and S Rendall 0).
Nairn Dunbar bt Royal Aberdeen 2 by three holes (M Isaacs and B Ford 0, D D Purdie and M Wilson 0; D Brodie and D Bunker 3, M Black and J W Johnston 3).
Murcar Links bt McDonald Ellon 2 by five holes (T Mathieson and A Bews 2, J Godward and M Garvie 0; I Powell and G Stewart 3, B Mitchell and J O’Brien 0).
McDonald Ellon bt Forres by seven holes (K Duncan and A Dunton 7, S McLennan and R McLeod 0; R Yule and C Brodie 0, C Duncan and W Donnelly 0).
Duff House Royal bt Strathpeffer by one hole (D Morrison and M Jenkins 2, R Stewart and D Morrison 0; R McAuslin and C Farquhar 0, M MacNab and M Sloggie 1).
Nigg Bay 2 bt Tain by three holes (R Nielsen and G Grimmer 1, M Ferries and J Cameron 0; N Slater and L O’Connor 2, R MacLeod and F Mackle 0).
Royal Dornoch bt Turriff by three holes (J Shepherd and N Munro 0, G Robertson and J Williamson 0; D Chalmers and B Urquhart 3, R Webster and C Ironside 0).
Fortrose & Rosemarkie bt Peterhead by four holes (M MacDonald and L Reid 5, P McLean and I Forman 0; R Mackay and A Brown 0, C Forman and M Allardyce 1).
Banchory bt Brora by eight holes (S Strachan and J Byrne 1, M McIntosh and T Gill 0; P Robb and J Christie 7, R Cameron and M Murray 0).

THURSDAY'S TIES
THIRD ROUND
9.0 Moray v Torvean.
9.15 Royal Aberdeen v Cruden Bay 2.
9.30 Moray 2 v Newmachar.
9.45 Nairn v Cruden Bay.
10.0 Nairn Dunbar v Murcar Links
10.15 McDonald Ellon v Duff House Royal.
10.30 Nigg Bay 2 v Royal Dornoch.
10.45 Fortrose & Rosemarkie v Banchory.

QUARTER-FINALS
1.45 Moray or Torvean v Royal Aberdeen or Cruden Bay 2.
2.15 Moray 2 or Newmachar v Nairn or Cruden Bay.
2.45 Nairn Dunbar or Murcar Links v McDonald Ellon or Duff House Royal.
3.15 Nigg Bay 2 or Royal Dornoch v Fortrose & Rosemarkie or Banchory.