NORTHERN COUNTIES CUP

THREE NORTH CLUBS
MAKE IT THROUGH TO
SEMI-FINALS
Three North clubs are through to Saturday morning’s semi-finals of the 106-year-old Northern Counties Cup double men’s foursomes match-play tournament at Royal Aberdeen.
Torvean from Inverness will play Nairn while Duff House Royal from Banff, the only North-east team still standing, take on Fortrose & Rosemarkie.
On a wet and miserable afternoon over the Balgownie links, Torvean and Cruden Bay 2 provided the tightest tussle. For the second time in two days, Torvean squeezed through at the 19th hole with David Sandison and Graeme Anderson winning the first extra hole with a par 4 to David Milne and Dominic King’s bogey 5.
To take the tie down the 19th, represented quite a comeback by Cruden Bay 2 who were a combined seven holes down early on the inward half.
Cruden Bay’s Milne and King came back from three down after 12 to finish two holes up.
But Scott Chisholm and Steve McIntosh, Torvean’s second pairing, four up after 10, held on to a dwindling lead to finish two up on Bill Livingston and Alan Duff.
Livingston, pictured right, incidentally, first played in this tournament in 1957 when he was 16 years old.
Andrew Scott and Stephen MacDonald were Nairn’s tie-winners against Newmachar in the second quarter-final. They finished seven holes up on Kevin Riley and Chris Simpson while Nairn’s top pair, Neil Hampton and Robert Smith finished one down to Euan McIntosh and Jamie Wilson who won three holes in a row from the 14th.
Duff House Royal earned their place in the semi-finals with a two-hole win over Murcar Links, thanks to David Morrison and Mike Jenkins finished two up in the lead foursomes tie against Terry Mathieson and Anthony Bews.
The Banff men will now play Fortrose & Rosemarke’s Mike MacDonald, the club secretary, Lewis Reid, Robbie Mackay and Andy Brown who finished four holes up on Royal Dornoch in the last quarter-final.
The semi-finals start at 9 and 9.15am with the final at 2pm.

Friday results:

THIRD ROUND
Torvean bt Moray by one hole (D Sandison, G Anderson 0, I Geddes, P McPherson 2; S Chisholm, S McIntosh 3, C Stuart, K Thomson 0).
Cruden Bay 2 bt Royal Aberdeen by one hole (D Milne, D King 0, S Buchan, F Clark 0; B Livingston, A Duff 1, B Barclay 0, E Laird 0).
Newmachar bt Moray 2 by four holes (E McIntosh, J Wilson 8, M McLeman, J Edwards 0; K Riley, C Simpson 0, R McConnachie, B Hendry 4).
Nairn bt Cruden Bay by two holes (N D Hampton, R W Smith 2, R Cooper, S Buchan 0; I Castles, R Willox 0, A Scott, S MacDonald 0).
Murcar Links bt Nairn Dunbar by nine holes (T Mathieson, A Bews 6, M Isaacs, R Ford 0; I Powell, G Stewart 3, D Brodie, D Bunker 0).
Duff House Royal bt McDonald Ellon by three holes (D Morrison, M Jenkins 0, K Duncan, A Dunton 3; R McAuslin, C Farquhar 6, R Yule, C Brodie 0).
Royal Dornoch bt Nigg Bay 2 by two holes (J Shepherd, N Munro 1, R Nielsen, G Grimmer 0; D Chalmers, B Urquhart 1, N Slater, L O’Connor 0).
Fortrose & Rosemarkie bt Banchory by six holes (M MacDonald, L Reid 1, S Strachan, J Byrne 0; R Mackay, A Brown 5, P Robb, J Christie 0).

QUARTER-FINALS
Torvean bt Cruden Bay 2 at 19th (Sandison, Anderson 0, Milne, King 2; Chisholm, McIntosh 2, Livingston, Duff 0).
Nairn bt Newmachar by six holes (Hampton, Smith 0, McIntosh, Wilson 1; Scott, MacDonald 7, Riley, Simpson 0).
Duff House Royal bt Murcar Links by two holes (Morrison, Jenkins 2, Mathieson, Bews 0; McAuslin, Farquhar 0, Powell, Stewart 0).
Fortrose & Rosemarkie bt Royal Dornoch by four holes (MacDonald, Reid 0, Shepherd, Munro 1; Mackay, Brown 5, Chalmers, Urquhart 0).