Wednesday, January 30, 2008

RONNIE McDONALD HAS
ALLIANCE RECORD
LOW OF 60 (33-27)
AT INVERALLOCHY


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Inchmarlo Golf Centre tour senior professional Ronnie McDonald, pictured right, set a record low mark for a North-east Golfers’ Alliance competition with a four-under-par round of 60 over the Inverallochy course today.
The previous best, around a decade ago, was a 61 by Gary Forbes (Murcar Links) at Duff House Royal.
On a wind-free day, the short Buchan seaside course, playing off winter tees, had no defence against the straight driving and short-game artistry of McDonald who has tried without success to gain a European Seniors Tour card at recent Qualifying Schools for the over-50s on the Algarve.
McDonald had a bogey-free round. After matching the par of 33 to the turn, he started back with a pair of 2s, a birdie at the 10th and an eagle at the 11th.
After getting up and down from a bunker to save par at the 17th, Ronnie rounded off his day with a birdie 2 at the 18th in an inward score of four-under 27.
Scottish youth international Philip McLean (Peterhead) was runner-up in a field of 71 with a 63, in which he was out in one-over 35 after a double-bogey 5 at the ninth but home in three-under 28 with birdies at the 11th, 15th and 18th.
Three players tied for third place on 65.
The first was Inchmarlo Golf Centre head professional Patrick Lovie who went out of bounds at the short 12th and ran up a double bogey 5. He also lost a ball off the tee at the 15th - a four-hole stretch in which he dropped four shots.
Then John Nicolson (Murcar Links) hit the 65 mark after being three over par 36 to the turn. He came back in 29 with birdies at the 15th and 18th.
David Law, the 16-year-old Aberdeen Grammar School pupil and Hazlehead member, winner at Buckpool the previous week, also had a 65, which included a careless tap-in putt that missed!
He did have an eagle 2 at the 11th.
Net 59s won both Class 1 and Class 2 in the handicap section - Mike Ord (Royal Aberdeen) off 13 in Class 2 and Colin Hood (Alford) off eight in Class 1.
There are two schools of thought about playing as short a course as Inverallochy is off the winter tees. The first is that it is TOO SHORT and, apparently, several Alliance regulars stayed away for that reason.
The other is that it is a fun day, not to be taken too seriously. Everyone I spoke to in the Inverallochy clubhouse enjoyed themselves ... and isn't that what the game of golf is all about?
HYLAND NOW TRAINEE ASSISTANT
Richard Hyland, the Hazlehead one-handicapper and former American college circuit player, is now a trainee assistant professional with Iain Buchan at Craibstone Golf Centre. Richard is still entitled to play competitively as an amateur for the next six months, at the end of which he has to decide if he is going to sign up to start three years of PGA training.

LEADING SCORES (Par 64)
SCRATCH
60
R McDonald (Inchmarlo).
63 P McLean (Peterhead).
65 P Lovie (Inchmarlo), J Nicolson (Auchmill), D Law (Hazlehead).
66 R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), C Stephen (Meldrum House), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal).
67 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club), C Hood (Alford), R Hyland (Hazlehead).
69 W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).
70 S Scott (Auchmill), J Mooney (Turriff).
71 R L Nicoll (Murcar Links), A Innes (Murcar Links), J M Hamilton (Murcar Links).
72 L Taylor (Auchmill), L Roger (Royal Aberdeen), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen), G Thomson (East Aberdeenshire).
73 G Green (Huntly), J Murray (Banchory), D Clark (Duff House Royal), M Lawrie (Kemnay), A Stewart (Hazlehead).
74 S Cooper (Banchory), P Anderson (Deeside), R Grant (Caledonian), A Graham (Portlethen), D Corkey (Murcar Links).
75 A Campbell (Deeside), P Cornfield (Auchmill), D Cruickshank (Duff House Royal).
76 J Dalgarno (Hazlehead), M F R Rogers (Kemnay), S Lawrie (Portlethen).
77 D McKay (Caledonian), D Randall (Banchory), G Kelly (Peterculter), S Elrick (Kemnay).
78 R Pirie (Caledonian), J Penny (Huntly), G Homer (Lumphanan), S Youngson (Turriff), D Moir (Murcar Links).
79 W D Rae (Kemnay).
HANDICAP
Class 1
59 C Hood (Alford) (8).
62 J Nicolson (Auchm ill) (3).
64 M Jenkins (Duff House Royal) (2).
65 R L Nicoll (Murcar Links) (6), L Roger (Royal Aberdeen) (7), P McLean (Peterhead) (+2), J Murray (Banchory) (8).
66 S Cooper (Banchory) (8), S Scott (Auchmill) (4), D Law (Hazlehead) (+1), R Hyland (Hazlehead) (1).
67 W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2), A Stewart (Hazlehead) (6).
68 G Green (Huntly) (5), C Stephen (Meldrum House) (+2), M Lawrie (Kemnay) (5), J Dalgarno (Hazlehead) (7), D McKay (Caledonian) (8), R Grant (Caledonian) (5), A Innes (Murcar Links) (2), D Cruickshank (Duff House Royal) (6), A Graham (Portlethen) (5).
Class 2
59 M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (13).
60 G Thomson (East Aberdeenshire) (12).
62 D Randall (Banchory) (15).
63 P Anderson (Deeside) (11), M F R Rogers (Kemnay) (13).
64 I Grant (Huntly) (18), S Youngson (Turriff) (14), G Kelly (Peterculter) (13).
65 D Wood (Newburgh) (14), P Cornfield (Auchmill) (10), D Moir (Murcar Links) (13), D Moir (Murcar Links) (13).
66 W D Rae (Kemnay) (13), G Homer (Lumphanan (12).
67 J Penny (Huntly) (11), S Lawrie (Portlethen) (9).


INVERALLOCHY WINTER SCORECARD
OUT: 4-3-4-4-3-4-4-4-3--33. IN: 3-4-3-3-4-4-4-3-3--31


LEADING FIGURES


RONNIE McDONALD (Inchmarlo) 60.
OUT: 4-3-4-4-3-4-4-4-3--33. IN: 2-2-3-3-4-4-4-3-2---27


PHILIP McLEAN (Peterhead) 63
OUT: 3-3-4-4-4-4-4-4-5--35. IN: 3-3-3-3-4-3-4-3-2--28


PATRICK LOVIE (Inchmarlo) 65
OUT: 5-2-4-3-3-5-3-5-3--33. IN: 2-3-5-3-5-5-4-3-2--32


JOHN NICOLSON (Auchmill) 65
OUT: 4-3-5-5-4-5-4-4-2--36. IN: 3-4-3-3-4-3-4-3--2--29


DAVID LAW (Hazlehead) 65
OUT: 4-4-4-4-3-5--3-5-3-- 35. IN; 4-2-4-4-3-3-5-3-2--30

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