Teenager MacAndrew
shares Ellon honours
with McInnes on
four-under-par 66

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Royal Aberdeen teenager Donald MacAndrew (pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency) came in late in the day in a field of 109 to deny Murcar Links tour professional Graeme McInnes a second outright victory of the new North-east Golfers’ Alliance season at McDonald Ellon Golf Club.
First man out, McInnes posted a four-under-par 66 (36-30) before noon, thanks to a bogey-free inward half which included birdies at the 13th, 15th and 17th.
More than five hours later 18-year-old MacAndrew, a student at Robert Gordon University, returned his 66, also with halves of 36 and 30. Highlight was an eagle 2 at the 13th (254yd) where he drove the green and holed a 10ft putt.
"I hit most of the greens and fairways in regulation," said Donald, "and I missed one or two putts I should have holed."
Young Macandrew and the Law brothers, David and Chris, from the Hazlehead club are adding a welcome dimension of youth to the North-east Alliance. Long may it continue and expand so that other bright prospects can gain winter experience of playing with and against seasoned players, both professional and amateur.
McInnes won the opening fixture at Braemar and Banchory assistant pro Stewart Davidson won at Kemnay last week. Davidson had to settle for third place behind McInnes and MacAndrew with a 69.
With two holes to go, Davidson, who had birdied the fourth, sixth, ninth, 14th and 16th, needed one more birdie to win with a 65 or two pars to tie. Instead, he bogeyed the 17th and double-bogeyed the 18th for 34 home and a 69.
George Paterson (Northern) and Nick Robson (Meldrum House) were others who ran up 6s at the last when set to break 70. They finished on the par mark.

LEADING SCRATCH
Par 70
66 G McInnes (Murcar Links), D MacAndrew (Royal Aberdeen).
69 S Davidson (Banchory).
70 R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), D Garrett (Huntly), C Robb (Inchmarlo), G H Paterson (Northern), N Robson (Meldrum House).
71 B Brooks (Meldrum House), R Hyland (Craibstone), D Law (Hazlehead), B Nicolson (Auchmill).
72 A Campbell (Deeside), I Bratton (Newburgh), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links).
73 J Nicolson (Auchmill), C Law (Hazlehead).
74 J Mooney (Turriff), I D Smith (Hazlehead), C Clark (Mackenzie Club).
75 I Craik (Portlethen), C Nelson (Mackenzie Club), J Morris (Craibstone), D Wilson (Duff House Royal), F Bisset (Banchory), B Shaw (Banchory), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), C Stephen (Meldrum House), C Brodie (Meldrum House).
76 N Hardie (Kintore), L Prouse (Hazlehead), R L Nicoll (Murcar Links), J M Hamilton (Murcar Links), C S Davidson (Braemar).
77 R Stewart (Cruden Bay), A Graham (Portlethen), D Corkey (Murcar Links).
78 R Black (Banchory), C Trahan (Royal Aberdeen), S Murray (Northern).
79 S Scott (Auchmill), D McKay (Caledonian).
80 J Borthwick (Craibstone), F G Gray (Newmachar), D Philip (Newburgh), M Holley (Braemar), A Grant (Portlethen), K Davidson (Turriff), D Naylor (Banchory).

LEADING HANDICAP
Class 1 – D MacAndrew (Royal Aberdeen) (2) 64; I D Smith (Hazlehead) (8) 66; N Hardie (Kintore) (8), W Shaw (Banchory) (7) 68; B Nicolson (Auchmill) (2) 69; J Morris (Craibstone) (5), J Hamilton (Murcar Links) (6), D Garrett (Huntly) (scr), C Law (Hazlehead) (3), G H Paterson (Northern) (scr) 70.
Class 2 – M Rogers (Kemnay) (14) 69; R Alison (Deeside) (14) 70; M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (12) 71; F Barclay (Kintore) (10), D Wood (Newburgh) (12), S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen) (10), D Bisset (Banchory) (9) 70.

TODAY'S LEADING SCORECARDS

McDONALD ELLON PAR OF 70: OUT: 4-4-4-5-4-4-3-4-5-37. IN: 4-3-3-4-4-3-4-4-4-33

GRAEME McINNES 66
OUT: 5-3-4-4-5-3-3-4-5--36.
IN: 4-3-3-3-4-2-3-4-4--30

DONALD MacANDREW 66
OUT: 4-4-4-5-3-4-3-4-5--36.
IN: 4-3-3-2-3-3-4-4-4--30.

STEWART DAVIDSON 69
OUT: 4-4-5-4-4-3-3-3-5--35.
IN: 4-3-3-4-3-3-3-5-6--34.

RYAN FITZPATRICK 70
OUT: 4-5-4-4-3-4-2-4-6--36.
IN: 4-3-2-5-4-3-4-5-4--34.

DON GARRETT 70
OUT: 4-4-5-5-4-4-3-4-5--38.
IN: 4-3-4-4-3-2-3-5-4--32

CHRIS ROBB 70
OUT: 4-5-3-5-3--5-4-5-5--39.
IN: 5-3-3-3-3-3-3-4-4--31

GEORGE PATERSON 70
OUT: 3-4-5-5-4-4-4-3-5--37.
IN: 3-4-3-3-3-3-4-4-6--33.
NICK ROBSON 70
OUT: 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-3-4--35.
IN: 4-3-4-3-4-3-4-4-6--35