HUGH HUNTER'S CLACKMANNAN COUNTY NEWS

         A LITTLE LOCAL JOY IN THE SCOTTISH AMATEUR.

   The five locals playing at Blairgowrie generally had a good start with four of them proceeding to the second round--- only County Match Play Champion Allan Watson (Braehead) losing narrowly to elite boy player Ewen Ferguson.  Alloa’s Jamie Aitken had a great comeback--- after a wobbly outward nine where he was three down, he fought back with a top class performance winning on the last green, after a two under par run for the last four holes.   Scott Borrowman and Lawrence Allan both won comfortably on the sixteenth green with Darren Hulston winning one hole earlier.

  In the second round it was Lawrence who arguably had one of the toughest matches in the competition when he took on the local seeded favourite Bradley Neil, the Scottish Boys Champion. Allan quickly established a four hole lead by the sixth, and although pulled back by his opponent, he quickly regained control with birdies, and closed out the match at the 15th when Neil hit trouble.  There was a big local following, and when a couple of spectators were given Neil’s score as two down, they snorted   “Impossible”.  But it was happening….. Allan was delivering quality golf shots to the greens after accurate tee shots, finishing them off with good putting.

   Jamie Aitken was a bit more awake in his outward nine, winning at the 15th where after his tee shot was stopped by a tree, he hit a 250 yard shot on to the green and holed the ten foot putt for a match winning birdie.  Scott Borrowman had a comfortable win; Darren Hulston gave a top Scottish Amateur player a close game, but lost at the 17th.

  Sadly it all ended in round three--- Jamie and Scott were well down at the turn, eventually losing on the inward nine.  Lawrence Allan was up after 9 holes, but his magic touch of the previous two days deserted him on the inward nine and he lost at the last, but only after his opponent holed a good length putt.

 Altogether, there were plenty of positives for the locals

FULL RESULTS  

ROUND 1      Jamie Aitken (Alloa) beat Hamish Ireland   1 hole

                       Scott Borrowman (Dollar) beat James Whitelaw   3/2

                       Lawrence Allan (Alva) beat Angus Carrick 3/2

                       Darren Hulston (Dollar) beat Corin Stewart 4/3

                       Allan Watson lost to Ewen Ferguson   2/1

ROUND 2     Aitken beat Stuart McMehen   4/3

                      Borrowman beat David Oldham 3/2

                      Allan Beat Bradley Neil 4/3

                      Hulston lost to Jack McDonald 2/1

ROPUND 3  Aitken lost to Connor Syme   4/2

                      Borrowman lost to Greig Marchbank 7/5

                      Allan lost to Nick McAndrew 1 hole.

                                 COUNTY EVENT NEWS.

  The Clackmannan County Championship (36 holes) has been rescheduled for Sunday 25th August at Alloa, and new entry sheets are available in the local Clubs.

   In the County league, after three rounds of golf matches, Alloa leads the field being undefeated with Braehead and Tulliallan in hot pursuit.  Two further rounds of matches will be played to decide the 2013 winners.

  Entries will be closing soon for the County Autumn Meeting on 17th August at Tulliallan.

                                  IN BRIEF…..

  Dollar’s Scott Borrowman is in El Prat Spain this week with the twelve strong Scottish contingent competing against the elite of Europe for the European Individual title.  Scott is pretty certain to be named in the Scottish team to play in the Home Internationals at Ganton next week.

  The Braehead Ladies march on in the Scottish Ladies Match play Foursomes tournament…. They recorded the biggest win in the fourth round of the event. Beating Ladybank by 7/6.  They now play Strathmore in the quarter finals, the match to be played before the 23rd August.

     In the Scottish Super Seniors event at Dunfermline, Michael Niven (Alloa) and Ian Peddie (Tulliallan) both finished in the top twenty with 36 hole aggregates of 163.

  And in a nostalgic return…. John Gullen (Tillicoultry) will be back at St Andrews as the only local player in the Eden Golf Tournament, to be played next week.

                             LOCAL CLUB EVENTS

  Saturday 10th August     Dollar Open

  Sunday  11th Augus       Mixed Open   Tulliallan