Saturday, September 20, 2014

EXCITING FINISH AT TAIN

      Left to right: Alan Cameron, Chris Gaittens, Mike Macdonald and Lewis Reid.
                                       Picture by Gary Abel.
FORTROSE AND ROSEMARKIE WIN 

20-hole NORTHERN COUNTIES CUP FINAL

Fortrose and Rosemarkie beat Inverness at the 20th hole in the final of the Northern Counties Cup men's double club foursomes tournament at Tain Golf Club today.
Fortrose's Alan Cameron and his nephew Lewis Reid, the second couple,  were six ahead of Inverness's Bryan Fotheringham and David Joel after nine holes  but brought it back to four after 15.
At the same stage the F and R first pair, Mike MacDonald and Chris Gaittens, were three down to the Inverness first pair of John Forbes and David Sanderson ( the same first pair when Inverness won at Tain in 2008)
When still four down Fotheringham and Joel surprisingly offered 8 foot putts for halves on the 16th green and it backfired when Fotheringham bunkered his tee shot to the 17th green to go five down and the cup looked lost in normal time won. 
However, Cameron went into the water hazard from the 18th tee.  Although Reid played from it out it still took them four to reach the green and give a hole back to finish four up after 18. 
With the Fortrose first pair also finding rough from the final tee, Inverness's Forbes and Joel  also won this hole to level the game at +4 and -4.
Fotheringham and Joel had a chance to win the first extra hole but they missed the putt while Fortrose's second pair of Cameron and Reid then had a chance to win the match but they missed from three feet.
At the second extra hole, both the first pairs missed the green. MacDonald pitched stiff which left Inverness a tricky 6ft putt for a half, which they missed. giving Fortrose the edge. 
After the Inverness second string of Fotheringham and Joel  missed the green Reid hit his second shot to 15 feet, setting up the overall victory for Fortrose and Rosemarkie.
In the morning semi-finals, Nairn Dunbar, conquerors of title favourites Newmachar, winners of the trophy three times out of the previous four years, were beaten by Inverness by two holes.
Fortrose beat Tain by four holes.
Fortrose and Rosemarkie  won the Northern Counties Cup in 2002 and again in 2006.
Cameron was in the Inverness team that won six years ago at Tain. He has now moved his home club handicap back to his home village and as such has to play for Fortrose.
Mike MacDonald is the  F and R club secretary and a key player in his club's last two N C C wins, 2002 at Tain  and 2006 at  Royal Aberdeen.
The third win for Fortrose within 12 years has capped a fine year for the club. Just a week or so ago MacDonald and his Match Secretary John Jack won the Belhaven Best Secretary and Captain's club team final at Crail.

RESULTS 
SEMI-FINALS
Inverness 1 bt Nairn Dunbar 1 by 2 holes
J Forbes, D Sanderson 6, W Barron, G Burnett 0; B Fotheringham, D Joel 0, B Watson, F Brown 4

Fortrose 1 bt Tain 1 by 4 holes
M MacDonald, C Gaittens 1, M Ferries, D Thorburn 0; A Cameron, L Reid 3, B Ferries, A Everett 0

FINAL
Fortrose 1 bt Inverness at 20th
M MacDonald, C Gaittens 0, J Forbes, D Sanderson 4; A Cameron, L Reid 4, B Fotheringham, D Joel 0.

 

 

 

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