Aberdeen Links championship under way

Evett favourite to win Royal Aberdeen medal

REPORT FROM DEREK JOHNSTONE

The Aberdeen Links championship is underway and leading the pursuit of the Royal Aberdeen Medal is, former Links champion, Ron Evett.

He leads by three strokes from Roy Pirie of the Caledonian.  Ron spreadeagled the field as he covered the outward half in an impressive 5 under par with birdies at the 2^nd, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th. Bogeys at the 10^th and 13^th were negated by a birdie on 12 for an opening round of 67.

Caledonian junior and 2014 Murray Cup winner (the youngest ever at the age of 12 years, Brook Smith leads the handicap qualifiers with a net 62 (off a 12 handicap).  Two birdies in his first 4 holes (at the 1^st and 4^th) calmed the nerves as he opened with a 3 over scratch score of 74. 

Brook has been struggling with his game recently and spoke to his dad, Sonny Smith, on the telephone while Sonny was working offshore for some advice last week.

Said Sonny:  "The best advice was to get back to the basics and hit lots of balls on the practice area with his brother Reece who is also playing in the championship."

Links Championship/Murray Cup

LEADING SCORES

Bon Accord (BA); Northern (N); Caledonian (C)
SCRATCH  CSS 70

67 R Evett (N)

70 R Pirie (C)

71 Mark Greig (BA)

72 D Leslie (N), M Beattie (C)

73 Matt Greig (BA), A Doig (C)

74 B Smith (C)

75 L Hadden (BA), A Sheldrick (C), S Slessor (N), L Minty (N), C Ross (N)

HANDICAP
62 B Smith (C) (12)

64 R Pirie (C) (6)

65 Mark Greig (BA) (6), R Evett (N) (2)

66 M Beattie (C) (6), D Cumming (BA) (18)

Senior Strokeplay Championship

LEADING SCORES

SCRATCH

71 G McLaggen (BA)

73 N Walker (N), G Paterson (N)