Pressure on for K M Cameron Cup contenders

By ROBIN WILSON  

Without a fixture since Forres at the beginning of November, followed by two weather-caused postponements of the Torvean and Muir of Ord fixtures, the members of the North Scottish Golfers Alliance will be hoping the milder weather from the start of this week continues and they can get the second half of the season underway at Spey Bay on Saturday.

With just five fixtures played and only three members playing all five, David Joel (Inverness), Gordon Hay (Boat of Garten) and Inverness professional David Grindell they will be eager to get their mandatory sixth score recorded in the race for the end of season winning scratch aggregate total and lift the K M Cameron Cup.

Joel (pictured with the Inverness club championship trophy), in fact will be an absentee from the Spey Bay field as he is off to Durham to attend his father’s 70th birthday party.

With two scratch wins Joel leads by 14 strokes from Hay after his returns at Moray New (77), Grantown (65), Boat of Garten (65), Inverness (70), and Forres (72) for a total of 349. 

Hay's aggregate of 363 was recorded at Moray New (71), Grantown (70), Boat of Garten (75), Inverness (71) and Forres (76) while Grindell's five-score aggregate of 369 was compiled at Moray New (73), Grantown (74), Boat of Garten (72), Inverness (78) and Forres (72) for an aggregate of 369.

After missing the first fixture at Moray New, Bruce Thomson (Inverness) leads the four-score totals to mount his challenge from on 285 (71, 68, 75, 71). He is ten ahead of Gordon Shaw (Boat of Garten) (76-72-74-73). Shaw missed the Inverness fixture.

Gordon Hay (1) is also in contention for the low handicap nett aggregate Bill Burnett Trophy with a five-score nett total of 358, leading by seven from Neil McPhie (Inverness) (5).

In the high handicap section last year's winner of the Bill McQueen Trophy, Torvean's Mike Lyall (10), is ahead after five scores for 349, 16 strokes in front of Jimmy MacDonald (Inverness) (16) 363.

Other five-round totals are Colin Small The Nairn) 372, Aaron Casey (Moray)  375,  Liam Hutcheon Inverness 376.  Four-score leaders are Jim Rogers (Inverness) and Alan Boxx (Boat of Garten), both on 289.

The fixture dates to the end of season championship at Nairn Dunbar on Saturday March 17 are: January 27, Spey Bay; February 3, Fortrose and Rosemarkie; February 10, Moray Old; February 17, Muir of Ord; February 24, Hopeman; March 3, Elgin; March 10, Garmouth; March 17, Nairn Dunbar.       

Brian Chrystal (Baberton) has hole in one at windy Goswick

REPORT BY ALAN GREENSHIELDS

Edinburgh and East of Scotland Alliance secretary

It was touch and go whether today's outing at the par-72 (36-36) Goswick course would commence but due to difficulty trying to reschedule it was decided to go ahead with 70 members battling the strong wind that blew over the Northumberland course all day.

The testing conditions took its toll on scoring but the members have to be commended for taking part on what was otherwise a very well presented course.

Brian Chrystal of Baberton was certainly delighted the event went ahead. He secured a hole in one at the 150yd 15th  hole which did require him to guide his ball through the breeze with his rescue club. Well done, Brian!

Scratch spoils were shared three ways on seven-over-par 79 which gives an idea how tough conditions were.

First in on 79 was Ross Noon (Renaissance Club) with a split of 39-40, followed by Louis Gaughan (Bathgate) with halves of 41-38). Late in the day Chris Curran, also of Bathgate, hit the 79 mark with a birdie-par-birdie finish for halves of 41-38.

On the Handicap front it was Robin Cockburn (Harburn) who secured top prize on net 79 (84 less 5) but more importantly Robin's inward nine of 39 (36.5 net) meant, on countback, he secured the silverware being contested, the Pitreavie Trophy.

Second handicap prize went to Graeme Johnston (Glenbervie) with a net 81 (84 less 3) and 3rd prize was shared on net 83 by Alan Loughran (Murrayfield) (89 less 6) and Ian Wyse (Falkirk Tryst) 92 less 9.

Top Senior on net 84 was George Wither (Duddingston) (86 less 2)

Top Trainee prize was shared on 82 by Daniel Flannery (Renaissance Club) and Marc Owenson (Gullane).

Orders of Merit see the leadership of Scratch and Handicap sections unchanged but some catching up behind:

Scratch

1. Lloyd Saltman (Royal Musselburgh) - 453.0

2. Kieran Cantley (Liberton) - 446.5

3. Chris Curran (Bathgate) - 404.0

4. Craig Imlah (Craigielaw) - 394.0

5. Ross Munro (Duddingston) - 392.5

Handicap

1. Alan Loughran (Murrayfield) - 139.0

2. Robin Cockburn (Harburn) - 105.0

3. Graeme Johnston (Glenbervie) - 95.0

4. Kieran Cantley (Liberton) - 89.5

5. Wasim Ahmed (Duddingston) - 88.5

Next week we head to the Borders where The Roxburghe will host the Richardson and Brownlee Invitational better-ball event.

PRIZEWINNERS AT GOSWICK

Overall Winner Robin Cockburn (Harburn) 84 (5) 79 net

Scratch Prize Surname Forename Club Score
1st= £80 Curran Chris Bathgate 79
1st= £80 Gaughan Louis Bathgate 79
1st= £80 Noon Ross Renaissance Club 79
4th= £30 Munro Ross Duddingston 80
4th= £30 Reid Alan West Lothian 80

Handicap Prize Surname Forename Club Net
1st £100 Cockburn Robin Harburn 79
2nd £80 Johnston Graeme D Glenbervie 81
3rd= £50 Loughran Alan Murrayfield 83
3rd= £50 Wyse Ian Falkirk Tryst 83
5th= £10 Fraser Colin Peebles 84
5th= £10 Johnston Richard Glenbervie 84

Trainee Prize Surname Forename Club Score
Professional £15 Flannery Daniel Renaissance Club 82
£15 Owenson Marc Gullane 82

Senior Prize Surname Forename Club Net
£30 Wither George Duddingston 84
£15 Laing William Prestonfield 86
£15 MacKay Donald Royal Musselburgh 86

ALL THE SCRATCH SCORES

No Surname Forename Club Category Gross
1 Curran Chris Bathgate Trainee 79
2 Gaughan Louis Bathgate Professional 79
3 Noon Ross Renaissance Club Amateur 79
4 Munro Ross Duddingston Professional 80
5 Reid Alan West Lothian Professional 80
6 Flannery Daniel Renaissance Club Trainee 82
7 Owenson Marc Gullane Trainee 82
8 Fraser Colin Peebles Amateur 83
9 Huguet Norman Musselburgh Professional 83
10 Cockburn Robin Harburn Amateur 84
11 Johnston Graeme D Glenbervie Amateur 84
12 Johnston Richard Glenbervie Amateur 85
13 Imlah Craig Craigielaw Professional 86
14 Marshall Andrew Houston G.R. Professional 86
15 Morris Chris Kingsknowe Professional 86
16 Wither George Duddingston Senior 86
17 Loughran Alan Murrayfield Amateur 89
18 Crabbe Alan Kingsknowe Amateur 91
19 Fyfe Ian                 Musselburgh Senior 92
20 Wyse Ian         Falkirk Tryst Amateur 92
21 Gillies Scott North Berwick Trainee 93
22 Doyle Steven Dunbar Amateur 94
23 Laing William Prestonfield Senior 94
24 Veitch Michael Peebles Amateur 94
25 Munro Donny Kingsknowe Amateur 95
26 Thomson Brian Broomieknowe Senior 95
27 White Justin Harrison (Braids) Amateur 98
28 Leggate Philip Musselburgh Senior 99
29 MacDonald Euan Musselburgh Trainee 99
30 MacKay Donald Royal Musselburgh Senior 99
31 Miller William Falkirk Tryst Senior 100
32 Scott Jim                 Minto Senior 100
33 Girvan Scott Baberton Amateur 101
34 Brown Gordon Baberton Amateur 104
35 Marr Michael Duddingston Senior NR
36 Ahmed Wasim Duddingston Amateur NR
37 Airens Danny Falkirk Tryst Amateur NR
38 Bell Gordon            Gullane Senior NR
39 Bootland Hinton Duddingston Senior NR
40 Brydon David Torwoodlee Amateur NR
41 Callan Ross Bathgate Amateur NR
42 Callan Stuart Bathgate Professional NR
43 Chrystal Brian Baberton Senior NR
44 Comber Ron         Uphall Senior NR
45 Cowie Keith Dunbar Senior NR
46 Crolla Daniel Kingsknowe Amateur NR
47 Davies Mark Newbattle Amateur NR
48 Denham John Torwoodlee Senior NR
49 Dick James Duddingston Trainee NR
50 Dickinson Richard Dunbar Senior NR
51 Ellison Andy Falkirk Tryst Amateur NR
52 Forsyth Walter Peebles Senior NR
53 Gibson Russell Duddingston Amateur NR
54 Greenhill Callum Renaissance Club Trainee NR
55 Kelly Scott Bathgate Amateur NR
56 Logie Alexander Dunbar Senior NR
57 Louden Michael Glencorse Senior NR
58 Louden Peter Glencorse Amateur NR
59 Murray Roy West Lothian Amateur NR
60 Pickens Derek West Lothian Senior NR
61 Rankeillor James Baberton Senior NR
62 Reid Brian Dunbar Amateur NR
63 Robertson Ewan Longniddry Senior NR
64 Sinton Jim         Royal Musselburgh Senior NR
65 Stronach Alan Falkirk Tryst Amateur NR
66 Summers Alastair Musselburgh Senior NR
67 Surgeon Craig Craigielaw Amateur NR
68 Thomson David Musselburgh Senior NR
69 Watson David Peebles Senior NR
70 Wight Andrew Glencorse Senior NR

North-east Alliance tee times for Peterhead, Wednesday, Jan 31

Game

No.          Start Time Tee

1          08:25    1 Grant Leslie, Tom Boyle, Charlie Cassie, Brian Harper

2          08:34    1 Doug Booth, Richard Blackmore, Raymond Reid, Andrew Campbell

3          08:43    1 David Templeton, Peter Robertson, Graham Burnett, Stewart Kidd

4          08:52    1 Ritchie Davidson, Stewart Allison, Stewart Finnie, Ross McNeill

5          09:01    1 Mike Brown, Raymond Brown, Sandy Davidson 

6          09:10    1 John Sunley, Richard Wright, Peter Cheyne

7          09:19    1 Robert Lamb, Manson Merchant 

8          09:28    1 Joel Hopwood, Nick Macandrew, Keil Beveridge 

9          09:37    1 Ben Lumsden, Jackie Forrest, Norman Stewart 

10        09:46    1 Kevin Bedborough, Jim Scott, Brian Ritchie, John Duff

11        09:55    1 Gary Leslie, Donald Lawrie, Steve Shand, Steve Christie

12        10:04    1 Derek Craigie, Donny Adam, Graeme Riley, Ewan Riley

13        10:13    1 Gary Homer, David Leslie, Jim Stewart, Graham McLaggan

14        10:22    1 Willie Skene, Alistair B Clark, Richard Ruddiman, Robbie Duncan

15        10:31    1 David Fleming, Alan Gall, Les Fowler, Mike Duncan

16        10:40    1 Phil McLean Chris Gilbert Billy Fyfe Chris Stewart

17        10:49    1 Richard Denning Mike Smith Nigel Parker Martin Forster

18        10:58    1 Murray Patterson Chris Robb Kevin Duncan Scott Mackie

19        11:07    1 Colin Duffus, Derek Townsley, Mike Rogers, Leslie Roger

20        11:16    1 Mark Lawrie, Tommy Collie, Dave McLean, Glen Cochrane

21        11:25    1 Patrick McKenna, Kamran Zeynalov, Sam Kiloh, Ben Murray

22        11:34    1 Peter Low John Borthwick Ian Still Drew Buchan

23        11:43    1 Paul Cornfield Brian Nicolson John Nicolson 

Link to current Algarve Pro Tour event's Round 1 scores

Boavista Classic II

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HIGH WINDS FORCE ABANDONMENT OF NORTH-EAST 

ALLIANCE AT MACDUFF

The North-east Golfers' Alliance competition at Royal Tarlair Golf Club, Macduff today had to be abandoned around mid-day because of increasingly strong winds. No scores had been returned.

The next fixture is at Peterhead Golf Club next Wednesday.

Craig Howie and David Law finish in top 

10 in Red Sea Classic

Scots Craig Howie from Peebles and Aberdeen's David Law finished joint second and ninth  in the Pro Golf Tour's Red Sea An Sokhana Classic which finished today ayt Ain Sokhna Golf Club/.
Howie had rounds of 67, 68 and 68 for a 12-under-par total of 204, one shot behind the German winner, Jeremy Paul who had scores of 65, 70 and 68 for 203.
Law scored 70, 70 and 69 for 209 to share ninth place.
Peterhead's Ross Cameron also made the top 20 with scoresof 69, 75 and 67 for 211 and a share of 18th place.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
par 216 (3x72)
203 J Paul (Ger) 65 70 68.
204 R Benatti (Ita) 65 72 67, C Howie (Sco) 67 69 68
205 F Daux (Fra) 67 69 69.

OTHER SCOTS' TOTALS
209 D Law 70 70 69 (T9)
210 C Maclean 70 70 70 (T13).
211 R Cameron 69 75 67 (T18)
220 A Culverwell 71 73 76 (T40)

MISSED THE CUT (144 and better qualified)
147 K Duncan 72 75, L Johnston 76 71.
148 P McLean 72 76.
149 C Robb 76 73
151 P Shields 73 78





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Niemann continues Chile’s dominance in Latin America men's amateur championship

By Ron Driscoll, USGA

Joaquin Niemann showed why he is the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking by his attitude as he walked up the 18th fairway in Tuesday’s final round of the Latin America Amateur Championship.
Sure, the native of Santiago was revelling in the cheers of his fellow Chileans once he had knocked his second shot onto the green of No. 18 at Prince of Wales Country Club, Santiago to assure his victory, but he wasn’t done with his round just yet.
“I told my caddie that on the first day I shot 3 over, the second day 7 under – so that was 10 shots difference,” said Niemann, whose 64 in Round 2 tied the LAAC record for low round. “I told him that today I should make a birdie on the last hole so that I can keep that difference of 10 strokes [72 in Round 3 Monday, and 62 on Tuesday]. So that was our goal.”
Niemann missed on the birdie try, settling for a four-round ledger of 74-64-72-63 for a total of 273 strokes, 11 under par and five strokes clear of the field. He broke the 72-hole LAAC record set by fellow Chilean Matias Dominguez in 2015 by three strokes.
“When I had a very short putt to make par, I was just very happy,” said Niemann, who had finished in a tie for second with Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico in 2017 behind countryman Toto Gana after Gana captured a play-off. “It felt really good to be celebrating with my caddie and the people who were walking with me.  I didn’t feel any of the heat.”
Rather, Niemann applied the heat to his adversaries, making an early birdie on the par-5 third hole, then beginning his run to the title with an eagle on the 313-yard, par-4 eighth hole, on which the tee had been moved up some 50 yards for the final round. His tee shot struck a tree and bounced through a bunker onto the green, finishing 10 feet from the hole. He took advantage of the fortuitous break and made the putt to trigger a stretch of 7 under in seven holes, adding five birdies in the next six holes. The run ended with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th, and he made four solid pars on the difficult closing quartet of holes to seal his triumph.
“I have to go home and watch it on TV because I don’t know what that ball hit,” said Niemann of the bounce on No. 8, which gave him the outright lead over 54-hole leader Ortiz, who was playing with Gana and Daniel Gurtner of Guatemala in the final grouping of the day, just behind Niemann.
“I liked the fact that I was going out in front,” said Niemann of being in the penultimate grouping. “I told my caddie, we have to make birdies early on so that people will start screaming and they hear it. I believe the roars were really big and in a way, it gave me more motivation.”
Several Chilean flags flew and a crowd of several hundred followed as Niemann traversed the incoming nine, and he stretched his lead to four strokes by birdieing No. 12 from 10 feet as Ortiz three-putted the par-3 11th behind him.
“It’s a work day, and it’s vacation season in Santiago, but when you have a world-class show, you cannot miss it,” said Desiree Soulodre, one of the directors of the Chile Golf Federation, on the crowd following Niemann, who was introduced to the game in Chile’s Golf Action junior program. After the round, Niemann noted the support of the federation in helping forge the nation’s three victories in four LAAC events to date.
“Also, the professional golfers here in Chile have a good relationship with the federation,” said Niemann. “We have tournaments in which we compete against the pros. I think that’s a huge motivation to be contending with someone that you know is better than you. It gives you extra motivation to get up and practice.”
Niemann vows to help continue the encouragement of younger players.
“I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old and I would ask the pro players for a golf ball,” said Niemann. “I remember thinking that I wanted to be in their position. Anything I can do to help the game grow in Chile and in Latin America, I will do it.”

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