Kevin Duncan scores sixth NE Alliance win of season at frosty Cruden Bay

Cruden Bay tour professional Kevin Duncan, winner of the Scottish Alliance championship at Boat of Garten in the first half of the winter season, continued his dominance of the North-east Golfers' Alliance circuit by chalking up his sixth win - five of them at successive fixtures - over the Cruden Bay winter course today.
Duncan shot a one-over-par 69 over the 4,800yd "frost course," winning by two strokes from John Duff (Newmachar) at the head of a field of 67 hardy competitors

ALAN GALL WRITES:

Played on Cruden Bay’s “Frost Course”, par 68 on the day with winter greens in play.  With temperatures at -6C on the way to the course at 7.45 am, it was amazing that the course was playable at all.  Thanks to a beautiful wall-to-wall sunshine day, 67 competitors braved the conditions and, thanks to light winds, it was not unbearably cold for the players.

Playing conditions were very difficult nevertheless with hard ground leading to unpredictable bounces.  Even when the course started to thaw slightly, the variability of ground conditions made it most difficult for players to remain focused. 
Not everyone found it too difficult with local tour player Kevin Duncan managing a one over par 69 and professionals John Duff, Kris Nicol, Ross McKen and Sam Griffiths filling the other scratch prize positions. 
Nestled in amongst them was eight-handicap senior Mike Duncan (Murcar Links) whose gross 74, net 66, was of particular note.

CRUDEN BAY FIGURES

4 4 3   3 4 5    4 4 4 - 34

4 4 3   5 4 3    3 4 4 - 34 = 68 PAR

BEST SCORECARDS 

KEVIN DUNCAN 69

3 4 3   4 5 5  5 4 4 - 37 (3 over par)
4 5 3   5 3 2  2 4 4 - 32 (2 under par)

4 5 4  3 5 5  4 3 3 - 36 5 4 4  6 4 3  2 3 4 - 35 = 71 J Duff (Newmachar)

5 3 4 3 5 5 4 3 4 - 36 4 4 3 6 4 3 3 4 5 - 36 = 72 K Nicol (Dunes G C)

7 5 4 2 4 4 4 3 4 - 37 3 5 3 5 6 3 3 4 4 - 36 = 73 R McKen (Trump International)

4 5 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 - 35 4 4 4 5 8 3 3 4 4 - 39 = 74 S Griffiths (Dunes GC)

5 4 3 4 5 6 4 3 3 - 37 4 5 4 5 4 3 3 4 5 - 37 = 74 M Duncan (Murcar Links)

PRIZEWINNERS

SCRATCH

69 K Duncan (Cruden Bay)

71 J Duff (Newmachar)

72 K Nicol (Dunes Golf Centre)

73 R McKen (Trump International)

74 S Griffiths (Dunes Golf Centre)

HANDICAP

Class 1

66 M Duncan (Murcar Links) (8)

69 S Allison (Bon-Accord) (7)

70 W Skene (Deeside) (8)

72 J Sunley (Newmachar) (8) bih, M Findlay (Cullen Links) (3)

Class 2

66 R Coupar (Duff House Royal) (14)

69 D Wright (Auchmill) (14) bih, B Munro (Newmachar) (15)

72 K Mathieson (Kintore) (14)

73 M Brown (Kemnay) (18)