NIALL LAMOND'S SECOND ROUND 72 WINS HIM SENIOR GOLD MEDAL AT WINDY TAIN

BRONZE MEDAL WON BY NEW MEMBER ALASTAIR STODDART (ROYAL DORNOCH)

Three players - Niall Lamond (Tantallon) 75 72, George G Paterson (Fortrose and Rosemarkie) 72 75, and Robert Smith (Nairn) 71 76 - jointly headed the field on seven-over-par 147 (one stroke higher than last year's winning total) on another windy day at Tain for the conclusion of the North of Scotland Senior Men's Open.


Niall won the gold medal by virtue of his better second-round 72. Niall had bogeys at the second, fifth and seventh, as well as a double bogey 6 at the ninth, but birdies at the sixth, 16th and 18th helped him to a best of the day round of two-over 72 (38-34).

George bogeyed the second, third, 10th, 11th, 14th and 16th before birdieing the 18th for a share of the pole position with halves of 37-38

Robert birdied the 12th, but a double bogey at the fifth and bogeys at the eighth, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th gave him two halves of 38 and denied him outright victory.

Four players shared fourth place on 149 - David Pearson (Royal Dornoch), John Fraser (Royal Burgess), Richard Johnston (Glenbervie) and Maurice Lindsay (Broughty) (72,77).

Overnight leader Ronnie Clark (Erskine) slipped to 8th place after returning an uncharacteristic. birdie-less 81 (39-42) to add to his opening round of 70.

The bronze medal for leading handicap score was won by Alastair Stoddart (Royal Dornoch), playing off seven, with net rounds of 74 and 69 for a total of 143.
 

So how tough were the conditions for this year's tournament? The number of players who retired during it or had No Returns totalled 15.