Gents Qualifying

The qualifying weekend saw a real mix of incredible scoring and hard luck stories.

In the 1st round Scott McKinnon had a remarkable run of eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie, hole-in-one from the 11th to the 15th (33331), 7-under par for the 5 hole spell which contained only 3 putts, and he led the way with a 67. Notable mention also for 10-handicapper Dave Young who shot a 70, net 60.

The following day Graeme Stevenson equalled the course record with an excellent 61 which contained eleven 3’s & seven 4’s, it was also Graeme’s first ever bogey-free round, and it meant he led the qualifying by no less than 10 shots from Alan Moffat; he also won the Kenmar Trophy for the lowest net aggregate over the 2 days. The cut fell on 151 which meant defending champion Craig Beveridge missed out on countback to Stewart MacBride.

Dave Young’s 9 at the last meant he missed by 1, although he had the consolation of being the leading qualifier in the 2nd class on 152, and last year’s Junior Champion Jack Cummings also took 9 at the last to miss by 2. The 3rd class leader on 170 was Scott Logan.

In amongst all of that, Tom Mathieson had a hole-in-one at the 7th!

The Club’s hole-in-one fund has taken a bit of hit and keep an eye out for all these Hugo Boss watches too.

Matchplay Stages

We were blessed with excellent weather for the matchplay stages which began on Monday night with the semi-finals on Thursday deciding the finalists. The leading 2 qualifiers made it to the semi-finals and were up against 2 opponents more senior in age (very politically correct!).

Following convincing wins over Jim Kinniburgh & Kenny McKinnon, Willie Nisbet birdied 4 out of 6 holes from the 11th to the 16th to turn around a 1 hole deficit and defeat Graeme Stevenson by 3&2.

Coincidentally,it was the 2nd year in a row where the leading qualifier who had equalled the course record in the qualifying rounds lost out in the semi-finals to the eventual winner, Colin Swanston losing out to Craig Beveridge last year.

In the other semi-final Davy Meldrum, who had beaten Stuart Loch & Scott McKinnon en route, beat Alan Moffat by a 3&1 margin, the highlight of the match was a 45-footer holed across the green at the 16th for Davy to remain 2 up, just 2 nights after a similar length putt had seen off Scott McKinnon on the 18th green.

This meant that for the first time the final would be contested by 2 seniors and Davy, who had turned 70 at the start of the month, became the oldest ever finalist by some margin and would be going for his 6th title,having won 5 times between 1976 & 1987.

In the 2nd class semi-finals, the possibility of an all Young final was ended when brothers Dave & Kenny both lost, to Derek Easton & Andy Grant respectively.

In the 3rd class, Nick Cumming & Ross Brown were the 2 finalists defeating Douglas Allan & David Wilson respectively in the semi-finals.

Final’s Day

Finals day was dry but extremely windy with gusts up to 40 mph.  In spite of this, the 2 finalists produced golf of an excellent standard.

In the morning the first 3 holes were halved in par before Willie took a lead on the 4th which he would never relinquish.

A birdie at the 6th put him 3 up before a 3 putt at the 9th reduced his lead to 2. Another birdie at the 12th took his lead to 3 before Davy bogeyed the 13th which extended the lead to 4. Willie then let Davy off the hook by 3-putting the 14th to only half the hole before his bogey at the 15th, and Davy’s excellent 2 at the 16th, reduced the gap to 2 holes. However an uncharacteristically poor tee-shot from Davy at the 17th went out of bounds and although he scrambled a 5, Willie’s par put him 3 up again; the last was playing tough into the strong wind and a half in 5 left Willie 3 up at lunch.

Davy started the afternoon round in a determined fashion and after winning the 1st with an excellent 4, he also won the 2nd after Willie’s pulled tee shot careered through the 18th green into an awkward spot almost in the burn; from there he could barely move the ball and Davy’s 4 was good enough to reduce the lead to 1.

The next 3 holes were halved in pars before Davy played a poor pitch shot at the 6th into the right hand bunker, this cost him a bogie and Willie’s lead went to 2 again. After this a remarkable run of 9 halved holes in a row ensued, highlighted by excellent saves for 4’s by both at the 10th and the 14th, and Willie stood on the 16th tee still 2 holes to the good.

With the wind at its strongest and howling across from right to left Willie played the shot of the day to within 3 feet of the back left pin position and after Davy’s chip from just left of the green narrowly missed, Willie rolled in his putt for his 1st Championship victory.

Both players conducted themselves in an exemplary fashion and considering the conditions the golf was of a fine standard; Willie’s win was well deserved and after knocking at the door for a few years he is a worthy champion.

The 2nd class final went all the way to extra holes, Andy Grant led by 1 playing the last but was unable to close the game out and Derek Easton’s par at the 2nd extra hole was enough to secure the victory.

In the 3rd class, Ross Brown was too strong for Nick Cumming over the 2 rounds and ran out a 5&3 winner.

The ladies scratch championship was won for the 5th time by Alison Wilson defeating Susan Watkins 2&1 in the final while Emma Cassidy claimed the handicap title with a 3&1 victory over ladies captain Anne Brotherston.

Finally the juniors championship was won by Owen Abu-Baker at the age of 12, beating Sean Byron 6&5 in the final.

Presentation of Prizes

Back in the relative calm of the Clubhouse and once everyone had got rid of their windswept looks, Gordon Law, Captain & Andy Stevenson, Vice-Captain said a few words and made the presentations to the  winners and runners-up.  Scroll to the end for a selection of photographs kindly taken by Marion Millar and Evelyn Rogers.

It was another thoroughly enjoyable week, congratulations to all the winners, and to everyone else, there’s always next year!

Gents Championships

A number of familiar faces made their way through the qualifying stages of the Club Championship, although as the Matchplay Ties progressed a couple of new challengers emerged in the shape of Craig Beveridge and John McManus, who both made their way through to the semifinals.  Craig faced leading qualifier Colin Swanston, whilst John came up against 12-time winner Joe McManus, who also happens to be his father!

Both matches were close affairs with Craig and Joe emerging victorious to set-up a final which was to be a contrast in styles, with Craig renowned for his powerful hitting and Joe for his strong course management and razor-sharp short game.

Craig started strongly and quickly gained the upper hand with wins at the 1st & 3rd.  Still 2 down after 6, Joe needed to find a way to get back into the game and did just that with a birdie 2 at the 7th, after Craig found trouble off the tee.

Craig hit back straight away with a tap-in 3 at the 8th, followed by a birdie at the 9th to turn 3-up.

Joe was doing everything he could to hold on, but wins for Craig at 10, 11 and 12 extended his lead to 6.  13 was halved in 3’s with Joe holing a 25 footer, which obviously gave him a boost as he won 14&15 to reduce the deficit to 4.The game went into a bit of a lull with the next 3 holes halved and the players went to lunch with Craig 4-up.

After lunch, Craig started quickly again and won the 1st to move 5-up.  Halves at 2,3,4 and 5 were followed by a win at 6 for Joe to reduce the deficit to 4 and give the 12-time former champion a glimmer of hope with holes running out.  The 8th was halved in par and Craig extended his lead with a win at the 9th to turn 5-up.

10 was halved in pars, with Craig firmly in the driving seat and he took the chance to extend his lead with a great up and down for a birdie at 11.

With the winning line in sight, Craig drove the 12th and sealed his first Club Championship with a 2 putt birdie.

There were, of course other matches being played, although we have less information on these.

In the second class final, Stuart Henry won his first title with a victory over Kenny Young – this was a really tight game, there was never more than 2 holes in it, with Kenny reaching the halfway stage 1-up.  By the turn in the afternoon, the game was all-square and it was nip and tuck all the way until Stuart squeezed through to the title at the 2nd extra hole.

In the 3rd class final, John Lister looked to have matters well under control, leading Ian Adams 5-up after the morning round.  There must have been something extra in Ian’s soup and sandwiches as he came out galvanised and ran out a 5&3 winner.  What a comeback!

Ladies Championships

In the scratch match, Liz Calder played Alison Wilson. This was a very close up and down match with few holes halved, although Alison was 3 up heading across the road.  Liz came back well, winning 15 and 16 to be only 1 down with 2 to play, but a win for Alison at the 17^th saw the former ladies captain win by 2&1to pick up her 3^rd championship after a gap of 18 years.

In the handicap championship match played between Barbara McCrory and Dorothy Watson, Barbara seemed to be headed for victory leading 4-up with 5 to play.  Dorothy fought back, sinking a tricky 5-foot putt on 18th to half the match and take it to sudden death. Dorothy won the Championship on the 19th. An exciting finish and no doubt nerves and the pressure of the watching crowd played their part.

Junior Final

Craig Tibbetts faced Junior Captain, Jack Cummings.  Jack started quickly and forged a 4-hole lead, only to be pegged back by Craig to turn at 1up, but won the 10th to regain control.  The game tightened up and Jack finished the morning round 1-up.

Craig started the afternoon smartly and turned things round to move 1-up after 5 and held on to that lead through 8 holes.  Showing just how quickly things can change, Jack took the next 3 holes to move 2-up and this remained the position through 15.  Craig upped the pressure with a win at 16 and followed up with a great birdie at 17 to square the match.

After a half at the last in 5’s, it was up the 1st extra hole, with Jack squeezing through to win his 3rd championship.

All in all, a great Club Championship and the full list of winners is below.

Gents Club Champion: Craig Beveridge

Ladies Club Champion: Alison Wilson

Junior Club Champion: Jack Cummings

Gents Second Class Champion: Stuart Henry

Gents Third Class Champion: Ian B Adams

Ladies Bronze Champion: Dorothy Watson

Gents and Ladies Opening Competitions

Surprisingly, the sun shone for both days of the Opening Competitions for 2016.  Others weren’t so lucky, with Peebles closed for a while yesterday due to snow – that’s Scottish weather for you!

Starting with Saturday’s John Robb Trophy, this saw a brilliant entry of 146 in the actual competition, plus 4 junior members and a couple of gents playing for their handicaps, making 152 players in all. It was also great to see so many new members playing.   

Our resident stats man, Andy Stevenson, says this is the highest entry for any medal competition outside of the Club Championship qualifying for many, many, years.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.  

Onto the actual competition and it was a winning start to the season for 3-time Club Champion, Colin Swanston, who after a scratch 65 less 1 for a net 64, won on a count back from Craig Sullivan (75-11).  

Highlight of Colin’s round was a hole-in-one at the 16th with a Pitching Wedge. Amazingly, this is his first ever hole-in-one!  He also reckons it’s almost 20 years since he won a medal competition at Uphall. 

 The Ladies’ section kicked off their season yesterday with a super turnout of 14 players; victory (again on the better inward half) going to Susan Watkins with a net 71 with Annie Frampton narrowly missing out.  

We’ll report separately on the Junior Section’s Opening Day competition. 

Masters Sweep Result

Ist – Dougie Carr (Danny Willett) – £145

2nd Equal – Jim Little (Lee Westwood) – £90

2nd Equal – Ray Wilson (Jordan Spieth) – £90

Last after 72 holes – Alex Leadbetter (Thongchai Jaidee) – £40

Leading Amateur –Jean Reid (Bryson Dechambeau) – £40

Leading Senior

1st Equal – Nicola Grant (Angel Cabrera) – £20

1st Equal – Tom Headspeath (Bernhard Langer) – £20

Congratulations to the winners on all fronts!