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Monday
8th July: Glasgow (Gailes) GC
The
reason the Scottish Golf Classic first came about was because of
courses such as Glasgow (Gailes) – magnificent layouts in
superb condition but not always getting the recognition or play
that they perhaps deserved. This wonderful links course has now
been a fixture in the first three Ayrshire Golf Clsasics and is
again scheduled in for 2003. Located just south of Irvine and adjacent
to Western and the bradn new Southern Gailes, the course is a challenging
track with some extremely tight drives, loads of heather and gorse
and in the wind that met the players on Day One can be an extreme
challenge.
The
field was lead out by the group from Canada with high expectations;
expectations that in fact held up pretty well to examination with
Mike Elwood form the Islington club in Ontario coming home with
a very respectable total of 34 points in testing conditions. He
was followed in in second place by John Nicolson from Hazelhead
a point further behind. The only two other results coming in over
thirty points were Glenn Scott also from Ontario and John Dempsey
from a bit closer, Mouse Valley in Lanarkshire.
Some other creditable scores were posted from further afield –
Adrian Willigen from Goyer Golf Club in The Netherlands shot 28
as did Martine Valcke from Royal Zoute Golf Club in Belgium. Highest
placed Irishman was Walter Kennedy from Mallow with 26 points and
journalist Susanne Kemper from Domaine Imperial in Switzerland was
disappointed with her 24 points but still finished with a smile.
However
it was again clear that the scoring was only one part of the day.
The course was set up perfectly as well with some slick and very
true putting surfaces, the wind blew, the point scoring was kept
low and tomorrow was Turnberry!
Tuesday 9th July: The Turnberry
Experience
With
the field split over the two Turnberry courses the scoring was expected
to be quite diverse and as much as the competitors didn’t
believe it was forecast to be better that Gailes the previous day.
Turnberry’s Ailsa is in the eyes of many the very best and
most complete Open Championship venue providing some tremendously
challenging drives and approaches, undulating greens but with the
addition of perhaps the most splendid location in Scotland for any
golf course. On a clear day such as this one you can look west to
the wonderful isle of Arran; further south to the great lump of
rock known as Ailsa Craig (or Paddy’s Milestone) and beyond
to the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland.
The
whole experience starts on entering the superbly designed and finished
clubhouse building. There is a genuine WOW factor about the place
without it losing its informality. A cup of coffee and bacon roll
in the upstairs lounge overlooking the two links courses is a perfect
way to get the morning underway.
The
other thing about Turnberry is its climate. Almost everyone remembers
the Duel in the Sun with Watson and Nicklaus in ’77 and the
heat and dry dusty fairways (I also remember the third day when
Norman one and it was far from dusty) but the area has a climate
of its own and while Loch Lomond was on the television forty miles
away under water and indeed thunder storms battered the rest of
Scotland the players enjoyed a magnificent summer day with a light
breeze (by Turnberry standards) and perfect scoring conditions.
Best
of the day undoubtedly went to Susan grant off 17 from Whitekirk
Golf Club – unfortunately her 42 points was all in a day’s
work as Susan was acting as guide to the visiting golf journalists
playing in the event in her role as Golf Development Manager for
VisitScotland. There was a collective sigh from the filed when her
score was found to be non-counting but still we think enough for
a handicap cut.
Highest
counting score of the day went to Dick Lorimar who was back for
the third year. His magnificent 38 points on the Kintyre also set
him up nicely at the top of the singles leaderboard one ahead of
Canadian Mike Elwood who carded another creditable 30 points on
The Ailsa. Possibly the best round of the day went to Roy Burnett
also a veteran of previous Ayrshire and Fife Classics, who shot
a superb 37 points on the Ailsa Course; Bob McKenzie of Pitreavie
also dropped in 37 points this time over Kintyre. 34 points from
Jeff Crum from Cairndu, and 33’s from Derek Petrie from the
new Golf Club and John McShane from Castlerock meant that the Northern
Irish four lead the team event at the end of day two. Still twelve
within four points and all still to play for if that is they could
negotiate the quiz night.
After
last year the Ayrshire Classic Golf Quiz Night is becoming a fixture.
18 holes of questions, a buffet and a few beers. What more could
you wish for in between two rounds of golf at Turnberry. The night
as usual was a load of fun, not taken too seriously and produced
an international victory with Harry and Carolyn Summer from South
Carolina partnering Cyril Freeman from Bristol and Clifton to first
place and the prize money.
Wednesday
10th July: Turnberry Continues...
And
so the rain continued to fall….on everybody else around while
Turnberry remained dry. With the field reversed today and playing
the Turnberry course they didn’t play yesterday the skies
stayed dry throughout and although there was a light breeze it was
another perfect day for golf.
The
ladies always score well at Turnberry and today proved to be no
exception with Susan Grant, (Whitekirk) Christine Barker (Woodhall
Hills), Susanne Kemper (Domaine Imperial), Margot Willigen (Goyer),
Jo Pease (Gower) and Rose Briggs all scoring more than thirty points.
The leading score of the day was from Robert Robb of leigh Golf
Club with an excellent 37 point total over the Kintyre followed
by an Irishman, Derek Petrie with an par round of 36 points on the
Ailsa again helping his team stay in touch at the top of the Fours
Leaderboard.
The
overall lead was maintained by Dick Lorimar who had a very steady
34 points and he headed into the final day at Barassie with a three
point cushion over Mike Canadian Mike Elwood and four over Irishman
Jeff Crum. Another point further back was Steve Singleton from St
Annes Old.
Thursday
11th July - Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club
The
last day at Barassie near Troon and the players awoke to beautiful
sunshine and shirt sleeve conditions. As with the Fife Golf Classics
we had decided to put the players out in leaderboard order on the
final day to add a little bit more spice to the last few matches.
As a result the final two three balls went out with Scott, Robb
and Nicolson on 92,91 and 91 points respectively and the final match
of Lorimer, Elwood and Crum with 99, 96 and 95 respectively. Two
Englishmen, two Canadians an Irishman and a Scot battling it out
over arguably the hardest course of the four. Barassie was extended
some six or seven years ago and this involved building nine new
holes and using nine of the original layout. As a result the courses
now measures in at a testing 6817 yards of the medal tees; the difficulty
of the par 72 is best measured by the Standard Scratch of 74.
As
well as the tight leaderboard for the singles there remained a chance
for three teams – the Canadians, the composite Irish team
and one of the press teams - all separated by only four points.
With three of the fours scores per day counting it was anyone’s
trophy.
The
scoring over Barassie proved to be very good with two dozen players
beating 30 points but only one beating “par” with 37
points. Peter Dowell from Sherbourne Golf Club kept his best till
last and carded an excellent round of golf to win the best stableford
prize for Barassie. Without taking away anything from Peter’s
excellent score the card of the day perhaps has to go to John Nicolson
playing off three carded a gross 77 and coming back in level par
for 36 points. He did this knowing that he was in with a chance
of picking up the overall trophy and prizes and was a great round
of golf under competitive conditions. However his best efforts were
in the end in vain and with a steady 31 points final day total the
18 handicapper playing out of the Abbotsford Golf Club in Ayr topped
the leaderboard with a four day total of 130 points. John Nicolson
was second, Glenn Scott on 123 points pipped Jeff Crum on a count
back for third place and a point further back Steven Rimmer did
the same to Steve Singleton for fourth and fith respectively.
Tony
Huggins (Peterborough Milton) and Tony Barker (Woodhall Golf Club)
both produced their best golf of the week carding 34 point totals.
The
team event went right to the last card of the day with the Canadian
foursome holding onto the lead by a tiny three points. They had
played as a team throughout with everyone contributing a couple
of cards to the overall total and for the second time in the events
short three year history another winners trophy will be heading
over the Atlantic to Canada.
The
Prizegiving Dinner
Now
an established end to each of the Classic events the Dinner was
this year held at The Marine Hotel in Troon. Following an excellent
meal the guests were firstly entertained royally by Mr Duncan Cameron.
Duncan has now be the guest of four Classic events and he never
fails to entertain the troops. A local radio presenter and Sales
manager for American Airlines, Duncan never fails to hit the spot
with his humour and he was on top form yet again – anyone
looking for an after dinner speaker for their golf dinners could
not do much better than this man.
The
week was rounded off with the prizegiving and the distribution of
the myriad of Wilson prizes -there were awards for each day of the
singles, longest drives, nearest the pins and of course the leaders
of the individual and team events. A couple of special awards were
made on the night -first to Susan grant for her magnificent golf
during the week and to two ladies, Shirley Sadler from Roundhay
and Carolyn Summer form South Carolina both of whom twisted ankles
during the week and retired injured!
If
the happiest man on the night however was the singles winner, Dick
Lorimer, then he was it seemed accompanied by a lot of contented
golfers. The weather had been superb; the condition of all of the
golfers magnificent and the spirit of the event and the friendliness
of the competitors to each other was unquenchable. The third Ayrshire
Golf Classic had been an unqualified success for those who played
and there is a certainty that many of the faces will be seen again
at future Classics.
Now
how many days until Speyside...
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