East Lothian Golf Classic 2002

Following on the heels of such a magnificent week's golf in Speyside , complete with great weahther, the "tour" moved south to East Lothian. For many East Lothian could be in Mars…well it's not it the area south and east of Edinburgh occupying arguably the finest stretch of links land available in Scotland and with it, Golf World's top course in its 2002 one hundred listings, Muirfield.

But it's oh so much more than Muirfield and indeed so much more than golf. Postcard villages and wonderful inland and coastal drives make East Lothian a perfect neighbour to Edinburgh's more obvious attributes and the perfect escape for the annual golf outing or indeed a Scottish Golf Classic event.

The first East Lothian Classic was moved forward from 2003 to ensure that an event took place in Open Championship year. The event will move to its regular spot from 2003 and take place from the last Sunday of June from now on, however the event still attracted a field looking forward to enjoying the unknown charms in most cases of Royal Musselburgh, Longniddry, Gullane No. 2 and Craigielaw.

Day One at Royal Musselburgh
For those of you into the history of golf you could do a lot worse than delve a little deeper into the background of this club. It's traditional old clubhouse building rises magnificently above the eighteenth green and offers a glimpse of the past both inside and out. The oldest played for trophy in the golfing world is inside and the story of the club makes fascinating reading.

The layout is a James Braid and for those who have played Belleisle in Ayrshire there are some striking similarities.

The weather appeared to have followed the classics south and as can be seen from the players' photographs shirt sleeve weather was the order of the day; not bad for early October. As usual play was off the medal tees and while the field was small it had a proportion of low handicap golfers who were quite clearly up for he week ahead. Scores were coming in quite steadily around the thirty plus mark until Graham Hesketh from Childwall Golf Club near Liverpool popped in with a 40 pointer! Graham is a tour operator and we all know that tour operator's play unlimited golf but never play competitively. The worry was that we had a ringer! We fortunately only had twenty four hours to find out the truth.

Phil Dowell, a player earlier in the year in the Ayrshire event was tied in second place with Dr Holger Bettinger from Germany on 37 points with a further six players on 35 and 36 points. The course was highly praised for its set up and in particular the difficulty and testing nature of the closing five or six holes which helped ruin the card of more than a few players.

The Glenkinchie Longest Drive was at the ninth hole and the bottle of the sponsors ten year old malt went to Gary Hall with the longest drive being struck by Edinburgh's Paul Hubbard.
Day Two moved to Gullane, arguably Scotland's second golfing town and it is truly a great golfing destination. As well as the three Gullane courses, it is home to Muirfield and the golfing history permeates the character of the place.

The golf was being played over the Number Two course, regarded by many locals as being every bit as the number one and it certainly provided a different challenge from that of Royal Mussel;burgh on day one. The course starts out from the superb new clubhouse facility and crosses the road and heads up the hill with views opening out from the top of the expanse of wonderful golf holes on the three links. There was a stiff breeze blowing throughout the day but it failed to prevent a couple of 37 point totals being carded from the aforementioned Paul Hubbard and Stephen Simpson from Chester-le-Street with the latter picking up the daily prize on a count back over the last three holes having carded identical back nines and last six holes.

Longest drive at the sixth was from Gary Hall and Paul Hubbard again put his name in the frame with nearest the pin at the difficult 15th hole.

So it was that we left Gullane at least for the time being looking forward to our return to the Number One course in June next year for the second East Lothian Classic.

Longniddry next. This traditional old club doesn't always get the praise it perhaps deserves going quietly about its business. A mix of both links and parkland the course offers diversity and challenge and on a day like this one views towards Edinburgh of the Arthur's Seat, the castle and glimpses of the Forth Bridges.

Shirt sleeve weather again and perfect for scoring. The course however showed its mettle and kept the points totals down to a modest level. Winning total today was 34, a total shared by Sean Skinner from Runcorn and Ron Garrood from Hazelmere. Both these guys were playing off low handicaps and the secret was keeping the ball in play and avoiding the trees in the middle section. Ron won the best stableford on a countback. Nearest the pin was at the tricky fifteenth hole and the longest drive at the next; both were again secured by Paul Hubbard. Over the past two years of Golf Classic events there has been a series of Dalmahoy golfers picking up prizes - these two were not to be the last for the Edinburgh club.

This left the leaderboard looking quite interesting going into the last day. Ron Garrood playing off 3 was leading with 105 points and two behind was Chester le Street's Stephen Simpson. Gordon Kinnes who had been runner up in the previous week's Speyside Classic was sitting a further point back, German Holger Bettinger was on 101 alongside Dalmahoy's Paul Hubbard and on 100 points was Sean Skinner from Runcorn. As has become normal, the players went out in reverse leaderboard order with Ron teeing off last. For the only time in the week however his game let him down and he carded an out of character 27 points opening the door wide open for those behind. The second last game carded the lead but it didn't come from Gordon Kinnes but from but from the Pforzheim golfer Dr Holger Bettinger. His 34 points took him to the lead and ensured that those in front would need to post a good score to retain their slim overnight lead. Ron Garrood slipped to 27 as did Gordon Kinnes and Mike Sneddon could only card 30 points leaving the Scottish Golf Classics with their first European winner.

Best total of the day was a 35 carded by another Dalmahoy golfer Mike Sneddon; Paul Hubbard again picked up nearest the pin at the 3rd hole and Rob Aston longest drive on the 71st hole. So that was that but before leaving Craigielaw it's worth giving a brief run through. It is a brand new links course which is only going to mature into a superb links course. The greens were in superb condition throughout and the setting and layout make it a must for visitors to the area. The new clubhouse is taking shape and will provide a superb 21st century environment from which to preview and review your game on Craigielaw. As well as the main links course, a Donald Steele six hole layout provides tremendous facility for junior and adult golfer alike as does the full size driving range. The course and its owners deserve our best wishes for future success.

All that was left was the prizegiving. Set up in the wonderful Club Room in the Marine Hotel in North Berwick this was a fitting classy end to a great week's golf. An excellent meal and another wee touch of the Glenkinchie to follow the meal, prizes distributed and thanks made.

Was the East Lothian Golf Classic a success. Well if it is measured on how many of the competitors are coming back next year for more then it was overwhelming; if it is measured on the favourable comments for all four courses, then it was resounding. Next year the same four courses will be used with the only difference being that Gullane 1 will take the place of number two and the event will move to its regular spot kicking off on the last Monday in June.

Our thanks again must go to all the competitors for playing, the key sponsors Peugeot and Wilson Sporting Goods and for the event Glenkinchie. A special thanks also to the team at east Lothian Council who have had a busy year with the Open Championship but still found time through their Golf Development Officer Tracy Dryesdale to offer full support to the launch year of this Classic. We're certain that their investment will be paid back into the local economy before very long.