Day One - Fortrose & Rosemarkie

The glorious penninsula links of Fortrose & Rosemarkie set this years Highland Golf Classic tone with a lone piper welcoming the competitors to the daunting first tee. On looking down the fairway every golfers eyes were instantly drawn to the dense yellow gorse which lined the fairway. On the first tee Derek Ronaldson was presented with a replica of last years Individual trophy by Fraser Cromarty of Golf Highland before he teed off to begin the four day contest.

The weather was initially a concern to all but to the relief of the competitors and especially the classics team the sky brightened and the wind died down throughout the morning. This led to some pretty impressive scoring. Leading the field in the Individual competition after day one was Gordon Hughes with a stableford score of 43. The benign conditions and forgiving yardages produced great points scores throughout the leaderboard. Each and every competitor voiced appreciation of the quality of the greens throughout the course, everyone enjoying the challenge of fast greens so early in the season.

Day Two - Inverness

All golfing mornings should be like this. The sun split the trees at Inverness Golf Club to welcome the players on the Tuesday morning. Testing conditions were in store for later on however, as the wind picked up throughout the day bringing the trees more and more in play on this long parkland course.

The wind was an advantage to some though as guest competitor Steven Munro struck an unbelieveable drive of almost 360 yards straight down the eighteenth to clinch the longest drive title. Matching Stuart for skill was Andy Mair from Abernethy won the nearest the pin contest with a beautifully struck iron to within three feet of the flag on the fifteenth.

The conditions tested every aspect of the players games with Shirley Murgatroyd leading the field home on day two with a superb 33 points. This win moves Shirley to within two points of the new event leader Ian McMillan. The competitive quality of the field was proven with the points difference between first and tenth being only six points. An achieveable gap for any in the top ten to close in on as we look forward to Nairn tomorrow.