Neil Munro is new RDGC champion
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A young Dornoch golfer who showed tremendous promise as a junior member is now Royal Dornoch Golf Club’s champion golfer for the first time.
Neil Munro won the Fraser Shield in 2004 and then two years later pulled off a rare double when he repeated his Fraser Shield win and on the same day captured the scratch Gardner Trophy.
Now aged 24, after finishing his schooling in Dornoch Academy, he completed a university degree in sport science four years ago.
But the draw of golf at Dornoch was his choice and, following a summer of caddy work on his home course, he chose to spend his winters caddying in America, returning home in the summer months to help out on the family farm at Cyderhall which allowed him to play and caddy over the Dornoch links.
His chosen lifestyle has improved his golf, his handicap now falling to two after his recent club championship success.
In his attempt to win the championship, which is a 72-hole medal play challenge over three days, Munro opened with a one over par 71 which gave him into a two-shot lead over former champion Chris Mailley (73), and three over club secretary/manager Neil Hampton (74).
After adding a second round 70, Hampton took over the lead on 144, two shots ahead of Munro whose second round 75 placed him on 146.
Mailley had fallen away badly with an 80 but with a sterling effort on the final day he would make up ground with a card of two under par 68, to finish in second place by virtue of his final round score.
Munro’s best card came in round three, a level par 70, and it brought him level on 216 with scratch handicapper Hampton who scored 73 with just the final 18 holes remaining in the afternoon.
In this round, Munro doggedly stuck to his task and outscored his secretary by three shots, 75 to 78 to take his winning total to 291 and his best club result since becoming a full member.
Mailley’s final 68 tied Hampton’s total of 294 and was acknowledged as runner-up because of his final round effort. Hampton, in his first year at Dornoch, had the surprise honour of being crowned handicap champion by virtue of his first two nett scores of 74 and 70.
Outgoing champion Lyle McAlpine finished in fourth place.
Scratch Championship scores:
291 N Munro 71 75 70 75
294 C Mailley 73 80 73 68 (BLR), N D Hampton 74 70 72 78.
296 L McAlpine 78 74 74 70
299 Cameron Nelson 76 76 71 76
302 K Matheson 75 73 81 73
306 A MacDonald 79 77 74 76
315 D Holden 82 80 78 75, S Wilson 81 78 75 81
322 J Hamilton 82 80 73 87.
? SEVEN days after his club triumph, Munro was back out on the Dornoch course to earn a fourth place behind Kevin Matheson in the Sutherland County Cup.
Matheson was the last home member to match the new champion’s Fraser Shield and Gardner Trophy double in the 2010 September open tournament.
Results (all RDGC unless stated):
148 B Urquhart 75/73, K Matheson 73/75 (Matheson won play-off)
149 N D Hampton 73/76
150 N Munro 74/76, A MacDonald 73/77
151 C Mailley 71/80
152 C Mackay 74/78
153 D W R Chalmers 78/75, I Stewart (Brora) 76/77
155 R D Murray 80/75, G Bethune 78/77
157 D Hexley (Golspie) 79/78, L M Macleod (Brora) 74/83.
159 A MacDougall (Golspie) 80/79. N Campbell 79/80
Other selected totals ; G M Rutherford (Brora) 161. A Stewart (Brora) 162. H Macrae 164. N Cameron (Brora) 166. C Irvine 166.
Handicap – I Stewart (Brora) (8) 137. B Urquhart (5) 138. C Mackay (5) 152. R D Murray (6) 155. N Campbell (7) 145.
