Stellar year for Order of Merit competitions
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The real impact of the North District’s Order of Merit challenge was seen on the Brora golf course last Saturday with more than 90 playing in the James Braid 36 hole open when the standard and quality of scoring was the best seen since the club’s heydays of the 1990s.
Scratch and plus handicap bearing golfers, all of them featuring in the 2016 Order of Merit table, broke par in one or both rounds and a new amateur course record of 65 was set in round two by Bryan Fotheringham (Forres) then equalled by the previous record holder, Royal Dornoch’s Chris Mailley.
Nairn’s reigning North District Champion Fraser Fotheringham led the first round challenge for the Howey Cup with a five birdie two under par first card of 68 (35/33). Close behind, and also with an inward 33, to add to his first nine 36 for 69 came Muir of Ord’s John Forbes before the arrival of two ex district champions all with level par 70s Dougie Thorburn (Thurso) (36/34) and Bryan Fotheringham (Forres) (35/35). Also on level par 70 was the cup holder Mailley and Brora and Inverness teenager Cameron Franssen.
Chasing down the sponsor’s Royal Marine Hotel Trophy were Rory MacPherson (The Nairn) (13) 66, and the local pair of Ken Lorimer (11) 67 and Ian Davidson (19) 67. A stroke back was Robert MacKay’s nett 68, of 4. Mackay had learnt his golf at Brora when a Helmsdale laddie and his second round score improved by one to nett 67 to scoop the Marine Hotel Trophy with 135 after two rounds.
The clubhouse was buzzing when the three-handicapper from Forres came in with his new course record card of 65 but he did not count on the determination of Mailley to match it. Indeed Mailley just lipped out for a final birdie two which would have given him a 64 as they were joined on the 135 aggregate by Nairn’s Fotheringham (67/68). (The two Fotheringhams, not related, both hold +3 handicaps and Mailley +2).
With a second round gross 70, nett 67 regular visitor to Brora, Dougie Brown from Prestwick Golf Club, hauled himself up into a second nett place behind Mackay and was rewarded with the Kidd Cup from the Class 1 Section while local Ken Lorimer (hdc 11) netted a total of 137 to win the Duke of Sutherland Cup from Section 2.
Confined to members of the James Braid Society, Brora’s club secretary, Tony Gill won the James Braid Plinth with nett scores of 73 and 68.
Results: Howey Cup Scratch – 135 B Fotheringham (Forres) 70/65 (better last nine), C Mailley (RDGC) 70/65, F Fotheringham (The Nairn) 68/67.138 C Franssen (Inverness) (70/68). 140 J Forbes (Muir of Ord) (69/71). 141 D Thorburn (Thurso) (70/71). 143R J Mackay (Fortrose) (72/71), B Urquhart (RDGC) (71/72). 144 D M Brown (Prestwick) (74/70), R N MacDonald (Brora) (73/71).
Handicap: Class 1 Kidd Cup – D M Brown (Prestwick) (3), R N MacDonald (Brora) (3) 138. M Schinkel (Orkney) (3) 139. D J Sutherland (Brora) (8) 139. Class 2: Duke of Sutherland Cup – K Lorimer (Brora) (11) 137. I Davidson (Brora) (19) 140. R MacPherson (The Nairn) (13) 142. F Oliver (Dunblane) (16) 144.
The sponsor’s Mixed Foursomes competition followed the next day when the 2015 Brora Ladies Open champion from Wick, Deirdre MacAngus, partnered local John Sutherland to record a scratch 77, two ahead of local member Liam MacDonald-MacLeod and his Florida partner Lindsey Moffat.
Craig MacKay, who led the best of the local amateurs in the Northern Open at Royal Dornoch, ended his week with the sponsor’s Royal Marine Hotel Trophy after partnering Golspie’s Lesley Cranna to a nett 68½, the only sub 70 score returned. The other handicap winners were: Class 1 – D & M Morrison (Strathpeffer) 72½, Tony & Alison Bartlett (RDGC) 73. Class 2 – Alex & Anne Gunn (RDGC) 72. Mike MacKintosh & Lynda MacKay (Brora) 73½.
