Crookston still the man to beat

Jun 25 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

STUART CROOKSTON at Bathgate and Stevie Cumberford at Uphall showed their class by consolidating premier positions at their clubs, while Gary Corrigan, holder at Greenburn, is on track to do likewise.

There were several notable names who failed to make the cut at Greenburn for last week’s knockout stages.

At Niddry Castle there was a new name on the champions’ board, the previously unsung Martin Brown.

Stuart Crookston continued the good work at Bathgate following his qualifying 64 last week, which was eliminated by the weather. This meant he was second seed to Graham Bell and it turned out a relatively serene passage for both men to Sunday’s final shootout.

Crookston played the better golf early on, and the first nine of the opening round won it for him in the end.

He reached the turn in a five-under-the card 31 for a five-hole advantage.

On the back nine Bell carded consecutive birdies at the 15th and 16th to reduce the deficit to two down by lunch.

After the break Crookston again started stronger and pulled away to go six ahead. Bell birdied the short 13th (31st) to keep in the game but it was all over a hole later, as Crookston recorded only his second win in the event.

In the club’s second-class event for the Dick Smith Trophy it was Jamie Docherty who carried the day. He had been five ahead of opponent David Moffat after 18 and kept up the pressure after lunch to prevail by 7-6.

Meanwhile, the Stewart Trophy for the third-class section fell into the hands of Stewart Veitch who was two ahead of Alistair Colquhoun after the scheduled halfway point, but pulled away in the afternoon to come through 7-6.

There was a similar margin of success in the ladies’ event for the prolific Karen Burns — her sixth championship win at the club. She was two up after 18 on Margaret MacFarlane, who was contesting her ninth final. Karen applied the pressure after the break and always looked the winner.

Stevie Cumberford proved himself again by retaining his title. In the quarters he took out former Lothians champion Colin Swanston by pitching in at the last for a one hole success before overcoming young Jordyn Rhind in the semis.

Meanwhile, Stevie Gravestock, his opponent in the final, had taken out leading qualifier Andy Stevenson in the quarters before dealing with Davy Meldrum at the penultimate stage.

Cumberford started unpromisingly in Sunday’s final with an ugly double bogey six, but then went round in the morning in an approximate 68 for a five-hole lead.

After the break he pressed home his advantage with birdies at the 4th, 5th and 7th. Gravestock matched the birdie at the 5th but still trailed by seven.

Cumberford finished his man off with a flourish — a 15-footer for an eagle at the 11th and an 8-7 victory.

The club’s second-class event went to Tom Mathieson who, after a tight morning 18 with Neil Logan in the final, eased ahead for an eventual 4-3 win.

In the third-class it was Andy Bruce with all the smiles after his 6-5 success over Davy Smith.

In the juniors final Keiran Cooney led the more experienced Josh Renwick by four holes at one point in the morning round. However, Renwick showed his class and eased away from his opponent for an eventual 6-5 win.

There was quite a discrepancy in size in the boys’ B-class event as Alan “big yin” Hughes who triumphed over the diminutive Blair Saunders, 8-6.

In the Ladies’ final it was multiple winner Susan Rennie who came through yet again, though it took a tense three extra holes before she shook off new member Fiona Wait in a scheduled 36-holer.

In the women’s handicap championship final Moira Muir accounted for Fiona Comber on the last green in another tight affair.

Over at Winchburgh it was Martin Brown who became champion of Niddry Castle after a 3-2 final victory over John Pryde.

On the way to the final he had beaten former champion Jack Norris and Stevie Cherry, while Pryde had taken out Alex Roberts before causing a big upset with a semi-final win over holder Hugh Fraser.

Brown had been one ahead at lunch, and after the break there was a wee purple patch for the eventual winner which proved crucial.

Four successive birdies from the second (20th) proved too much for Pryde and though he fought back Brown eased through 3-2.

There was bad luck for the Bidwell brothers Dougie and Frank, who had been due to contest the second and third class event finals, respectively but, travelling together, they mistook their starting times and had to forfeit the matches.

David Brown was the recipient of the second-class event while Davy Smith picked up the third simply by being on time.

At the other side of the county Greenburn had its qualifying over the weekend and it was holder of the title and winner last week of the Steele Trophy, Gary Corrigan, who led with an aggregate of 141.

Here the cut was at 148 and there were a few weel kent faces on the sidelines.

Former champions David Fleming and David Cardwell missed the cut as did Pat Flynn and James Johnstone.

There is a possibility that the Corrigan brothers will face each other in this Sunday’s final. Scott is in the top half of the draw but had an awkward first round draw against Stuart McKechnie, while Gary’s name dominates the bottom half and had to dispose of Stephen McPake with Tom “Pody” Leitch also in his half.

In the second class the leader was Paul Young on a 158 total and in Tuesday’s matchplay he was up against Colin McKee. Here the axe fell on 169.

And in the third it was Graham Lumsden at the head of matters with his 179 aggregate.

Robert Pell was his first opponent in the knockout and 189 was the cut in this section.

There was less stressful stuff at Bo’ness, whose championships are already decided, with only the Secretary’s Prize up for grabs at the weekend.

A net 63 off his nine handicap gave Ian White a three-shot victory over James Boyle (12).

Harburn’s latest Kirk Rosebowl qualifier had “Sid” Curran at the top of the board for his fine net 66 off his three mark, a shot ahead of Allan Gray (19) and James Kane (14).

There was even less between the leaders in the weekend’s Scott qualifier, with David Stuart(10) coming out of a three-way tie on the 64 net mark. Second place on the countback went to Stephen Barkey (9) with David Brash (15) in third.