Bathgate men victors in Lothians Tournament

Jul 30 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

BATHGATE has won the Lothians Team Tournament, played over Murrayfield and Turnhouse last weekend.

Two of the four-man team played a single round at each of the courses making up a 72-hole aggregate and the winning total, four better than nearest rivals Silverknowes, was 280.

Club Champion Stuart Crookston and Ged O'Hara had 70 and 71 respectively at Turnhouse while Scott McClory and Stuart Mungall had 68 and 71 at the other venue.

This is a fine victory for the West Lothian club and it follows hard on their recent success in lifting the Courier Trophy at Greenburn where Crookston and McClory were also part of the team.

Just missing out but holding up the West Lothian honour valiantly were both Greenburn and Pumpherston – they each finished with a 286 aggregate for a joint-third placing.

Meanwhile it is the ‘Big League’ this week for five golfers who play under the Linlithgowshire umbrella when they take part in the Scottish Golf Allied Surveyors Scottish Amateur Championship at Royal Troon.

It is not all that many years since you could enter this championship if you possessed a five handicap but now well over half the field is better than scratch and everybody competing this week is one handicap at the very highest.

So it is a difficult task to make your mark even if you are the tiger at your club or even in your own district.

As I write, though, two of our hopefuls have negotiated their way into the second round.

Stuart Boyle of Harburn, still eligible for boys' events, had a resounding 8/6 win over Les Pirie, a scratch golfer from Millport while Shotts' Allyn Dick (entered from his other club Kingssknowe) went through at the first extra hole against +3 man Fraser Fotheringham from Nairn.

Still to play were Scott McClory of Bathgate – due in against scratch golfer Derek Ramsay from Elgin, Simon Lockhart, the former Bathgate Champion against Craig Watson – a real tiger this one as Craig is a former British Amateur Champion – and Andy Rothney, who was to play another scratch player, Ian Redford from St Andrews New.

Best of luck to them all.

On the local front Niddry Castle had its McKenzie Medal over both days at the weekend and top man was Danny Smith who contrived a net 60 on the Saturday courtesy of his 16 handicap and held on, though he was 16 shots higher the next day, to win by a comfortable five shots.

Tommy Duncan (28) took second with net returns of 74 and 67 for 141.

Best scratch total was the 154 of club champion Martin Brown though this only won him the prize on a countback that went right down to the final hole.

And the luckless man who lost out was none other than John Pryde who Martin beat in the Championship final.

Meanwhile at Harburn the most recent episode in the Kirk Rosebowl has been won by Brian McIntosh with a return of 86-21=65, two ahead of joint runners up Craig Deerness (3) and Gordon Somerville (19).

West Lothian had a big field out on Saturday for its MacDonald Trophy and it was John Liddle at the head of proceedings at the final round-up.

His 80-13=67 was matched by both J Slessor (15) and J Aitken (2) but the two last named lost out on the countback. John Aitken's 69 was the best scratch return of the day as some consolation to him though.