Harburn hit West Lothian for six in one-sided summer league clash

Jul 29 2010 West Lothian Courier

HARBURN pulled off an astounding win in the Linlithgowshire Summer League.

On a windy night at neutral Pumpherston they completely overwhelmed West Lothian 6-0 in the Karma Golf club-sponsored competition, recording one of the most one-sided victories in a Linlithgowshire showdown.

Quite simply the Bo’ness team did not show up.

In the end all six matches were finished up before the 17th hole to allow the West Calder celebrations to commence.

And it was, surprisingly enough, the first Harburn league title since the golden days of Mike Kirk, Jim Spiers, Jim Clarkson and Bob Gibson.

After an initial period in the early years of the league — which started in 1964 — when Bathgate dominated, Harburn then became a force to be reckoned with, but although considered one of the county’s bigger clubs they have failed to make an impact in this event for over 30 years.

This is a big week for golf in Scotland, with the Allied Surveyors Scottish Amateur tournament being played at Gullane and the usual sprinkling of West Lothian names in the draw.

Monday’s first round, though, was as far as the majority survived.

Out went the Harburn pair Craig Deerness and Stuart Boyle, joined on the sidelines by Greenburn’s Stuart McKechnie and James Johnston though the latter fought hard before falling at the third extra hole.

The only man through on the day was Bathgate Champion Simon Lockhart while his club-mate Scott McClory was not due out until Tuesday.

Scott finished top of the locals last year when he reached the fourth round before falling at Royal Troon to James White of Lundin (seeded fifth this time around).

There are another couple of names with strong local connections through from the first day though.

Lothians champion and Armadale man, Allyn Dick, who entered from Kingsknowe fresh from a great success at Lanark in their Newlands Trophy event, survived the Monday test.

And former Bathgate club champion David Shields, now at Dunblane New and playing a lot of golf in his early retirement, was the other success. We’ll have something next week on the progress of the four who remain.

The main feature in the last few days has been the number of team events taking place at clubs.

Bathgate had its very popular Silloth, for instance, cut this year to one day which they followed on the Sunday with an Invitational Tri Am.

Saturday’s winners, on a day when rounds were lasting in excess of five hours, were J Elliot and G McDonald with 64.67 from J Walker, and C Russell on 65 with B Aitken and C Fleming a third of a shot more in third spot. Top scratch went to Bryan Shields and Brian Watson for their 65.

The following day there were 48 teams out and it was the formation of W Francis, P Thomson and G Porter on 58 net who won on a countback over the final three holes from G Curtis, S Veitch and T Wilson. Third went to E and R Forrest and T Ward on 59.

In the Deer Park Invitational event it was the team of Ian Provan and Graeme Bavidge who won on a countback from John Plunkett and Kevin Young after a tie on 63, while Mike Philips and Brian Hawkins took third for their 64.

Harburn has had its B and C Class Championship qualifiers with Christopher Curran leading in the former with 152 while it was John Barkey in pole position amongst the higher handicappers on the 166 mark.

Both men fell from grace a little second time around after excellent first rounds, 71 in Curran’s case and 78 from Barkey.

The club’s most recent Kirk Rosebowl Qualifier was won by David Kay with a net 65 off his 13 handicap. Sam Stanton on 66 net and Ronnie Stewart and Ronnie Houston both on 67 were the other qualifiers on the day.

Binny has had a busy competitive week. George Richardson took the Seniors’ Medal with a return of 89-22=67 while it was Danny Duffy at the head of matters in the Wednesday Medal with a 86-24=62.

Then in the Sunday Medal it was Neil Jarvis striking a blow for the lower handicappers with a winning score of 73-6=67.

And the Ladies were not to be left out with Joan Lysaght the best of the entries in the Medal with a score of 86-16=70.

Lastly, it was member Gordon Bruce and guest N Gordon of Ratho Park who won the club’s Invitational Silloth.

Greenburn, meanwhile, had Billy Kennedy at the head of proceedings to take their recent Cherry Trophy with a return of 74-10=64 from Stephen Hendry (8) and Eric Donnelly (10) in joint second, four shots adrift of the winner.

Then in last Sunday’s Keane Cup it was Eric Donnelly stepping up to the plate, going one better to win with a net 66 off his reduced mark of nine.

However, it was only courtesy of a countback as he had to rely on the arithmetic to see off both Jamie Cleland (12) and Scott Corrigan (3).