Stephen Gallacher shines in poor weather but falls short in Open dream

Jul 21 2011 West Lothian Courier

THE wind and rain at Sandwich produced a great Open for Royal St George’s with a worthy and popular winner in Darren Clarke.

It was highly entertaining to watch the big Irishman manipulate and coax his ball round the elephants' graveyard fairways and, in the end, hole more putts than his nearest rivals on the testing greens.

It was not a wonderful week for Stephen Gallacher though he did make the cut comfortably. At the outset, despite suffering the worst of the weather, he thrived.

Three over for the first nine holes was followed by a brilliant 64 shots over his next nine and the first nine of the Friday. But that was it and from then on, like the bulk of the field, Stephen had difficulty getting it up and down as greens were missed in the heavy winds.

His eventual 14 over par was a long way behind Clarke's total but it was more money in the Gallacher account although a continuation of a frustratingly ordinary season after his very good 2010.

A lot of money is to be handed out in Europe still this season and I'm sure the big man will get his share of it.

Pick of the weekend's scoring on the local front — we had quite good weather by comparison with the south of the UK — was at Linlithgow in the first round of the Jim Mackay Stableford.

Ian Lambie leads with a stunning 47 points total, round in a scratch 73 to totally belie his eleven handicap. Indeed the opening nine of 32 shots was almost unbelievable. Raymond Sneddon lies second, back in a super 31 for 45 points with both Philip Begg and Muir Fernie on 44 in joint third.

Bathgate had its Open for the Norbury Trophy on Saturday but the home membership was nowhere to be seen at the top of the leaderboard. A Falkirk player, J Thornton of Carmuirs, took the silverware with a super 73-11=62, three ahead of runner up S Buntin (9) from Greenburn with M Baxter of Forrester Park (10) in third on 66 net.

The members were out both days last weekend at Bo'ness in the West Lothian club's Bob Hyslop Trophy.

Winner in the end was Graeme Cox with net returns of 65 and 69 for 134, one ahead of runner up Ian Shanks with a trio of players coming in joint third a shot further back.

They were Grant McKenzie, RF Cunningham and Joe Armour. Leader after round one, Gary Dunn- he had had a 63- fell away in the second round with a 75 to finish outside the prize list.

Harburn's latest Kirk Bowl Qualifier had B Dewar at the head of the field with a return of 80-18=62, one better than runner up G Donaldson off the same mark with A Fulton in third with 77-13=64.

On the same day at Uphall the Stevenson brothers Graeme and Andy both recorded 69 scratch in the Midweek Sweep but the first named has a handicap of four, one more than his sibling so led the day on a countback from a trio of players comprising Lawrie McFadyen (6), Charlie Bavidge (5) and Chris O'Day (6).

On Saturday there was another countback at the club and it allowed Alan Ferrie (6) to win the Tennent Caledonian Trophy from Ewan Hunter (20). The players had recorded net 61's and it was a 5, 5, 5 finish which finally put paid to Ewan's challenge. Bill Carlyon (13) and Jim Kinniburgh (4) were joint third two behind the leaders.

Stuart Dunn had a very good midweek at Deer Park when he recorded a fine 73-8=65 to win the Wednesday Medal by three shots from Steven Clarke (18). Gavin Carson was third on 69 net off his eleven handicap.

And there was some good scoring in the qualifying for the upcoming Deer Park Masters.

The top two on five under 67's, were Spencer Edwards and Steven Duncan closely followed by Mark King and Alastair Thomson on the 69 mark.

Meanwhile it's been a busy time for members at Niddry Castle.Their Robertson Stableford played last midweek went to Colin Forrest for his 39 points, one ahead of a trio of competitors in joint second comprising William Neill, John Dickson and Jim Jamieson.

There was a great turnout on Saturday for the club's Mixed Greensomes and it took an awesome return of 68-9=59 to win it for G and R Smith of Drumpellier. This beat the runners up, locals Steve Cherry and Annette McKay, by no fewer than 5.8 .

Third spot went to another Winchburgh coupling in the shape of John Wardrop and Charlotte Wighton with 76-9.8=66.2.

Then in Sunday's Silver Goblet it was Drew McErlean (13) who came out of a triple tie with John Pritchard (20) and John Little (17) to win the day on the countback. They were on the 68 net mark.