The Corfin Bogey & Spring Texas Scramble

THE HAWES TAKE THE APPLAUSE IN CORFIN BOGEY

Picture the scene.  An airport lounge, your flight has been delayed for a further hour and you find yourself at the Nike sunglasses stand (other brands of sunglasses are available).  One hundred hard earned sterling pounds for a pair of wrap around Tiger Woods style golfing sunglasses seems a bit much and after all you play golf in Caithness.  You struggle for some time to justify the outlay and finally common sense prevails.  You decide that a candle might be more useful and instead buy the wife some Stella McCartney eau de parfum (other perfumes are available) to ensure that you have enough Brownie points to even brave asking to play golf at the weekend.

The Ronnie Wallace Open and George Couper Challenge

Sunny skies provided perfect scoring conditions for two competitions played over the Reay links at the weekend. On Saturday home players teed up for a Stableford competition, the George Couper Challenge. Emerging victorious with a score of 38 points was club stalwart Colin Paterson. Paterson has not played a lot of golf over the winter months and there was definite evidence of rustiness during his first four holes which brought several incursions to the rough and a run of bogeys. However, he soon found his usual rhythm with a string of pars from the fifth to reach the turn in 17 points. Paterson continued his fine play to cover the back nine in an excellent 21 points to take the trophy on count-back from playing partner Jock Eunson. Eunson who also managed to harvest 38 points from the course will be having sleepless nights after a careless three-putt on the final green cost him victory. Leading the chasing pack were seasoned campaigners Cammie Ross (37 points), Ian Ross and Murdo Macdonald (both 36 points).

On Sunday Reay welcomed 60 players from far and wide to compete for the Ronnie Wallace Open. Warm and still weather brought a feast of low scores, with players from Thurso Golf Club in particular enjoying the conditions. Winner of the scratch trophy with a fabulous gross score of 68 was Donald Sutherland (Thurso). Sutherland, playing off a handicap of 7, started with eight straight pars before a birdie at the 9th saw him reach the turn in one under par. Sutherland was equally impressive on the back nine, carding birdies at the 10th and 16th which were offset by the only bogies of his round at the 12th and 14th, to give an overall score of one under par.

The prize for best nett score went to Kevin Morris (Thurso) with an excellent 64. Morris edged the on-form Sandy Chisholm (Reay) on count-back after Chisholm also carded a nett 64.

The best score in Category 2 was a fine nett 66 by Terry Mackay (Thurso), with Alistair Simpson (Thurso) and Danny O’Hagen (Reay) a shot further back on 67. Clark Grant (Thurso) secured a bottle of Malt Whisky for his nearest the pin effort at the final hole.

The Opening Weekend

Saturday 2nd April 2011

Thirty eight dedicated golfers braved the damp early morning conditions at Reay to compete in the annual Captain v Vice Captain match. The dreary weather soon lifted, but it continued to be a day of misery for Captain Murray Mcglasson whose charges were soundly trounced 7-3 by the team led by Vice Captain Lee Parnell.

Parnell led his men from the front, teaming up with fellow Sassenach Steve Efemey to defeat the Scots duo of Mcglasson and Richard McDonald in the top match by a single hole. The victory was made all the more remarkable by the fact that the dithering Vice Captain had forgotten to take his putter and spikes to the course with him.

Following the festivities of Saturday, it was down to serious business on Sunday with the Category 1 players contesting the Ward Trophy, while their Category 2 counterparts competed for the High Handicap Trophy.

Sunday 3rd April 2011

Winner of the Ward Trophy with an impressive 40 points was the on-form Sandy Chisholm. Chisholm, fresh from his victory in the Winter League Stableford, started like a house on fire with birdies at the first and ninth holes. Chisholm survived an indifferent start to the back nine to finish strongly, a point clear of second placed David ‘Snapper’ Mackay. Snapper has spent a period in the golfing doldrums of late, but he made a welcome return to his vintage best, amassing a haul of 39 points from a very steady round which included a birdie at the fifth. In third place on 38 points was John O’Brien following a very impressive round of gross 72.

The High Handicap Trophy was also a very keenly contested affair, with three players tied at the top of the leaderboard on 36 points. Winner on count-back was Willie Allan, who overcame an indifferent front nine to take the silverware. In second place was Ian Sutherland following a very erratic round which included scores of 7, 8, 11, and no less than three 3s. If Sutherland can find a bit more consistency he will be visiting the winner’s enclosure very soon. Third spot was secured by young Gregor Munro, who lost his way on the back nine after an impressive start to his round.