July Medal

A strong field of players teed up on Saturday for the July medal at Reay. Clear skies and a light breeze provided ideal scoring conditions, and this was reflected in the CSS which dropped to 68.

After a number of near-misses this season, Steven Mackay finally secured some silverware with victory in Category 1 despite a disastrous start to his round. Thoughts of victory must have been the last thing on Mackay’s mind after a double-bogey at the first, followed by a triple bogey at the long fourth, but he recovered well to reach the turn in 40. A birdie at the 10th set the tone for a splendid back 9 of 36 which included a miraculous par at the 17th after his wayward tee shot found some thick rough. Mackay’s nett score of 64 gave him a comfortable 4 shot victory over John O’Brien. O’Brien’s 75 was the lowest gross score of the day, and included excellent birdies at the tough 2nd and the13th hole. A shot further back were Richard McDonald and Donald Mowat who is enjoying a purple patch following his recent victory in the Reay Open.

Category 2 was a more close-run affair, with countback required to separate the top two places. Taking the glory was John Disbury with a nett 66 following two very contrasting halves. Standing on the 10th tee after an outward half of 49, most golfers would be looking at damage limitation, but Disbury had other ideas. He produced a spectacular inward half of 39, which included a birdie at the tough 17th. Beaten in to second place was Murdo Macdonald, following a round of nett 66 which included a birdie at the short 5th hole. Bill Budding took third place, following a steady nett 69.

The race for the Jacobs Summer Cup has also been warming up in recent weeks, although it looks like players may now be competing for second place after a string of fine rounds from youngster Andrew Adamson has put him firmly in the driving seat. The chasing pack which includes Lee Parnell, David Mackay and Gavin Gunn will need to be at their very best to apply any sort of pressure to Adamson over the coming weeks.