Winter Eclectic Round 4

Saturday saw six brave souls take to the fairways in Arctic conditions to compete in the fourth round of the Winter Eclectic at Reay. The early morning blue skies and bright conditions lulled players in to a false sense of security and soon gave way to a series of squally snow showers which made good scoring tricky.

Top performer on the day was Murray 'Mad Dog' McGlasson with a very creditable nett 72. Mcglasson got his round off to a super start with birdies at the 3rd and 5th holes helping him reach the turn in 36, which would be an excellent score in perfect conditions. However, as the storm clouds began to gather he found the going much more difficult during the inward half, covering it in 44 strokes.

Taking a distant second place after a nett 77 was Richard McDonald. Despite the difficult conditions and an ugly 7 at the par 5 4th hole, he managed to reach the turn in a very creditable 38. The worsening conditions took their toll on the inward half which he covered in 47, but a birdie 2 at the last put some gloss on the round.

Taking third place was the in-form Steve Efemey with a nett 79. The highlight of his round of 88 was a birdie 3 at the 8th hole. Donald Mowat took fourth place on nett 81, Lee Parnell fifth on 83, and David Mackay was 6th. Parnell and Mackay’s scores could have been much better, but both players managed to run-up cricket scores on the final hole during some particularly foul conditions.

In the overall eclectic standings McDonald leads the way on 61, with Parnell hot on his tail with an aggregate score of 63.5. With two rounds to go a number of players are still in the hunt, including Mowat, Mcglasson and Leslie Malcolm. The fifth round of the eclectic is scheduled to be held on Saturday, with round 8 of the Winter League Stableford due to be played on Sunday. The Alliance fixture at Tarbat which was postponed last weekend is also due to be held on Sunday.