Hannah McCook wins Northern Counties' Girls' Championship

May Britovsek & Annabelle Brown

May Britovsek & Hannah McCook

The Northern Counties' Girls' Championship was played at Nairn Dunbar on Friday 30th July.
 
Despite the rain Hannah McCook from Abernethy carded an excellent score of 70 gross with birdies on the 2nd, 4th, 13th and 18th and an eagle on the 16th.  The handicap prize was won by Annabelle Brown from Nairn Dunbar playing off 12 with a net 77 beating Eleanor Tunn from Reay off 8 with a net 78. 
 
To encourage the junior girls without a handicap, May Britovsek oragnised a five hole competition to follow the main competition.  Six girls took part and although the results were very close, Kayrin Fraser from Inverness was the winner with Rachel McPherson from Nairn Dunbar in second place.  All these junior girls really enjoyed the competition and with a bit more encouragement will no doubt become stars of the future for Northern Counties.

Dorothy Marshall

Secretary

Girls' 2010 Championship Draw

Draw for the Girls' Championship at Nairn Dunbar Golf Club on Friday 30th July is as follows:-

1332  Hannah McCook, Eleanor Tunn
1340  Natalie Britovsek, Eilidh McTavish
1348  Annabelle Brown, Dana Stoddart

5-Hole Competition

1356  Katie Miller, Lauren Fraser
1404  Abby Cruden, Kirsty McBeath 
1412  Kayrin Fraser, Rachael Mackenzie, Rachel McPherson

Dorothy Marshall
Secretary

ANNE RYAN AND MARY SMITH IN SCOTLAND TEAM

Congratualtions to sisters Anne Ryan and Mary Smith from Tain who have been named in the Scotland team of six to compete in the European Senior Women's Team Golf Championship at Sporting Club, Berlin from September 1st to 4th.

 

Anne earned her first cap by finishing joint second in the Scottish Senior Women's Stroke-play Championship at Fortrose and Rosemarkie in late June. She led the field until the last few holes of the 36-hole competition.

 

Mary is a regular selection for Scotland's over-50s teams.  Anne and Mary have also been named for the Scotland team, for the Veteran Ladies' Jamboree at Seascale Golf Club, Northumbria from August 3rd to 5th.

Florence Allan

Captain

THREE UNDER-21 TITLES IN A ROW FOR KELSEY

 Well done to Kelsey MacDonald who has just won the Scottish Under-21 Girls' Open Amateur Stroke-play Golf Championship at Dunfermline Golf Club for the third year in a row.

 

Nineteen-year-old Kelsey who is the Scottish women’s Champion from Nairn Dunbar Golf Club signed off in champion style with a two-under-par 70, the joint lowest round of the tournament, for a one-over-par total of 217.  That gave her a four-stroke winning margin from last year’s Scottish Women’s Champion, Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm).

 

Kelsey is the first player since Kathryn Imrie in 1985-86-87 to complete a hat-trick of wins in this event and she is still young enough to have a tilt at Suzanne Cadden’s four-timer record, set between 1974 and 1977.

 

The older she gets the easier it gets for Kelsey.  She was Under-21 champion for the first time by a single shot from Pamela Pretswell in 2008. Last year, over her home Nairn Dunbar course, she had to beat England’s Lucy Williams in a play-off to make it two in a row.  This week, Kelsey led throughout to follow up her victories in the Scottish Women’s Championship at Craigielaw and the R & A Bursars' Tournament at St Andrews before, reaching the final of the British Women’s Open Amateur Championship at Ganton in June.

She has more than made her point – Kelsey should have been in the GB & I Curtis Cup team last month.

 

Florence Allan

Captain

GIRLS' TEAM CAP FOR HANNAH McCOOK

Congratulations to Hannah McCook (Abernethy), who is one of three new faces in the Scotland team for the Under-18 girls’ home golf international matches at Bangor Golf Club, Northern Ireland from August 4th to 6th.  The other two are Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) and Craigielaw’s Gabrielle MacDonald.

 

Hannah was runner-up in the Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish schoolgirls 'championship at Murrayshall in May and beaten finalist in the North of Scotland women’s championship at Forfar earlier this month.

Florence Allan

Captain

County Foursomes/Commonwealth Spoons - Golspie 9th July 2010

It was wet for most of the time at Golspie today so the scores were really quite high.  Alison Bartlett and Margaret Baggott from Royal Dornoch won the scratch with a gross 86.  Trish Weekes and Dorothy Lloyd also from Royal Dornoch had the best net score of 76 winning the Foursomes Trophy.  As Alison and Margaret also had the second best net score these four players go through to the final of the Commonwealth Spoons at Cathkin Braes on Thursday 23rd September.

Results were:-

Trish Weekes & Dorothy Lloyd  (RDGC)  88 (12) 76
Alison Bartlett & Margaret Baggott (RDGC) 86 (9) 77
Pat Ashe & Angela GRant (Brora)  97 (16.5) 80.5 (better back nine)
Joan Darroch & Lorraine Nixon (F & R) 100 (19.5) 80.5
Anne Rose & Caroline Graham (Muir of Ord) 102 (20) 82
Fiona MacDonald & Wilma Murray (RDGC) 101 (17.5) 83.5
Angela MacBeath & Ann Robertson (Brora) 100 (16) 84
Elaine Hill & Elizabeth Sloan (Grantown) 104 (18.5) 85.5
Cara Gruber & Elaine Gruber (RDGC/Strathpeffer) 97 (11) 86
Irene Hart & Elizabeth Cruickshank (RDGC) 106 (17.5) 88.5
Jenny Thornton & Marine McCulloch (Fortrose) 106 (18) 88
Christine Marshall & Sheila Robertson (Nairn/Golspie) 101 (12) 89
Denise McBride & Marie Blair (RDGC) 113 (24) 89
Morag James & Dorothy Marshall (Forres) 109 (19.5) 89.5
Pat Morrison & Marlene Maclean (Muir of Ord) 108 (17.5) 90.5
May Dick & Paula Wilson (Grantown) 136 (30.5) 105.5
Sheila Macdonell & Lynne Fraser (Inverness/F&R) Nil Return
Mairi Orr & Pat Davies (Tain/Forres) Nil Return
Jeani Hunter & Marjory Matheson (Bonar Bridge) Nil Return
Wendy Spencer & Claire Dingwall (Muir of Ord) Nil Return
Ann Simmonsite & Kerry Sinclair (Thurso/F&R) Nil Return
Fiona More & Barine Little (Golspie/Brora) Nil Return

Many thanks to Golspie Golf Club for giving Northern Counties courtesy of their course which was in excellent condition and grateful thanks to Fiona More for all her hard work in organising this competition.

Dorothy Marshall
Secretary

County Foursomes/Commonwealth Spoons - Golspie 9th July 2010

Draw for the County Foursomes/Commonwealth Spoons at Golspie on Friday 9th July is as follows:-

1100 - Jenny Thornton & Marina McCulloch (F&R), Fiona More & Barine Little (Golspie/Brora)
1108 - Marjory Matheson & Jeani Hunter (Bonar Bridge), Claire Dingwell & Wendy Spencer (Muir of Ord)
1116 - Wendy Murray & Fiona Macdonald (RDGC), Pat Morrison & Marlene Maclean (Muir of Ord)
1124 - Ann Robertson & Angela MacBeath (Brora), Mairi Orr & Pat Davis (Tain/Forres)
1132 - Sheila Robertson & Christine Marshall (Golspie/Nairn), Elizabeth Sloane & Elaine Hill (G-o-S)
1140 - Dorothy Marshall & Morag James (Forres), Pat Ashe & Angela Grant (Brora)
1148 - Dorothy Lloyd & Trish Weekes (RDGC), Lorraine Nixon & Joan Darroch (F&R)
1208 - Elizabeth Cruickshank & Irene Hart (RDGC), May Dick & Paula Wilson (G-o-S)
1216 - Denise McBride & Mhairi Blair (RDGC), A. Simmonite & Kerry Sinclair (Thurso/F&R)
1224 - Gillian Dowling & Diana Fraser (Inverness), Alison Bartlett & Margaret Baggott (RDGC)
1132 - Cara Gruber & Elaine Gruber (RDGC/Strathpeffer)

Dorothy Marshall
Secretary

North of Scotland Women's Amateur Golf Championship

 

It was an all-Northern Counties final at the North of Scotland women’s amateur golf championship at Forfar Golf Club where Tain’s Sammy Vass beat Hannah McCook (Abernethy) by 2 and 1.

On a day of high winds, 18-year-old three-handicapper Sammy, a student at the University of Central Florida, coped with the testing conditions just that little bit better than her 16-year-old opponent who has one of a handicap.

Hannah had a definite edge off the tee, outdriving Sammy by up to 40 yards, but when it came to getting the ball in the hole in fewer strokes, Sammy showed how much she has benefited from her first year in America.
“The university’s practice facilities are tremendous, particularly for short-game work, and I feel I have definitely improved in that direction,” said Sammy who was a North of Scotland girls’ champion before she went to the States.

Hannah's putting was affected by the wind more than her long game and she was five down at the turn, having won only the third but lost the first, second, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth. But it was a different story after the turn. Hannah won three holes in a row from the 10th and was suddenly back in the game at “only” two down. However, Sammy stopped the slide with a birdie at the 13th and though Hannah holed one of her few long putts, a 20-footer to get a winning birdie at the 14th, she had lost the initiative. Halves at the 15th, 16th and 17th left Sammy, 14th of the 16 match-play qualifiers,  a well-deserved winner and Hannah, the No 9 seed and runner-up also in the recent Paul Lawrie Scottish schoolgirls championship, is a great prospect whose day will come.

Kimberley Beveridge, 15-year-old Aboyne player who plays off five, is another name to remember. Her figures, roughly par,  winning the handicap championship final by 4 and 3 against another five-handicapper, Ann Hay (Edzell) were better than those achieved by Sammy Vass in the scratch final.  Kimberley never looked back after winning the first hole.

Next year’s North of Scotland women’s amateur championship will be hosted by The Nairn Golf Club.

Congratulations to Sammy on an excellent win and to Hannah for reaching the final.

Florence Allan

Captain

Congratualtions to Kelsey MacDonald

Well done to Kelsey for reaching the final of the British Women's Amateur Championship.  Photo shows Kelsey with the Diana Fishwick Cup which was awarded to her as the beaten finalist.  She lost 2 and 1 to 18-year old Kelly Tidy from Royal Birkdale.

Florence Allan
Captain

County Foursomes/Commonwealth Spoons

There are still a few spaces left for the County Foursomes at Golspie on Friday 9th July.  If you would like to play please contact Fiona More on 01408 633504.

Dorothy Marshall
Secretary

Inter-County Championship 2010 - Blairgowrie

Thank you to everyone who sent good luck cards to the team, they were much appreciated. 

Although we only managed second place on holes up, the team played very well but unfortunately Angus played better in the foursomes against Northern Counties when we lost all three matches.  Sadly it was the first time Mary Smith and Alison Bartlett had lost a foursomes match since they have been playing together. 

Overall our seniors did very well and Cara had a magnificent fight back on the first day when she had been 6 down aganst Sammy Leslie from Aberdeenshire then dormie 4, she managed to play some excellent golf to half the match giving us a draw with Aberdeenshire that day.

The results do not reflect the great golf played by the team and the way they kept fighting. Well done to everyone.

Hopefully we will do better at Inchmarlo next year.

Florence Allan
Captain