After-the-event results of Scottish Seniors

The Scottish Seniors has come and gone but it was certainly memorable. Fortrose and Rosemarkie was a little gem in what may have been slightly unfamiliar terrain to many. This venue possibly explained the dramatic rise in numbers compared with the previous year - 84 entrants this year against sixty something last year. The weather on the whole was, if one ignored the wind (which seemed to move from one side to the other with gay abandon and total unpredictability) warm and rather nice - except for Thursday morning but even that was nowhere as bad as threatened by the prophets of doom.

Many people preferred to spend their time not on the fairways but within the gorse bushes, of which their was a preponderance but all that yellow bloom was very attractive. Some holes were downright evil - the course was designed on an isthmus of land by James Braid, believe it or not. In particular the 4th hole was a completely nasty piece of work, appropriately named "Lighthouse" (out to which flooded a steady stream of cars - surely driven by non-golfers - with the hope of seeing the dolphins), the 13th ("Quigish") and the 17th ("Clay Potts") which all caused havoc with many scores.

Twenty East Vets entered the competition. When they heard this statistic, the West Vets (on the back of being thumped by East Vets at Troon Portland the previous week) made a contest of it and desperately tried to find a bigger entry from their neck of the woods but they failed in this too - despite some frankly very suspect figure manipulation. To add a bit of spice to the all-round competition, a sweep was set up requiring a £1 from each vet. Since many clubs seemed to have entered two members, the pairings were, where possible made up from this - eg two from Baberton, two from Kingsknowe, two from Lothianburn and thereafter it went to pot - three from Craigmillar Park, one from Musselburgh, one from Dunbar, one from Niddry Castle, one from North Berwick and all the rest from Gullane! Seeing as this is the first time this has been tried, it was decided that a prize would be awarded for the best Nett Aggregate for each pair and also for the best scratch improvement between each pairs' first round total and their second round total. Unfortunately the latter has produced a tie so there isn't much money coming to any of you. However the results are as follows:

East Vets Scores and scratch position in field.
Qualifiers
Moira Thomson (Gullane) 80,81 (6th equal)
Noreen Fenton (Dunbar)81,81 (8th)
Fiona Hunter (Baberton) 81,82 (9th)
Jane Herd (Musselburgh) 81,83 (10th equal)
Pamela Williamson (Baberton) 82,83 (10th equal)
Non-qualifiers
Karen Ballantyne (Craigmillar Park) 86,84 (21st)
Sue Penman (Gullane) 84,87 (22nd)
Ruth Brown (Lothianburn) 88,86 (29th equal)
Rita Dee (Kingsknowe) 91,89 (41st)
Mairi Pollock (Craigmillar Park) 96,85 (45th)
Dorothy Thomson (Gullane) 92,91 (49th equal)
Joanne Watt (Gullane) 96,88 (53rd equal)
Frances McFadzean (Craigmillar Park) 92,92 (53rd equal)
Barbara Biggart (North Berwick) 91,96 (62nd equal)
Maureen McRobb (Kingsknowe) 91,102 (70th)
Clare Bowe (Gullane) 106,97 (75th)
Shona Low (Gullane) 106,102(76th)
Morag Wardrop (Niddry Castle), Anne Brownie (Lothianburn) and Lesley Johnston(Gullane) retired after the first round

The nett aggregate was won by Jane Herd and Noreen Fenton (paired together because of the geographical proximity of their separate clubs)- with a total of 316
Results of sweep
Jane and Noreen 326 (10) 316
Pam and Fiona (Baberton) 328 (9) 319
Moira and Sue (Gullane) 332 (10) 322
Karen and Mairi (Craigmillar Park) 351 (15) 336
Dorothy and Joanne (Gullane) 367 (18) 349
Rita and Maureen (Kingsnowe) 373 (20) 353
Clare and Shona (Gullane) 411 (30) 381

Best Improvers
Karen and Mairi shared with Clare and Shona - both had second round improvement of 13 shots

(Prizes to be distributed at the first opportunity - best not go to Jenners on the prospect of your win!)