Blairgowrie

So that's it all over for another year. "Blairgowrie" has come and gone. It has been a very successful year for East Vets in that one of our own has won the Scottish Vets title - only the sixth winner in the last twenty years, these being Karen Ballantyne, Moira Thomson, Noreen Fenton, Joan Marshall, Liz Simpson and Connie Lugton.

So this is Karen's year. Her first round was against the Galloway Champion, Jean Brydson, who is very experienced and must know Lansdowne like the back of her hand! This was a pretty tight game and really Karen only made inroads in the second half winning at the sixteenth by 3 and 2. The next day she was drawn against Anne Ryan of Highlands who herself had beaten a three times winner of the title, Liz Campbell of Borders. Anne was in the successful Scottish Seniors team who lifted the gold medal recently in the European Team Championship.

The game started slowly with both having pars over the first two holes. Anne went one ahead at the fourth hole (which greatly resembled the second and third) with a par four. Lansdowne is one of these tree-lined courses where a good drive seems often to land somewhere near the 150 yard post. A player can often find that if this is his or her distance with a certain club, as long as he or she continues to hit nice and straight from here - that is keeping out of the trees and the heather - he or she is halfway to a successful outcome. One lady said she seemed to go all the way round playing her driver and a seven wood. She wasn't complaining. It was a good day for both clubs!

We digress. Back to Anne and Karen's game. The short 5th was halved in four, as was the sixth but then Anne took the long seventh with a birdie to go two up. The eighth was a crucial hole for Karen. A good saving putt from her saved going three down which might have been psychologically a bit disheartening. This, together with a fine birdie two at the 9th, meant she was going into the second half only one down which was a great boost. Anne dropped a stroke at the eleventh and now the game was all square. Not to be outdone, however, taking advantage of her greater length off the tee, she placed her ball in a better position at the tricky 12th which strangely seems to be Stroke Index 15 - far from an easy par four, with its yawning bunker to the left and a sturdy oak(?) bang in line for the green if one chose to head right from the tee. Anne was one up again. A short-lived advantage as she promptly gifted the 13th to Karen who had a par to Anne's treble bogey. All square. Both had lovely threes at the short 14th but then Anne dropped shots at both the fifteenth and sixteenth to be dormie two down. Again Anne's length came in useful at the long seventeenth but a half at the last gave victory to Karen and a place in the final.

Karen said she was fired up for her game against May Hughes of Lanark who had had a great game against Fiona de Vries, a former winner. But May's golden putter deserted her in the afternoon game. Although she won the second and eighth with pars, she found herself three down at the turn to Karen who birdied the first with a four and the ninth with yet another two. Karen dropped a hole at the par four eleventh but immediately retook it the following hole. The next three were halved in pars, so May was unable to make inroads until the sixteenth when a par from her cut Karen's lead to two holes. She did not take the mental advantage of this because at the dog-legged seventeenth, May found herself in trouble up the left, wasting a stroke to come back on to the fairway. Both ended up in the bunker to the right of the green. Karen went wide and had to putt first, leaving a thirty-footer a mere six inches from the hole. This left May needing to hole her putt - which wasn't much short of Karen's - just to stay alive. It didn't go in.

Karen had won the Scottish Vet's title by 2 and 1.

Scroggie Cup Results

Quarter-finals
Karen Ballantyne beat Jean Brydson 3 and 2
Liz Campbell lost to Anne Ryan 2 and 1
Lynne Terry lost to May Hughes 5 and 4
Fiona de Vries beat Pearl Beattie 7 and 6

Semi-finals
Karen beat Anne 2 up
May beat Fiona 7 and 6

Final
Karen beat May 2 and 1


Whilst all this exciting championship play was going on round Lansdowne, about 130 Vets from all over Scotland were storming round the Rosemount in the Patrick Rosebowl, the results of which, for East Vets are as below. It is sad to say that none appeared in the prizelist. The weather was lovely throughout the morning although it did start to rain in the afternoon. This was doubly unfortunate for those going out later as there was the most incredible delay at the short 14th when apparently at one point, there were about ten couples all waiting to go off. Something like this can often wreck a good score but many ladies are there simply to enjoy the golf and the chat so perhaps they did not even notice the delay.



Nett Results
Elinor Blair 82 - 8 = 74
Sue Penman 81 - 6 = 75
Jane Herd 84 - 7 = 77
Sandra Ashurst - 90 - 13 = 77
Noreen Fenton - 83 - 4 - 79
Ethel jack - 92 - 1 - 81
Mairi Pollock - 91 - 9 - 82
Dorothy Thomson - 93 - 11 - 82
Carole Ross - 96 - 11 = 85
Carol McLeod - 100 - 14 = 86
Barbara Biggart 95 - 9 = 86
Asp Robertson 107 - 19 = 88
Isabel MacDonald 114 - 21 = 93
Elise Guy 116 - 22 = 94
Margaret Snedden 110 - 15 = 95
Nancy Gow 111 - 14 = 97

On the Tuesday, the ladies played in the greensomes round the Lansdowne course. The East did manage to have a finger in this pie when Ethel Jack partnered by Sue Penman took second handicap prize with a nett 72. They would have taken second scratch with this but could only get one prize. Noreen Fenton and Jane Herd were pipped for a very minor award by Emma Wilson and Alison Houston of the Midland who came in late with a better score!

Beddowes QuaichEthel Jack and Sue Penman 80 - 8 = 72
Dorothy Thomson and Barbara Biggart 85 - 9.8 = 75.2
Noreen Fenton and Jane Herd 83 - 5.2 = 77.8
Elinor Blair and Mairi Pollock 89 - 7.8 = 81.2
Carole Ross and Carol McLeod 95 - 12.8 = 82.2
Nancy Gow and Sandra Ashurst 97 - 13.4 = 83.6
Margaret Snedden and Isabel MacDonald 102 - 17.4 = 84.6