Mens Tournaments - Season 2010-2011

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 10 - 28 August 10

Thurso Golf Club's Summer Eclectic, sponsored by the Ulbster Arms Hotel, was completed on Saturday.

Fittingly, Saturday's final round was won by the manager of the Ulbster Arms, Keith Dreaves. Dreaves has had an excellent season and Saturday's gross 78 was the icing on the cake. Both nines were completed in 39 shots with a birdie at the third hole giving encouragement. His nett 65 was three ahead of Peter Knapp who recovered well from a poor opening hole to earn the family bragging rights from father-in- law Pat Valentine who claimed third place on nett 69.

Another senior player, Donald Jack, was a further shot back and Bryan Ronald shot the day's low round of 72.

Ronald was the leader of the Eclectic going into the last round and was not overtaken despite failing to improve on Saturday. This was hardly surprising as he had scored 13 birdies in the previous six rounds played to produce a superb final nett score of 55.5.

Dougie Wright has been in the mix all the way through the competition and got a further birdie at the seventh on Saturday but had to settle for second place on nett 57.

Another steady perfomer Ed Wylie was third on nett 58.5, half a shot clear of Sandy Wright and Jimmy Meiklejohn who improved by a couple of shots to relegate Jack to sixth place.

Examination of the scores of the top 30 players in the competition threw up a few interesting statistics.

There were two eagles throughout the competition, one by Dougie Wright at the fifteenth and the other by Charlie Burness at the eighth. Burness was also the only player to birdie the long sixteenth and no one managed to birdie the par three twelfth hole.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 9 - 21 August 10

Round 9 of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield was played in somewhat challenging conditions as the winds became gale force and rendered it a day for trying to get some shots of the eclectic score rather than beating handicap.

Donald Jack managed this with his 77(7)70 seeing him climb from 9th place to 5th in the overall standings.

Also making a late charge was Charlie Burness who, despite scoring 79(6)73, managed to move up the leaderboard by 13 places moving into 8th place, an eagle 2 on the 8th hole being the highlight of his round.

Winner on the day was Pat Valentine who used all his experience to get round in 78(9)69.

With one round of this competition to play this Saturday there is still a lot to play for.

Overall Leaders (Nett Scores):-

1. B. Ronald - 56.0
2. D Wright - 58.0
3. E Wylie - 58.5
4. S Wright - 59.0

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 8 - 15 August 10

After the excitement of the previous day at the Thurso Open there was only a handful of players made it to the tee on the Sunday for Round 8 of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield.

Newcomer Chris Sinclair is getting ever closer to getting his handicap lower and certainly would have on this occasion but for a few bad holes in the middle of his round before coming home in 98(28)70.

Only two players managed to break handicap on the day.

Angus Cameron recovered well from a triple bogie 7 on the first hole to come home in 79(11)68 to finish in second place.

Winner on the day, and consolidating his position at the top of the eclectic scoring, was Bryan Ronald with a 67(1)66.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 7 - 08 August 10

Sunday saw Round 7 of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield being played and on this occasion it was very much a day for the low handicappers as they dominated the field.

Keith Dreaves was just pipped for the prizes with his 80(12)68. The next 4 places were decided on countback and with 14 birdies between the 4 players involved deciding the outcome will have kept the match secretary on his toes.

Jimmy Meiklejohn 75(8)67 was forced to the end of the queue behind Jim Sangster and Bryan Ronald, both returning 68(1)67.

Holding onto 2nd place was Alan Swanson with 69(2)67.

The winner on the day, and who must be picking up tips from his regular playing partner, was Charlie Burness with an excellent 70(6)64. Despite a bogie on the 1st hole Charlie had 8 straight pars to the turn, bogies at the 10th 11th were matched by birdies at the 15th and 16th for an excellent days golf.

With 3 rounds of this eclectic competition to be played there will have been a fair bit of movement on the leaderboard.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 5&6 - 31 July & 01 August 10

Two rounds of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield were played at Thurso Golf Club last weekend with the outstanding round belonging to Alan Kennedy on Saturday.

Kennedy's nett 62 was four strokes clear of the rest of the large entry. The 16 handicap man was only three over par at the turn and played very consistently on the back nine.

Stephen Spargo had 36 shots for each nine with birdies at the sixth, eleventh and thirteenth holes on the way to a nett 66 and second place.

Davie Calder had a good inward nine to claim third place on count back after he and Alan Swanson both scored nett 67's. Swanson's level par 69 was the lowest of the day and included birdies at the second, eighth and fifteenth holes.

Club captain Ewan Mackenzie was alone on nett 68 in fifth place.

After a fairly average front nine Colin Mackay hit a purple patch after the turn for a winning nett 67 after count back from Ed Wylie. Mackay was one under par for holes ten to fifteen before dropping a few shots on the last three holes. Wylie made a poor start to his round and was five over par after five holes. He covered the remaining holes in level fours however to be seven over par at the end of the round.

Keith Dreaves turned in another consistent round of nett 69 for third place.

There was plenty of movement in the leader board in this eclectic competition with Dougie Wright improving by six shots to nett 58 and taking over top place from Wylie who is now in second place on nett 60.5 after improving by two shots.

Sandy Wright added further family interest to the proceedings after improving by four shots to nett 62 and third place.

Donald Jack, never far away in eclectic competitions, and Mark Mackay, who finished just out of the prize list on both days at the weekend, share fourth place on nett 62.5.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 4 - 03 July 10

Former club captain Pat Valentine won the fourth round of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield last weekend with very good nett 69 in tough conditions.

Valentine's gross 79 shared the day's low round with second placed Ed Wylie and club champion Bryan Ronald.

Jason Simpson, enjoying a run of good form, was third with nett 71, a shot behind Wylie, with Ian Manson a further shot back.

There was considerable movement in the leading eclectic positions with Valentine losing ground despite winning.

Wylie improved by four shots to assume the lead on nett 62.5, one and a half shots clear of Dougie Wright and Donald Jack who both improved by three shots. Valentine shares fourth place with Bob Black on nett 65.5.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 3 - 26 June 10

Scoring was surprisingly modest in the third round of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield at Thurso Golf Club on Saturday with only three players beating nett par for their rounds.

Despite a couple of double bogeys Paul O'Rourke was within his 21 handicap at the turn and made light of another two double bogeys on the way in to record a fine nett 65 that earned first place on count back from Ed Wylie.

Wylie began his round in spectacular fashion with birdies on his first two holes and kept it together to be out in level par. A further birdie was to follow at the thirteenth but double bogeys at the eleventh and fifteenth holes took the gloss off a fine round.

Donald Jack had the day's low round of 73 for third place on nett 66. He birdied the first and eighth holes and was out in one under par but the birdies dried up on the way in.

It was a game of two halves for Colin Mackay as he followed a fairly undistinguished front nine with a four over par 38 for a nett 69 and fourth place on count back from Laurence Campbell who got off maximum handicap as a result of his round. Walter Rutherford and Sandy Stewart were next best with nett 70's.

With the competition a third of the way through, Pat Valentine is setting the pace on nett 66, half a shot in front of Wylie.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 2 - 12 June 10

Scoring was surprisingly modest in Saturday's second round of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield when Pat Valentine was the only player to avoid a double bogey, or worse!, in his winning nett 69. Valentine had a solitary birdie, at the fifteenth, after coming close on numerous occasions.

Blair McIntosh started both nines with big figures but compensated with some steady play to claim second place on nett 70.

Frazer Sparling also had some compensating to do as he put two balls out of bounds at his opening hole. He recovered well and had birdies at the thirteenth and eighteenth holes in a nett 71 for third place.

Mick Ross, Davie Irvine and Donald Jack were next best on nett 72 with Jack's gross 79 sharing the day's low round with Valentine.

Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk - Challenge Shield 1 - 23 May 10

Sandy Wright had two nines of 38 on his way to a winning nett 64 in the first round of the Ulbster Arms Challenge Shield on Sunday.

Alan 'Skins' Mackenzie made a tremendous recovery from an eight at the par three third to score a nett 66 and claim second place with former captain John Owens three shots further back in third place.

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