The South of Scotland Championship on Sunday 19 August failed to provide a clear leader of the 2018 Order of Merit. Douglas Borland (Southerness) still holds a slender advantage over David Brodie (Newton Stewart) who closed the gap slightly with his seventh place to Douglas’s equal eighth. Only Douglas is playing in the Match Play competition so the pressure is on him to gain a significant number of points and increase his lead.
The South Championship was settled in a play-off between Gary Morrison (D&C) and Ben Irving (D&C) with Gary taking the honours. Both won their first points in this year’s OOM and Gary entered the table at number 11 and Ben at number 17.
Michael Grunwell (D&G), Chris Corbett (D&G) and Liam Carruthers (Powfoot) all moved up closer to the leaders with their good finishes but are probably too far behind to trouble what is becoming a two-horse race.
The young guns, Fraser Hughes (Newton Stewart) and Matthew McCulloch (Portpatrick), who are studying in USA, have returned to their studies and will take no further interest this year.
The next qualifying event is the South Match Play Championship at Powfoot on 25 and 26 September followed by the Maxwell Trophy at Kirkcudbright on 2 September.
The Top Ten in the OOM as at 20 August is:-
1 Douglas Borland (Southerness) 445 points
2 David Brodie (Newton Stewart) 425
3 Clark Riddick (Southerness) 285
4 Fraser Hughes (Newton Stewart) 275
5 Andrew Kerr (Crichton) 260
6 Matthew McCulloch (Portpatrick) 215
7 Michael Grunwell (D&G) 185
8 Chris Corbett (D&G) 172.5
9 Liam Carruthers (Powfoot) 170
10 Craig Smith (Dalbeattie) 160
To view the table on line go to; http//www.southofscotlandgolfers.co/competitions