The premier Scottish team championship was held at Newmachar Golf Club, Aberdeenshire from 8 to 10 September 2017. The format for the sixteen teams was 36 holes strokeplay on Friday with the top eight teams qualifying for the matchplay stages on Saturday and Sunday.
On the Friday each member of the six man team had to play 18 holes over the Hawkshill Course and 18 holes over the Swaillend Course with the 5 best scores from each course counting to the team total.
On an early autumn day the South team of Michael Grunwell (D&G), Alan Birdsall (D&C), Chris Corbett (D&G), Bob Graham (Stranraer), Neil Hamilton (Powfoot) and Andrew Kerr (Crichton) set off determined to prove that even in a gathering of the elite of Scotland’s golfers they could hold their own and emulate Dumfriesshire Ladies in winning the Ladies title in 2016.
Unfortunately, although as a team they had one eagle and twenty-five birdies they could not produce the consistent golf required and too many bogeys ruined many a promising score. Chris Corbett signed for a one under par 71 on Hawkshill, Alan Birdsall a one over par 73 on Swaillend and Andrew Kerr a one under par 71 on Swaillend, all in their afternoon rounds. The team eventually finished in a very disappointing fifteenth place with a total of 755, 35 over par.
Calum Fyfe (Glasgow) had a magnificent two round score of eighteen under par 126, (64, 62). Neil Hamilton marked Calum’s card when he broke the course record over the Hawkshill course and his name now adorns the clubhouse wall as marker’s signature. Lothians were the top team with a twenty eight under par score of 692 and North-East Area won the matchplay and are the champions for 2017.
Individual Scores
147 Chris Corbett (D&G) 71, 76
151 Neil Hamilton (Powfoot) 74, 77
152 Alan Birdsall (D&C) 79, 73
152 Bob Graham (Stranraer) 78, 74
154 Andrew Kerr (Crichton) 83, 71
159 Michael Grunwell (D&G) 83, 76
The photograph shows the South team before play; from the left Bob Graham, Chris Corbett, Neil Hamilton, Alan Birdsall, Andrew Kerr and Michael Grunwell.