SOUTH JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

Fifteen boys and one girl travelled to Lockerbie Golf Club on Tuesday 17 July to compete in the South of Scotland Junior Championships. The course, in super condition, was like an oasis in the desert with lush green fairways and holding greens. Something the competitors had not seen this summer.

The players relished the challenge and the scoring all day reflected the marvellous conditions. Mitchell Cowie (D&C) showed how much he had improved this year shooting 66 in the morning, coming home in 29 blows, four birdies and five pars. In the afternoon he was more consistent with halves of 33 and 31 for a total of 64. In 36 holes he had one double bogey, at the first in the morning, seven bogies, sixteen pars and twelve birdies.

Taylor Kerr (Thornhill) chased him all the way but his putter let him down in the morning with birdie chances in eleven of the first twelve holes and none dropped. He too played very consistently all day and his morning round of 69 was matched by a 68 in the afternoon. His last hole of the day was his undoing, a very uncharacteristic 6 at the par 3. An untidy first round from Finlay Copland (D&C) ruined his chances. A 73 was followed in the afternoon by a much better level par round of 67, the highlight of which was an eagle 2 at the twelfth hole when he sunk his approach shot from 87 yards.

Several other good scores were produced during the day. Callum McMillan (Kirkcudbright) had a 69 in the morning and Ciaran Howat (D&C) and Cameron Gray (Kirkcudbright) had 69 and 71 respectively in the afternoon. Young Adam Scott (Lochmaben) scored a marvellous net 65 (80 – 15) in the handicap section.

Individual Scores

Championship

130      Mitchell Cowie (D&C) 66, 64

137      Taylor Kerr (Thornhill) 69, 68

140      Finlay Copland (D&G) 73, 67

141      Ciaran Howat  (D&C) 72, 69

Callum McMillan (Kirkcudbright) 69, 72

144      Cameron Gray (Kirkcudbright) 73, 71

Corey Brown (D&C) 72, 72

148      David Sharp (D&C) 74, 74

Jamie Marchbank (D&G) 73, 75

150      Jamie Alison (D&G) 76, 74

152      Glen Irvine (D&G) 74, 78

Handicap

63        Callum McMillan (Kirkcudbright) 69-6

65        Mitchell Cowie (D&C) 66-1 bih

Adam Scott (Lochmaben) 80-15

67        Ellie Harkness (Lochmaben) 85-18 adjusted

68        Glen Irvine (D&G) 74-6

Ciaran Howat (D&C) 72-4

David Sharp (D&C) 74-6

Colin McKenzie (Lochmaben) 80-12

Corey Brown (D&C) 72-4

70        Jamie Marchbank (D&G) 73-3

Taylor Kerr (Thornhill) 69+1

71        Finlay Copland (D&G) 73-2

Jamie Alison (D&G) 76-5

72        Cameron Gray (Kirkcudbright) 73-1

73        Evan Wells (Lochmaben) 89-16

77        Ben Carmichael (Lochmaben) 94-17

The photograph shows the two champions, Callum McMillan and Mitchell Cowie