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