Happiness is cup-shaped for Nairn's winning quartet (left to right) Robert Smith, Neil Hampton, Fraser Fotheringham and Steve MacDonald at Peterhead. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.
Happiness is cup-shaped for Nairn's winning quartet (left to right)
Robert Smith, Neil Hampton, Fraser Fotheringham and Steve MacDonald at
Peterhead. Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency.
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By
COLIN FARQUHARSON
Nairn Golf Club won the Northern Counties men's double foursomes match-play golf tournament at Peterhead today for a fourth time since 1998.
Their
No 1 team of Fraser Fotheringham, Steve MacDonald, Neil
Hampton and Robert Smith finished a combined two holes up on
Cruden Bay 1's quartet of Michael Buchan, Alan Duff, Dave
Milne and Dominic King in the final.
Fotheringham
and MacDonald finished three holes down to Cruden Bay's Buchan
and Duff in the first-string tie but Hampton and Smith, who
have partnered each other in each of Nairn's previous wins
recently in 1998, 1904 and 2007, came to the rescue by
finishing five holes to the good over Cruden Bay's Milne and
King.
The
destination of the trophy which has been contested since 1900,
making it one of the oldest amateurs tournaments in Scotland
if not farther afield, was still in the balance over the
closing holes.
Nairn's
Fotheringham and MacDonald, always in arrears, were four down
after 17 holes but won the 18th, which was to prove crucial.
Second-stringers
Hampton and Smith were "only" three up with two to
play but won the 17th and the 18th to finish five up and these
holes were the double whammy clincher, to coin a phrase!
Next
year's tournament will be played at Royal Dornoch, a classic
venue which is persuading Hampton and Smith to partner each
other "just one more time!"
In fairness to 20-year-old
Fotheringham, who will soon be off to spend our winter playing
golf in Australia's summer, and MacDonald, who were the losing
Nairn pair in the final, it should be stressed that it was
their performance in the semi-finals against Nairn 2 that made
the difference between victory and defeat. They finished six
up while Hampton and Smith finished two down.
SATURDAY
RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
Nairn
1 beat Nairn 2 by four holes
F Fotheringham & S MacDonald
6, G Burnett & N Howitt 0.
N D Hampton & R Smith 0, P
Tomisson & P Saggers 2.
Cruden
Bay 1 beat Moray 1 by three holes.
M Buchan & A Duff 3, I S
Geddes & R MacPherson 0.
D Milne & D King 0, R Clarke
& K Thomson 0.
FINAL
Nairn
1 beat Cruden Bay 1 by two holes
Fotheringham & MacDonald 0,
Buchan & Duff 3.
Hampton & Smith 5, Milne &
King 0.
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