Championships tee off in superb weather at Tarbert

Tarbert’s golfers enjoyed glorious overhead conditions for the first two rounds of this year’s club championship at Glenralloch.

The difficulty lay in the testing course conditions and the choices the players had to make while trying to land the ball safely on the greens. Because of this, scoring was expected to be a bit higher than normal and this proved to be the case.

Finely balanced

The positive is that both the championship and net trophies are finely balanced with only four shots separating the top six players in the championship.

Saturday’s (July 7) golf saw Steve Bleasby, who has been inspired by the three lions, go to the top of the leader board with a 72, his best ever score at Glenralloch. This also took him to first place in the net trophy on 58.

Chris Smyth joined him at the top of the leaderboard with a fine 72 with Iain Macalister a further shot back on 73. James Smyth kept up his recent good form with a 74 for net 61 and a handicap reduction, with Keith MacTaggart slightly further back on 64.

Sunday’s (July 8) conditions were just as tricky even with the change of pin positions. Steve Bleasby added a net 68 to his first round and takes a one-shot lead in the net trophy going into this weekend.

James Smyth is in second place on 127 with David Ronald, Peter McLean and Jimmy MacNab on 135.

In the main event, Iain Macalister added a 76 to his first round total to take a one-shot lead on 149 into the third round, with brothers John and Bruce MacNab a further shot back on 150. James Smyth is on 152, with both Peter McLean and Chris Smyth on 153.

An interesting weekend lies ahead in both competitions and, with so little rain, the course will be full of unusual bounces and firm greens. A reminder to anyone who hasn’t played in the first two rounds is that the senior championship takes place over the final two rounds.