Home comforts for Artisan ace Gerry
Annual contest and course receive rave reviews
The 141st Perth Artisan Open recently welcomed a bumper field of golfers for the popular and hotly-contested annual competition.
And it proved a special one for club member Gerry Graham who played an impressive round of golf to secure the lowest handicap score of the day.
Blairgowrie golfer Craig Brown was first in the scratch category, followed closely by Paul Taylor and Chris Mitchell.
The event was postponed earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic but was given the green light to take place a couple of weeks ago.
Perth Artisan Golf Club captain John McLaren was delighted with how the tournament panned out and is already looking forward to next year.
“We had around 130 playing and it was a really good day,” he told the Perthshire Advertiser.
“It was actually a little unexpected to even be able to host the open. It’s usually the last Saturday in June so we needed to postpone it.
“We just got the green light a couple of weeks ago. It was wellrun and everyone adhered to the social distancing.
“A number of the Artisan members won a few prizes. Gerry Graham won the handicap prize and fair play to him for that.
“It was good to see because he does a lot down at the club.”
The North Inch Golf Course again presented itself well for the occasion, despite torrential rain which caused flooding across the city in the build-up to the event.
Determined club members even pitched in to help greenkeeper Glenn Campbell with course preparations.
“A few of the other guys at the club went down to the course during the week and helped Glenn.” John explained to the Perthshire Advertiser.
“The course has been spot on and is great value for money.
“We had players from all over, the course pretty much booked out from 7.30am to 3pm. That is normal because we like to put on a good event.
“I think everyone was impressed with the course and how it was presented. And we’ve been picking up more members, which is always good.”
One happy competitor, commenting on the course, noted: “I have to say how good the course was, considering many parts were under water a fortnight ago.
“Glenn and his team have done a great job with the course.”
And another posted it was the “best I have seen the greens look and play, even though my card did not show well.”
On Saturday, The McNab finals were contested and, in the scratch event, Bally Whytock defeated Adam Taylor 3&2 in the final.
In the handicap final, Gordon Rattray edged out Paul Hainey, also by a score of 3&2.