Champs to the fore
Annual prizegiving
Former Amateur champion Gordon Sherry was guest speaker at the annual Blairgowrie Golf Club prize-giving and end-of-season dinner recently.
In demand on the after-dinner circuit, Sherry had been addressing Royal Birkdale the previous evening but made the long trip north to entertain his east Perthshire audience and present the trophies to the successful juniors.
Colourful tales of playing in the Open and the Masters with the greats of the game delighted members, while there were poignant moments recalling the influence of the late, great coach Bob Torrance on his career and life.
A man of many clubs, including Loch Lomond andTurnberry, Sherry recently became a Blairgowrie member and joked:“I better make sure I don’t fall victim to the 14 club rule.”
A successful businessman, his various interests include managing the legendary Sandy Lyle.
The Men’s Club Championship winner – for a 10th time in his career – was Glenn Campbell, the long-time Perth and Kinross team player and former Scotland international.
The 2017 Ladies Champion was Heather Anderson, a senior internationalist who took the title for the second time in her career.
The Junior Club Championship was won by Cormac Sharpe, who was on duty with the Scotland performance squad, and the Golfer of theYear was Connor Graham, who won his age group at theWeeWonders age 9-10 UK final at St Andrews this season, where he celebrated his first hole in one.
Men’s captain BrianWesencraft congratulated all the trophy winners and also hailed the milestone achievement of long-time member Bradley Neil, like Sherry a past Amateur champion, who secured a coveted EuropeanTour card for next season after clinching a top 15 place on the ChallengeTour.
Departing club stewards Brian and Jayne Bjormark were thanked for more than seven years of service to the club, which won Best Clubhouse at the recent Scottish GolfTourism Awards.
Master of ceremonies for the evening was Gordon Bannerman.