Five-in-a-row for Alan

Alan Lockhart won the 36hole Ballantine Medal at Dunblane New on Sunday for the fifth year in a row with a scratch score of three over par 141 with rounds of 72/69.

In his first round Alan birdied 1, 5 and 6 with bogeys at 4, 7, 9 and 14 and a double bogey at 3.

However in his second round Alan was out in two under par 33 with birdies at 1 and 5 then came back in two over par 36 with a birdie at 15 and bogeys at 10, 13 and 17.

The Scratch Class was then won by Charlie Linton on 145 with rounds of 73/72. In round one he birdied 13 and 18 and in his second round 2 and 7.

Second place went to Steven Aitken on 147 (74/73), Craig Mcgann was third spot on 148 (73/75) and fourth place went to Grant Mcintyre on 151 (74/77).

The Handicap Class was won by Jason Balman 148 (8) on 140, 73/67, highlighted by birdies at 6 and 16 in his second round. Runner up was Steven Murphy on 141 (7), 71/70, third went to John Munro on 142 (8) 72/70 and Course Manager Wes Saunders (3) edged fourth spot on 147, 78/69, and a better second round than Bjorn Sandin (9) 77/70 and Mick Mcgovern (7) 73/74.

On Saturday Dunblane New retained the West Perthshire Trophy, first played for in 1899, with victory over Crieff secured by a long putt from Chris Gater at the second extra hole of the final.

Crieff had defeated Comrie by six-up in the semi final in the morning and Dunblane New received a bye with Auchterarder failing to appear.

In the final Callum Davidson and Joe Patton were two up but Chris Gater and Brian Deakin were two down after Crieff enjoyed an amazing break with a ball rebounding from a tree out of bounds at the 18th to land on the green to enable them to putt out, win the hole and square the match.

Conditions on Friday and Saturday seemed to be more challenging in the Seniors Qualifying with scores higher than normal. David Gunn returned the best scratch score of 76 and a BIH, thanks to a birdie at 18, than Gordon Foster.

He (10) had the consolation of winning the First Class on 66. Runner up was Keith Macdonald (10) on 67, third place went to Craig Anderson (9) on 68 and a BL6 than Peter Kindness (11).

The Second Class was won by Andy Wilson (16) on 67 thanks to a net outward nine of 29 including a birdie at 9. Three players then returned 68 but second place went to Ian Campbell (12) with a BIH than Cameron Macvicar (15) who still had a BIH than John Cleghorn (16).

With the best round of the weekend Ryan Marshall (23) won the Third Class on 65. Runner up was Charles Hislop (17) on 66, Allan Ross took third place on 68 and fourth spot went to Drew Dudgeon (20) on 69 with double bogeys at 13, 17 and 18.

In Wednesday’s Stableford Grant Mcintyre (4) won the First Class on 39 points with birdies at 4, 6, 11 and 12. Runner up was Alastair Macrae (8) on 37 points and BIH than James Mccowan (13). Four players then returned 36 points but with the BIH fourth place went to Robert Weir (15).

The Second Class was won by Jim Montgomery (26) with the highest points of the day, 41. Runner up was Tom Mckenzie (23) on 40 points with Alex Dunn (17) third on 39 points and a BIH than Bobby Brynes (23).

Today (Wednesday) is the June Midweek Monthly Multi Tee Medal. Friday and Saturday will be the June Monthly Multi Tee Medal. Tomorrow (Thursday) there will be a greensomes for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations with any combination of players eligible to play. Tee times to be booked on line.

Results: Ballantine Medal (May 29): Winner Alan Lockhart 141 (72/69). Scratch - 1 Charlie Linton 145 (73/72); 2 Steven Aitken 147 (74/73); 3 Craig Mcgann 148 (73/75); 4 Grant Mcintyre 151 (74/77). Handicap - 1 Jason Balman (8) 140 73/67; 2 Steven Murphy (7) 141 71/70; 3 John Munro (8) 142 72/70; 4 Wes Saunders (3) 148 78/69.

Seniors Championship Qualifier - White Tee Medal (May 27-28): Scratch - David Gunn 76 bih. First Class - 1 Gordon Foster 76 (10) 66; 2 Keith Macdonald 7 (10) 67; 3 Craig Anderson 77 (9) 68 bl6; 4 Peter Kindness 79 (11) 68.

Second Class - 1 Andy Wilson 83 (16) 67; 2 Ian Campbell 80 (12) 68 bih; 3 Cameron Macvicar 83 (15) 68 bih; 4 John Cleghorn 84 (16) 68. Third Class - 1 Ryan Marshall 88 (23) 65; 2 Charles Hislop 83 (17) 66; 3 Allan Ross 89 (21) 68; 4 Drew Dudgeon 89 (20) 69.

Stableford (May 25): First Class - 1 Grant Mcintyre (4) 39 points; 2 Alastair Macrae (8) 37 bih; 3 James Mccowan (13) 37; 4 Robert Weir (15) 36 bih. Second Class - 1 Jim Montgomery (26) 41; 2 Tom Mckenzie (23) 40; 3 Alexander Dunn (17) 39 bih; 4 Bobby Brynes (23) 39.

BRIDGE OF ALLAN

As spring begins to show signs of turning into early summer it can only mean that Club Championship season is just around the corner. Qualifying for the senior gents championship began on Friday with an excellent turnout taking part in the first of three qualifiers.

Brian Paterson took top spot on the day and set the early qualifying standard with 21 Stableford points. Steve Ingram followed in second place with 19 points and David Santi was in third at the head of a group of players on 18 points after a countback.

Saturday saw the second round of the Strokeplay Shield before the qualifying for the club championship starts next weekend.the scoring was very tight with a group of three players all finishing at the top of Division 1 on a net score of 65 shots. After a countback, Stuart Mclachlan was top of the pile, followed by Martin Ross in second and Liam Grimmer in third.

The scores were more spread out in Division 2 with Martin Baird shooting a net 60 to finish six shots clear of Jim Black in second place. Bert Zanelli was third with a net 68.

STIRLING

A large field of 244 players competed last weekend for the John Duncan Trophy and first round of Club Championship Seniors and Handicap qualifiers.

Players enjoyed an excellent presented course with true fast paced putting surfaces. Friday players had to deal with challenging gusting winds against the warm flat calm on Saturday.

Kevin Copeland returned a net 65 on Saturday to win the John Duncan Trophy by one stroke from a posse of players Campbell Leggat, Craig Higgins, George Brown and Stuart Lee all on net 66.

Kevin offset six bogeys with three birdies at holes 2, 11 and 13. An excellent inward one over par 37 added to the two over par 38 made up the gross 75 (net 65) and a place at the Annual Prizegiving Dinner in November.

Past Captain Campbell Leggat was second in Division 1 on net 66 with 10-handicapper Paul Statter pipping Scott Monteith on the bih for third - both players on net 68.

Craig Higgins won Division 2 on net 66 in halfs of 38/39 with 13 pars and five bogeys. David Morrison was second on net 68 and Craig Thomson third on the better last three holes from Alistair Hervey and John Lewis Kilgannon on net 70.

George Brown - off 17 - kept damage limitation to a minimum with nothing worse than a bogey on the card to pip Stuart Lee on the bih in Division 3, both players on net 66. George’s highlights were pars at the difficult 9th and 15th holes in halfs of 42/41.

Euan Davidson beat Gordon Nicol on the bih for third place with both players on net 70.

The winners of the scratch sweep were all Friday players. The in-form David Kernohan led with a 71 with birdies at all the par fives. Dariusz Kunecki was second on 73 and Andrew Malcolm third on 74 bih.

Results: Division 1 - 1 Kevin Copeland 75 (10) 65 John Duncan Trophy winner; 2 Campbell Leggat 72 (6) 66; 3 Paul Statter 78 (10) 68 bih. Division 2 - 1 Craig Higgins 77 (11) 66; 2 David Morrison 80 (12) 68; 3 Craig Thomson 83 (13) 70 BL3. Division 3 - 1 George Brown 83 (17) 66 bih; 2 Stuart Lee 85 (19) 66; 3 Euan Davidson 87 (17) 70 bih.

Results from Open Senior Texas Scramble on Thursday, May 26: 1 Billy Fraser, John Needham, Bruce Biggart, Gordon Scott (all West Lothian) 67 (9) 58 bih (£300); 2 Andrew Mcdonald (The St Andrews Club), Martin Reid, Neil Mcleod and Ken Scotland (all Craigie Hill) 64 (6) 58 bih (£260); 3 George Watt (Alva), W Carmichael and I Carmichael (Alloa), C Perrie (Braehead) 66 (8) 58 bih (£220); 4 John Cattigan, Robert Sneddon, Anthony Petale and George Wilson (all Stirling) 67 (8) 59 bih (£200); 5 John Eggo, Graeme Allan, Sandy Farquharson and Alan Grant (all Stirling) 69 (10) 59 bih (£180); 6 James Fisher, David Smith, James Mckerchar and Fred Findlay (all Stirling) 65 (6) 59 bih (£160); 7 Leslie Goodfellow, Ian Carmichael, Kevin Robertson and Raymond Mountford (all Stirling) 72 (13) 59 bih (£140); 8 John Notman, Alan Robertson, Robert Gray and David Mcginley (all Mortonhall) 67 (8) 59 bih (£120).

This weekend players will compete in June Medal with winners qualifying for medal finals and it’s also round two of club championship qualifiers.

STIRLING LADIES

On Tuesday, May 24 the ladies section played for the Vets Trophy as well as the regular medal competition and the Vets Trophy.

The winner was Edna Stewart 71 (bih). second was Denise Young with net 71 and third Lyndsay Boyack net 72. Edna won the Vets Trophy.

Twos were recorded by Susan Macleod on the 14th, Vicki Shannly on the 10th and Eleanor Cull recorded twos on both the 10th and the 14th holes.

The winner of the Nine Hole Stableford was Moira Thompson with 17 points, second was Mary Mccaig with 16 points and third Christina Hendry with 15 points.

The Ladies Saturday Stableford on May 28 was won by Catriona Brown with 30 points. Catriona also had a two at the 14th

Stirling County’s Manus Sahare was the star of the show in his team’s 67-run win over Langside in their latest Western Union Premier Division match at New Williamfield on Saturday.

The Stirling University Masters student came into bat after last week’s run-getters Matthew Tweedie and Brandon Mcmullen and after rebuilding the innings in a 116 partnership with Mikey Hay-smith he went into overdrive.

Sahare (pictured above) went on to score 171 not out - one of the club’s best amateur innings for many years - cracking 15 fours and eight sixes in 126 balls as County made 267 for five.

In reply, Langside flew out of the blocks - but it was that man Sahare who stopped them in their tracks, dismissing Azaiz Ahmad (45) and Anwar Hafeez (43) on his way to adding five for 39 to his massive innings as the Glasgow side ended 200 all out.

On Saturday, County are at home to Clydesdale. Matchball sponsor this week was Mailers Solicitors.

Stirling 2nds lost their first game of the season Western Union Division Four, going down by 78 runs to Bees (Clydesdale 3rd XI).

Alasdair Banks took five for 30 as Bees made 182 all out but Jonathan Bowes’48 was the only score of note for Stirling as they ended on 104 for eight.

On Saturday they travel to Inverclyde.