Ian wins first qualifier

The first official qualifying competition took place Saturday, March 31, playing off the white tee markers.

Ian Hutchinson had been noted over the last few weeks as a potential winner of the future. His returned score on the Saturday of 46 points for the overall victory was indeed a testament to his hard work, and he was delighted when he had his handicap cut by four shots to 21 and a further two shots to 19 because of his exceptional score.

Ian had birdies on two of the par fives on the back nine and four other pars on his way round.

The best gross score of the day was returned by Philip Sheldon, shooting seven over par on gross 78. Philip had five birdies during his round and a few wayward holes but not enough to cost the gross.

The section winners were as follows. Section one (0-13) handicap winner was Chris Stewart on 38 points managing nine pars during his round playing off 13. He was followed by Brian Weir on 35 points just beating Clive Knox on a better back nine who also had 35 points.

Section two (14-18) handicap winner was John Halliday shooting 39 points beating Glen McMillan and Neil McMullan who both returned 38 points with Glen having a superior back nine.

In section three (19-22) the scores were slightly better when Gilbert Sinclair beat Brian Rice on the better back nine with both players returning 40 points. Gary Doherty finished third on 38 points.

In section four (22-28) handicap, Philip Grattan had the second best score of the day to win this section with 42 points. Runner up was Graham Steel 38 points beating Marc Lawson also on 38 points count back over the back nine.