Club Championship and Millennium Knockout Results.

Club Championship

Sunday 23rd June - After 2 Rounds of Strokeplay golf, and two rounds of Matchplay golf, Allan Johnston and Neil Lock would battle it out to crown the Club Champion for 2024.

There was some amazing golf on show with Neil getting off to a fast start to go 2 ahead through 3 holes, after makign 3 pars in a row. Only for Allan to pull one back in great style with a chip in from 10 yards short of the green to make a phenomenal birdie on hole 4 (Broomy Law - the toughest hole on the course).

Neil would then get his lead back to two on the next hole with a par the 5th hole after Allan found sand on his tee shot and missed his par put despite hitting a very good shot from the bunker.

Both would be a little disappointed to make par on the 6th hole, having made slight errors in what I’m sure would normally be a hole that they would be looking to birdie…but Neil would then have a steady 7th hole making par after Allan found trouble off the tee.

With a lead of three holes, it looked like Neil had Allan on the ropes….

However, Allan would pull one back immediately with a textbook par on the 8th with Neil finding himself “short-sided” on the back right of the green, there followed a downhill putt that rolled on a bit too much and led to an uncharacteristic bogie.

Lead is cut to 2!

The 9th hole was halved with two very good pars.

Neil then found some trouble on 10 down the left, whilst Allan played a monstrous drive, followed by a great iron onto the green. Although the hole was played out, Neil was always playing catch up as Allan was in prim position and secure the hole with a par.

Lead is back to 1!

At the 11th hole we had our first spectator join us. Ken Marshall fresh of a victory for the Millenium over on the Queens course was able to join us and offer some support to both golfers as things got a little bit more tense.

Both golfers would be disappointed with how they played the 11th, however normal service would resume and some great golf on 12 saw a par not being enough for Neil as Allan made birdie with a putt from around 8 feet.

Score is now level

The 13th hole was another hole where both players might have felt that he should have won but they would remain inseparable after the hole was done.

Neil would then find himself in prime position to score well on the 14th with a fantastic tee shot. Allan looked out of position himself, having to contend with an awkward ball between the bunkers on the left, however we would witness, once again, another pitch shot that almost went in and both players ended up with tap in birdies after almost making eagle.

At this point some further spectators would join in order to see the climax of the event - David and Patricial Logie would appear, shortly followed by Allan’s wife Sam and his Father-in-Law, Paul.

Unfortunately, at this stage there had been some significant hold ups from the groups in front which couldn’t have helped our finalists.

After a what seemed like a long delay for us spectators, the competitors were able to hit their second shots on 15. Neil hit a peach onto the top tier of the green which trickled down nicely on the bottom of the green and would have left a birdie opportunity…unfortunately Allan would be disappointed to find the bunker short of the green with his second shot and be unable to get close enough with his next shot, meaning that Neil would take the lead at this crucial time.

Neil up by one thru 15!

Our final spectator Mr Ken Swa would appear to see both players hit the green on the 16th and both tee shots would be greeted by applause from all of the spectators. They would both make their respective pars to move onto the 17th.

Again, there followed a further delay here from the groups ahead.

Neil would hit his tee shot a straight but a bit shorter than his others on the day…was the pressure being felt…only he would know!

Allan however then pulled his drive to the left into the ferns. Our helpful spectators were able to trace the ball keeping the tie alive for now.

Neil would then play yet another fantastic shot that put the pressure on Allan and forced him to go for the green from the impossible lie he found himself in.

Unfortunately the lie would be too much and he would have to concede the match a short time after paying his second shot.

This was a sad way to end the match but after 5 rounds of fantastic golf, our Club Champion could be confirmed as Neil Lock!

It was a pleasure observing such fantastic golf from both competitors.

Congratulations Neil and commiserations Allan - both of you can be proud of your achievements in this competition, along with the others who managed to qualify for the most challenging contest on our calendar.

UPDATE: David Logie is doing exceptionally well in the Scottish Senior Championships which is great news but means he will not make it back in time for his match tomorrow and has had to withdraw. The revised draw is above.

Following todays second qualifying rounds the qualifiers are as per the attached sheet. If you have qualified or are a reserve but cannot make ALL of the match play dates then please let me know.

Draw to be confirmed.

Trophy History: The Scratch Trophy First Played in 1959: The Scratch Trophy was presented to Dun Whinny in 1959 by the then Captain J S Paterson, the one-time District Valuer for Stirling Council and himself a keen middle handicap golfer. Jack Paterson felt that while there was a knockout competition for handicap golfers there was not a trophy for a scratch knockout competition the winner of which might fairly be described as the Club Champion.

The Trophy has been played for each year since 1959 and during this time it has been won by the same person on a number of occasions, Ronnie Robertson and David Donaldson each having won it five times. Only two people have won this trophy more times – J L White and K J Smith both have won this 6 times. J L White (Lorne) was one of the founder members of Dun Whinny and was a golfer of some note. His handicap at the time of joining was 7 he remained a significant competitor all his life. He was the owner of a weaving mill in Auchterarder called Whites Mill in Abbey Road. As one of the original members of Dun Whinny Lorne presented a prize each year from 1936 until 1985. The original prizes were quite unique by comparison with prizes today and, for instance, in the early years Lorne presented a suit of silk pyjamas to the winner of his prize. He was one of the old style Dun Whinny members and something of an eccentric. He never carried a full bag of Clubs preferring always to play with a half set. In keeping with his character he used the even numbered irons to play the Queens course and the odd numbered irons to play the Kings course. His golf bag was unique being constructed from Harris tweed and finished with leather bindings with a ball pocket big enough for no more than three balls. When queried about this he maintained if you need more than three balls you shouldn’t be on the golf course. The bag had no pocket for waterproofs as he never played in the rain but it did have a long narrow pocket sewn down one side of the bag which allowed him to carry the Clubs on his right shoulder with heads facing backwards and his hand would then slip down this side pocket to keep warm on the cold days. Certainly one of the simplest and most effective golf bags.

To Lorne can also be attributed the invention of the long putter. Many years before these came on the scene Lorne appeared with a putter with a second shaft driven into the top of the main shaft giving a putter length of probably about 60 inches and with this he putted very effectively. Lorne had a supreme ability to get up and down in 2 from almost anywhere near the green. If you played with Lorne and queried a pin placement on any of the greens Lorne would simply state that the “centre of the green never moves” and promptly placed his shot in the middle and was therefore rarely too far from the hole.

The Millennium Trophy first awarded in 2000: In order to celebrate the Millennium a beautiful crystal claret jug with silver mounts was donated to the Club by Ian Bayne. Ian had been a member of Dun Whinny for many years served on Council and was Captain from 1983 to 1985. The Trophy was donated for Handicap Knockout competition. Qualifiers are selected from the Championship qualifying rounds and would be the 8 best net aggregate scores after selection of the scores for the Scratch Trophy. For a few years it became the custom for the past winner to donate a bottle of claret to the next recipient at the time the trophy was awarded. The knockout rounds for this trophy are generally played on the Queens course at the same time as the knockout rounds for the Scratch Trophy are being played on the Kings course