THE eyebrows must have been raised last Tuesday when Diana Fairley returned a net 57 in Helensburgh's Cancer Relief competition. For such as ladies' captain Doreen McLean, it hardly seemed worth going out on to the course when one of the early starters is back in the clubhouse with such a daunting score. Helensburgh is no pitch-and-putt course and that effort by the 36-handicapper constituted a 15-under-par round. Needless to say, Mrs Fairley won that event by a street - 15 shots, to be precise - and tops our women's handicap section this week by no fewer than seven strokes.
Our newly discovered Queen of the Bandits also goes to the top of the all-season list in the same category and her place on finals day looks to be safely booked. ``I was not surprised,'' said Mrs McLean. ``Diana has been knocking on the door of a low score for some time, and this is also good news for the club.'' Of some consolation to Diana's rivals is that her handicap is down to 29. But will that stop her, we ask.
Also heading for finals day is Turnberry's Karen Fitzgerald, who leads the scratch section for the season with a two-under performance and she was just one shot outside that in winning this week's category with a gross 71 - which, confusingly, becomes a net 72 because of her plus-one status.
Would that we could say there was an outright winner among the men's scratch performers. Causing headaches galore for us were no fewer than six fellows who all came in at three under par. More straightforward was the handicap section, won by Cowglen 16-handicapper Allan Rennie with a net 58, which is 11 under par.
A handful of the entries lower down the roll of honour are from competitions which took place more than 10 days ago. Because of the need for uniformity, these would have been disqualified from winning a prize had they been category-toppers, and competition secretaries are reminded of the need to submit returns, using the freephone number 0800 833333, as quickly as possible.
Weekly deadlines have to be observed in the interests of fairness, in order that qualifying scores must be from rounds played within the same-day period. So don't think you can hold back that net 60 which was shot in sunny weather and save it, almost literally, for a rainy day. It won't work - the date of competition is what counts, not the date of submission.
HANDICAP
Men
-11 - A Rennie, Cowglen (16).
-9 - S Fowler, Biggar (17); I W Paterson, Cochrane Castle (17).
-8 - J Stirling, Bonnyton (28); W B Lindsay, Drumpellier (12).
Women
-15 - D Fairley, Helensburgh (36).
-8 - I Preston, Stirling (24); M Hetherwick, Auchterarder (21).
-7 - L Seymour, Drumpellier (30); M McCartney, Crieff (14); J Stewart, Lanark (25).
SCRATCH
Men
-3 - A Doherty, Cowglen; S F Irwin, Paisley; J McAughtrie, Stirling; M Moir, Hamilton; G Wilson, Lanark; A G F Sharp, Portpatrick.
-2 - C McMinn, Southerness.
-1 - R Jefferson, Lanark; W M L Brown, Hamilton; S Pascal, Haggs Castle; A Hutchison, Lochwinnoch; L W Kelly, Cowal; A W Young, Strathaven; P Burke, Bellshill.
Women
-1 - K Fitzgerald, Turnberry.
+1 - A Young, East Kilbride.
+2 - D Jackson, Cochrane Castle, over Colville Park.
+3 - C Fowler, Cowglen.
q Scores are based on CSS for men, and SSS for women.
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