Dalmahoy
WILLIAM Guy went to the same public school, Strathallan, as Colin
Montgomerie but since they left that seat of learning their golfing
fortunes could not have followed more divergent paths -- Guy struggling
to make his way in the game, Montgomerie, three times a millionaire on
European tournament earnings alone.
Yesterday, in the first round of the Tartan Special Scottish
Professional championship at Dalmahoy, Guy's 69 left him tied with
Andrew Oldcorn only a stroke behind the leader, Russell Weir, and raised
his hopes of cutting a reasonable slice of the #65,000 prize fund.
Until this week from five other outings, the 27-year-old Buchanan
Castle professional had won only #1800 -- and that for finishing sixth
in the Kenya Open.
Guy was even deprived of #5 of that recently in Las Palmas, where he
was threatened and robbed by a knife-wielding mugger who also struck him
in the left eye. Guy feared his sight might have been permanently
impaired but a subsequent examination found, to his relief, that no
serious damage had been inflicted.
''I'm trying to qualify for the main Tour through the Challenge Tour,
after missing out for my card in a play-off in last autumn's school, and
that costs about #1000 a week,'' Guy explained, although he does have
financial support from a Southport businessman he met while playing in a
pro-am.
Guy completed a good morning's work with a birdie at the 480-yard
ninth, the sixth of his round, although he had to hole a second putt of
six feet after he had reached the green with a No.3 wood shot into the
hailstorm which had cost him bogeys at the two previous holes.
Weir has won everything on the Tartan Tour worth winning except this
championship, the flagship event, but the 43-year-old Dunoon
professional made a possible move towards improving on two runner-up
finishes with his 68, four under par. Weir, playing the outward half
last in a testing westerly wind which blew the occasional rain squall
over the 6677-yard West course, finished with two of five birdies.
First, he chipped in from 15 yards after his approach had spun off the
eighth green and then having hit a No.2 iron to 10 feet left the eagle
putt hovering on the hole's rim.
Whereupon Weir, feeling his legs tired and anxious to put his feet up,
immediately left to catch a ferry home. ''I'm overweight and old,'' he
reflected wryly over his car phone. ''It's not for want of trying I
haven't won this title -- indeed, perhaps I've tried too hard and so put
too much pressure on myself.''
Oldcorn, a very late starter, had the worst of the weather, but wetter
and even colder than before in a wind from the most difficult direction.
The course may not be as unforgiving as St Mellion, where Oldcorn on
Sunday finished equal fourth, but the conditions were more unpleasant
and he was satisfied with this start.
Rather as Adam Hunter had summed up his 72 so Oldcorn did his score:
''It was a better working round than a ball-striking one.'' Ultimately
the glue that held his score together was formed by the four substantial
single putts he made in five holes from the thirteenth, two each for
pars at birdies.
The ninth proved even more valuable for the holder, Andrew Coltart. He
was ''playing along very averagely'' when from a downhill lie he struck
a No.4 iron shot of 199 yards to within 25 feet for an eagle 3 and a 70,
so that he played the three par-5s -- the adjoining first and tenth both
uphill but down wind -- in four under.
Among the others on 70 was Alan Tait who played alongside Coltart. He
complained of inconsistent putting from genuine holing-out range, but
Tait, aged 26, who has set three course records -- Carnoustie (64), The
Queen's at Gleneagles Hotel (63), and Buchanan Castle (62) -- had single
putts for four of his five gains.
68 -- R Weir (Cowal).
69 -- W Guy (Buchanan Castle), A Oldcorn (Dalmahoy Hotel).
70 -- A Coltart (Thornhill), A Tait (Cawder), K Campbell
(Machrihanish), D McKay (Ladybank), D Thomson (Kings Links), B Marchbank
(Marchbank Golf Enterprises).
71 -- L Vannet (Carnoustie), A Crerar (Downfield), S Harrier (Craigie
Hill), I Collins (Stirling) S MacPherson (Felixstowe Ferry), S Syme
(Glenrothes), I Young (Braid Hills), J Greaves (Glasgow), S Martin
(North Engineering), C Innes (Golfanlage Schloss), S Stephen (Braid
Hills), D Drysdale (Dunbar).
72 -- P Wardell (Longniddry), A Hunter (Strathclyde Park), T Coles
(King James VI), S Callan (Dalmahoy), B Davidson (Kings Links), R Aitken
(Barassie), G Redford (Turnberry Hotel), A Hogg (Golf Club Chieming), S
Henderson (Kings Links), R Arnott (Caddy Shack), G Harvey (Grangemouth).
73 -- J McCreadie (Buchanan Castle), F Mann (Musselburgh), C Gillies
(Falkirk), K Stables (Montrose), B Lockie (Barassie), I Bratton (Cruden
Bay), S Craig (Dunfermline), S Kerr (Renfrew), G Jack (Kirriemuir), G
Laing (North Wilts), J Henderson (Royal Musselburgh), C Elliott (Dubai
Creek), C Everett (Caldwell), K Fairbairn (Goswick).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article