Home pair triumph at Black Isle Foursomes
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THERE was a familiar look to the closing stages of the Black Isle Foursomes at Fortrose and Rosemarkie in the primary opening event to the North golfing calendar.
Club secretary Mike MacDonald and playing partner Chris Gaittens went into the competition looking to defend their scratch title and the duo from the host club did just that with a two hole victory over Royal Dornoch’s Neil Hampton and Colin Taylor (Kinloss).
Three of last year’s semi-final pairings made it through to Sunday’s matchplay stages — Gaittens and MacDonald, Inverness club secretary Ewan Forbes and fellow club-mate Alan Cameron, and newcomers David Joel and Jamie Treasurer, also from Inverness.
Joel and Treasurer provided the semi-final opponents for MacDonald and Gaittens, who last year became Fortrose and Rosemarkie’s first scratch-winning duo since 1984, and the contest was over after 17 holes with the latter of these pairings prevailing.
The other semi-final was a re-run of the 2010 final, five-time previous winners Hampton and Taylor facing the four-time successful partnership of Cameron and Forbes. The result was also a repeat of when they last met, a one hole triumph for Hampton and Taylor.
They continued this good form in the opening exchanges of the final, establishing a two-hole lead over MacDonald and Gaittens, but it was soon all square approaching the back nine.
MacDonald and Gaittens then went two ahead after 12 and despite Hampton and Taylor reducing the deficit to one with just the 18th to play, a poor tee shot by Hampton was punished as the home pairing went on to secure the win by two holes.
There was an all but one home member featuring in the semi-finals and final of the handicap matchplay stages, Nairn’s Jared Simpson partnering Mark Windsor to a 4 and 3 success over Bruce Main and Chris Young in the final.
For more golf news, see today's Inverness Courier
