Inverness golfers shine at Brora Five Day Open

Inverness golfers came to the fore at the Brora Five Day Open.

David Joel won his first Brora Salver, while Inverness Kings Course’s new club champion David Sanderson set a new record at the Sutherland venue.

In each of his five visits to the tournament, Joel has never failed to qualify for the match-play stages, losing in both the 2015 and 2016 finals.

Joel was the second seed after the first two days of qualifying, second only to Sanderson whose second round 62 was one below the existing course record, set last year by head greenkeeper James MacBeath.

Sanderson made it through the opening match-play round.

But he fell at the quarter final stage to former triple winner Iain Powell (Murcar Links).

Powell fell in the semis to 16-year-old Edinburgh schoolboy Adam Hawthorn, who is an age group Scottish international and is already being tipped as a future winner.

Inverness-based Kieran Mackay began his defence of the McVitie and Price Cup in this week’s Tain Golf week with a round of 70 in qualifying.

That put him joint-top of the leaderboard alongside club-mate Ian Cowper.

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