Summer Cup & Strokeplay Championship - Season 2008-2009

Summer League 1 - 19&20 April 08
Youngster Parsonage leads the way in opening round...

It would appear that there is nothing like some fine spring weather to get the golfers in Caithness up and going.

The two open competitions at Reay and Wick both attracted over eighty entries and on Saturday Thurso Golf Club's car park could barely cope with an entry of 82 for the first round of the ever popular Summer League.

Mark Parsonage enjoyed a lot of success during the winter and this continued on Saturday when his total of 40 Stableford points was two clear of the field. The youngster played very consistently with only a couple of single point holes on his card and those were balanced by a four point par five at the fourth hole. He won't be getting four points for a par again though as his handicap is clearly on the way down.

Three handicap player Ronald Matheson was only a point behind the winner at the half way stage with 20 points for the outward nine and looked in good shape to win with 38 points on the eighteenth tee. That was to be it though as he ran up a six on the final hole, for no points, and had to settle for second place.  Matheson regularly features on the prize list for the League and it would appear that this season will be no different.

Consistency was also the name of the game for Innes Mitchell as he claimed third place with 37 points, a total shared by Angus Cameron, back in the game after a long lay off from a shoulder injury.

Doug McCowan had a good outward nine of 20 points and was alone on 36 points for fifth place. David Bain, Charles Burness, Davie Calder and Jack McCracken all had 35 points but, after countback, only Bain got any financial remuneration with sixth place sweep money.

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