Early start for Emily at Pinehurst .

Emily will need to be up early today as she tees off at 7am in the first group out .

Live from the USA
Emily Aird after shooting an opening round of 80 lies 15th in the field 9 shots off the leader but only 6 behind 2nd place and with the 2nd round tomorrow we look forward to see her result and what her position is on the leaderboard . Go Emily !

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JUNIORS

Must apologise for lack of news being posted last week but family and work commitments have kept me very busy . So in reverse order here are the highlights for the last 10 days.
Josh McKenna and Hannah Robb both played rounds of 81 Scratch - Josh's score was recorded in the Wednesday Stableford where he won the event with 47 points and has now knocked 12 strokes off his original handicap of 28 . Hannah shot 81 in the Strathmore Junior Open on Tuesday, which was sponsored , organised and run by the Centre, many of our juniors took part with Hannah winning the Girls Scratch and Kirsty Brodie winning the Handicap with a nett 76 . Hannah has now knocked 17 strokes off her handicap during the last 4 months and as she is now playing off 11 I don't think it will be long before she is in single figures. Josh finished 3rd h'cap under 14 and Jamie McCowan won the overall and over 14 h'cap with a nett 68. Below are some photos of Hannah and Kirsty with their trophies.

A Junior Texas Scramble took place on Leitfie on Monday night with Michael Brodie , Tod Bannerman and Euan Robb making up the winning team.

Emily Aird became our first player to make her way to the USA for the Teen World Championships at Pinehurst starting today. Matthew Sime and Kirsty Brodie follow out later for their competition which takes place next week and we wish all 3 the best wishes for a great time and hopefully some good scores along the way.

The Leroch Trophy was washed out on Sunday and an alternative date will be arranged - watch the notice board.

Hannah Robb won the Junior putting competition on Friday.

Unfortunatley Strathmore were knocked out of the Junior Bell Trophy by Alyth in a 3:2 thriller with Josh Mckenna and Frankie Moran winning their matches but with Hannah Robb, Brad Bannerman and John McKenna all losing this allowed Alyth to progress to the semi finals. All the players who took deserve credit for their performances and no doubt are looking forward to competing next year.

The Junior Scratch league team lost narrowly away to Muckart being 2:1 ahead with Allan Easton and Megan Aird recording wins and Rory Tinker losing his match , both the remaining games came to the last tee all square . Both Grant Martin and Emily Aird lost on the last giving victory to the home side.

Last week was also very busy for Megan and Emily who both competed in the Scottish under 21 stroke play at Nairn and also in the Mackie Bowl at Gullane No1 .

Alan Easton also represented Perth and Kinross at Ballumbie in a inter area county event .
Hope I have not missed anything and am now awaiting news from across the pond.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery are sent to Benjamin Fischer who broke his right arm in a fall from a climbing frame yesterday . He will be in plaster for about 4 weeks and was looking forward to next Mondays Texas Scramble and to getting more Summer League cards in , his Mum phoned to say how dissappointed he is having to miss out but we look forward to seeing Benjamin back playing as soon as his doctor tells him he is ready.

Hannah Robb and Emily Aird qualify at Alyth today for Dunfermline Building Society Masters final at Gleneagles.
Hannah finished 3rd top qualifier with 38 pts and Emily was 13th with 33 pts , well done to both girls. Unfortunately Allan Easton and Rory Tinker both missed out of the top 14 qualifing places

Scottish Girls (close) Championship - Lanark Tuesday 14/7/9
Megan Aird just missed qualifying for the top 36 by 2 shots ( Emily Aird by 8 shots ) but Megan goes into the 16 qualifiers for the Ansley Reid Salver and plays Claire Prouse of Hazelhead in this mornings matchplay stages.

Fun bogey night finalises Junior Bell Trophy Team to take on Alyth next Monday night at Strathmore.
Last night 8 squad members took part and I am pleased to announce the team will be Hannah Robb, Brad Bannerman, Josh McKenna, John McKenna and Frankie Moran

SUMMER LEAGUE

Well haven't you all been busy with your summer league cards. Fantastic to see so many of you taking part and now with the summer holidays in full swing I am expecting a lot more over the next 5 weeks or so. Remember two cards a week are allowed and you must remember to sign the book, which is situated in the office, before you play. After you have SIGNED AND DATED the card pop it in the junior box at the entrance to the club house.

So far our star is Matthew Sime who has already reduced his handicap from 26 to 19 this season alone! Matthew has returned 15 cards already and sitting nicely at the top of the leader board. Well done Matthew. Callum Ewan is also doing well, he has returned 11 cards and sitting in 2nd place so far. In third place is Tod Bannerman who has returned 7 cards. But there is plenty of time left for you all to go and get more cards in and climb the leader board!!

Another mention must go to Michael Brodie whose 'club' handicap has almost reached single figures so keep it up and see if you can reach it by the end of the season Michael.

So to re-cap, two cards, sign the book, sign and date the card and place in the box!!! Easy peasy!!!

RACE NIGHT AT STRATHMORE

A race night will be held at Strathmore Golf Centre on Friday 17th. The funds raised from this event will go to our very talented juniors, Emily Aird, Kirsty Brodie and Matthew Sime who are all making their way to America to represent GB&I at Pinehurst in August.

To get your ticket and enjoy what will be a fun night please call the office on 01828 633322.

See you there

FINAL PHOTO'S

Go below to read the full account of the days play and to see individual photos!

WHAT A FINAL!

Yesterday, as I predicted, saw probably the most exciting

and lowest ever scoring final ever held at Strathmore. It was a fantastic day with lots of you coming along for a great days golf.

The day began with a Junior Medal on Leitfie course. With the winner of the club Medal was Alister Goodfellow with a fantastic nett 48. The winner of the Congu Medal was Michael Brodie also with 48. Great scoring boys. It was then great to see all of you coming out to watch the final after your game! Well done and thank you, I am sure you enjoyed some inspirational golf!

The final teed of at 12.30pm and what a match it was below is a hole by hole account of the game.

1st hole Allan birdied 1 up
2nd hole Rory birdied all square
3rd hole Rory birdied 1 up
4th hole Allan won with par all square
5th hole halved in birdies
6th hole Rory birdied 1up
7th hole halved in pars
8th hole halved in bogies
9th hole halved in pars
10th hole halved in birdies
11th hole halved in pars
12th hole halved in pars
13th hole Allan won with par all square
14th hole Allan won with par 1 up
15th hole Allan won with par 2 up
16th hole halved in pars
17th hole halved in bogies and Allan retains the Junior Club Championship Trophy for the 4th consecutive year winning 2 and 1.

A total of 8 birdies , Rory 5 and Allan 3 and a better ball score of 4 under par through 17. Brilliant golf, they should also both be very proud of the way they both conducted themselves on the course. The game was played in the spirit that is expected from all golfers, junior or otherwise. A huge thank you to all parents and adults who came along on a very wet day and supported the final it really made the day extra special to have over 25 people walking round and enjoying the match.

The handicap Championship had already taken place last week when John McKenna won a very exciting match against finalist Brad Bannerman. This is the first year the Junior Section has held a handicap championship and John should be very proud in being the first name on the new trophy. Well done to both.

Junior Scratch Final will take place this Sunday 12th July at 12:30pm between Allan Easton and Rory Tinker .

Please come along and give the finalists, Allan and Rory, your support by following them round in what is expected to be a very exciting match

Allan Easton misses out on top 40 finish by just one shot .
Yesterday at Largs in the under 16 Scottish Boys Allan failed by one shot to qualify for the final day after finding the out of bounds on the 17th and 18th . As you can imagine he was very disappointed with his finish after getting himself into such a promising position . No doubt Allan will overcome this and take the positives out of his overall performance and his golf will continue to improve .

A disappointment for Hannah who lost 3&2 in the quarter finals of North of Scotland but well done for getting as far.

News from Largs and the Scottish boys under 16 , Allan Easton shoots a first round 75 ss 71 to give him a top 40 slot and only 6 behind the leader . Tomorrow Alan plays again and with the cut tomorrow night a similar round should see him make the final day.

Great news Hannah is 1up through 9.

Hannah is playing local Lynn Kelly (Newmacher) 16 handicapper , so only gets 1 shot . Hannah teed off at 3:04pm .

Hannah Robb wins 3 and 2 to qualify for last 8 . Well done and good luck. Will let you know who she plays this afternoon when I get the other result .

Latest news from Newmacher

Hannah Robb 3up through the turn.

Brilliant news
Hannah Robb qualifies as 2nd seed in North of Scotland (Handicap Section)

Hannah shot an outstanding net 76 to qualify as 2nd seed today at Newmachar and plays L Urquhart - Banchory in the last 16 tomorrow .

Good Luck Girls

Emily Aird and Hannah Robb head to Newmachar for the North of Scotland Ladies Open , will keep you posted , play started today and continues until Wednesday.

John Mckenna wins the first Junior Handicap Championship by winning 2 up on the last green from Brad Bannerman after a very close and exciting final . John holed out from 15 foot to clinch the match . Sadly Allan Easton lost out on the first extra hole in the Gents Championship after having a putt to win on the last, but a disappointed Allan put it behind him and went out last night and beat Sam Craigon - Milnathort 4 and 3 recording 6 birdies in the process putting himself back in a positive frame of mind to compete in the Scottish Under 16s at Largs this week where we wish him all the best . Unfortunately Milnathort the strongest squad in our Scratch League section won the other 4 matches , but our players did themselves proud by taking 3 of the matches to the 18th,16th and 15th not a bad result when playing scratch against all category 1 players . The next match is away at Muckhart on 19/7/9 .

Championship Finals Day Saturday 4/7/9

Our best wishes go to Allan Easton in the Gents Championship against Scott Robertson , Brad Bannerman and John McKenna who are contesting the Junior Handicap Championship , Dawn Butchart (Junior Handicap Secretary) and Judy Goodfellow (Alister's mum) in the Ladies Championship. Ladies tees off at 9am and again at 1.30pm ( or earlier) , Gents tees off at 9.07am and again at 1.37pm ( or earlier) , Brad and John tee off at 12.45pm so come along and give them all your support.

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINALS

Last night saw the Semi-finals matches for the Scratch and Handicap Junior Championship. The semi finalists for the Scratch Section were title holder Allan Easton v Emily Aird and Grant Martin v Rory Tinker. Allan won his match against Emily 5&4 and Rory booked his place in final winning by one hole against Grant.

In the handicap section John McKenna played Megan Aird and Brad Bannerman played Michael Brodie. John won against Megan 6&5 and Brad won against Michael 3&2.

All matches were played in great spirit and golf displayed was of a very high standard. Well done to all who took part.

The Handicap Final will take place on Saturday at 1.07pm so please come along and support our junmiors. As Allan is also playing in the Gents Championship Final on that day, the Junior Scratch Championship final date will be announced shortly.

Good luck to all.