Shetland Golf Club

Jotun Open results

The first open competition of the year was held at Dale last Saturday when 66 golfers turned out to play in the Jotun Open including a welcome addition of 6 visitors on a golfing tour of the islands.

After a splendid week of warm and dry weather players found the course to be in excellent condition with the greens in particular running fast and true. The calm conditions also made for good golfing weather and this was reflected in some exceptional scoring.

The best handicap score returned on the day came from Paul Nicol with a fine round of 84, for a net score of 61. This was Paul’s best round at Dale to date and was enough to win the Jotun Open handicap trophy by two shots. In second place was Maurice Clark who has also been enjoying a return to form lately, his score of 73 (net 63) was also enough to take his handicap down by a shot. Chris Conboy, who seems to be in the prizes every week this season, had another good round with a 76 (net 64) to take third place by virtue of a better back nine from George Fraser (84, net 64) in fourth. Dougie Shearer took fifth place with a score of 74, also net 64. Sixth place was Stuart Tomlinson with 77 (net 65) and seventh was Magnus Leask with 73 (net 65).

The best score of the day however, came from Whalsay’s Stuart Anderson with an excellent round of 67. This was enough to win the Jotun Open scratch trophy by a margin of three shots from Stuart Fox who took second place with a fine round of 70. Jordan Leask was in third place on 72, Michael Boxwell was fourth on 73 and Alan Harcus fifth, also on 73.

The best score from outwith the islands was given to Sandy Manson with a score of net 73. Further prizes were awarded to Maurice Clark for the longest drive on the 11th hole, David Kerr who was 3 feet from the pin on the 17th (but then three-putted!) and Tam Sinclair who was nearest the pin in two on the 8th. Tam also won nearest the pin on the 2nd hole when he very nearly holed his tee shot.

Club captain Stuart Fox presented Stuart and Paul with their trophies and thanked all the staff and volunteers who worked hard to make the day a success, in particular the greens staff for the presentation of the course.

The long awaited return of lighter nights saw the return of Wednesday golf competitions last week. A glorious sunny day ensured a very good turnout with 40 players taking part in a summer league sweepstake. Last year’s summer league winner Chris Conboy got off to a flier in this year’s competition when he took first place with a fine score of 76 (net 63) to pip David Kirk’s 83 (net 64) by one shot, both players trimming one shot off their handicap in the process. In third place was Gary Wiseman with a score of 79 (net 65) and in fourth was Andy Glen 87 (net 66).

This weekend sees the yearly Old Rock tournament take place tomorrow between Shetland GC, Whalsay GC, Lounge and Masonic golf teams. Teams will be posted on the golf club website and play will start at 10.00 am. The May monthly medal will be played on Sunday.