Scottish Alliance Championship
Hi everyone,
I played the Scottish Alliance Championship at Dalmahoy last week from the 15th-17th October. We got extremely lucky with the weather all 3 days as there was a lot of rain overnight and although it was fairly breezy each day the rain managed to stay away for each round. The format was 54 holes strokeplay, with all players playing one round on the East (main course) and one round on the West (smaller course), before the top half played the final round back on the Eats course.
The first round I was drawn to play on the East course, which off the back tees in a whopping 7400 yards, luckily due to the rain and mixture of abilities and ages in the field we played it at around 6900 yards which was still plenty long enough. The course was in good condition considering the weather we had over the previous few days and they had rolled the greens so they were quick. I played very well the first day, I hit 15 greens in regulation and shot a score of 2 under par 71. I was pleased with this as it showed some one the things I have been working on during the winter so far were beginning to pay off.
The second round I was playing on the West course, which is known as the small course but it is still very enjoyable to play. It is par 68 and 5200 yards but you have to position your ball well off the tees. I hit it well but I just couldn’t seem so chip it as close as I would have liked, the greens took a firm bounce with 30 yard chip shots and spun a lot from 80 yards. I ended up shooting a 1 under par 67 which I was not disappointed with but I felt like I had certainly left 2 or 3 shots out on the course.
The final round I was in the second last group, I was tied 3rd going into it, 2 shots behind the leaders. Once again I hit the ball well, I birdied the first hole to get off to a good start but bogeyed the long second into the win. I made my second 2 on the par 3 4th and the parred all the way round to 13 which I bogeyed. The thirteenth is one of the toughest golf holes I have played and the pin was on the side of a slope which made it even harder. I just missed for a couple of birdies on the last 6 but I finally got one on the 18th green which allowed me to jump ahead of 3 people and finish in sole 3rd. I was 2 behind the eventual winner Mark Kerr and 1 behind runner up Keir Mcnicoll.
I am very pleased with the way that I played and I am looking forward to continuing my winter practice and getting my game in great shape for next year.
