Craig Irvine is this year’s Stonehaven Golf Club champion, lifting the trophy for the (count them), eighth time. It takes patience and aplomb to keep it together for 72 holes and once again Craig demonstrated a consistency that many failed to display, more of which later.
Perhaps the key moment in this year’s event followed the abandonment of the third round on the Wednesday evening. Haar had rolled in and settled over the course to scupper any chance of play, a misfortune demanding the rescheduling of rounds 3 and 4. All very well for most of us, but it denied Craig involvement in Cowie Thistle’s end of season Benidorm bender, a disappointment that redoubled his determination. Rounds of 66,65,64,71 won him the championship, the most admirable display perhaps being the final round played in windy conditions and under significant pressure.
Jason Barbour kept the winner honest, not allowing the four shot deficit as they entered the final round to extend until well into the guts of the back nine. The eventual winning margin was six shots, Jason closing within three at the turn, however a resolute Craig continued his relentless march to end up triumphing with room to spare. It was a splendid effort from both players to compile four consecutive good scores and not succumb to the veritable nosebleed that many would doubtless suffer at the sharp end of the leader board.
Such patience and consistency can’t be said of defending champion, Bruce Ferguson, who’s title didn’t so much slip from his hands as be unceremoniously dumped into the waste bucket at a rate of knots. The first 15 holes of his scheduled 72 were conducted with aplomb but the 16th became his undoing thanks to a hapless dose of the Lucy Locketts. Let me explain…
There’s a particular shot in golf that sends shivers down one’s spine, a stroke which finds one heading home for a lie down in a darkened room, a cold flannel placed upon the forehead. It’s called a ‘shank’ and comes to pass when the ball is met, not by the blade of the club, but the socket, where the club-head meets the shaft. This hapless connection finds the ball disappearing at right angles, often at great speed, and never to an intended location. And it came to pass therefore that Bruce stood over an eighty yard pitch to the 16th green, the hole’s fairway running parallel and in close proximity to the adjacent train track. His first attempt found the driver of the 11:16 Aberdeen to Glasgow screeching on the anchors before Bruce’s golf ball took the windscreen out, attempt two fared little better, almost decapitating a competitor teeing off on the 9th the other side of the tracks and attempt number three carries no report given his playing partners could no longer bear to look. Three ba’s oot, head gone, the defending champion holing out minutes later for a grotesque eleven.
Last year Ferguson was chaired off the final green by his caddie (The Stoney Santa), but there was no such pomp and ceremony this time. Said caddie was having nothing to do with Ferguson this year, having no wish to be associated with his progressive tale of woe, and it was a pitiful sight indeed to watch the deposed club champion skulk despondently from the final green, onlookers wondering how on earth he won it last year. Ferguson’s four round tally of 302 (78,70,76,78) left him a full thirty six shots behind the winner and if there’s any justice he’ll offer a generous contribution to the club’s nominated charity having sullied the reputation of the event so appallingly. Word has it that his attention has now turned to the grand slam since he’s won the Junior & Club championships and qualifies for participation in the Seniors next season. Perhaps a penalty for his lame defence would be for him to undertake a ‘procedure’ to qualify for the Ladies Championship in 2028, providing him an opportunity for the ultimate clean sweep.
Ferguson wasn’t the only player to pull up short this year however. Multi-time former champion Kevin Riddell lead at the halfway stage but suffered one of those days in the third round where the ball departs the golf course on a regular basis. Iain Brattey rattled a stick at it for a while but ended up well off the pace, jousting with Stuart Wright for third place like two bald men fighting over a comb. Michael Wood huffed and puffed but was never within a million miles of blowing the house down, and Neil Irvine seemingly decided to conserve all energy for the Seniors Championship the following week. Alex Russon, one of the favourites coming into the event, figured prominently for the first two holes but gradually fell away during the subsequent seventy, a bad back and an off-putting playing partner in rounds 3 and 4 his undoing.
So another club championship comes and goes. Congratulations once again to Craig Irvine for a stellar display, perhaps the respective tourist boards of Stonehaven & Benidorm might honour his achievement by twinning our two towns? Craig can play the final round wearing a sombrero and their champion can complete his final round in a kilt.
Results
Top 6 below (all other scoring unpublished to protect the dignity of those responsible).
| 1 | Craig Irvine | 266 | |
| 2 | Jason Barbour | 272 | |
| 3 | Stuart Wright | 285 | |
| 4 | Iain Brattey | 285 | |
| 5 | Neil Irvine | 289 | |
| 6 | Michael Wood | 296 |