Golf: Fenwick secures scratch spoils with splendid 63

DUNBAR’S Neil Fenwick used a flying start to secure victory as the Edinburgh & East of Scotland Alliance resumed at Gullane No. 3 after the festive break.

Playing in one of the later groups, the Tartan Tour star started birdie-par-eagle-birdie en route to a five-
under 63.

It secured the scratch spoils after it had looked for much of the day as though it would take a card play-off to separate Jamie McLeary (Dalmahoy), Kier McNicoll (Gullane) and Chris Russell (Archerfield).

They’d all signed for 66s, but were eclipsed in the end by Fenwick, who earned himself a free trip to the ­Tunisia Golf Festival in Hammamet as a one-off special prize.

The top handicap prize was shared by three players after Danny Airens (Falkirk Tryst), Donny Munro (Kingsknowe) and Peter Ritchie (Bathgate) all finished on 64.

Senior spoils went to Harburn’s Stuart Wardlaw with a 66 off 12 on a day when 98 players lined up in the event.

In the scratch order of merit, meanwhile, Ratho Park’s Andrew Erskine holds on to his lead on 389 but Duddingston’s James Dick is now just three points behind, while Gordon Law (Uphall) on 386 and Chris Morris (Kingsknowe) on 382 are also within striking distance of the leader.

Falkirk Tryst’s Danny ­Airens leads the handicap rankings on 126.5, followed by Alan MacKay (Kingsknowe) on 97.5. The next event is on January 23 at the Glen, in North Berwick.