Result - Blue Tees Scramble — PGA Centenary Course. Saturday 15th August.
Collier, Bruce & McColgan Conquer the PGA in Style
A day of sunshine, birdies, beavers, buried tees — and a very happy birthday.
Gleneagles' magnificent PGA Centenary Course basked in mild, sunny conditions on Saturday — a hint of breeze the only concession to the Scottish climate — as thirty-three Dun Whinny members descended on Jack Nicklaus' masterpiece for the Blue Tees Scramble. The blue tees, it should be noted, were observed by all. The white tees remained entirely unmolested.
When the dust settled, the scorecards were counted, and the groans subsided, one team stood gloriously apart: Michael Collier, David Bruce and David McColgan, who returned a magnificent gross 65 to claim the Blue Tees Scramble title in emphatic fashion.
The Champions: A Round of Distinction
From the outset, Collier, Bruce and McColgan played with a composure and precision that belied the early 7:30am start — a tee time that requires either extraordinary dedication or a very understanding alarm clock.
The highlights were numerous, but three moments defined their round:
The 7th — Michael Collier stepped up and drained a long-range putt that had absolutely no right going in. It did. The kind of putt that makes playing partners simultaneously applaud and quietly reassess their own putting grip.
The 13th — With the green seemingly conspiring against them, the team produced a chip-in for birdie of the highest order. Cool, clinical, and utterly decisive.
The 16th — Saving perhaps the most audacious moment for the closing stretch, the team sank a 25-foot putt for birdie. At that point, the PGA Centenary had been well and truly tamed.
A gross 65 on this course, from the blue tees, in a scramble format, is a score to be genuinely proud of. Congratulations to Michael Collier, David Bruce and David McColgan — thoroughly deserving champions, and a credit to the club.
The Full Leaderboard
Pos Team Gross
🥇 1 Collier + Bruce + McColgan 65
🥈 2 Stewart + Law + Cantlay 68
🥉 3 Simpson + Logie + McLeary 69
4 McNeill + Aitchison + MacKenzie 70
5 Dickson + Ali + Cooper 71
5* Higham + McCulloch + Grant 71*
6 Dickson + Johnson + Lothian 72
=6 Beattie + Longmuir + Wadsworth 72
8 Crockart + Black + Abercrombie 74
9 Fletcher + Lewis + Nicolson 76
10 Wallace + Penman + Mitchell 78
*Higham + McCulloch + Grant posted a fine score of 71 but were unfortunately recorded as "Cards Not Returned" due to an app failure. The score stands and is duly recognised here.
A special mention must go to Mark Higham, Thomas McCulloch and Sandy Grant, who — fresh from their Panmure exploits — posted a very creditable 71, only to find that the competition app had other ideas. Technology, it seems, is no respecter of good golf. Their score is noted, recognised, and applauded by this correspondent.
Honourable Mentions
Stewart, Law & Cantlay deserve considerable credit for second place with a 68 — Alistair Cantlay, son of Vice Captain Mike, clearly inherited something useful from the family gene pool after all.
Simpson, Logie & McLeary — with Club Champion David Logie at the helm — posted a fine 69 for third. Which brings us rather neatly to a very important announcement.
🎂 Happy Birthday, David Logie! The Club Champion celebrated his birthday on the fairways of the PGA Centenary today — and what better way to mark the occasion than a podium finish. Many happy returns to the young whippersnapper. May your handicap remain as sharp as your short game.
McNeill, Aitchison & MacKenzie — this correspondent's pre-tournament favourites — came fourth with 70. Dr Tom MacKenzie, fresh from Gordon Lockhart glory, will no doubt point out that the scramble format is an entirely different discipline. He is not wrong, but fourth is still fourth, and Billy Z. McNeill wore it with his customary rakish charm.
Dispatches from the 8:00am Tee: A Correspondent's Confession
And now, with the results filed and the winners congratulated, your correspondent must turn to the rather more uncomfortable business of self-reporting.
The 8:00am group of Dr Jonathan Dickson, Jon Cooper and this correspondent, Tariq Ali, began with considerable promise. Jon Cooper — one of a few Englishmen in the field, carrying the flag for the south with characteristic determination — sank a birdie putt on the 1st to set the tone magnificently. He then proceeded to nail a wedge to three feet on the 2nd, leaving the team purring.
Spirits were high. Confidence was soaring. The PGA Centenary appeared entirely conquerable.
Then came the 3rd tee.
This correspondent took steady aim, addressed the ball with what felt like textbook composure, and proceeded to top it so catastrophically that the tee was driven deep into the ground and the ball — in an act of apparent self-preservation — disappeared entirely at the front of the tee box. Lost. Gone. Vanished without trace. The PGA Centenary had seen enough.
What followed was, in the interests of journalistic honesty, a procession of lost balls that would have kept a greenkeeper's lost property box well stocked for the remainder of the season. The scorecard, however, was returned — a gross 71, and this correspondent is claiming every single shot of it.
The Real Entertainment: Dr Jonny's Lecture Series
If the golf occasionally faltered, the company most certainly did not. Dr Jonathan Dickson — playing with the calm authority of a man who has seen considerably more remarkable things than a topped tee shot — kept spirits elevated throughout with a series of increasingly fascinating conversational diversions.
Topics covered during eighteen holes included: Beaver Watching (apparently a legitimate and growing wildlife pursuit in Scotland), cloning (the scientific kind, one assumes), and a thoroughly absorbing history of the Haldane clan that would not have been out of place in a university lecture theatre.
Jon Cooper, meanwhile, spent a considerable portion of the back nine attempting to establish whether Beaver Watching was, in fact, a euphemism for something else entirely. Dr Jonny maintained a dignified silence on the matter. The beavers, presumably, were unavailable for comment.
A Word to the Whole Field
What a day it was. From the first tee shot at 7:30am to the final putt holed as the Perthshire sun began its gentle descent, the Blue Tees Scramble delivered everything that makes Dun Whinny such a special club: fierce but friendly competition, outstanding camaraderie, and the kind of stories that will be retold at the bar for months to come.
The scramble format brought out the very best in every team — encouraging bold play, collective decision-making, and the occasional moment of sheer brilliance that only golf can produce. Congratulations to every single player who took part today. You were a credit to the club, to the course, and to the spirit of the game.
Special thanks to Gleneagles and the PGA Centenary for providing the most magnificent of stages.
This correspondent is now off to research the migratory habits of the Scottish Beaver. Purely for journalistic purposes. Jon Cooper is welcome to draw his own conclusions.
