Draw - DF Darroch Trophy. Queen’s. White Tees. Saturday Oct 11th.
The DF Darroch Trophy returns to the Queen’s Course on Saturday, a fitting stage for Dun Whinny’s most mischievous Stableford. First awarded in 1985 in honour of Fraser Darroch—who preserved the spirit of Stuart Drysdale’s much‑loved Queens Stableford—this is the club’s autumn coda on a course that rewards guile, flight control, and a fearless putter on crowned greens. Expect scoring swings: Queen’s gifts three‑pointers to the bold and punishes the greedy with nett zeros in the blink of an eye.
The draw is deep with intrigue from the off. At 8:00, Daley Smith opens proceedings alongside Thomas McCulloch, Scott Williamson and Kevin Dickson—a quartet with enough horsepower to set an early clubhouse mark if the morning air is calm. Ten minutes later, David Frame goes with Colin Campbell, Ryan Longmuir and Tariq Ali; Frame’s short‑game inventiveness is well suited to Queen’s, while Campbell’s fairway‑first pattern often translates to quiet hauls of points. The 8:20 band brings a headline threesome of David McColgan, Andy Lothian and Tony Moran—three ball‑strikers whose birdie windows are wide enough to tilt the day. If McColgan’s driver behaves, he’s a danger to rip through the mid‑stretch where Queen’s can be had.
At 8:30, Billy Z McNeill, Rob Simpson and Eric Lambert promise entertainment, but the 8:40 tee time looks like a proper litmus test: Ken Marshall partners the mercurial David Logie and Christian Stewart—grit, flair and tempo in one group. Marshall’s point‑by‑point patience could be gold in Stableford; Logie’s ability to create birdie chances out of thin air remains box‑office. The 8:50 quartet—Neil Lock, Tony Stewart, Iain Aitchison and Mark Higham—reads like a scorebuilder’s dream: Lock and Higham rarely leave wedges short, and Aitchison’s tee‑to‑green is typically in cruise control. From 9:00 onward, keep an eye on Neil Coulson with Kevin Beattie and Paul Lewis: Coulson’s control and Beattie’s tidy card‑craft are tailor‑made for 3‑point pars and opportunistic 4‑pointers. The closing groups feature Scott Jack with Rob Crockart and Paul Wadsworth at 9:10, then David Bruce with Richard Bateman and Adrian Murphy at 9:20—Crockart’s course management and Wadsworth’s putting can quietly stack points while others trade doubles. The penultimate 9:30 quartet includes Jonathan Fletcher and David Watt with Stuart Wallace—steady operators who love a medal line but can thrive in Stableford if the putters warm. We finish at 9:40 with Bill Sexton, Ken Swa, Crawford Gray and Paul Kelly—Swa’s knack for keeping the ball in play makes him a classic Queens sleeper.
Shortlist for the silverware? McColgan for fireworks; Logie for birdie bursts; Campbell and Marshall for method; Higham and Aitchison for controlled aggression; Coulson and Beattie for the clinical accumulation that wins Stablefords more often than not. One prediction, then: if the breeze stays polite, look for a winning total in the mid‑to‑high 30s, set by a player who keeps the ball below the wind, lands it pin‑high on the par‑4s, and refuses to chase lost causes. The Darroch has always rewarded the art of knowing when not to be a hero—on Queen’s, discretion is the bravest part of valour.
