Draw - Club Championship and Millennium Qualifier One. Saturday June 6th. Queen’s. White Tee.

Round 1 Preview

This weekend sees the opening act of one of the most important stretches in the Dun Whinny calendar, as the first round of the Club Championship and Millennium Qualifiers takes place over the Queen’s Course from the white tees.

Now, the Queen’s has a habit of being slightly underestimated in these matters. It does not bludgeon you in the manner of the PGA, nor does it wear the stern expression of the King’s, but from the white tees it remains a wonderfully exacting test. It asks for sensible placement from the tee, crisp iron play into greens that never seem quite as large as one remembers, and the good judgement to know when to attack and when to settle for par with gratitude. In short, it is an entirely fitting venue for the start of championship golf.

As ever, this is the first of two qualifying rounds, with places in both knockout competitions up for grabs. The best eight aggregate gross scores across the two rounds will progress to the Club Championship knockout stages, while the top eight aggregate net scores not already through to the Championship will qualify for the Millennium Handicap Knockout, which runs alongside it. In other words, there is something meaningful to play for whether your ambitions are scratch silverware, handicap glory, or simply surviving the Queen’s with enough dignity left to order lunch.

Last year’s champions cast a long enough shadow to add a bit of spice to the business. David Logie returns as defending Club Champion, while Rob Crockart is the reigning Millennium winner. Both men are back in the field, both know how to handle this sort of pressure, and both will be well aware that in qualifying golf, a poor first round is the sort of thing that tends to sit heavily on the shoulders all week.

The draw itself offers plenty to enjoy.

The opening group at 7:00am features Mike Collier, Thomas McCulloch and Scott Williamson. That is a serious start to the day. Collier’s pedigree is well established, McCulloch is more than capable of producing the sort of round that puts everyone else on alert, and Williamson has enough class to ensure nobody in that group will be allowed a sleepy opening nine.

At 7:10am, Billy Z McNeill, Eric Lambert and David McColgan head out. Billy Z in a qualifying competition is always a matter of public interest, particularly when one of the routes involves net scoring. Lambert, Dun Whinny’s resident actuary, will no doubt already have calculated every possible route to qualification, while McColgan has the sort of name that makes one feel he could feature prominently if the putter behaves.

The 7:20am group of Aidan O’Carroll, Tariq Ali and Paul Kelly has the look of a potentially lively affair. O’Carroll has shown enough to suggest he could post something useful, Kelly is more than capable of solid qualifying golf, and your correspondent, Mr Ali, will no doubt be hoping to make progress without becoming the progress report.

At 7:30am, Jonathan Dickson, Michael Page and Kevin Dickson offer another intriguing trio. Page, fresh from his recent starring turn on the Queen’s, will arrive in confident mood and may well fancy another prominent showing. If he putts with even moderate goodwill, he will not be far away.

Then comes a particularly interesting run of groups. Keith Stirling, Frank Johnson and defending Millennium champion Rob Crockart are out at 7:40am, with Crockart surely eager to prove last year’s victory was no isolated act of handiwork. At 7:50am, Alan Black, Crawford Gray and Mark Higham go out in a three-ball packed with experience and enough golfing ability to make a proper mark on the gross side.

The 8:00am group may be one of the strongest in the field: Ken Marshall, Tony Moran and Paul Lewis. Marshall’s recent form makes him difficult to ignore, Moran always looks built for championship golf, and Lewis is the sort of player who can quietly move himself into the frame before others have realised quite what is happening.

At 8:10am, Rob Simpson, Paul Wadsworth and Daley Smith will feel there is plenty to play for. Wadsworth’s recent scoring suggests he is in more than decent order, while Daley Smith has enough competitiveness about him to ensure no hole is given up lightly, however much the Queen’s may invite such thoughts.

The 8:20am tee time is another notable one, featuring Neil Lock, Kevin Beattie and Iain Aitchison. If there is to be a particularly sharp gross score posted on Saturday morning, this looks a very plausible source. Aitchison in particular has the kind of game that can thrive in championship conditions, provided the card remains free of the sort of one-hole vandalism that ruins many a qualifying effort.

Then, at 8:30am, comes what might fairly be described as the marquee group: Colin Campbell, Jonathan Fletcher, Alastair Cantlay and David McLeod. There is class, form and enough competitive instinct in that fourball to keep the rest of the field glancing over their shoulders. Cantlay, especially, will always attract attention in a championship setting, while Campbell and Fletcher are more than capable of giving the gross leaderboard a very polished look.

At 8:40am, Jim Stewart, Ken Swa, Michael Cantlay and Tom MacKenzie follow, before 8:50am gives us Sandy Grant, David Lymburn, Allister Wallace and Douglas Hamilton. Wallace’s recent run of strong performances makes him impossible to overlook, and if confidence counts for anything in qualifying golf, he arrives with plenty of it.

The final group at 9:00am brings together Stuart Wallace, Alan Penman, Bill Sexton and Patrick Elsmie, which feels a fittingly experienced closing act. Sexton always looks capable of finding a way into these things, while Elsmie is more than capable of quietly assembling the sort of net score that keeps the Millennium calculators busy.

So where might the eye be drawn? David Logie, as defending champion, will naturally command attention even before a ball is struck. Rob Crockart will be keen to mount another Millennium charge. Michael Page, Ken Marshall, Tony Moran, Alastair Cantlay, Mike Collier, and Allister Wallace all arrive with either form, history, or enough raw ability to make themselves very relevant very quickly.

And that, really, is the beauty of these qualifying rounds. Nobody wins the trophies this weekend, but plenty can be gained and just as much can be lost. A sharp opening round can make next week feel full of promise. A ragged one can leave a player needing something heroic merely to stay alive.

By Saturday afternoon, some men will be eyeing the knockout brackets with quiet satisfaction. Others will be talking bravely about “still being in it” while doing mental arithmetic over a sandwich. Championship golf has begun.