Result - Club Championship and Millennium Qualifier One. Saturday June 6th. Queen’s. White Tee.
Qualifier Round 1 Report
Today marked the opening round of both the Club Championship and the Millennium Trophy qualifiers, and with reigning champion David Logie absent, there was a definite sense on the first tee that the door was open for someone else to step forward and lay an early claim to the crown.
The weather did its best to remind everyone that June in Scotland is often more of a theory than a fact. It was chilly, the sky was packed with heavy cloud, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. The Queen’s, from the white tees, was never going to give much away in those conditions, and so it proved. Good golf had to be earned.
At the top of the pile after Round 1 sits Mark Higham, whose excellent 72 gross also translated into a superb 66 net. That was the standout round of the day by any measure and gives him a very handy cushion heading to next week’s second qualifier over the King’s Course from the whites—which is not, as we know, a place for the nervous or the slightly wayward.
Behind him, David McColgan played his way into a strong position with 75 gross, while Tony Moran and Neil Lock both posted 76s to stay firmly in the hunt. Alastair Cantlay is nicely placed on 77, and Ken Marshall, who was at pains to let everyone know that he had made five birdies over the King’s earlier this week, is still very much in the conversation after a 78. Whether that earlier bulletin was a warning or merely a public service announcement remains to be seen, but it has certainly added a little intrigue to next Saturday.
The final two provisional Club Championship spots, according to today’s sheet, are currently held by Alan Penman and Michael Page, both on 79 gross. That said, the picture is beautifully tight, because Colin Campbell and David Lymburn are also on 79 and sit just outside. So while Higham has the early advantage, this is far from settled.
On the handicap side, the Millennium race is just as interesting. Excluding those currently occupying the top eight gross positions, the leading net qualifiers after Round 1 are Michael Cantlay (67), Daley Smith (67), Jonathan Fletcher (68), Kevin Dickson (68), Mike Collier (69), Paul Wadsworth (69), Aidan O’Carroll (70) and your correspondent, Tariq Ali (71). Lurking immediately behind are Paul Lewis and David Lymburn, also well within striking distance, so no one in that bracket will be sleeping particularly soundly before next week.
There were plenty of stories along the way, because there always are.
Your correspondent’s playing partner, Aidan O’Carroll, suffered a painful recurrence of what can only be described as the Jabber the Putts, leaving a number of strokes out on the course. Tee to green there was much to admire; on and around the greens there was rather more anguish. Even so, he still signed for 84 gross, 70 net, which leaves him very much in the Millennium picture if the putter can be persuaded to behave itself next week.
Dr Jonnie Dickson enjoyed one of the more memorable starts to the day. On the 6th, after receiving a highly fortuitous bounce off the wall with his drive, he nearly turned the good fortune into a birdie. More importantly, he recorded his best-ever front nine, all achieved without the lucky bucket hat. That alone may require further investigation. He came home with 83 gross, 72 net, a score that keeps him interested in the handicap race.
Tony Moran, meanwhile, produced one of the rounds of the day and also one of the holes of the day at the 15th. His first tee shot disappeared well right and down the slope. The provisional went left. Leaving his playing partners to hunt for ball one, Tony pressed on with ball two, only for the original to be found. At that stage, by all accounts, he would have needed flares and perhaps light aircraft to identify the precise whereabouts of the green, but somehow he escaped with a bogey. It was a fine example of golfing resilience, mild chaos, and a man refusing to make anything worse than it already was.
Then there was Paul Kelly on the 17th. His tee shot was topped straight into the bush in front of the tee. His second advanced all of 40 yards. His third found the green. And then, because golf occasionally enjoys rewarding sheer stubbornness, he rolled in a 20-footer for bogey. Some bogies feel like dropped shots. Others feel like spiritual victories.
But the story of the day belongs to Paul Wadsworth, also on the 17th. Paul managed to tee off three balls on the hole and couldn’t find any of them. What he did find, however, were eight other golf balls, which is useful if you are stocking up, less so if you are trying to complete a medal round. Forced back to the tee to play a fourth ball, he eventually took 11. And yet—this is where the tale rises to greatness—he still came in with a magnificent 69 net. That takes some doing. Most men would have been emotionally unavailable for the closing holes after such an experience. Paul simply carried on.
Elsewhere, Michael Cantlay’s 67 net gives him a strong early hold on the Millennium side, while Daley Smith, also on 67 net, has positioned himself nicely. Jonathan Fletcher and Kevin Dickson both posted 68 net, solid, competitive scores that could prove very valuable by the time the second round is done. And while Mike Collier’s 88 gross does not flatter him on the championship side, his 69 net keeps his handicap hopes alive.
So, after the opening day, the picture is this:
Provisional Club Championship top 8 after Round 1
Mark Higham – 72
David McColgan – 75
Tony Moran – 76
Neil Lock – 76
Alastair Cantlay – 77
Ken Marshall – 78
Alan Penman – 79
Michael Page – 79
Provisional Millennium top 8 after Round 1
Excluding those above:
Michael Cantlay – 67
Daley Smith – 67
Jonathan Fletcher – 68
Kevin Dickson – 68
Mike Collier – 69
Paul Wadsworth – 69
Aidan O’Carroll – 70
Tariq Ali – 71
But it would be a brave person who thought either competition was anything like settled. Next week we head to the King’s from the white tees, and that is where scorecards can quickly become works of fiction. Higham holds the early advantage, but Moran, Lock, Cantlay and Marshall are all close enough to apply pressure. In the Millennium race, the margins are even finer, and one decent round could transform the whole bracket.
In short: an excellent opening day, some fine scoring, some proper scrambling, and enough incidents on the 17th alone to fill a committee inquiry. Exactly as qualifying golf should be.
