Draw - Club Championship and Millennium Qualifier Two. Saturday June 13th. King’s. White Tee.
Round 2 Preview
This Saturday brings the second and decisive qualifying round for both the Club Championship and the Millennium Trophy, with the action moving from last week’s Queen’s examination to the sterner business of the King’s Course.
And that, as everyone knows, changes the mood entirely.
The Queen’s may have sorted the field out nicely last week, but the King’s from the whites is a different proposition altogether. It asks harder questions, offers fewer easy answers, and has a habit of turning a promising qualification campaign into a bout of mental arithmetic somewhere around the 14th. If last week was about laying a foundation, this week is about holding your nerve when the floorboards begin to creak.
With David Logie absent from the qualifying series, the Club Championship has felt unusually open from the outset, and Round 1 did nothing to quieten that sense. Mark Higham leads the gross standings after a superb 72 at the Queen’s, and he goes out this week at 8:10am alongside Tony Moran and Crawford Gray in what looks one of the key groups of the day. Higham has the advantage, but only just. Moran sits right behind him after a fine 76, and on a course like the King’s, four shots is a margin that can disappear before the turn if one man starts well and another finds a bunker with philosophical tendencies.
Also firmly in the gross picture is David McColgan, second after Round 1 on 75, and he has a particularly interesting draw at 7:20am with Mike Collier and Andy Lothian. Collier currently sits outside the gross top eight but remains close enough to mount a charge, while Lothian is more than capable of inserting himself into the story if he gets the putter going. McColgan, though, knows a steady round could be enough to book his place without too much unnecessary drama.
Last week’s other leading gross men are all still very much in the frame. Neil Lock, tied third after his 76, is out first at 7:00am with Iain Aitchison and Aidan O’Carroll. That is an early group full of players with plenty to play for. Lock is protecting a strong gross position, Aitchison will feel he can still play his way in, and O’Carroll, if the putter can be persuaded to stop jabbering, remains a live contender on the Millennium side.
Alastair Cantlay, sitting on 77 after Round 1, goes at 8:30am with Rob Simpson and Bill Sexton. He will surely fancy his chances of making the gross eight, but nothing about that group looks straightforward. Simpson has enough game to produce a round from nowhere, while Sexton is the sort of man who enjoys being underestimated right up until the leaderboard says otherwise.
Then there is Ken Marshall, currently sixth on 78 gross, who tees off at 8:00am with Daley Smith and Paul Lewis. Ken was very keen last week that everyone should know about his five birdies on the King’s earlier in the week, and now comes the ideal opportunity to prove that this was not merely a press release. He is well placed, but not comfortably so, and a good front nine could transform “well placed” into “safely through.”
The final provisional gross qualifying spots after Round 1 were occupied by Alan Penman and Michael Page, both on 79, though the congested nature of the leaderboard means they are far from secure. Penman is out at 8:20am with Paul Wadsworth and Kevin Beattie, while Page goes at 7:40am with Billy Z McNeill and Frank Johnson. Of the two, Page perhaps has the slightly more awkward company, not least because Billy Z tends to hover threateningly over any conversation involving qualification, arithmetic, or net golf.
And that brings us neatly to the Millennium Trophy, where the battle is, if anything, even tighter.
After excluding the current top eight gross men, the leading net qualifiers from Round 1 were:
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
That list, however, comes with all the usual health warnings. Some of those players may yet play their way into the gross eight, which would in turn move the Millennium line. Others sitting just outside the current net places are close enough to overhaul them with one decent round on Saturday. In short, nobody in the handicap race should assume anything. With defending Millennium champ, Rob Crockart, DNFing last week the door is open for a new champion!
Michael Cantlay, joint leader of the Millennium standings, is out at 8:40am with Ian Bisland and Douglas Laing, and will feel a composed round could be enough to see him through. Daley Smith, likewise on 67 net, has the slightly more combustible company of Marshall and Lewis at 8:00am, though Daley is not the sort to be troubled by surrounding noise if his own game is in order.
Jonathan Fletcher, currently third in the Millennium race, is not in the field this Saturday, which opens the door a little wider for those below him. Kevin Dickson, by contrast, is very much present and goes at 7:30am with Paul Kelly and Eric Lambert in a group that could have major bearing on both the gross and net ladders. Kelly has enough game to produce something low if things click, while Lambert, as ever, will no doubt have calculated every qualification scenario by breakfast.
The draw also contains a number of dangerous floaters: players not currently occupying a qualifying place, but close enough to make a nuisance of themselves. Colin Campbell, out at 9:00am with Keith Stirling and Allister Wallace, is one such man on the gross side. Campbell’s Round 1 79 left him just outside the Club Championship eight, and a strong round on the King’s could change that quickly. Wallace, meanwhile, may yet have designs on the Millennium places if he can trim last week’s scoring by a few important strokes.
Similarly, Paul Kelly, Aidan O’Carroll, Paul Wadsworth and Tariq Ali and others in that awkward region between hope and certainty will know that qualification is still there to be claimed — but only if they take it.
That is the beauty and cruelty of Round 2. Last week gave everyone a number. This week gives them consequences.
By Saturday afternoon, the field will be divided neatly and mercilessly: the top eight gross aggregate scores qualifying for the Club Championship knockout stage, and the top eight net aggregate scores not already in the Club Championship progressing to the Millennium knockout stage next weekend. Some will emerge delighted, some disappointed, and some insisting that one hole — probably the 7th, 12th, or something involving deep rough — was solely responsible.
But as things stand, the storyline is set rather nicely. Higham leads, Moran stalks, Marshall eyes the King’s with published confidence, and the Millennium picture is gloriously unstable. Exactly as qualifying golf should be.
Important note for all competitors
If you think you may qualify for either the Club Championship or the Millennium knockout stage next weekend, please let us know as soon as possible whether you are available to play.
Please email Taz first, and if needed Iain second, so that after Saturday’s result we can confirm the final top 8 qualifiers for each event and prepare the knockout draws without delay.
