HOLIDAY GOLF TRIP PAYING OFF FOR USA STUDENT

  Rachel Polson and her dad Alasdair after their mixed foursomes success at Brora. Picture by Robin Wilson

RACHEL POLSON'S DOUBLE WHAMMY 

VICTORIES IN THE NORTH
FROM ROBIN WILSON

With strong Helmsdale connections and holidaying this week in Helmsdale for  the start of Brora Golf Club's busy week of open events,  Rachel Polson, whose parents' home is in Peterculter, won  last Saturday’s pipe-opening competition, the Women's Clynelish 18 Hole Open.

Just turned 21, Polson has returned to her family home near Aberdeen for the summer break from America and is currently with her parents holidaying in Helmsdale.  
Rachel has just finished her third of a four year course studying Marketing at the Florida Institute of Technology where on her golf scholarship she has reduced her golf handicap to two playing in USA collegiate events,which has brought her to the attention of the Scottish Ladies Golf Association and she is now a member of the SLGA's overseas elite training squad.

Rachel's entry into the Brora event gave her a late afternoon starting time when, more accustomed to sunny Florida she did not cope too well with the falling temperature and oncoming rain and  struggled to a four over par 40 blows for Brora's outward stretch.  
Already in the clubhouse from playing in the better morning conditions was a gross card of 75 compiled  from two excellent halves of 37 and 38 by Wick's Deirdre MacAngus.

Turning for home with the helping wind on her back Polson birdied the par five 11^th hole and all but all but drove the green at the 273 yard twelfth to record her second birdie of the round - but better was to come. 
The 282 yard 14^th green was found from the tee and the resulting eagle 2 had her card back to level par after 14 holes.

Then the USA college student went from being four over par at one stage to one under with another birdie on the 16^th hole before all her good work was undone with a succession of poor shots at the difficult penultimate hole. 
She was till 60 yards short of the 17^th green and in a bunker after three,then required two more shots to arrive on the putting surface for a three over par triple bogey 7 to blight her card, following up on the final hole with a bogey four. 
Nevertheless she signed off with 74 to edge one ahead of MacAngus and win the scratch Nicol Bowl for the first time.

MacAngus slipped into first handicap place in the Silver Division with nett 67 after being pipped for the overall handicap trophy on a last nine hole count-back by Perthshire visitor Susan Ogg from Dunkeld and Birnham, while the two trophies confined to local members were won by Angela Grant with a nett card of 69 off 18.

Brora Women's Open Result
  CSS: Home 70, Visitors 71

SCRATCH
74 R Poslon (Peterculter).
75 D MacAngus (Wick).
81 L Beaney (Brora)
83 Y Blyth (Prestonfield)
HANDICAP
Silver Division – D MacAngus (Wick) (8) 67. A Grant (Brora) (18) 69. A Clarke (Brora) (16) 70. Bronze Division – A Darlington (Brora) (29) 71. A Sutherland (Brora) (26) 72. S Anderson (Brora) (27) 74.

Nicol Trophy R Polson.  
Hunter Trophy A Grant. 
Brora Salver A Grant. 
Brora Bowl S Ogg.

Twenty-four hours later it was the turn of the men to join the women for the Cairngorm Solar Panels mixed foursomes where one pairing made a successful defence of the scratch trophy and two other pairings returned to recapture previously won handicap trophies.

All on her own Peterculter's Rachael Polson scored  74 to win the previous day's women's open and should have equalled or even bettered this score with the help of her father Alasdair in the mixed event. 
After an outward 38 the Polsons partnership was comfortably defending the scratch Brora Salver, and still just three over par they arrived on the 15^th tee where Dad drove out of bounds to raise their inward count to 38. 
But their 76 won by three from local head greenkeeper James MacBeath and lady section secretary, Marlene Bokas.

Winners on the low handicap RM Street Shield in 2009 and 2012 local couple Michael MacKintosh and Lynda Mackay won the Shield for a third time with a nett score of 72.5 while from the higher group regular Clynelish Week visitors from Edinburgh, Derek and Corine Blyth of Prestonfield Golf Club, repeated their 2011 winning  of the AL Mackay Quaich with a nett 70.5.

Mixed Results
SCRATCH
A and R Polson (Peterculter) 76; J MacBeath and M Bokas (Brora) 79; L MacDonald (Brora) and R Bonnin (Marseilles) 80. 
HANDICAP
Class 1 – M MacKintosh and L Mackay (Brora), A Powell (Murcar Links) and D Powell (Brora) 72.5; C MacDonald (The Nairn) and J McAndrew (Pumphertson) 73. 
Class 2 – D and C Blyth (Prestonfield) 70.5; D Macrae (Inverness) and A Sutherland (Brora) 71; J Innes (Inverness) and H Proctor (Golspie) 72; T Dodds and A McCree (Brora) 73.