28/10/11
The Belhaven Best Captains & Secretaries Championship Grand Final, one of Scotland's most popular events, is hoping for third time lucky next week to bring the curtain down on the Scottish Golf Union season.
Launched by Belhaven and the SGU back in 2006, the national championship for Scotland's captains and secretaries has already been postponed twice this year due to the adverse weather. It is now hoped the rescheduled staging at The Golf House Club, Elie, in Fife, next Tuesday, 1 November, will see the competition concluded.
Pollok Golf Club in Glasgow were originally due to host the tournament, but in order to fulfil this year’s fixture list the decision was made to move the event to a seaside links course.
Forty teams from across Scotland will now gather at Elie hoping to follow in the spike marks of last year’s winning team from Duddingston, club captain Gavin Clark and secretary Duncan Ireland, who will be back to defend their title.
The event is open to all SGU affiliated golf clubs in Scotland, with each captain and secretary invited to take part in one of five regional finals in Scotland.
Those finals took place in the North, South, East, West and Central at Musselburgh, Dunfermline, Inverness, Hamilton and Williamwood Golf Clubs from April to August, with the leading eight club pairings qualifying for the Grand Final.
Clark and Ireland stormed to a superb 10-under 63 to edge out Downfield and win the championship at Murrayshall last September.
The Duddingston pairing’s stunning inward half of 29, seven-under par, gave them the title in Perthshire after they finished tied alongside Downfield’s Sam Marshall and David Hart, who were three-under par for their back nine.
Previous team winners of the event were: Dumfries & Galloway (2009), Saline (2008), Polmont (2007) and Kintore (2006).
Shelagh Bryce, Director of Customer Services for Belhaven, said: “The Belhaven Best Captains and Secretaries Championship has grown into a hugely popular event since we launched it back in 2006 and we are looking forward to staging the sixth final at Elie, which is a fantastic venue for the final.
“Belhaven is proud to support the Scottish Golf Union and sponsorship of this championship gives us the opportunity to say thank you to the hard-working volunteers and secretaries at Scotland’s golf clubs who have helped us grow the Belhaven Best brand.”
The Golf House Club, Elie – situated just 12 miles from ‘The Home of Golf’ in St Andrews - is a scenic lay-out with views over the Firth of Forth to North Berwick, Muirfield and Gullane. Formed in 1875, only a handful of clubs in Scotland are older than Elie and the course is a classic example of links golf.
Next Tuesday’s format is a 4-ball better ball stroke play championship, over 18 holes, with a 3/4 handicap allowance. It is a shotgun start at 10am.
The full list of clubs who have qualified for the final can be accessed by clicking here.