The day proved a huge success thanks to some excellent organisation from the Ladies' Captain, Nan Byars, and her committee, who certainly gave their male counterparts in the club a high standard to match for the Men's Open competition next month.
There was generous praise afterwards from many of the visitors, who said they had much to appreciate: from the warm welcome at the check-in desk and complimentary bottles of water, to an immaculately-blazered Gerry Parker as starter on the first tee (relieved at times by an equally smart Bob Leiper), plus a welcome seat and cup of coffee at the gully hut, re-opened specially for the occasion.
One of the visitors, just back from a fortnight's golf abroad, asked for his compliments to be passed on to the greenkeepers as none of the courses he played during his break were in such good condition as Stonehaven.
So while the club did its best to please its guests, the local golfers were not quite so generous with Stonehaven players taking the top prizes in both main events.
In the scratch, Stewart Allsop and Nikki McAuley put together a superb first nine holes to turn in 30, two under par, before wobbling alarmingly in the field. However, they hung on to beat Iain Taylor (Stonehaven) and his partner, Sarah Beattie (Portlethen), by two shots.
In the handicap event, big Ron Gilmour set the tone of his round by smacking a huge drive on to the first green. He and his better half Evelyn started off 3, 3, 4 – an excellent start for anyone at Stonehaven – and, apart from the thirteenth when they ran up a triple bogey, they kept it steady throughout to finish on net 60.8, pipping a pair from Huntly by 0.2 of a stroke.

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Mixed Open Greensomes: Scratch: 71 S Allsop/N McAuley (Stonehaven); 73 I Taylor (Stonehaven)/S Beattie (Portlethen); 74 A Duncan/C Duncan (Stonehaven). Handicap: 60.8 R Gilmour (10)/E Gilmour (28) (Stonehaven); 61 R Long/H Long (Huntly); 61.8 J Stoddard/S Revell (Portlethen). Best local scratch: S Allsop/N McAuley. Nearest the pin (ladies) F Rennie (Dunfermline). Longest Drive (men): A Mann (Portlethen).



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Kenny Gordon and David Summers won the J M Adamson Greensomes on Saturday, with a score of net 60.5.

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J M Adamson Greensomes: (leading scores): 60.5 K Gordon /D Summers (15.5); 61.5 S Allsop/A Bruce (10.5); 61.5 J Lonie/M Dick (10.5).



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Neil Robertson, who must be one of the fittest pensioners in Stonehaven, became Senior Champion for the second time last week.
He started the final round two shots behind the holder, Harry Roulston, but fought back to lift the Taylor Trophy by two shots.
The handicap event, for the Carnegie Cup, went to Keith Taylor who just squeezed past Bob Smith by one shot.
Neil Robertson has been enjoying a hot streak of form recently, including a 5&3 drubbing of Neil Irvine earlier last week in the D F Leslie Shield, the club's scratch match-play championship.
The Seniors should have been easy after that and Robertson made it look that way when he played the first nine holes in 30 shots to lead by four.
However, he arrived on the last green only one shot ahead of Roulston, who drove just off the back edge of the eighteenth. Robertson, meantime, hooked his drive left and his ball finished only a foot or so from the graveyard wall.
He was unable to get a proper swing but eventually managed to stab a lob wedge over the bunker in front of him, his ball finishing three feet from the pin. It was a shot worthy of winning the Senior Championship.

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Senior Championship: Scratch (Taylor Trophy): Winner Neil Robertson (72+78+68) 218; runner-up Harry Roulston (73+75+72) 220. Handicap (Carnegie Cup); Winner Keith Taylor (10) (66+69+63) 198. Runner-up Bob Smith (12) (70+67+62) 199.



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Club champion Euan Kennedy kept Stonehaven's hopes alive in the North-east Champion of Champions Trophy with a home win over Matt Verling of Gordonians. Euan let slip an early lead and was happy to par the last and walk off with a one hole victory.

"Controlled Fade"