History was made at Aboyne Golf Club yesterday after the course record was broken after a 24-year wait.

Playing in the second round of the Club Championships, Craig Stephen (+1 handicap), shot a 61 to topple the record set by Colin Forbes.

Craig, a recent graduate from Brevard College in North Carolina, said “It felt like a normal round to start with, making 4 solid pars then birdied 5,6 and 7 and that got my attention.

Further birdies at 9 and 10 really got me thinking about the record and once I hit the 11th fairway I said to my playing partner Brian that this is my best chance to do it. I birdied 14 and 16 to get to -7 and then made 2 solid pars to finish.”

Craig went on “Shooting the course record at Aboyne has always been one of my goals and to finally do it I am very pleased.

It was nice to get a little note from Colin last evening congratulating me too. The course is in fantastic condition and the greens are just sublime
all down to Colin and his hardworking team of greenstaff.”

Club President Justin Grant said “Aboyne has a long history of producing excellent young players through our junior section as epitomised by Craig.

Through his hard work and dedication to his sport he has continued to progress, and it is clear the time he spent in the USA has paid dividends.”

Justin added “Craig has been our Club Champion for the past five years, so it seems only right and proper that this longstanding record is broken by a player of his calibre. Everyone at the club is delighted for him.”

Justin went on “Aboyne is due to host the Scottish Golf Men’s North-East Open in August and we look forward to seeing if the record can be challenged again by Scotland’s top amateur players.”

www.aboynegolfclub.co.uk

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Aboyne Golf Club is celebrating after its leading team of lady golfers retained their crown as County Champions at Newmacher yesterday.

Competing for the coveted Aberdeenshire Ladies County Golf Association (ALCGA) ‘Watt Duffus’ Cup, the team from Aboyne endured stiff competition on the Hawkshill course before securing the trophy.

Having hosted the competition in 2017, the Aboyne team comprising Kimberley Beveridge, Shannon McWilliam, Maryla Sime and Carmen Griffiths overcame the blustery conditions to take the cup back to Aboyne having secured the best 3 out of 4 scores qualifying for the final result.

Kimberley, a golf graduate from Tyler Junior College in Texas said “The course was in good condition; however, the windy conditions were very challenging. It was fantastic for the team to retain the trophy for the second consecutive year”.

Kimberley (Handicap 0.5) achieved a very credible score of 76 given the conditions. Meanwhile, Shannon (Handicap -3.8) – the only Scottish lady selected for the upcoming Curtis Cup match versus the USA – scored 78. The final qualifying player from Aboyne – and the current ALCGA Champion – Carmen Griffiths (Handicap 2.1) aged 14 also scored 78 to round off the victory.

Lady Captain at Aboyne Liz Taylor said” We are absolutely thrilled to retain the Watt Duffus Cup which is the most sought-after team trophy in the County. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful team of gifted young ladies who through their own hard work and dedication to their sport mean they are used to playing at the highest competitive level. They came up trumps again! We hope to use their fantastic success to further develop our lady golfers and particularly attract more young girls to take up the sport at Aboyne under our resident PGA Professional Fraser Dunlop.”

Club President Justin Grant said “Aboyne has a long history of producing excellent young players who go on to represent the Club at the highest national and indeed international level. We are hopeful that this success will encourage many other ladies in the area to try out the game of golf.”

Justin added “What was encouraging to see is that most of this team are either current or former pupils at Aboyne Academy and through our close association with the Academy and its feeder primary schools we hope to get young girls interested in the sport. This crop of players are fantastic role models for our next generation of players to emulate. We are very proud of this team and their individual and collective success.”

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