FORRES HOLD THE KEY!

A first ever Moray and Nairn Handicap League Trophy is there for Moray to take….if they can overcome Forres on Super Sunday.

On this year’s form Moray will be firm favourites but two years ago on the first Super Sunday it was Moray who thwarted Forres bid to retain the title when they beat them on neutral ground at Elgin. Could Forres spoil the Moray title challenge this year at Nairn?

Given Moray’s superior individual games won a 4 ½ – 3 ½  victory would leave Hopeman having to beat Elgin 8-0 to share the league and Nairn, even if they beat their local rivals, Nairn Dunbar by a similar margin, would come up short on a count-back of games won.

Therefore both Hopeman and Nairn have to realistically look for either a drawn match or Forres victory which would open the door for them. Hopeman would then be in the driving seat with a 4 ½ -3 ½ success over Elgin meaning Nairn would have to win at least 6 ½ -1 ½ against Nairn Dunbar to take the title.

Nairn must therefore hope that neither Moray nor Hopeman take full points when any margin of victory over Nairn Dunbar would then give them their first success since 1997, the second year of the Handicap League.

Elgin is not mathematically out of it…..just! Firstly they must beat Hopeman by at least a 6 ½ -1 ½  margin and keep their fingers crossed Forres and Nairn Dunbar hit top form and beat the other two contenders. Stranger things have happened!!!

No matter what, a keenly contested climax to the league is in store.

For the record the head-to head results between the teams since the inception of the league are:

FORRES v MORAY

Congratulations to Moray Golf Club who continued their impressive form this season to lift the Handicap League Trophy for the first time since its inception in 1996. Requiring victory over Forres they quickly took control by winning three of the first four matches. It was left to team captain, Kenny Russell to secure the winning point on the 17th green of his game before a final win in the top match by Gerry Devine gave a final 6-2 margin. They tied on points with Nairn who had an equally convincing win over Nairn Dunbar but took the title with a better games won total than this year’s Super Sunday hosts.

In the third match Elgin beat Hopeman to remove any lingering chance of Hopeman retaining the title.

Moray strengthened their claim to a first ever Handicap League title when they beat local rivals Elgin in dramatic fashion. With the match all square the outcome rested on the final game on the course coming up the 18th. To the delight of his teammates, Steve Bennalick holed a 25 foot putt to secure a one hole win and take Moray to the top of the table.

Nairn created a piece of Moray and Nairn Handicap League history by winning at Hopeman, the first time the present champions have lost at home since entering the League in 2004. With it, the title race is guaranteed to go to Super Sunday next month with any one of three teams being in a position to win: Hopeman, Nairn and either Moray or Elgin who meet on 3rd August, although mathematically the loser of that match could still come out on top but would need other results to go in their favour.

Hopeman are in good form and a second away win of the season gives them an excellent chance of retaining the trophy, although they face two hard games against Nairn and Elgin who are also both still in the running.

Moray though strenghtened their title hopes with an impressive win at Nairn Dunbar who, having opened with an away win, have then proceeded to lose both their home fixtures, which all but eliminates them from running.

Nairn took over at the top with convincing victory over Forres which means their visit to Hopeman later this month is liable to have a significant bearing on the destiny of this year’s title. Forres lost narrowly at Elgin which puts the title out of their reach for this season but with matches against both Hopeman and Moray to come, they could still have an important say in where the trophy ends up.

Moray went to Hopeman and ran the champions close on their home soil with a last green victory in the final game on the course by N. McDougall of Hopeman preventing a share of the points. Forres were due to visit Elgin the same afternoon but this match was put back to 22nd June due to a fixture clash.

Hopeman opened the defence of their title with an excellent performance at Nairn Dunbar, who had earlier got two valuable away points at Forres. The first three games on the course were settled by wide margins but the remaining five were all very tight, three going to the final green. However, Hopeman came out on top in those exchanges to win 5-3 overall.

Nairn Dunbar got their 2008 campaign off to the best possible start by collecting full points at Forres as did Moray who were too strong for Nairn with only one of the games going beyond the sixteenth green. Nairn recovered to beat Elgin on home soil the following week and get their first points on the board.

Hopeman will be trying to share/win the trophy for a third year in a row when the league is played this summer. The first two years of ‘Super Sunday’ have resulted in close matches with the title not decided until that final afternoon. In 2008 Nairn Golf Club will host the climax to this year’s competition.