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Bahamas in the bag for Brechin golfers
VETERINARY surgeon Ian Anderson put up a real dog-fight to clinch a spot in the Bahamas final after winning the Virgin Atlantic PGA National Pro-Am Championship Regional Final at Crieff.
Anderson stepped in as a replacement to team up with Brechin's PGA professional Stephen Rennie.
And the pair produced a storming finish to finish on ten under par and win by just one shot ahead of the Ratho Park pairing of Andrew Erskine and amateur partner Bob Wells.
Now they will play in the final of the event, which is supported by SkyCaddie, where a 5,000 first prize is on offer at the Sandals Resort, Emerald Bay, on November 23-28 this year.
However, Anderson, 46, and Rennie are hardly strangers. The duo will pair up again at the PGA Pro-Captain qualifier at Crail and they have both qualified for an event at the Belfry later in the year.
Yet Brechin captain Anderson, from Laurencekirk, almost did not get the chance to be at Perthshire course.
"I just missed out in the qualifier to the last guy who was John McNicol," he said.
"Then he realised he was away on holiday so I stepped in after all. John joked that I was only playing for one round if we made the final but he won't be taking this off me. "It's a fantastic prize and I am totally flabbergasted.
"I've been on a bit of a hot streak recently and I'll be playing with Stephen again in the Pro-Captain event which is quite unusual. So it's been a good year so far.
"I knew the course quite well. I play at Crieff with another veterinary friend of mine so I owe him for the knowledge of the course. I must have been here for four or five times. But there are quite a lot of vets who play golf."
Stephen Rennie, 42, admitted an excellent back nine proved to be crucial.
"I've played this course a lot and I tended to think the front nine was where you won it," he said.
"But we were three under par and thought we might make five or six if we were lucky.
"Ian was on fire though and on the final four holes, we made three birdies plus a three nett two eagle on the 16th.
"Once we'd got that eagle I felt we could win and we were seven under for the back nine.
"When we finished, we were three shots clear so I knew we had a chance. But another pair made nine under par and they said we couldn't do any more.
"I don't play that many tournaments these days so to make it to the Bahamas is fantastic. We didn't make any major long putts but we holed them all well.
"I've been playing this event for about 15 years but the nearest I came to doing well was when I was six under par one year only to finish one over."
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Weather for Brechin
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
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