Additional land on higher ground adjacent to the old course was acquired in 1994, allowing the club to form a new front nine two years later - a round of golf at the modern day Newburgh course really is a game of two contrasting halves.

The course at Newburgh is noted for the quality of its greens, its playability regardless to the weather conditions and its magnificent setting. The front nine holes are laid out on undulating land that rises up from the links located alongside the River Ythan. Holes rise and fall with regularity over this terrain and several of the fairways lead to multi-tiered greens which allow a number of tricky pin positions.
The back nine present old-fashioned links golf at its finest with blind shots, firm fairways, sandy ridges and punchbowl greens aplenty. Holes are intuitively routed around a parcel of sandy soiled ground beside the river estuary with many of the fairways flanked by walls of gorse.

With conditions far more benign, making the journey from tee to green much smoother, the scores were much better, with over half the field returning level par or better. Smith and Wilson recovered their form on 38 and 39 respectively, just trailing one of the "dark horse" favourites Harper on 40. He was pipped by his fellow club member High on 41, who was in turn comfortably beaten by Crieff's other two golden boys, Dave Graham (43) and Dave Cramb (46). But it was Peters who once again outshone the field with 48 points, triggering a special meeting of the handicap committee to trim his allowance for the next round. But was it enough to secure a lead, as Adam Scott was to find out the hard way?