SATURDAY MORNING - TROON DARLEY

So with BJ arriving by personal limo having spent most weekday evenings in practice rounds at an undisclosed location in East Lothian, here they stood at last in front of the gallery, the elite assembly of Dudley golfers. They faced quite a challenging course: the original Darley dated from around 1910. The present course, with an original 'bogey' (par) of 71 was opened on June 9th, 1951.

If Darley is slightly shorter than Lochgreen it is certainly tighter, with unforgiving heather and gorse hugging both sides of many fairways. A relatively benign opening only serves to accentuate the challenge presented by the subsequent holes, with a particularly difficult stretch coming between the 5th and 15th.

Darley is indeed a challenge with tight fairways criss-crossed with burns demanding the straightest of tee shots to avoid the renowned Scottish hazards of heather, gorse and whin which abound. Challenging, strategic and a true test of golf is how the locals describe Darley.

The Darley course is 6,630 yards long, but length means nothing here! Three years ago it was rated the fourth hardest course in Scotland to play to your handicap. The 1st and 18th are par fives while the 5th is a par four of 426 yards that might as well be a par 5.

It plays over a ravine of gorse and the fairway is tight where it counts - so judicious placement rather than length is essential. It also dog-legs left with a tight, heavily bunkered green position so there is little respite on this hole. "Darley is a true links, as in the wildcat variety. It has true feline ferocity and should be approached with extreme caution!", according to one golf review.

Well round 1 didn't throw up too many major surprises: a mixed bag with scores ranging from 12 to 35 points. Things were tighter around the top of the leader board, with Clark and Monaghan on 28 points being beaten by Wilson overcoming a rather harsh handicap to score 29 points.

High settled down quicker than usual to score 31, while defending champ Harper was a point higher at 32 to make third place. BJ found his rhythm to card an impressive 34 points and second place.

But it was Dr Golf who came off the blocks at full throttle and delighted crowds with a winning score of 35 stapleford points.