The 6th staging of the tournament once again saw qualifiers from the Stephen Gallacher, Paul Lawrie and Barrie Douglas Foundations play 36 holes at one of the best courses in Scotland
[Music] The sixth staging of the race to the machary once again saw qualifiers from the Steven Gallaer Barry Doug Douglas and Paul Lorie foundations enjoy everything the fantastic Machri Hotel and Golf Resort has to offer alongside a very well-known face making his debut here at the tournament. This is the first time I’ve been to another place, the Macki. I’m blown away by how good the golf course is and the facilities here are first class. So, it’s uh definitely a place I’ll be I’ll be coming back to. I think it’s great for the kids to have something to sort of go for at the start of the year to, you know, to qualify to come here. Even the even the island kids as well. One of the one of the the boys finished second last year and he’s now up at Donuk uh doing his PGA. So, it’s an important part. Give the kids something to look forward to. You know, they can go set at it cuz when you come to a place like this, you know, this this is this is up here with tournament standard uh for me even. So, you know, they’re they’re getting a proper treat here. They’re getting spoiled here this week. Really, this is how this is how good it is. And so to the Saturday morning golf where, as Steven said, some local junior golfers get to test their skills alongside some of the country’s best. And William Campbell here was more than up to the task with his fantastic T-shot on the brilliant six-hole par. Also matching the country’s elite was Lman De Bell with this putt. The team delighted with their birdie too. But it was William Campbell alongside Eron Husky, Nathan Tate, and Robbie Welsh who were the winners on Saturday morning. And so to the race to the Murray final and the first round proper in conditions that were changing what felt like every 5 minutes. Just look at the contrast in the skies above here. Always windy and with heavy showers, scoring low would be a real challenge. Hannah Unup playing out of Louden Golf Club looked to be coping straight away with this approach. Hitting the first green where she would get her par with Casey Robertson of Nonbar the only other girl to get a four to start the tournament. Holly McKenzie wasn’t having the best of days. This well-hold putt was only for bogey on five and despite having the second best round on day two, she had left herself far too far off the pace to challenge. Up at 12, Erin Husky would get back to two over par for her round after hauling this tremendous birdie putt. Lovely stuff. but she would struggle over the closing holes to fall down the leaderboard. The youngest player in the field, Stella Walters, was beginning to find her form, also on the back nine. This birdie on 12 was one of three in a row as she fought to get back to level par, but a costly high score on 17 would see her start day two shots behind the halfway leader, Hannah Unup. So, what about the boys on day one? Harry Jackson had started well in a par here at five. We’d see him stay at minus one early on before struggling as most did later in the day. Joshua Mwine got most of his bad shots out of the way here on the fifth with a costly nine trying to count them all up there. He would impressively play the rest of the round and three under par to finish the day three over par and in second place. One shot further back was Fraser Walters, helped by this birdie putt on 11. But the players had to try and score while they could and amongst some of the most testing conditions we’ve ever filmed in. Spectators, golfers, and cameramen alike, taking shelter whenever they could when one of those stormy showers came in. It really was pretty brutal at times. The strong wind could occasionally help though, like here back on the short par 411 where Robbie Welsh would get his birdie after using just a long iron to reach the green off the tea. He would start round two tied third alongside Fraser Walters. But it was last year’s winner Kieran Gribble who coped the best, concentrating on hitting fairways and greens. A tactic that saw him only car two bogeies in a 200 par opening round for a halfway lead of five shots. Your own 11 settling for par. Day two would be drier, but the breeze was still fresh. Back with the girls as Melissa Key tried to close the gap on the girls leader Hannah Unup starting on the 17th. This was her on 18 her second hole of the day where she would get her birthday as she got back to level after starting with a bogey up on the eighth and there was some exhibition approach play from group two. This was Aaron Husky’s approach. Nicely done over the gap. That was followed in by Louisa Hamilton who was on her way to finishing in fourth place for the tournament. Another nice shot on. Not to be outdone though, third golfer in the group, Ava Patterson would also put her shot close to the hole and she would see in her birthday putt as did Aaron Husky. In the group behind though, it was Hannah Unup who was holding tight to her commanding lead. She was well ahead on level par for the tournament as she too hit it close. Stella Walters was trying her best to stay in touch though and would be the only player in the group to birdie the eighth after holding her putt from another nice shot onto the green. Onto the ninth though where Hannah played a brilliant T-shot to help keep her well on top. The conditions definitely a little bit kinder for this tough par three on day two than they had been on day one. And Anna using the contours nicely to roll that T-shot back towards the hole. Melissa Key would match that T-OT here with a fine effort. But unfortunately, this was a reload for the golfer from Paisley’s rston after playing her first T-shot into the rough on the left where she couldn’t find it. She would hold her putt to limit the damage to a bogey, but Hannah would also see her putt home to be three under par for her round at this point. And after getting her first boogie of the day at the 11th, Hannah would get that shot straight back here on 12 after almost chipping in for an eagle. Nicely played. So, as the final group reached their final hole of the day, the par 516th for the girls, Melissa Key and Stella Walters were playing basically for second place. Good power there from Melissa to be pin high after two shots, albeit just off the side of the green. Stella would play a nice third shot onto the green. pretty close, but both would have to settle for a par and a share of second place as Hannah Unup would finish off with a par for a nice two under par total for her second round and a comfortable win to be this year’s girls champion for the race to the machi. Back over to the boys now where Kieran Gribble was looking to be the first boy to get his name on the trophy for the second time. Helped by a certain Mr. Gallaer doing his ball spotting duty over the crest of the hill on the opening fairway. Fraser Walters seemed to know he would need to play aggressively if he were to catch Kieran, but was perhaps just a little bit too aggressive here at the par three third. Just missing the cameraman to the left with his T-shot. Once again though, Kieran was looking for steady play to stay on top. Holding out well here on the third for his part as he looked to keep that lead over the Chasers. Over onto the fifth, Robbie Welsh was one over for the day as he played this approach nicely onto the green. He would have to settle for his fourth par of the round this time as the putt stayed out, but all the golfers knew that running up a couple of high scores was a real possibility for anyone, including the leaders, and there was still a long way to go. Kyang was three under par for his round by the time he reached the ninth, but he would fail to get up and down for his par. He would shoot level par on day two to finish the tournament tied fifth. Playing alongside Kai was Harrison Shaw who would haul out for his birthday on his way to finishing alongside Kai in that tie for fifth place. Back up on the tea, Robbie Welsh was one of many golfers enjoying the better conditions on day two to hit his T-shot here close on the par 3 nth. He would miss his birdie putt this time, but he would claim third place in this year’s tournament. One shot further back at the end of the day was playing partner Jamie Reed from Carnushi. Another fine T-shot. He would hold his putt for Bertie, but found the going tougher on the back nine, finishing in fourth place. Back on the eighth, Fraser Walter was trying his best to catch up with Kieran Gribble and he would close the gap a little by holding his birdie putt after this fine approach shot with the weather still feeling fairly calm compared to day one. Fraser would hit his T-shot close and set up another birdie chance rolling again down the contours. Look at that fantastic shot from the youngster. Keenan Gribble would try and match that with his T-shot. And to be fair, it was a pretty decent effort. Also coming back down off the slope, but it would only be Fraser who would get his birdie. Fraser would then birdie the 10th. And after Kieran had a costly double bogey on 11, the gap was only two shots as they came down to 12th. Could Fraser pull off an unlikely comeback? Well, unfortunately for him, he played himself into trouble on the par five. That was his fourth shot, leaving himself a lot of work still for his par. Kieran Gribble though was on the green and two and had had that putt for an eagle to stretch his lead again. It was a solid birdie though. to get his round back on track. And with Fraser missing his par putt, there was a two-shot swing back in the favor of the leader. No surprise to see Kieran continue his good scoring though with a combination of good course management alongside some seriously impressive long iron play especially into the strong breeze like here on 13 where another solid par would see him gain another shot over Fraser who could only manage a bogey some winds don’t need to be spectacular and you might expect that that would be the case this time around but Kieran Gribble would produce a real moment of magic here on the 444 yd par4 416 16th by hauling out for a truly brilliant eagle from behind the mound of rough nearly 200 yd back down the hole. Fantastic stuff. after making sure that the moment was captured by a very impressed couple of coaches and organizers up on the green. Hang on, we got another one. Kieran would come on to the final green with a seven shot lead. Looking to make it eight with this birdie attempt, but he would tap that in for a par to secure his victory. Well done. Freezer Walters can be proud of his second place though and how close he was for a while at the start of the back nine and we’ll definitely be seeing more of this young golfer from Craigy Law in the future. For now though, it’s congratulations to our two race to the Machi champions for 2025, Hannah Unup and for the second year in a row, Kieran Gribble.
