Joe Scott seen here being presented with the Rosebowl by our Club Secretary Mike McVean. Joe has been a member since he was a junior, and in his thank you speech, stated this was his first major Trophy. A net 66 (2 under) was a great score as the wind was blowing rather hard. It was great to see a number of visitors playing in the Open, but both major prizes went to MOCGC members.
The Sunday of The Open is always a great day at the Club. Not just our connection to the tournament but also we run two competitions, one for the Claret Jug and the other is a Pro Am. Musselburgh has a great connection to the original Claret Jug, and therefore this is one of our special competitions. Two players tied on a net score of 66, unfortunate for Greig McVean the winner on countback was Paul Brown. Seen here being presented by our Club Captain Billy Alexander.
The second part of the day is the Pro Am and it can not be finalised until the last few tee times at the Open have finished. On the day we had 70 golfers and by coincidence there were 70 qualifiers in the Open. Each player picked at random a Pro golfer and the sum of their net score together with the final round score of the Pro, wins the Alex Hay Phoenix. James Bonthron (Bonnie) seen above with the trophy. Obviously to win you must have a good score and he had a net 68 (level par), and luckily drew out a pro who carded a 66 (5 under).
Saturday 5th July the Club hosted the 24th Musselburgh Challenge, a competition where teams of 4 playing in pairs with hickory clubs on our great course. Teams associated with our course and our local friends made up the line up, however there was one team you could not call local. The Taiheiyo Club from Japan, which we have newly created an association with, sent over a team.
The winners of the trophy The Thorntree with a very good score of 39 and 35 (74), are seen in the header above. Although with a different team from last year they actually defended their crown, well done guys. Arthur Reid, Gordon McLay, Robert McKinnon and Ryan McKinnon making up the team, looking happy with the magnificent trophy. The British Golf Collectors, who have been previous winners, came second and were presented with runner up medals. MOCGC, came third.
One of the Taiheiyo Club pairs seen here with Steven Hill and Euan Glen
Traditionally we have a team based on our Club Champions and here David Service (Club Champion) playing with Alan Tweedie (Senior Champion), played with a team from Bruntsfield Links, a society that used to play at our course and had a clubhouse in our road.
Following an excellent meal, the presentation was made, followed by speeches and a few drinks were had. The committee would like to thank everyone for their help in making this a very special day. Our Japanese guests could not resist getting a picture taken with the Claret Jug (we might have told them it was the original) in front of the Musselburgh winners. Their team came a very creditable 4th in the Challenge.
Sunday 29th June was the finals day of our Club Championship. Following 2 qualifying rounds in the 4 categories (Championship, B Section, C Section and Seniors). Then followed by quarter and semi final rounds of matchplay on a scratch basis, the 4 finals were established. Our Champion, who was defending his title, David Service defeated Keiran Blyth, B Section victor was Terry Gillan who overcame Rich Leslie, C Section winner was Billy Finnigan who beat Eddie Whoriskey. Finally the Senior Champion who was also defending his title from last year Alan Tweedie defeated Gordon Henderson. The picture shows our Club Captain Billy Alexander with the happy group.
The Clubs Invitational Silloth competition took place on 8th June, its a competition where a member invites a golfer from another club to play in a pairs competition. The winners of the trophy were Anton Larner and his partner Graham Souness, Anton is seen above being presented with the trophy by the sponsor Matthew Craigie.
Other winners were Kieran Blyth and his partner Ross Fergus who won the scratch prize.
Brian Weddell and his partner Andy Williamson came second
With Eddie Whoriskey and Stewart Hall picking up the third prize from our Secretary Mike McVean. Other prizes for nearest the pins etc made it a great day
With a number of golf clubs struggling to get members to stay and use the facilities after they play, it was great to see a very full bar. Over 90 players took part in the competition
. Thanks to our bar staff and to John McFeely for providing food
The 2025 R&A 9 hole stableford competition has a regional Final at Bonnybridge Golf Club near Falkirk in June. Each Club is allowed to put forward a pair following a dedicated 9 hole stableford pairs competition. Our event took place on Sunday 27th April and the winners Ralph Rennie and Raymond Henderson won the comp with an aggregate score of 43. However they were unable to commit to the dates in June, so our runners up will represent the Club. What better way of picking your golfing partner than having a father and son playing for MOCGC. Andrew and Blair Murray had a combined score of 37. The best is still to come as qualifiers from the Scottish regional event will play in the Final, at Royal Portrush the week before The Open
Martin Mulligan is the winner of the “Captain’s Cup” this year. Martin is a new member to the Club this year so well done. The Captain, Billy Alexander, although he played in the competition, was unable to present the trophy, so we volunteered a past Captain. Here you can see Alex McGregor presenting the Cup to Martin.
The first Medal of the new season is named after the first winner of the Open on our course. As you can see it was won by Grant Campbell.
The Club held their Presentation Night at the Masonic Hall on Saturday 29th March, to celebrate the major winners throughout the last year. Following the formalities a buffet was on offer and we then had live music, obviously the bar was open too. The pictures show the winners with their trophies, some dubious outfits and some dubious dancing. The following day their were a few sore heads on the tee
