Cameron Johnstone will go into 2023 chasing a fourth Northern Golf Club championship success – but not too hard.
Law firm associate Cameron, 29, defeated Craig Chalmers in a close encounter at the Kings Links after being one down on the 16th tee.
Cameron, who plays off plus-two, eventually won by one hole.
He said: “The final against Craig was keenly contested and a nervy affair to start with as we traded holes with some shaky golf.
“However, once the game and the nerves settled down, the good golf followed.
“Some holes were shared in birdies at the tail end of the front nine.
“Craig took the lead after winning the 14th and making a birdie at the next.
“I remember thinking that I didn’t want to lose the game without a fight.
“On 16, I holed a long putt for a birdie-two to square the game, before following up with another birdie on the 17th to take a one-hole lead up the last where I managed to hold on to win 1 up.
“Considering the extremely challenging conditions we faced in the qualifying rounds, anyone who managed to come out of the strokeplay and progress through the matchplay stages to lift the trophy would have known they had battled hard.
“That was the case at the conclusion of the final – relief after a couple of months of hard work paying off.
“It is the third time I have been lucky enough to win the club championship at the Northern.
“It is an honour to share a board with other recent three-time winners including Graeme Mitchell, Liam Minty and George Paterson.”
Cameron reckons the high standard at Northern over the past decade has improved the club’s players, adding: “My first win came in 2015 against Stuart Slessor.
“It was another tight affair going down to the final hole, with some clutch putting sealing the deal.
“However, my second victory in 2020 came in rather strange circumstances.
“With the Kings Links greens requiring substantial repair, we played the final three months of the season at Hazlehead.
“The final three rounds of the matchplay was decided on the Mackenzie course before I defeated Colin Clark in the final.
“There appears to be no record of any other Northern club champion winning the championship away from the Kings Links – so it’s a unique and interesting fact and one that I am proud to own.
“My main aim this season is to simply enjoy the golfing season.
“I’m going to remove the pressure and find the fun in the game again.
“When you relax and enjoy the game, the good golf and low scores tend to follow.
“My cousin Craig Chalmers (a different golfer to the player Cameron defeated in the club final) did brilliantly to win the club championship at Meldrum House last year, so maybe we will have a family faceoff at some point in the Champion of Champions in 2023!”
Champion of Champions entry deadline nears
There are only three days left to enter this year’s Evening Express Champion of Champions, sponsored by Aberdein Considine.
All entries to the eight competitions must be returned to North-east secretary George Young by Friday, March 17.
Forms for all competitions were sent out to all the eligible clubs earlier this year.
Two new tournaments have been added this season – a senior men’s handicap competition and a senior ladies’ event.
The finals of both will be included in the Champion of Champions gala day at Banchory on Sunday September 17.
The other six finals will be the men’s scratch, women’s scratch, men’s handicap, women’s handicap, senior men’s scratch and the senior women’s scratch.
Property, legal and financial law firm Aberdein Considine are again providing £2,400 of vouchers.
District dinner to celebrate men’s and boys’ teams’ successes
The North-east District have held a celebratory dinner to mark their teams’ achievements in 2022.
The North-east won both the men’s and boys’ area team championships for the first time in the same season last year.
Both trophies were on display alongside the Scottish Boys’ Championship trophy won by Kemnay’s Fraser Laird at Edzell last year.
Fraser was also a member of the winning boys’ team at Gleddoch alongside Callum Bruce (Deeside), Koby Buchan (Cruden Bay) and Scott Spark (Newmachar).
The men’s team, who won at Powfoot the previous week, was Gary Esson, Clark Brechin, Adam Dunton, David Morrison, Adam Giles and Neil Mitchell.
All the players, who represented the North-east throughout the season, plus their club captains, were invited to mark the occasion.
The camaraderie forged on the evening by both teams is sure to go a long way to hopefully providing more success in the future.
The men start the defence of their title with an away match against Clackmannan on May 7.
The Scottish Boys’ Area Team Championship is at Forrester Park on September 16-17.
Conversation