Back-9 Bandit Brechin Pinches Pot

A wintry Shek O Country Club was the venue for the latest edition of the JD Mackie Quaich, affectionately known as “Jock’s Pot”.

Jock Mackie presents the quaich to winner Graeme BrechinThis annual stableford tournament for members of the Hong Kong St Andrew’s Society was finally held on 6 December, after two weather- driven postponements.

In the event, 2010 winner Roy "Clinical" Kinnear put up a stout defence, scoring a decent 31 points, but some unforced chipping errors saw his title effort come up short.

On a day of high scoring, Alan ”Lofty” McTaggart shot two very consistent halves of 21 and 19 for a fine total of 40, which looked sure to secure the title for the vice chieftain. However, after a delay for some score checking, Graeme “Curly” Brechin was deemed to have matched him on the same score, despite arriving on the total in a very different manner: 14 points on the way out and a jaw-dropping 26 points on the way back.

In time honoured tradition, a “Shek O chip off” was conducted which saw Brechin (pictured here with Mr Mackie) pinch the title. “This is the first thing I’ve ever won at golf!” gushed the jubilant victor, who is a member of Bruntsfield in Edinburgh.

The best guest was Terry Howells with a fine 38, which also secured third place on the day.