Golfer claims club title at Fortrose and Rosemarkie for the sixth time in his career as he prepares for Inverness Four Day Open defence
LEWIS Reid was crowned Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club champion for the sixth time in his career when he claimed victory in the final.
The 34-year-old from Fortrose was involved in a dramatic showdown with Chris Gaitens where he holed a 20-foot putt to claim the title at the 18th to win 1up.
Reid was forced to come from behind at the 10th and lost his lead at the 16th before regaining the advantage at the 17th.
In front of one of the biggest crowds at the tournament in years, Reid used his experience to hold his nerve to match Gaitens’ three at the 18th to take the title.
Reid, who works as an electrical engineer at Ross-shire Engineering, won his first club title in 2009 when he was 18. He says this year’s victory was the most challenging weather conditions that he has faced in the competition.
He said: “It was blowing a gale all day and it made it tough conditions for golf.
“The final was good and there were some good shots from myself and Chris and it went down to the very last putt.
“I holed a 20 foot putt at the last which went from left to right with the wind. There wasn’t that much pressure really, but I wasn’t expecting a hole like this for sure.
“This was the worst weather I've ever won a title in, but it was also the most amount of people that have ever been out watching the competition at Fortrose and Rosemarkie.
“The club had a barbecue and a fun day on as well at the same time, so it meant there was a lot of people walking around which was good.”
Reid is having an impressive 2025 so far and followed up his victory at the Ross-shire County Championship two weeks ago which also took place at Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club. He took the title with rounds of 72 and 67.
He is hoping to take his good form into his defence of the Inverness Four Day Open which takes place on Monday, a competition which he won for the first time last year. He also finished runner-up at the Inverness Four Day Open in 2023. He has also previously won the Scottish North District Championship.
He says that he will go into in the tournament at Culcabock confident he can produce golf capable of winning the competition for the second time.
He said: “This season's been quite good, I've had some good finishes because I finished third in the North District Championship and then I won the Ross-shire County Championship, so it's been not bad so far.
“I will look to defend my title at the Inverness four day next week which I’ll give a go and then I've got an open up at Royal Dornoch.
“Then there is the North of Scotland Amateur Championship at Nairn in late August, that's probably the biggest one. There will be a lot of good players at the competition, but I would like to try and finish well in it to cap off the season.”
