Arcot Hall’s James Rutherford got his season under way with victory in the North & South Trophy at Goswick.
James topped the leaderboard in the opening 36-hole strokeplay event of the Northumberland Union of Golf Clubs season with rounds of 70 and 71 for a three under-par total.
Will Wilkinson, who is based at The Northumberland, finished in second place a shot behind James, beating City of Newcastle’s Andrew Minnikin on countback after both players posted totals of 142.
Slaley Hall’s Alex Buchanan finished in fourth place as The Northumberland’s Anthony Bell completed the top five and picked up the nett prize.
Meanwhile, the Northumberland men’s team opened their 2022 campaign with victory over The Lothians at Arcot Hall.
The traditional season-opening match saw Northumberland pick up a narrow victory, 9.5 points to 8.5.
Having won the foursomes 3.5-2.5 in the morning, the teams shared the points in the afternoon singles matches as Andrew Minnikin (City of Newcastle), Mark Wharton (Newcastle United), Lee Mathewson (Backworth), Freddie McKenna (Tynemouth) and Ian Henderson (Blyth) won their matches, and Phil Ridden (City of Newcastle) and Cameron Thorburn (Westerhope) earned half points.
