Fifty years apart, two cup-winning golf teams will battle it out for Duff House Royal Golf Club’s Felicity Cup junior tournament as the 1974 champions take on the current holders in a 50th anniversary match over the Banff course
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A cup-winning 1974 golf team is reforming to take on the current champions in a 50th anniversary celebration match.
Half a century ago, Duff House Royal Golf Club created the Felicity Trophy team tourney for junior golfers at clubs in the Banffshire area or within a 35-mile radius of the Banff parkland course.
The host club were the first winners, while a DHR team also won the 50th running of the event last year.
Those two teams of eight have been reassembled and put into action for a special match on Saturday marking the Felicity cup’s long-standing success.
Two generations may separate the players on each respective side, but the club’s junior convenor Craig Matheson expects a keenly-contested match between senior and junior players.
“This year marks the 50th year since the formation of the tournament and to mark the occasion the winners of the first tournament in 1974 have challenged the current holder of the trophy - both Duff House Royal,” he said.
“The 1974 winners are all still keen - and good - golfers who are still all in close contact,”
Of those who assembled that original team, three are still members at Duff House Royal and one plays at Buckpool in Buckie.
The history books show that the Felicity Cup came about after a trophy was donated by the late John Mair from Whitehills, skipper of the Felicity fishing boat, to help promote junior golf in the area.
Mr Mair is pictured presenting the trophy to the first winners along with his wife, Kathleen.
Eight players aged under-18 form each team, and past winners have been spread from Lossiemouth and Elgin across to Newmachar.
Duff House Royal won the first two tourneys and the most recent two, with three successes in between. Cruden Bay have won it most times, lifting the silverware ten times while Moray Golf Club have claimed it on seven occasions.
The first match in Saturday’s senior versus junior showdown begins at 1pm.
