In June 2009 ten members of Royal Montrose Golf Club travelled to Royal Blackheath Golf Club in London to play for the King James Quaich.
 

This match continued the annual competition originally established between the Royal Albert Golf Club and the Royal Blackheath Golf Club which was restarted in 2007, after being lapsed from 1994.
 

Royal Blackheath Golf Club is the oldest Golf Club in existence being formed in 1608 and celebrated its 400^th anniversary last year.  With Royal Montrose being the 9^th oldest Golf Club celebrating its 200^th anniversary in 2010 the event is steeped in history.

On Friday 26^th June 2009 Royal Montrose members were delighted to travel to Royal Blackheath to defend the trophy they won in 2008. Upon arrival Royal Montrose members were treated to a fascinating tour of Royal Blackheath’s museum where they gazed upon many ancient and priceless artifacts which is a unique and rich collection in the golfing world.
 

As preparation for the main event on Saturday The Royal Montrose members played a practice round over the Royal Blackheath course before being served a lovely dinner in the O’Shea room.

On Saturday 27^th June both teams competed strongly in a closely fought match for the King James Quaich which Royal Blackheath won overall by 13 holes. The Presentation of the Quaich to the winning Royal Blackheath Captain Mr. John Bunney OBE by Royal Montrose Captain Ian A Harley, was then followed by dinner in The Great Chamber (today’s dining room) and an excellent evening socializing.
 

On Sunday 28^th June the teams, complete with sore heads, competed in a friendly greensomes match which was honorably halved.

Over the weekend the matches themselves were played in beautifully hot sultry weather and plenty of refreshments were required to fend off the effects of dehydration!!!.
 

Royal Montrose members are looking forward to hosting Royal Blackheath members in the return match next year at Royal Montrose to win back the trophy in our Bicentenary year.

Brian Ritchie
Vice Captain
Royal Montrose Golf Club