Ayrshire County golfers top tees after 22 years
AYRSHIRE county golfers were crowned Scottish Area Team champions after beating three times past champions Renfrewshire 5-4 in a closely fought final at Tain.
Ayrshire, whose only victory in the championship came in 1986 at Murcar Links, led 2-1 after the morning foursomes. When the singles finished 3-3, it was enough to secure the trophy for the first time in 22 years.
The outcome went down to the last remaining game on the course. One up with one to play it was Loudon Gowf’s Tommy McInally who had the honour of sinking the winning putt after halving the 18th, holing from eight feet on the final green. This came after he had earlier in his round recorded a rare albatross at the par five 13th, holing his second shot with a four iron.
Ayrshire captain Ronnie Potts revealed: “This rounds off a fantastic year for Ayrshire golf with Caprington’s Steven McEwan finishing top of the SGU Men's Order of Merit and fellow Scottish internationalist, Michael Stewart winning the boys' equivalent.”
Match results (Renfrewshire names first): Matthew Clark & Ronnie Clark lost to Steven McEwan (Caprgnt) & George Robertson (Rvnspk) by 2 & 1; Gordon Stevenson & David Miller beat John Cairney (Rvnspk) & Tommy McInally (Loudoun) by 3 & 2; Murdo Carmichael & Craig Watson lost to Brian Moore (Largs) & John Shanks (Irvine) by 1 hole.
Gordon Stevenson lost to Steven McEwan by 3 & 2; David Miller beat George Robertson by 2 & 1; Craig Watson beat John Shanks by 4 & 3; Matthew Clark lost to John Cairney by 2 & 1; Murdo Carmichael lost to Tommy McInally by one hole; Ronnie Clark beat Brian Moore by 5 & 3.
Stephen McBlain (St Cuthbert), Michael Stewart (Welbeck), Barry Crawford (West Kilbride), Euan Brown (Barassie) and Cameron Gray (West Kilbride) all contributed to the Ayrshire success in the three qualifying matches.
In the semi-finals, Ayrshire beat South of Scotland 5-4, opening with a 2-1 win in the foursomes which was followed by a 3-3 draw in the singles.
Ayrshire names first: John Cairney (Rvnspk) & Tommy McInally (Loudoun) beat Graham Sharp & David Brodie by one hole; Steven McEwan (Cprgtn) & George Robertson (Rvnspk) lost to Ian Brotherston & Michael Grunwell by 3 & 2; Brian Moore (Largs) & John Shanks (Irvine) beat Iain Thomson & Clark Riddick by 3 & 2; Steven McEwan beat Graham Sharp 5 & 4; Tommy McInally beat Colin Heuchan by one hole; John Cairney beat Iain Thomson by 7 & 6; John Shanks lost to Ian Brotherston by 5 & 4; George Robertson lost to Michael Grunwell by 4 & 3; Brian Moore lost to Clark Riddick by 5 & 3.
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