SENIOR SCOTSMEN MAKE SOUND START
TO TITLE DEFENCE AT CALDY

Defending champions Scotland made a solid start to the senior men's home internationals at Caldy Golf Club on The Wirral, Cheshire today.
They beat Wales 6 1/2- 2 1/2 while England opened their programme with a 5-4 win over Ireland, the European senior champions.
The Scots led 2-1 from the foursomes with debutant John Fraser (Royal Burgess), a former Newtonmore shinty star, and Stephen Ellis (Cowal) winning by 3 and 1 over Brian Cramb and Basil Griffiths, and skipper Ian Hutcheon (Monifieth) and Donald McCart (Castlerock) scoring a 3 and 2 win over Michael Rooke and John Whitcutt.
Hutcheon did not play in the singles in which Jim Watt (Letham Grange) and Gordon Brown (Vale of Leven), the two other "new boys" in the Scotland line-up, both won.
Watt came out on top by one hole against Griffiths and Brown by 4 and 2 over Rooke.
Ellis (5 and 4) and McCart (4 and 3) topped and tailed the singles' line-up with comfortable wins. FROM THE EGU WEBSITE:
Scotland gave no hint of the one-sided scoreline to come when they edged the foursomes 2-1. But the tartan brigade were in almost total charge of the singles, finally winning 6½-2½. Stephen Ellis set the ball rolling with a 5 and 4 win in the top match against Welsh champion Keith Stimpson. Ellis won the first hole and never looked back, being five-up through ten before cruising home. Gordon Brown and Donald McCart also had emphatic victories, Brown beating Michael Rooke 4 and 2, while McCart turned a one hole deficit after four holes against Phil Jones into a 4 and 3 success after winning four holes in a row from the fifth.
Jim Watt went round in level par 72 to beat Basil Griffiths by one hole while John Fraser was involved in an epic tussle with Glyn Rees that finished all square, Fraser going out in two under par to be two up but Rees staged a fight back to grab a share of the spoils.
The only consolation for Wales was a one hole victory for John Whitcutt over John Johnston in a match where there was never more than a hole separating the pair.
Results:
SCOTLAND 6 1/2, WALES 2 1/2
Foursomes: S Ellis & J Fraser bt B Cramb & B Griffiths 3 and 1; J Watt & G Brown lost to P Jones & K Stimpson 2 and 1; I C Hutcheon & D McCart bt M Rooke & J Whitcutt 3 and 2 (2-1).
Singles: Ellis bt Stimpson 5 and 4, Watt bt Griffiths 1 hole, J W Johnston lost to Whitcutt 1 hole, Brown bt Rooke 4 and 2, Fraser halved with G Rees, McCart bt Jones 4 and 3 (4 1/2-1 1/2).

ENGLAND 5, IRELAND 4
Foursomes: D Arnold & A Squires bt S McParland & M Kelly 2 and 1; A Morrison & C Reynolds halved with H Smyth & B Reddan; D Lane & R Smethurst bt N Duke & V Smyth 1 hole (2 1/2- 1/2).
Singles: Squires lost to McParland 5 and 3, Arnold lost to Kelly 2 and 1, Lane halved with V Smyth, Smethurst bt T Goode 3 and 2, S Smale lost to H Smyth 5 and 4, Reynolds bt Reddan 1 hole (2 1/2-3 1/2).