Hugh Hunter's Clackmannan County News
Clackmannanshire team, flanked by Colin and Steven Lynch from Blyth Construction, before their area tie on Sunday against Ayrshire. Left to right names: Colin Lynch, John Gullen (team captain), Scott Borrowman, Ian Ross, Mike Rust, Scott Moffat, Steven Horne, Jamie Aitken, Ross Benvie, Steven Lynch. Image by Hugh Hunter. Click on it to enlarge.SO CLOSE FOR THE COUNTY AGAIN
Clackmannan hosted Ayrshire in their first tie of 2008 in the Scottish area team championship, losing narrowly 5-4 in a match which swung back and forward.
Said Steve McIvor, county vice-president: “We have the golfers with golf games to take on the top Scottish players. It’s a case of producing the golfing skills when required.”
The morning foursomes went Ayrshire’s way by two matches to one and this proved conclusive at the end of the day. The top foursomes pairing of Steven Horne and Scott Borrowman could not match the sub-par performance from their opponents. Two down at the turn, they clawed back to one, but immediately saw this disappear at the next with a short birdie putt from Ayrshire who retained the two-hole advantage to win on the 17th.
Ross Benvie and Jamie Aitken quickly raced to a three-hole lead after six, increasing to four after 13 holes. A pitch-in from Ross for a half at 14 and a further half at the next sealed the game.
The final pairing of locals Scott Moffat and Mike Rust looked to be going well when Mike holed a winning pitch from15yd at the fifth, and followed with wins at the next two holes. The seventh was played exceptionally well by the Clackmannan pair where Scott’s four-iron hit from a side hill downhill lie to a 1 foot gimme eagle 3.
The three-hole lead looked very comfortable, but the Ayrshire couple had other ideas, gradually eroding the lead and going one up with a birdie at the 16th. A pitch and putt par at the 17th was good enough to take the match.
For a time the afternoon singles looked good for Clackmannan. The top three matches were down, two only one behind while the last three matches were comfortably up, so the hopes were that if one early match could be turned round, the match should go Clackmannan’s way.
That happened when Scott Borrowman holed a winning 8ft putt to go ahead in his match for the first time on the 18th. Long-hitting Scott Moffat was never really troubled in his game. Three up at the turn, a lead he increased to five, winning on the 15th.
Tail-enders Steven Horne and Ian Ross saw their two and three-hole leads change to one-hole deficits, but strong finishes gave them halves, unfortunately not good enough for a much needed win for the team.
Match details:
CLACKMANNAN 4, AYRSHIRE 5
FOURSOMES
S Borrowman & Steven Horne lost to John Cairney & Tommy McInally 2 and 1.
Ross Benvie & Jamie Aitken beat Euan Brown & Michael Stewart 4 and 3.
Scott Moffat & Mike Rust lost to George Robertson & Barry Crawford 2 and 1.
SINGLES
Benvie lost to Stewart 4 and 2.
Borrowman beat Cairney 1 hole.
Aitken lost to McInally 2 and 1.
Moffat beat Brown 5 and 3.
Horne halved with Robertson.
Ross halved with Crawford.
The next game is on August 2 at Machrihanish against Argyll and Bute. There is some suggestion that the County team might travel by speedboat!!!
BRABAZON TROPHY
Callum Macaulay improved again in the English stroke-play event at Trevose. After Round 1 with a one under par score of 71, he found himself in 60th place! Heavy rain cancelled round two and Callum was right on the cut line of 71 for the final 36 holes.
With a further 71 and a finishing flourish of 68, Callum finished top Scot of the three qualifiers in 15th position with a six-under-par score, a good bit behind the winner Steven Uzell (Hornsea) who finished in an incredible 19 under par for the three rounds.
Callum’s world ranking has slipped to the forties, but this performance should lift him again.
SCOTTISH MID-AMATEUR
The National Championship for the over-25s goes to the new Kyle Phillips' Dundonald course in Ayrshire, and Alloa’s Phil Dempsey is in the field of 115 playing two rounds of stroke play in June with the top 16 qualifying for match play.
COUNTY BOYS' LEAGUE
The 2008 boys' league starts on Sunday, May 25. Unfortunately Tulliallan still cannot field a team so the event will be contested among the other five clubs. The Alva boys will be keen to defend the title they won last year. The opening matches involve Braehead taking on Alloa at home and Tillicoultry playing Dollar. The Alva team has a rest day.
COUNTY SUMMER MEETINGS
Draws have been published for the County summer meetings at Alloa and Dollar. More qualifiers will be obtained for the County match-play championship, starting in June.
Clackmannan hosted Ayrshire in their first tie of 2008 in the Scottish area team championship, losing narrowly 5-4 in a match which swung back and forward.
Said Steve McIvor, county vice-president: “We have the golfers with golf games to take on the top Scottish players. It’s a case of producing the golfing skills when required.”
The morning foursomes went Ayrshire’s way by two matches to one and this proved conclusive at the end of the day. The top foursomes pairing of Steven Horne and Scott Borrowman could not match the sub-par performance from their opponents. Two down at the turn, they clawed back to one, but immediately saw this disappear at the next with a short birdie putt from Ayrshire who retained the two-hole advantage to win on the 17th.
Ross Benvie and Jamie Aitken quickly raced to a three-hole lead after six, increasing to four after 13 holes. A pitch-in from Ross for a half at 14 and a further half at the next sealed the game.
The final pairing of locals Scott Moffat and Mike Rust looked to be going well when Mike holed a winning pitch from15yd at the fifth, and followed with wins at the next two holes. The seventh was played exceptionally well by the Clackmannan pair where Scott’s four-iron hit from a side hill downhill lie to a 1 foot gimme eagle 3.
The three-hole lead looked very comfortable, but the Ayrshire couple had other ideas, gradually eroding the lead and going one up with a birdie at the 16th. A pitch and putt par at the 17th was good enough to take the match.
For a time the afternoon singles looked good for Clackmannan. The top three matches were down, two only one behind while the last three matches were comfortably up, so the hopes were that if one early match could be turned round, the match should go Clackmannan’s way.
That happened when Scott Borrowman holed a winning 8ft putt to go ahead in his match for the first time on the 18th. Long-hitting Scott Moffat was never really troubled in his game. Three up at the turn, a lead he increased to five, winning on the 15th.
Tail-enders Steven Horne and Ian Ross saw their two and three-hole leads change to one-hole deficits, but strong finishes gave them halves, unfortunately not good enough for a much needed win for the team.
Match details:
CLACKMANNAN 4, AYRSHIRE 5
FOURSOMES
S Borrowman & Steven Horne lost to John Cairney & Tommy McInally 2 and 1.
Ross Benvie & Jamie Aitken beat Euan Brown & Michael Stewart 4 and 3.
Scott Moffat & Mike Rust lost to George Robertson & Barry Crawford 2 and 1.
SINGLES
Benvie lost to Stewart 4 and 2.
Borrowman beat Cairney 1 hole.
Aitken lost to McInally 2 and 1.
Moffat beat Brown 5 and 3.
Horne halved with Robertson.
Ross halved with Crawford.
The next game is on August 2 at Machrihanish against Argyll and Bute. There is some suggestion that the County team might travel by speedboat!!!
BRABAZON TROPHY
Callum Macaulay improved again in the English stroke-play event at Trevose. After Round 1 with a one under par score of 71, he found himself in 60th place! Heavy rain cancelled round two and Callum was right on the cut line of 71 for the final 36 holes.
With a further 71 and a finishing flourish of 68, Callum finished top Scot of the three qualifiers in 15th position with a six-under-par score, a good bit behind the winner Steven Uzell (Hornsea) who finished in an incredible 19 under par for the three rounds.
Callum’s world ranking has slipped to the forties, but this performance should lift him again.
SCOTTISH MID-AMATEUR
The National Championship for the over-25s goes to the new Kyle Phillips' Dundonald course in Ayrshire, and Alloa’s Phil Dempsey is in the field of 115 playing two rounds of stroke play in June with the top 16 qualifying for match play.
COUNTY BOYS' LEAGUE
The 2008 boys' league starts on Sunday, May 25. Unfortunately Tulliallan still cannot field a team so the event will be contested among the other five clubs. The Alva boys will be keen to defend the title they won last year. The opening matches involve Braehead taking on Alloa at home and Tillicoultry playing Dollar. The Alva team has a rest day.
COUNTY SUMMER MEETINGS
Draws have been published for the County summer meetings at Alloa and Dollar. More qualifiers will be obtained for the County match-play championship, starting in June.
Labels: Amateur Men, Boys
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, May 19, 2008
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home