John Mitchell can't recover from bad start

Ross Coull (Edzell) with the D M Hall Scottish mid-amateur championship trophy.

ROSS COULL WINS SCOTTISH

MID-AMATEUR TITLE

Angus county team player Ross Coull is the new D M Hall Scottish men's mid-amateur golf champion.

The 32-year-old from Edzell, the eighth seed, beat pharmacist John Mitchell from Fraserburgh, last of the 16 match-play qualifiers, by two holes in the 18-hole final over Dundonald Links, Ayrshire today.

Mitchell had upset the top seed and leading qualifier, Terry Mathieson (Kings Acre) in the morning semi-finals. He beat his Aberdeen opponent, who moved to Edinburgh within the past year, by one hole after going two up in the eagly stages.

In the final, Mitchell never recovered from a bad run of four successive bogeys between the second and the fifth. Coull won them all and went five up when Mitchell also bogeyed the seventh.

Mitchell finally settled down to start a revival with a birdie 3 at the eighth and the reduced his deficit to one by winning the 10th with a par, the short 13th with a 2 and the long 14th with a birdie 4.

Coull gained some breathing space when Mitchell bogeyed the short 15th to allow his opponent to go two up again with three to play.

The Fraserburgh man kept his dwindling hopes alive with a birdie 3 at the 17th to be one down but he bogeyed the last and lost by two holes.

Coull was round in an approximate 73 (36-37) to Mitchell's 75 (40-35).

Results

Semi-finals - J Mitchell (Fraserburgh) bt T Mathieson (Kings Acre) 1 hole, R Coull (Edzell) bt S Robertson (Sandyhills) 1 hole.

Final - Coull bt Mitchell 2 holes.

++Images of Ross Coull and John Mitchell are by Rob Eyton-Jones (all rights reserved).