Ayrshire's winning line-up against North-east. Left to right: John Cairney, John Shanks, Stephen McBlain, David Addison, George Robertson and Cameron Gray (Image by courtesy of Alasdair Malcolm). Click on it to enlarge the image.

Ayrshire's singles tail wags to
beat North-east

Ayrshire hit back in the singles to beat North-east 5 1/2-3 1/2 in their Group C Scottish men's area team championship tie at Prestwick St Nicholas today.
North-east, who won their opening tie back in May by 8-1 over Argyll & Bute, shared the morning foursomes in Ayrshire and were looking to be favourite when they won two of the first three singles through James Byrne and Philip McLean.
But Ayrshire's tail wagged furiously with Cameron Gray, John Shanks and John Cairney winning the last three singles.

John Cairney, playing in the final tie, had a 3 & 2 win over Glenn Taylor to give Ayrshire a 4.5 – 3.5 lead overall, and the result of the match rested with the final tie on the course between John Shanks and Alan Reith.

Reith held a one-hole lead at the 16th and Shanks had the opportunity to square the match with a short putt, but failed in his attempt, leaving him one down with two to play.
Shanks then produced the perfect finish, driving the 17th green to set up an eagle 2 to square the match and then hitting his tee shot at the last to 15 feet and holing the putt for a winning birdie 2, to give Ayrshire a match win of 5 1/2–3 1/2.

Ayrshire now face Argyll & Bute in the last match of the series, at Troon Portland on Sunday September 21 when they will be hoping to secure enough to progress to the semi finals of the competition at Tain in October.

AYRSHIRE 5 1/2, NORTH-EAST 3 1/2
(at Prestwick St Nicholas).
(Ayrshire names first):
Foursomes (1 1/2-1 1/2)
G Robertson & D Addison lost to J Byrne & A Bews 7 and 6.
J Shanks & C Gray halved with M Halliday & P McLean.
J Cairney & S McBlain bt G Taylor & A Reith 2 and 1.
Singles (4-2)
McBlain lost to Byrne 3 and 2.
Robertson bt Bews 1 and 1.
Addison lost to McLean 4 and 3.
Gray bt Halliday 4 and 2.
Shanks bt Reith 1 hole.
Cairney bt Taylor 3 and 2.

All today's results:

GROUP A
South 7, Borders 2, at Southerness.
Perth & Kinross 6, Angus 3, at Crieff.
GROUP B
Glasgow 4, Renfrewshire 5, at Cathkin Braes.
Dunbartonshire 5, Lothians 4, at Hayston.
GROUP C
Argyll & Bute 3, Clackmannashire 6, at Machrihanish.
Ayrshire 5 1/2, North-east 3 1/2, at Prestwick St Nicholas.

GROUP D
Stirlingshire 3 1/2, North 5 1/2, at Falkirk Tryst.
Lanarkshire 8, Fife 1, at Drumpellier.

Note to District officials: If you want the details of your area championship games today displayed on this website, E-mail them to Colin@Scottishgolfview.com