Keith Nicholson digs deep to win

fourth Lothians championship

FROM THE SPORT.SCOTSMAN.COM WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Keith Nicholson reckons his latest Lothians Championship victory was down to a knack of winning ugly in "horrendous" conditions throughout the week-long event at Craigielaw.
The 35-year-old Haddington player put his name on the fabulous Evening News Trophy for a fourth time – he also won in 1997, 1998 and 2001 – after beating Marriott Dalmahoy's Kevin Messer in a wind-affected final on the East Lothian coast.

After battling strong winds every night earlier in the week, the two finalists were eventually bought to a standstill as the conditions deteriorated on Saturday afternoon, similar in fact to the way they did on the corresponding day during the 2002 Open Championship a few miles along the coast at Muirfield.

Due to the strength of the wind, Nicholson, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, was unable to replace his ball on the 14th green after marking it and, in the circumstances, the officials had no alternative than to suspend play for just over an hour.

Eventually, they were able to resume and, after finding himself two down early on, Nicholson dug deep into his reserves to regain the top prize in Lothians, golf thanks to a one-hole win.

"The conditions this week were horrendous and, without doubt, the secret was being able to win ugly," said the champion, who claimed this latest success was sweet for two reasons.

One was that he hadn't started the event with high expectations due to the fact he hadn't been playing much competitive golf while the other was that his pregnant partner, Nicola, was there to see him lift the trophy.

"It's actually been a wee while since I've given myself a good chance to win this again and it's probably sweeter, to a certain extent at least, because I didn't feel I was the favourite this week," added the Lothians team captain.

"It was also good that Nicola was there to see me win something like this for the first time. She's due to give birth at the end of July so it is an exciting time for the two of us. She actually had her latest scan last Wednesday, the day of the second round, and I had a bit of a rush to get from Roodlands Hospital to Craigielaw in time for my match after it was 40 minutes late."

In Saturday morning's semi-finals, Nicholson recovered from being two down early on to beat Dunbar's Stephen Simants by 3 and 2, while Messer also had to dig deep for his 2 and 1 success over Baberton's Andy Laurence.

Simants had beaten two leading contenders in Pumpherston's Paul Drake and Steven Armstrong from Turnhouse to make it to the last four but was disappointed that he couldn't raise his game one more time.

"I just didn't hole enough putts while Keith putted solidly, sinking a good one from 20 feet at the 16th to clinch his win," said Simants. "But I've enjoyed my week and, hopefully, I can use this to achieve my goal of playing more for the Lothians."

After being two up after two in his match, Laurence was bitterly disappointed about his defeat, the damage being done by Messer as he won three holes in a row from the 11th. "Losing in the semi-finals sucks," said Laurence. "But I've enjoyed my week and hopefully I'll be able to draw on this experience in the future."

Nicholson now shares the record of most wins in the event with Duddingston's Stuart Smith and, still on the right side of 40, there's nothing to suggest he can't add to that title haul, especially when the event is played in his native East Lothian.

But, as he himself admitted, life could be about to change. "Once the wee one arrives, I think the golf clubs might have to be put in the cupboard for a while," said Nicholson.