Perfect blend comes up trumps for Prestonfield
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Represented by a perfect blend of youth and experience, Prestonfield produced an outstanding performance to win the Edinburgh Inter-Club Tournament at the Merchants.
After knocking out Baberton, the defending champions in the semi-finals, the quartet of Alex McLean, Scott Johnston, Shaun Deegan and Blair Pelling beat Dalmahoy in the final to emerge as worthy winners."The club are really proud of the boys as they played some tremendous golf over the two days," said Prestonfield captain Neil McNaughton. "While we won the Inter-Club three times many years ago, this is the first time that we've got our name on the new trophy."
Prestonfield were comfortable 5 and 4 winners over Baberton in their semi-final, but Dalmahoy had to dig much deeper for a one-hole victory over the Merchants.
In a close match, both Dalmahoy pairings birdied the last, Robert Carson and Dougie Hunter finishing two up on John Archibald and Brian Erskine while Kevin Messer and Tom Blennerhasset ended up one down against Richard Craig and David Sibbald.
In the final, it was the top Prestonfield pairing of Johnston, 45, and Pelling, 17, that made the difference, the duo producing some sparkling golf as they finished six up on Hunter and Carson.
"They needed a 3 at the last to be round in 59 – and that included a double-bogey," noted Carson after watching his opponents reel off three birdies on the trot from the 15th to seal the win.
Behind, McLean, 49, and 19-year-old Deegan were never worse than three down and finished two down as they also played their part in the title triumph.
"I've been a member at Prestonfield for 37 years and this is the first team win I've been part of," beamed McLean.
For Pelling, though, the win completed a notable double, the youngster having joined forces with Grant Dalton, Duncan Johnston and Adam Elliot to win the Junior equivalent at Musselburgh last year.
Pelling has also just won the Lothians Boys' Order of Merit after coming out on top in a ding-dong battle for the title with Broomieknowe's Jamie McIntosh.
The two players were paired together for the final counting event – at Broomieknowe – and it was close all the way before Pelling eventually edged it with a 71 to a 72 from McIntosh.
"I got off to a flying start with wins at Winterfield, Liberton and Pumpherston and really performed quite consistently over the summer," said Pelling, who is coached by Colin Brooks through the SGU Academy programme.
He's off to St Andrews University next month to start a chemistry degree and is hoping to use his stay in the Home of Golf to good effect.
"It will be tough but I'm hoping to get on to the golf team and I'll certainly be making good use of the ticket that allows us to play on all seven of the courses at St Andrews," he added.
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh Summer League semi-finals will have to be re-arranged after they were washed out at Lothianburn yesterday.
All nine games in the first match – Kingsknowe v Swanston New – had teed off but, in addition to the 16th and 17th, the greens at the fourth and fourth were starting to flood and, with no sign of the rain stopping, organisers had no choice but to halt play.
"It was the right decision," said Kingsknowe team captain Bill Buchan. "I was up at the first green and there was no place to get relief there if you were putting and Allyn Dick, who was on the fifth hole, said it was pretty bad there as well."
The abandonment left League secretary Graeme Wallace making some phone calls today to try and fix up a new date, with this weekend being unlikely due to the fact the South-east District Open is being played at Dunbar.
One option could be to play the semi-finals and final as a 'double-header' on the one day, the title showdown being scheduled at the moment for Sunday, September 13.
"The four team captains got together and, as you could imagine, we all had our own opinions about what should happen," added Buchan. "What I'm sure we all want, though, is for all four teams to be at their strongest so that the best side comes out on top at the end of the season."
in Edinburgh inter-club tournament final
FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITEBy MARTIN DEMPSTER
Represented by a perfect blend of youth and experience, Prestonfield produced an outstanding performance to win the Edinburgh Inter-Club Tournament at the Merchants.
After knocking out Baberton, the defending champions in the semi-finals, the quartet of Alex McLean, Scott Johnston, Shaun Deegan and Blair Pelling beat Dalmahoy in the final to emerge as worthy winners."The club are really proud of the boys as they played some tremendous golf over the two days," said Prestonfield captain Neil McNaughton. "While we won the Inter-Club three times many years ago, this is the first time that we've got our name on the new trophy."
Prestonfield were comfortable 5 and 4 winners over Baberton in their semi-final, but Dalmahoy had to dig much deeper for a one-hole victory over the Merchants.
In a close match, both Dalmahoy pairings birdied the last, Robert Carson and Dougie Hunter finishing two up on John Archibald and Brian Erskine while Kevin Messer and Tom Blennerhasset ended up one down against Richard Craig and David Sibbald.
In the final, it was the top Prestonfield pairing of Johnston, 45, and Pelling, 17, that made the difference, the duo producing some sparkling golf as they finished six up on Hunter and Carson.
"They needed a 3 at the last to be round in 59 – and that included a double-bogey," noted Carson after watching his opponents reel off three birdies on the trot from the 15th to seal the win.
Behind, McLean, 49, and 19-year-old Deegan were never worse than three down and finished two down as they also played their part in the title triumph.
"I've been a member at Prestonfield for 37 years and this is the first team win I've been part of," beamed McLean.
For Pelling, though, the win completed a notable double, the youngster having joined forces with Grant Dalton, Duncan Johnston and Adam Elliot to win the Junior equivalent at Musselburgh last year.
Pelling has also just won the Lothians Boys' Order of Merit after coming out on top in a ding-dong battle for the title with Broomieknowe's Jamie McIntosh.
The two players were paired together for the final counting event – at Broomieknowe – and it was close all the way before Pelling eventually edged it with a 71 to a 72 from McIntosh.
"I got off to a flying start with wins at Winterfield, Liberton and Pumpherston and really performed quite consistently over the summer," said Pelling, who is coached by Colin Brooks through the SGU Academy programme.
He's off to St Andrews University next month to start a chemistry degree and is hoping to use his stay in the Home of Golf to good effect.
"It will be tough but I'm hoping to get on to the golf team and I'll certainly be making good use of the ticket that allows us to play on all seven of the courses at St Andrews," he added.
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh Summer League semi-finals will have to be re-arranged after they were washed out at Lothianburn yesterday.
All nine games in the first match – Kingsknowe v Swanston New – had teed off but, in addition to the 16th and 17th, the greens at the fourth and fourth were starting to flood and, with no sign of the rain stopping, organisers had no choice but to halt play.
"It was the right decision," said Kingsknowe team captain Bill Buchan. "I was up at the first green and there was no place to get relief there if you were putting and Allyn Dick, who was on the fifth hole, said it was pretty bad there as well."
The abandonment left League secretary Graeme Wallace making some phone calls today to try and fix up a new date, with this weekend being unlikely due to the fact the South-east District Open is being played at Dunbar.
One option could be to play the semi-finals and final as a 'double-header' on the one day, the title showdown being scheduled at the moment for Sunday, September 13.
"The four team captains got together and, as you could imagine, we all had our own opinions about what should happen," added Buchan. "What I'm sure we all want, though, is for all four teams to be at their strongest so that the best side comes out on top at the end of the season."
Labels: Amateur Men
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, August 24, 2009
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