Riccarton gave Carrickvale close shave in quarter-finals

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Carrickvale feared their remarkable winning run in the Evening News Dispatch Trophy was dead and buried until 'The Graves' came to their rescue on a dramatic night at the Braids.
The historic hat-trick winners claimed the 18th hole in both games to scrape past Riccarton after their quarter-finals opponents effectively built their own coffin in the notorious area to the right of the closing hole on the Capital course.
"I thought we were gone on the 18th tee as the momentum was with Riccarton at that point," admitted a relieved Allyn Dick as he reflected on Carrickvale's closest shave since embarking on the run that has seen them dominate the event in recent years.
On a night that started and finished in a hail shower, Riccarton, the 2005 winners, were left kicking themselves after letting a great opportunity to claim another medal slip through their fingers.
Five down after ten in the top match, Stephen Marshall and Ian Gourlay had cut the deficit to three by the time they reached the 16th tee against Dick and David Ewen.
After Dick found the gorse with Carrickvale's tee shot there and Ewen had to take a penalty drop, Riccarton were favourites to win the hole but paid the price for Gourlay's pitch finishing above the hole and had to settle for a half in bogey-5s.
Admitting afterwards that the tension had got to him, Ewen then missed a short putt for a half at the par-3 17th.
At the back, Grant McCall and Dougie Waugh were three up early on and still led by that margin with three holes to play against Darren Coyle and Craig Elliot.
A visit to the gorse cost the Riccarton duo the 16th but they bounced back to take the 17th thanks to a good two-putt, meaning Carrickvale were one down over the double foursome with the 18th to play in both matches.
However, Marshall and McCall both found 'The Graves' off the tee, leaving Gourlay and Waugh to discover the degree of difficulty from down there.
Gourlay flew his shot right over the green into a gorse bush, while Waugh was down on one knee as he made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to escape.
With Dick and Ewen safely on in two, they were conceded the hole after their opponents had played four shots, while Coyle and Elliot were conceded a birdie-3 following a brilliant drive from the former that just ran off the back edge.
"It was one of those nights when the golf was ugly," added Dick, while Elliot paid tribute to his partner after revealing Coyle had been struggling with a shoulder injury that was "popping" on the back nine every time he hit a shot.
Carrickvale's opponents in tomorrow morning's semi-finals will be Stewart's Melville, who maintained their impressive progress in an event being run in association with Edinburgh Leisure by beating Cramond 7 and 6.
"The teams above us in the draw are the favourites but we're going quietly about our business," said Ally Ritchie after joining forces with David Donaldson to finish five up in the back match on Craig Scott and Ian Randall.
Up front, Kevin Cattanach and Alan Anderson won three holes in a row from the 13th to come out on top against Ian Doig and Paul Heggie.
After cruising through their earlier matches, Silverknowes got the tough test they were expecting against BBT but stayed on course in their bid to regain the trophy with a 3 and 1 victory.
All square over the double foursome with five holes to play, Tam Caldwell's superb 7-iron set up a hole-winning birdie at the 17th for Silverknowes and minutes later they also won the 16th in the back match thanks to an exquisite pitch from Paul Ross.
Steven Armstrong then came up short with BBT's tee shot at the 17th in that game, leaving Keith Reilly to use the two putts Silverknowes had to set up a last-four clash with RICS, who won more easily than expected against Temple.
On a night when nothing much went right for the Duddingston team, they went down 5 and 3 and the RICS quartet of Brian Tait, Steven Ewing, Gary Denholm and Mike Corrie have certainly proved the dark horses this year.
Ewing, a 47-year-old, has secured a second medal on his return to the Braids after a lengthy absence, while 28-year-old Denholm will pick up his first one tomorrow after proving a "supersub" for Mike Armstrong.