LOTHIANS BOYS ARE CHAMPIONS AGAIN - BUT IT WAS CLOSE

The Lads from the Lothians keep their hands on the Scottish Cup. Left to right: Lee Morgan, Grant Forrest, Nadira Sudira (representative of sponsors Dunfermline Building Society), Calum Hill and Anthony Blaney. Image by courtesy of the Scottish Golf Union. NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION Lothians clinched their second successive Dunfermline Building Society Scottish boys' area team championship and with it a record-breaking tenth title after an exciting finish at Hayston Golf Club, Glasgow today. Anthony Blaney, playing the anchor role in the Lothians quartet, produced a superb one-under par 69 to give his side an aggregate of 360, finishing just two shots ahead of Ayrshire, with Fife clinching the bronze medals on 364. Taking a narrow one shot lead into the singles and with scoring difficult on a cold and breezy afternoon, a close finish looked likely and Ayrshire applied the pressure on the leaders with a level par 70 from Charlie McNeal and a 72 from Euan Walker, backed up by a 73 from Scottish Boys Champion David Wilson.  Fife, whose Men’s team won last month’s Moneygate Scottish Area Team Championship, also burst into contention with the best singles aggregate of 212. Grant Forrest, a member of last year’s winning Lothians team, posted a three-over par 73 as did team-mate Lee Morgan, while Callum Hill – a semi-finalist in the Scottish Boys Championship, went one better with a 72. That left Blaney needing to score level par or better to take the title, and the Liberton youngster handled the pressure superbly, going round in seventeen pars and a birdie at the second hole, to lead his side home.  “It’s brilliant to win the championship again,” said an elated Blaney. “We knew we had to go out this afternoon and put some low scores together as it was pretty tight in the morning compared to last year. I sensed I probably had to par the last to give us the win and thankfully I played the hole well. It’s nice to know we could perform when the pressure was on.” “Dean Robertson, who helped coach the team, gave us some good advice before the team which was a big help and obviously Grant and I had the experience of winning last year. I’ll still be eligible to play next year so hopefully I’ll have a chance of going for the hatrick!” he added.  Blaney was pipped to the Niagara Cup for the best individual singles score, which was won by Glasgow’s Jamie Savage (Cawder) who fired an excellent two-under par 68. South finished in fourth spot on 370, with Lanarkshire just behind in fifth on 371, while Glasgow were a further shot back in sixth. FINAL TOTALS

360 LOTHIANS. Foursomes 146 (Anthony Blaney and Grant Forrest 74, Calum Hill and Lee Morgan 73). Singles 214 (Blaney 69, Hill 72, Forrest 73, Morgan 73). 362 AYRSHIRE. Foursomes 147 (Charles MacNeal and David Wilson 73, Jack McDonald and Euan Walker 74). Singles: 215 (MacNeal 70, Walker 72, Wilson 73, McDonald 76). 364 FIFE. Foursomes 152 (Ben Kinsley and Josh Jamieson 76, Andrew Whyte and Cameron Mitchell 76). Singles 212 (Jamieson 70, Whyte 71, Mitchell 71, Kinsley 75). 370 SOUTH. Foursomes 148 (Liam Johnston and Connor Syme 74, Greig Marchbank and Danny McConnachie 74). Singles 222 (Marchbank 72, Johnson 74, Syme 76, McConnachie 78). 371 LANARKSHIRE. Foursomes 149 (Craig Ross and Eamon Bradley 73, James Steven and Ross Gillan 76). Singles 222 (Ross 71, Bradley 74, Steven 77, Gillan 77). 372 GLASGOW. Foursomes 155 (Scott Wearing and Jamie Savage 80, Craig Anderson and Calum McLean 75). Singles 217 (Savage 68, Anderson 73, Wearing 76, McLean 78). 375 BORDERS. Foursomes 152 (Craig Howie and Aiden Fortune 74, Daniel Flannery and Callum McNeil 78). Singles 223 (Howie 74, Flannery 74, Fortune 75, McNeil 76). 378 RENFREWSHIRE. Foursomes 154 (Alasdair McDougall and Paul Reilly 73, John Scott and Greg Paterson 81). Singles 224 (Scott 70, McDougall 71, Reilly 83, Paterson 83). 381 NORTH. Foursomes 154 (Freddie Brown and Sean Burgess 75, Jordan Milne and Andrew Burgess 79). Singles 227 (S Burgess 75, Milne 75, A Burgess 77, Brown 80). 382 ARGYLL and BUTE. Foursomes 151 (Bob MacIntyre and Alistair MacVicar 76, Craig Pirie and Mark Turnbull 75). Singles 231 (MacIntyre 77, Pirie 77, Turnbull 77, MacVicar 78). 383 CLACKMANNANSHIRE. Foursomes 155 (Lawrence Allan and Reyner Kennedy 74, Kevin Ross and Rikky Alexander 81). Singles 228 (Kennedy 74, Allan 75, Ross 79,  Alexander 85). 385 PERTH and KINROSS. Foursomes 160 (Bradley Neil and Sam Craigon 83, Allan Easton and Greig Stewart 77). Singles 225 (Neil 72, Craigon 73, Easton 80, Stewart 84). 390 ANGUS. Foursomes 155 (Calum McKay and Connor Cook 74, Grant Bowman and Ian Douglas 81). Singles 235 (Cook 77, Bowman 79, Douglas 79, McKay 83). 392 NORTH-EAST. Foursomes 165 (Robbie Gauld and Jamie Reid 87, Lewis Mutch and Daniel Thompsett 78). Singles 227 (Thompsett 70, Reid 78, Mutch 79, Gauld 80). 393 STIRLINGSHIRE. Foursomes 157 (Darius Kunecki and Ben Craggs 77, Euan Douglas and Charlie Linton 80). Singles 236 (Douglas 78, Craggs 79, Linton 79, Kunecki 81). 393 DUNBARTONSHIRE. Foursomes 158 (Angus Carrick and Ewen Ferguson 74, Cameron Farrell and Liam Halliday 84). Singles 235 (Halliday 77, Carrick 78, Ferguson 80, Farrell 80).