
Bojesen (St Andrews) tees off at the first.
Stirling tighten their grip on morning of Scottish Students' team finalSTEW FOWLIE REPORTS FROM LOSSIEMOUTH
The morning foursomes got underway on Moray Old at 08.00 this
morning and reigning champions Stirling took little time to get warmed up,
building early leads in the first three matches on the course.
Stirling’s lead pair of Jordan Sundborg and Michael Lawrie
had a two-hole lead by the fourth tee and never looked back as they kept St
Andrews’ Matt Myers and Tobias Hein at bay with some strong match-play golf. The
match was eventually to conclude on the 15th green where two putts
were enough for the men from Stirling.
Match two saw Stirling captain Colin Edgar and regular
partner Mark Napier face off against Peter Kerr and Jack Rogan from St Andrews.
Once again the green of Stirling was to dye the score board from the early
stages – with Edgar/ Napier defending a narrow lead with tenacity throughout
the first five holes.
Saints were briefly level after a birdie at the sixth,
but a lost ball at the following hole put them behind once again and they were
never to quite recover thereafter.
Colin Edgar holed well from 20ft on the eighthand
his team-mate followed suit on the 11th for a valuable half. Napier holed another crucial putt from similar distance on the 14th
to put Stirling two up and well in the driving seat. They teed it up on the 17th
dormie 2 up and a lost ball for Kerr ended the tie with a 3 and 1
victory for Stirling.
With Laird Shepherd coming into the foursomes line-up for
the first time this week, the final two pairings for the defending champions had a fresh
look about them. David Nagiev combined with left-hander Ross Nelson to
tackle Bojesen/Kulukundis and Robert Foley joined Shepherd in the final match
against Burns and Frean.
The third match saw Stirling take the initiative early on,
winning the second and third holes before a birdie at the sixth put them three up. Nagiev and Nelson got to four holes ahead after the 11th
and will have felt quite relaxed about things as they took to the last seven
holes.
Perhaps spurred by the steepening odds, the St Andrews team
provided a notable moment at the 12th when Bjorn Bojesen holed out from
the heather with a sensational 4-iron from 195 yards for an eagle 2.
However, this gave only a brief moment of respite and the
Nagiev and Nelson duo seemed untroubled, stretching back to four up at the
following hole. The match was to play out evenly from there with Stirling
recording a 4 and 3 victory.
The final match of the morning provided the most intrigue and
one or two plot twists. St Andrews were grateful recipients of a win at the
first hole, thanks to a rare false shot from Laird Shepherd, whose short second
shot failed to clear the greenside bunker and found a spot from which Foley
could only ‘chunk’ it out to the edge of the green.
George Burns and Liam Frean were briefly two up after the
fifth hole and then again after seven holes but the Stirling duo showed their
mettle by recovering to all square after 10.
They then took the lead, thanks to a great up and down from right of the green at the 12th,
with Foley holing from 12 feet after a very delicate Shepherd chip shot over
the bunker from a bare lie.
Burns holed from 15 feet in the middle of a hailstorm on the
14th to make it all-square and when Foley missed from 4 feet at the
16th a point for the Saints looked likely.
However, a moment of sheer brilliance from stroke-play
champion Laird Shepherd changed the complexion once again. With Foley’s
drive having gone down the left side Shepherd was faced with 220 yards from the rough. He selected his trusty rescue club and sent a soaring draw
up into the dull Moray skyline. It landed just over the front bunker and rolled
into the cup for a sensational albatross!
Shepherd commented later: "As soon as I hit it I thought it was
good and gave it a bit of verbal encouragement in the air – but I was amazed
that it actually went in!
" I’ve never really holed out with anything longer than
a wedge before."
This magical moment left the match finely poised at all
square coming up the 18th and despite a fine approach from Foley it was halved in four and for the spoils to be shared.
The afternoon singles began at 1pm on the Old Course, with
St Andrews needing six points out of the eight matches to snatch an improbable
win.
Labels: Student Golf
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