SCOTTISH WOMEN'S COUNTY FINALS - Ayrshire pipped on countback by Midlothian for title

The Ayrshire team who were runners up to Midlothian :-
Catherine Malcolm, Alex Glennie, Debbie watt, Audrey Thomson
Gillian Arnott, Jenny Linklater, Connie Jaffrey, Lesley Hendry
(Photo cocurtesy of  Clair Hargan)

Despite winning two of their three matches, Ayrshire were narrowly pipped for the Scottish Women's County Championship title at Dumfries & County GC on Sunday 18th September, losing out by just 1.5 points on a countback to Midlothian.

(Fron the Scottish ladies Golfing Association websitte at www.slga.co.uk)

After another exciting and tense finish to the County Finals, Midlothian have won the 2011 County Finals at Dumfries & County after a countback with both Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire.

Ayrshire beat Perth & Kinross by 3.5 to 2.5 to finish with 4 match points and 13 individual game points while Dumfriesshire beat Midlothian 4 - 2 to leave both of those teams also with 4 match points. Dumfriesshire also had 13 individual game points but Midlothian won the countback and the title courtesy of 14.5 individual game points.

For the majority of the final afternoon it looked like Dumfriesshire were going to take the title for the first time in their history. They were up in 5 of the 6 matches with only a few holes remaining which would have been enough to give Dumfriesshire the title.

Kate McIntosh won her match against Jordana Graham which left Midlothian leaving one elusive half point to clinch the title.

Wendy Nicholson started her fightback from 5 down to be only 1 down standing on the 18th tee (her comeback including a run of 3 birdies from the 13th) and a par on the long par 4 18th was enough to clinch the title. Karen Marshall also came back from three down with 7 holes remaining to seal a second half point.

The singles matches in the third and final round robin round are as follows:

AYRSHIRE	V	PERTH & KINROSS		A	P
Catherine Malcolm	v	Jill Milne	Milne WON 3&2	0	1
Jenny Linklater	v	Fiona Ramsay	Linklater WON 4&3	1	0
Gillian Arnott	v	Steph Crolla	Half match	0.5	0.5
Lesley Hendry	v	Nicola Robertson	Hendry WON 4&3	1	0
Audrey Thompson	v	Eilidh Watson	Watson WON 4&3	0	1
Connie Jaffrey	v	Emily Ogilvy	Jaffrey WON 2 holes	1	0
DUMFRIESSHIRE	V	MIDLOTHIAN		D	M
Diane Macdonald	v	Jane Turner	Macdonald WON 2&1	1	0
Jordana Graham	v	Kate McIntosh	McIntosh WON 5&3	0	1
Lindsay Kirkwood	v	Gabrielle Macdonald	Kirkwood WON 3&2	1	0
Katie McCracken	v	Wendy Nicholson	Half match	0.5	05
Emma Greenlees	v	Kirsten Blackwood	Greenlees WON 3&2	1	0
Rachel Walker	v	Karen Marshall	Half match	0.5	0.5