AYRSHIRE BOYS MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP - Broadfoot and Barclay through to the final as semi finals go the distance

The final of the 2021 Ayrshire Boys Matchplay Championship will be between Harvey Broadfoot (Troon Welbeck) and Max Barclay (Ayr Belleisle), after both semi finals went the distance at Prestwick Golf Club on Wednesday the 11th of August.

Jack Allan & Harvey Broadfoot

The new Ayrshire Boys Champion Harvey Broadfoot faced fellow Ayrshire Boys' team member Jack Allan (Ballochmyle) in the first semi final and there was little between the players throughout the match. By the time the players reached the final hole the match score was all square. At the final hole both players hit good drives and Harvey's chip finished seven feet from the hole, leaving him a testing downhill putt, whilst Jack's chip left him with a four foot uphill putt for his birdie. Playing first, Harvey holed his difficult birdie putt and when Jack's effort hit the hole but spun out, victory was Harvey Broadfoot's by a single hole.

Max Barclay & Cameron McGarvie

The second semi final between Max Barclay and Cameron McGarvie (Prestwick St Nicholas) was equally as close and after fourteen holes Max was a single hole in front. The players halved the fifteenth and although Cameron had an opportunity to square the match at the sixteenth, his five foot birdie putt slipped past the right side of the hole and he remained one behind with two to play.

At the seventeenth, both players successfully negotiated the Alps and the Sahara Bunker in two, coming to rest on the front apron of the green. Cameron putted first, and his difficult downhill putt, left to right and across a ridge on the green, slipped just pas the hole and left him a three foot putt for his par. Coming straight down the slope, Max was a little bold with his birdie putt and it ran five feet past the cup. Putting first for par, max pulled his putt a little left and it remained above ground. Cameron took full advantage, holing his par put to square the match going to the last.

At the final hole, both players drove close to the bunker situated short left of the green and both chips to the hole left them with outside chances for a birdie three. Despite their efforts, neither players was able to convert their putt and the hole was halved in par fours, meaning the match progressed to extra holes.

At the first extra hole, an iron shot from the tee left Cameron in the ideal position for a mid iron shot to the green, whilst Max, who had driven out of bounds onto the railway with his opening tee shot of the match, again flirted with the boundary wall with his tee shot at the first sudden death hole, but the ball fell in bounds and came to rest a few yards from the wall, some forty yards beyond Cameron's ball, which left max in an ideal position to approach the pin with a short iron second shot.

Playing first, cameron pulled his second shot left of the green and was only able to chip his ball to the far apron of the green, next to the railway wall, in three, leaving him with a fifty foot putt for his par. Max meanwhile had played a good second which came to rest fifteen feet short of the hole, leaving him an uphill birdie putt. Cameron made a good attempt for his par from distance, his ball finishing three feet above the hole, but Max rolled his birdie effort to within eighteen inches of the cup, prompting a concession of his par, and the match, from Cameron.

The final of the championship will take place at Prestwick Golf Club on Thursday the twelfth of August, teeing off at 4.30 p.m.