AYRSHIRE MENS' MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP - First round results from Rowallan Castle

The first round matches in the 2024 Lomond Property sponsored Ayrshire Mens' Matchplay Championship took place at Rowallan Castle Golf Club on Monday the 6th of May.

The top sixteen available players from the Ayrshire Mens' Strokeplay Championship at Largs last week progressed to contest the matchplay title.

The opening tie featured the new Strokeplay champion Gavin Chesney (Kilbirnie Place) against the 2023 strokeplay championship winner Colin Goudie (Ayr Belleisle). The tie was close throughout, Goudie leading by a single hole at the turn and incresed his lead to two holes playing the sixteenth. A superb downhill putt for a birdie four from Chesney at the sixteenth reduced the defecit to one hole, but Goudie rallied to take the seventeenth for a 2&1 win.

Second out was Tommy Loy (Ballochmyle) and David Macdonald (Largs). Loy held a two hole lead at the turn, and although he was pegged back to a single hole advantage by the thirteenth, he restored his two hole lead with two to play before halving the penultimate hole for a 2&1 win.

Third on the course was Adam Sweeney (Prestwick St Cuthbert) and Cameron Aitken (Largs) who was a late replacement after a withdrawal from the initial line up. Sweeney held a single hole advantage after nine holes but the match was level by the thirteenth and after sixteen holes it was Aitken who held a slender lead by a single hole, which he maintained to the final green to go through.

John Haggarty (Loudoun) lined up against Steven McEwan (Caprington) in a match where McEwan forged a two hole advantage by the turn which was extended to four holes after thirteen, en route to a 4&3 victory.

William Fleming (Ballochmyle) faced Harvey Macdonald (Turnberry) and the tie was close over the outward half, with the players turning for home all square, before Macdonald pulled away in the inward nine, going two holes ahead after thirteen and finishing the match on the sixteenth green with a 4&2 victory.

Harvey Broadfoot (Royal Troon) and Alan Mclean (Largs) had one of the closest matches of the evening, with the winner not decided until the final hole. Mclean held a two hole advantage as the players turned for home and maintained the lead after thirteen holes. Broadfoot, a member of the victorious Ayrshire team in the Area Team Championship qualifying match against Argyll & Bute the previous day, took successive holes at fourteen and fifteen to square the match, only to lose the sixteenth and go one behind with two to play. A two putt par from the edge of the seventeenth green was enough for Broadfoot to square the match again after McLean found a bunker from the tee and failed to get up and down in two, and the match went to the final hole all square, where Mclean was unable to match Broadfoot's birdie four, and broadfoot progressed with a single hole win.

Aidan Long (Ayr Belleisle) faced Craig Telfer (Prestwick St Cuthbert), who was a late replacement after a withdrawal from the original line up on Sunday night, and it was Long who went through with a steady performance, developing a single hole half way lead to a two hole advantage after thirteen, en route to an eventual 3&2 victory.

The remaining tie was between Graeme Gimson (Prestwick St Cuthbert) and John Shanks (Irvine). Shanks took control of the tie early on taking a four hole advantage in the match by the half way stage and maintaining his leading margin through thirteen holes before closing out a 4&3 win.The second round matches are scheduled to take place on Tuesday evening, with the semi finals on Wednesday and the final on Thursday.

The full results and second round line up is:-