LOMOND PROPERTY AYRSHIRE MEN'S MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP - Scott Brown and John Haggarty meet in 2025 final

The final of the 2025 Lomond Property Ayrshire Men's Matchplay Championship will be between Scott Brown (Prestwick St Cuthbert) and John Haggarty (Loudoun) after the semi final matches were completed at Ballochmyle Golf Club on Wednesday evening, the 7th of May.

The first semi final featured Scott Brown (Prestwick St Cuthbert) and Alan McLean (Largs).

Alan won the first with a par four but a birdie three at the second squared the match for Scott, though par figures at the next two holes were enough for Alan to take a two hole advantage.

Scott Brown

Scott had a considerable length advantage from the tee and used this to set up a winning par four to reduce the deficit at the fifth, only to see Alan restore his two hole lead with a birdie three at the sixth hole.

At the 370 yard seventh hole Scott cut the corner with his tee shot and drove the green to set up a winning birdie and, when the final two holes of the outward half were halved in pars, Alan turned for home with a single hole advantage.

Scott drove the green at the 272 yard tenth hole to set up a winning birdie three to square the match  and after the eleventh was halved in pars Scott used his length advantage once more at the twelfth, driving the ball almost pin high just off the right side of the green and this, coupled with Alan finding a bunker from the tee, set up a winning birdie three to Scott the lead in the match for the first time.

The next hole was halved in pars but Scott found bunker trouble at the fourteenth and Alan squared the match once more.

At the 341 yard fifteenth hole, Scott took an agressive line from the tee and drove through the green but was unfortunate to run into the back of the rear greenside bunker which gave him a very difficult recovery shot. Despite both players having chances, the hole was halved in bogey fives and remained all square and, as pressure in the match increased, the sixteenth hole was halved in a similar manner.

Alan McLean

At the seventeenth Alan was unfortunate to see his tee shot go long and right from the tee and coming to rest near a bush and the boudary wall through the green and he was unable to match Scott's good recovery from a bunker for a par three, which saw scott take a one hole lead playing the last.

At the final hole of regulation play two fine shots to just short of the green set up a winning birdie four for Alan and the match progressed to extra holes.

At the first extra hole both players secured good pars and moved on to the twentieth hole of the match, hole number ten on the course.

Teeing off first, Alan pulled his tee shot a little left and was unfortunate to come to rest behind a group of three trees, while Scott hit an uncharacteristic topped tee shot which left him well short with a long approach shot to the green at the short par four hole.

Playing first, Scott hit a great approach to within fifteen feet of the hole.

Hindered by the trtes in front of his ball, Alan could only play out to the right of the green and his ball ran into a greenside bunker from where he played out to the fringe of the green and putted down to near the hole in four. 

With two putts for the hole Scott made no mistake, rolling his birdie effort to within a few inches of the hole, promprting a concession of the putt and the match from Alan.

The second semi final was between John Shanks (Irvine) and John Haggarty (Loudoun).

John Haggarty

John Haggarty got off to a fast start, opening with three threes, two birdies and a par, to take a two hole advantage in the match early on and although John Shanks reduced the defecit with a winning par four at the fifth, a birdie three at the sixth restored John Haggarty's two hole lead.

John Shanks closed the gap again with a birdie three at the seventh hole but again John Haggarty restored his two hole advantage at the turn by winning the ninth hole with a birdie three.

A par four at the tenth was enough to give John Shanks the hole and reduce John haggarty's lead to one again but John Shanks just couldn't get back on level terms, losing the twelfth to a par four to go two behind once again.

John Shanks

birdie two at the par three fourteenth by John Shanks again reduced the match defecit to a single hole but that was as close as John Shanks got to his opponend as he lost the sixteenth hole to a par four which left John Haggarty dormie two in the match.

At the par three seventeenth hole John Haggarty missed the green to the right leaving him an testing
shot from near the boundary wall, but John Shanks saw his tee shot drift right and out of bounds over the same boundary wall adjacent to the green. John Shanks hit his second tee shot near to where his opponents tee shot lay and the match ultimately finished with John Haggarty winning the hole for a 3&1 victory in the match.

The final of the championship takes place at Ballochmyle Golf Club on Thursday the 8th of May, teeing off at 5.00 p.m.