PRESIDENTS TROPHY - Ayrshire youngsters win at Southerness

A young Ayrshire team tasted early season success on Sunday 27th March with victory over South Of Scotland at Southerness in the annual challenge match for the Presidents Trophy.

The winning Ayrshire team at Southerness
In the Presidents trophy match against South Of Scotland

With a team comprising four under 16's, four under 18's and four youths, Ayrshire were attempting to defend the trophy for the first time in a number of years, having won the corresponding fixture at home twelve months ago.

The overall victory had its foundation in an excellent team display in the morning foursomes where Ayrshire forged a 4 - 2 lead to take into the singles in the afternoon.

Ewan Milligan (Kilmarnock Barassie) and Ruben Lindsay (Ayr Belleisle) led the way with a 2 & 1 win over Dumfries & County pairing Harry Austin & Mitchell Cowie in the opening Under 16 tie.

In the other Under 16 tie, Sean Addie (Ayr Belleisle) and Liam Kirkham (Trooon Welbeck) made it 2 - 0 for Ayrshire with a 4 & 3 win over Kirkcudbright duo Cameron Gray & Callum McMillan.

A crushing 7 & 5 win in the first Under 18 tie, by Jordan Sweeney (Ayr Belleisle) and  Robbie Muir (Kilmarnock Barassie) over William Squires (Kirkudbright) and Ross White (Thornhill) put Ayrshire 3 - 0 up, with the lead being extended to 4 - 0 courtesy of a 3 & 1 win by Ayr Belleisle duo Andrew Gordon & Callum Irving over Nathan Watson (Kirkcudbright) and Ryuan Cano (Thornhill) in the other Under 18 tie.

The Ayrshire progress was stalled in the two youths foursomes ties, Jordan Fraser (Ayr Belleisle) and Murray McCrone (Troon Welbeck) losing by 5 & 4 to Alex Chalk (Castle Douglas) & Rory Brunton (Dumfries & County) and Charlie Cameron (Ayr Belleisle) & Shaun Hedger (West Kilbride) being beaten 6 & 5 by the Dumfries & Galloway pairing of Conor Harkness and Ross Barbour.

In the afternoon singles, the four Under 16 ties saw the Ayrshire players emerge unbeaten, Ewan Milligan beating Harry Austin by 3 & 2 and Liam Kirkham crushing Callum McMillan by 7 & 5, whilst Ruben Lindsay and Sean Addie halved their ties against Mitchell Cowie and Cameron Gray respectively, which gave Ayrshire a 7 - 3 lead with eight ties remaining.

In the four under 18 ties, honours were even with two wins and two defeats.

Jordan Sweeney lost out to Nathan Watson by 4 & 3 and Robbie Muir went down by 2 & 1 to William Squires, before Andrew Gordon, with a 2 & 1 win over Ross Whyte, and Callum Irving, with a 5 & 4 win over Ryan Cano, brought the team score to 9 - 5 for Ayrshire.

The series of four youths matches was the only one in which the South Of Scotland got the upper hand during the match, narrowly edging the series by 2 1/2 - 1 1/2.

Jordan Fraser halved his tie with Alex Chalk and Shaun Hedger beat Conor Harkness by 2 holes, whilst Murray McCrone lost out by 2 & 1 to Rory Brunton and Charlie cameron went down by 3 & 2 to Ross Barbour.

At the end of the days play, Ayrshire retained the Presidents Trophy with a final match score of 10.5 - 7.5.