WEST OF SCOTLAND INTER COUNTY UNDER 18 LEAGUE - Addie secures Ayrshire victory against Lanarkshire

The Ayrshire Under 18 team secured a superb 4.5 - 3.5 victory on Sunday 17th June 2018 over Lanarkshire at Langlands GC, in their latest West Of Scotland Under 18 Inter County League match.

The victorious Ayrshire boys team at Langlands GC

With Lanarkshire opening their title bid for the Wishart Trophy with a win over defending champions Renfrewshire last month, the Ayrshire team knew they had a tough task on the road if they wanted to keep their own bid on track, following their win over Stirlingshire last month.

The match proved to be very close throughout, with some notable performances by the Ayrshire team en route to victory.

In the opening tie, Kerr Brooks (Irvine), who was making his debut for the county side, gave Ayrshire the perfect start with a 2&1 victory in his tie.

Despite competing well throughout their respective ties, Josh Davies (Troon Welbeck), John McCracken (Kilmarnock Barassie) and Ross McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) all saw their ties slip away from them in the closing holes and all ultimately lost on the penultimate green, leaving Lanarkshire 3 - 1 ahaead after the four under 16 ties. 

Ben Fleming (Troon Welbeck) reduced the defecit with a 372 win, and the match turned in Ayrshire's favour when Ewan Milligan (Kilmarnock Barassie) fought back from three down at the turn to square the match after sixteen holes and then go on to win the final two holes for a two hole victory to square the match at that stage, with two ties remaining on the course.

John Lomas (Ayr Belleisle) ensured that Ayrshire would get at least a draw in the match when he won the seventeenth hole for a 2&1 victory, leaving the fate of the match resting on the anchor tie involving Sean Addie (Ayr Belleisle).

Addie, who won the prestigious Tam O Shanter Trophy over his home course recently, was involved in a close match throughout which was all square through fifteen holes. Addie lost the sixteenth to go one behind but showed his fighting spirit to win the seventeenth to square the match once more. With an excellent drive on the final hole, Addie found the green in two whilst his opponent was just off the back edge of the green in two, and chipped up to five feet in three.

Addie's birdie putt ran a couple of feet past the hole and, after his opponent holed an excellent pressure putt for par, Addie showed no nerves in holing his par effort for a half in his tie and crucially, a half point for his team to give Ayrshire the narrowest of victories.

With wins away from home at a premium in the West League, the performance of the Ayrshire boys against Lanarkshire was an excellent team performance.

Match details (Ayrshire names first):-

Kerr Brooks (Irvine) beat James Gray (Colville Park) by 271
Josh Davies (Troon Welbeck) lost to Scott Littlejohn (Colville Park) by 2&1
John McCracken (Kilmarnock Barassie) lost to Callum Steele (Colville Park) by 3&1
Ross McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) lost to Lewis Graham (Hamilton) by 2&1
Ewan Milligan (Kilmarnock Barassie) beat Patrick Boyle (Hamilton) by 2 holes
Ben Fleming (Troon Welbeck) beat Mark McMillen (Drumpellier) by 3&2
John Lomas (Ayr Belleisle) beat Jack Emurson (East Kilbride) by 2&1
Sean Addie (Ayr Belleisle) halved with Scott Thomson (Drumpellier)


AYRSHIRE    4.5   LANARKSHIRE   3.5

Ayrshire's next match in the five match series is at home to Dumbartonshire at Ballochmyle on Sunday 22nd July.