Ayrshire lost out in the semi finals of the 2018 Scottish
Men’s Area Team Championship at Cawder on Saturday afternoon, following an injury
setback to the team at the start of the matchplay stages.
In the quarter final match on Saturday morning against the Borders
Sandy Buchanan (Prestwick St Nicholas) was due to partner Scott Brown
(Prestwick St Cuthbert) in the foursomes tie, but due to an injury which
developed following the strokeplay rounds the previous day, Buchanan had to
withdraw from the line up and took no further part in the teams bid for the
title.
As the rules of the competition does not permit substitutes,
the foursomes tie in the morning was forfeit, leaving Ayrshire needing to win
three of the four singles to progress.
Craig Hamilton (Ballochmyle) and Michael Smyth (Royal Troon)
both recorded 4&3 wins and with jack Broun (Turnberry) losing out narrowly
by 2&1, the destination of the semi final place fell to the tie featuring
John Shanks (Irvine) a two time winning team member in the event.
Drawing on all his experience, Shanks edged home by a single
hole to give Ayrshire a 3-2 win over Borders and a place in the semi finals in
the afternoon against Fife.
Details of the quarter final tie (Ayrshire names first)
were:-
Scott Brown (Prestwick
St Cuthbert) & Sandy Buchanan (Prestwick St Nicholas) scratched Vs. Allan
Turnbull (Peebles) & Paul McVie (Torwoodlee) w/o
Craig
Hamilton (Ballochmyle) beat Colin Riddle (Torwoodlee) by 4&3
Jack Broun
(Turnberry) lost to Darren Howie (Peebles) by 2&1
Michael
Smyth (Royal Troon) beat David Gillie (Torwoodlee) by 4&3
John Shanks
(Irvine beat Simon Fairbairn (Torwoodlee) by 1 hole
AYRSHIRE 3
BORDERS 2
In the
afternoon, Ayrshire again began the match one down with Buchanan’s tie against
Greg Wishart (Lundin) being forfeited, leaving Ayrshire again needing to take
three points from a possible four to reach the final.
The task
facing Ayrshire was made simple when Craig Hamilton (Ballochmyle) lost by 4&3
to Fraser Carr (Crail), meaning that all the remainig ties had to be won to
progress.
A two hole
victory for Scott Brown (Prestwick St Cuthbert) and Jack Broun (Turnberry)
against David Mitchell Jr (Leven Thistle) and Scott Crichton (Aberdour) in the
foursomes tie reduced the deficit to 2-1 and as the match progressed towards
the last few holes, there was a possibility that an unlikely victory could yet
have been secured by Ayrshire, with Michael Smyth (Royal Troon) two up with two
to play and John Shanks (Irvine) one ahead after fourteen, but the win was not
to be as Shanks lost out on the final green and Smyth, having lost the final
two holes to be brought back to all square after 18, saw his tie declared a
half after the overall result was confirmed as a win for Fife.
Despite a
valiant effort on behalf of the team, the loss of a point before the match
commenced proved just too much to overcome in their bid for a place in the
final.
Match details
for the semi final match (Ayrshire names first) were:-
Jack Broun
(Turnberry) & Scott Brown (Prestwick St Cuthbert) beat David Mitchell Jr
(Leven Thistle) & Scott Crichton (Aberdour) by 2 holes
Craig Hamilton
(Ballochmyle) lost to Fraser Carr (Crail) by 4&3
Michael
Smyth (Royal Troon) halved with James White (Lundin)
Sandy
Buchanan (Prestwick St Nicholas) scratched Greg Wishart (Lundin) w/o
John Shanks
(Irvine) lost to Andrew Davidson (Charleton) by 1 hole
AYRSHIRE
1.5 FIFE 3.5
In the final
on Sunday, Fife play North, who had a 3-2 win over near neighbours North east
in the semi final.
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