BOYS', GIRLS' & LADIES' HOME INTERNATIONALS - Mixed fortunes for Ayrshire players in Scotland teams

The Ayrshire players in three Scotland Home International teams experienced mixed fortunes as the Boy’s, Girls’ and Ladies’ Home Internationals were played between the 6^th and the 9^th of August.

In the Boys’ Home Internationals at Ashburnham GC in Wales, Scotland finished in third place behind England and Ireland , being defeated 10 – 5 by Ireland on the opening day and 9.5 – 5.5 by England on day two before beating Wales by 9 – 6 on the final day.

On the opening day Scottish Boys’ Champion Ruben Lindsay (Ayr Belleisle) joined forces with Cameron Adam (Royal Burgess) to gain a half point in the foursomes against the Irish pairing of  Aaron Marshall & Joshua McCabe but in the afternoon singles was defeated 5 & 4 by Joseph Byrne in the anchor tie.

On the second day, Lindsay against played in the foursomes with Cameron Adam but lost 2 & 1 to the England pairing of Joseph Pagdin & Barclay Brown, but he bounced back in the afternoon to beat Robin Williams by 4&2 in the singles.

On the final day against Wales, Lindsay and Cameron  gained another half point in their foursomes tie against Bryn Thomas & Toby Bishop with Lindsay sitting out in the final round of singles matches against Wales.

The Girls’ Home Internationals played at Downfield GC, Dundee, had an Ayrshire interest with Rachel Foster (Prestwick St Nicholas) in the Scotland team.

England won the Girls’ Home Internationals with Scotland finished in fourth place after losing 6 – 3 to Ireland on the opening day, 8.5 – 0.5 to England on Day 2 and 5 – 1 to wales on the final day.

On the opening day Rachel Foster played in the foursomes with Grace Crawford (Gullane) and won 4 & 3 against the Irish pairing of Anna Dawson & Kate Lanigan and in the afternoon beat Jan Brown by 2&1 to take her second point of the day.

Paired again with Grace Crawford on day two against England, Rachel Foster lost in the foursomes by 7 & 5 against Rosie Belsham & Jessica Baker before gaining Scotland’s solitary half point in the match with a half in the anchor singles tie in the afternoon against Thalia Kirby.

On the final day Foster did not feature as the matches were reduced to just singles, due to the weather.

In the ladies’ Home Internationals, also played at Downfield GC, Dundee, Scotland finished in third place behind England and Ireland, having lost 5 – 4 to Ireland on the opening day and by 6 – 3 to England on day two before finishing the series by beating wales 4.5 – 1.5 on the final day.

Ayrshire were well represented in the Scotland Ladies’ team, with Hazel McGarvie (Royal Troon) and Louise Duncan (West Kilbride) both featuring.

McGarvie played the opening day foursomes with Chloe Goadby (St Regulus) but lost 3 & 2 to the irish duo of Annabel Wilson & Jessica Ross, whilst Duncan paired up with Hannah Darling (Broomieknowe) to defeat Chloe Ryan & Shannon Burke by 4 & 3.

In the afternoon singles McGarvie beat Annabel Wilson by 2 & 1 whilst Duncan lost out on the final hole against  Chloe Ryan.

On the second day against England, McGarvie and Goadby were defeated again in the foursomes, going down 2 & 1 against Emily Toy and Isobel Wardle, whilst Duncan & Darling went down by the same score against Lily May Humphreys and Amelia Williamson.

In the afternoon singles against England Hazel McGarvie won by 7 & 5 against LIanna Bailey whilst Louise Duncan lost for the second time that day to Amelia Williamson who crushed Duncan by 8 & 7.

With the final day’s match against wales reduced to just singles due to the weather, Hazel McGarvie won a half point in the lead tie against Lea Ann Bramwell but Louise Duncan went down by 3 & 2 to Becky Harries.