AYRSHIRE CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS TROPHY - Steven McEwan sweeps to 2021 title at Royal Troon

Steven McEwan (Caprington) swept to victory over Paul Denim (Loudoun) in the final of the 2021 Ayrshire Champion of Champions Trophy competition at Royal Troon on Friday the 13th of August to win the trophy for the third time after his previous successes in 2012 and 2013.

Paul Denim, the 2018 winner, was up against it early on in the match, with the stiff onshore breeze causing him to find bunkers from the tee over a number of the opening holes.

A regulation par four at the first was enough for Steven to take the lead after Paul bunkered his second and when Paul found sand again with his approach to the second, Steven had a chance to increase his lead but his par putt lipped out and the hole was halved.

Paul found further green side bunkers at the third and fourth which contributed to him conceding the third, then losing the par five fourth hole, when Steven holed his putt from 27 feet for an eagle three.

Both players had chances for pars at the fifth after missing the green from the tee, but it was Steven who holed from 15 feet whilst Paul's 12 foot putt drifted past the right of the hole, and Steven moved to four ahead.

Steven went five ahead, at the par five sixth hole, in  similar manner, holing from 12 feet for a birdie four after Paul's attempt from a similar distance had stayed above ground.

At the seventh Steven maintained the relentless pressure on Paul, driving the ball onto the upslope on the front of the green before chipping up and holing his birdie putt from 5 feet to better Paul's par and move to 6 holes up after 7.

The short par three eighth hole, the famous 'Postage Stamp' provided some relief for Paul who safely found the green from the tee after Steven's tee shot had drifted into the greenside right bunker. When Steven took two shots to extricate his ball from the hazard, Paul successfully two putted for par to reduce the deficit in the match to 5 holes.

The ninth hole was a catalogue of errors from both players, who both lost their first tee shots in gorse to the right of the fairway before completing the hole, and the outward half, with a half in double bogey sixes, which left Steven with a five hole lead as thy turned for home.

The tenth hole slipped from Paul's grasp when he took three from just short of the green, whilst Steven, who had missed the green to the right in two, chipped up from a deep gully to 3 feet from the hole and maintained his outstanding putting performance of the evening by holing his par putt to go 6 up once again.

Both players negotiated the testing eleventh hole well, securing pars to half the hole to leave Steven six up with seven holes to play.

The twelfth proved to be the last hole of the contest. Paul found the centre of the fairway from the tee but pushed his second just left, and short, of the green. Steven, whose tee shot was to the left of the fairway, some twenty five yards further than Paul's, successfully found the green with his second, his ball finishing 25 feed short of the hole. Paul's chip to the green ran some 23 feet past the hole, and when Steven's birdie putt hit the hole but spun out, Paul magnanimously conceded the hole, and defeat to Steven, by 7 & 6.

At the conclusion of the final the Ayrshire Golf Association President John W Watt (Prestwick St Cuthbert) presented vouchers to both finalists before handing over the Champion of Champions Trophy, and commemorative medal, to the 2021 winner, Steven McEwan.