AYRSHIRE GOLF ASSOCIATION FINALS DAY - Six finals decided at Ardeer

Ardeer Golf Club hosted the 2026 Ayrshire Golf Association Finals day on Sunday the 6th of September, with six finals being played and the destination of trophies decided on the day.

Despite the heavy rain encountered throughout the week, GT Groundcare Ltd. presented the course in great condition for the finals.

The first final out was the scratch club team knockout competition for The Gary Bryden Memorial Salver which featured West Kilbride and Royal Troon.

Royal Troon & West Kilbride teams

Craig Stevenson and Harvey Broadfoot contested the opening singles and it was Harvey who raced to an 8&6 victory to put the first point on the board for Royal Troon.

In the third tie of the match, the foursomes pairing of Jake Hendry and Lyle Vogwell from West Kilbride faced the pairing of Blair Morton and Euan Brown of Royal Troon, and again the tie was dominated by the Royal Troon pairing who stormed to an 8&6 win to ensure the trophy would be returning to Royal Troon for the first time since their successive wins in 2018 and 2019

The second singles was between Chris Lawson and David Currie was a closer affair, with a half match ultimately being agreed once the results of the other two ties were known, which left the overall match score as Royal Troon 2.5 West Kilbride 0.5. 

The Royal Troon team with Team Captain John Rushbury & AGA Vice President William Fleming

As with all the winners on the day, the trophiy was handed over to the winning team by Ayrshire Golf Association Vice President William Fleming (Ballochmyle GC.

The second final on the course was the Ayrshire Men's Handicap League Championship final between Drongan and Tam O Shanter

Tam O Shanter and Drongan teams

In an even contest the Dronan team received shots in the first two ties, gave shots in the last two ties, with the middle two ties having no shots exchanged.

The match itself proved equally as close. In the early ties it was tam O Shanter who raced to a 3-0 lead, Nick Tindall (3) edging out Daniel Carroll (7) by a single hole while Alan Smeeton (5) and Connor Sinclair (11) both recorded 3&1 wins over Andrew Carroll (7) and David Stark (11) respectively.

The Drongan fightback started with Robert Colquhoun (16) in the anchor tie who recorded a crucial 7&5 win over Gordon Thomson (23), and when David Hannah (15) beat Jim McCorkell (17) by 2&1 the destination of the trophy lay with the final tie on the course between Drongan's Derek watt and Grant Sinclair of Tam O Shanter. In a grandstand finish the tie wrent to the last green with Derek gaining the point for Drongan to ensure a 3-3 draw in the match. As a result of the tie, the destination of the trophy and 2026 title was decided on a countback over the individual tie scores, which saw Drongan emerge as champions with a 16-9 countback advantage.

The winning Drongan team

The third final to be played was the Ayrshire Women's Handicap League Championship between the title holders Largs and first time finalist Loudoun.

The Loudoun and Largs teams

The lower handicapped Loudoun team were giving shots in all four ties in the match, but it was Audrey Thompson (5) in the second tie against Jean Ashdown (18) that put the first point on the board for Louodun with a 4&3 win.

In the lead tie Kelly McNee (3) added a second point for Loudoun with a 2 hole win over Jean Capes (16) and the title win was ensured for Loudoun when Aileen Anderson (14) staged a remarkable comeback from six down at the turn to secure a half match with Grace Malone (21) in the penultimate tie on the course.

The final tie between Irene Hodge (26) of Largs and Mhairi MacNamee (24) of Loudoun also resulted in honours een on the final green giving Louodun the 2026 Women's handicap League Championship title with a 3-1 win overall.

The winning Loudoun team with AGA Vice President William Fleming 
and Team manager Liz Keohone

The fourth final was the handicap club team knockout competition for The President's Putter which featured the teams from Tam O Shanter and Troon Portland.

The Tam O Shanter and Troon Portland teams

The Troon Portland team gave shots in all three ties and it was the foursomes pairing of Peter Clark & George McDonald (13) who put the first point on the board for Troon Portland with a 5&4 win over ian Wiseman & Craig Dunlop (18).

The two singles ties were very closely fought affairs but ultimately it was Stuart Wilson (8) who delivered the winning point for Troon Portland with a single hole victory over Neil Leverton (16) in the lead tie.

The other singles tie also concluded on the final green with Tom Neilson (17) of Tam O Shanter sharing the spoils with Donald McIntyre (13) of Troon Portland to give an overall match winning score for Troon Portland of 2.5 - 0.5.

The winning Troon Portland team with AGA Vice President William Fleming

The penultimate final played on the day was the mixed greensomes knockoyut final for The Ayrshire Jug, between Graham and Alyson Hatton of Skelmorlie and Catherine & Alasdair Malcolm from Ayr Belleisle Ladies and Golf South Ayrshire.

Catherine & Alasdair Malcolm and Graham & Alyson Hutton

Catherine and Alasdair were giving four shots in the match but took the early initiative, racing to a six hole lead at the turn before Graham and Alyson staged a comeback in the inward half, winning both the holes they had shots at and further reducing the defecit to three down with four to play with a winning par four at the fourteenth.

Despite the spirited fightback from their opponents, Catherine and Alasdir did enough to win the fifteenth hole for a 4&3 victory in the match to take the Ayrshire Jug trophy for 2026.

2026 Ayrshire Jug winners Catherine & Alasdair Malcolm
(Ayr Belleisle Ladies / Golf South Ayrshire)

The final match to be completed on the day was the Ayrshire Men's Fourball Championship final between Ian Cameron (13) and Gary Munro (15) of Skelmorlie and Morris Steveley (17) & Derek Harrigan (13) of Largs

The Men's Fourball finalists from Largs and Skelmorlie

Ultimately it was Morris and Derek who came out on top in the final with a 6&5 victory to take the trophy back to Largs GC for only the second time in the 44 yrear history of the event, following the last win by a pairing from the club in 2016.

The Fourball winning team frrom Largs GC

The Ayrshire Golf Association would like to extend sincere thanks to Ardeer Golf Club and GT Groundcare Ltd. for their support in hosting Finals day in 2026 and looking alter all the competitorsand officials, and extend congratulations to all the finalists on reaching the finals, and to all the trophy winners on their successes.