This is the match play competition between 8 man teams from Wigtownshire, Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. This year the competition was played at Portpatrick Golf Club on Saturday 14 May on a beautiful sunny day with only light winds from the south in the morning. In the afternoon the wind changed to the north and increased in intensity but not enough to affect the excellent standard of golf produced by the competitors. The course had recovered well from the ravages of the winter weather and was in excellent condition. An exciting day of golf between 24 of the Area’s best golfers was anticipated as the first four set off for the morning foursomes.
Dumfriesshire showed their intention early and got off to a great start by beating Wigtownshire by 1½ games to ½. In the match between Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire honours were even at 1 game all while in the match between Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire the Dumfriesshire team continued their good start by beating Kirkcudbrightshire by 2 games to nil.
In the afternoon singles Dumfriesshire whitewashed Wigtownshire by 4 games to nil, Wigtownshire again shared the honours with Kirkcudbrightshire at 2 games all and Dumfriesshire proved their superiority on the day by beating Kirkcudbrightshire by 3 games to 1. Dumfriesshire won the trophy by winning 10 games, halving one and only losing one. A remarkable effort, particularly as the only one Dumfriesshire player to lose was the Captain in his singles match!!
Individual Results
Morning Foursomes
Wigtownshire ½ Dumfriesshire 1½
J Telfer and D McCreadie lost to M Grunwell and A Kerr by 5 & 4
E Adamson and I Johnstone halved with C Scobie and C Finnie
Wigtownshire 1 Kirkcudbrightshire 1
C Bennewith and J Caldwell beat C Heuchan and C Riddick by 4 & 3
R Hughan and A Chalmers lost to G Blayney and R Kerr by 7 & 6
Dumfriesshire 2 Kirkcudbrightshire 0
L Johnstone and D McConnachie beat D King and R Murray by 4 & 3
A Birdsall and R Johnstone beat A Bendall and M Kirkwood
Afternoon Singles
Wigtownshire 0 Dumfriesshire 4
C Bennewith lost to L Johnstone by 4 & 3
J Caldwell lost to D McConnachie by 2 holes
R Hughan lost to A Birdsall by 3 & 2
A Chalmers lost to R Johnstone by 3 & 2
Wigtownshire 2 Kirkcudbrightshire 2
J Telfer lost to D King by 3 & 1
D McCreadie lost to R Murray by 1 hole
E Adamson beat A Bendall by 4 & 3
I Johnstone beat M Kirkwood by 1 hole
Dumfriesshire 3 Kirkcudbrightshire 1
M Grunwell lost to C Heuchan by 5 & 4
A Kerr beat C Riddick by 1 hole
C Scobie beat G Blayney by 2 & 1
C Finnie beat R Kerr by 2 & 1
Match Result
Wigtownshire ½ Dumfriesshire 5½
Dumfriesshire 5 Kirkcudbrightshire 1
Wigtownshire 3 Kirkcudbrightshire 3
The photograph below shows the winning Dumfriesshire team
From the left: Craig Scobie, Liam Johnstone, Chris Finnie, Danny McConnachie, Mike Grunwell, Alan Birdsall, Andy Kerr and Ryan Johnstone.