Dumfries and County Golf Club was the stunning venue for this inaugural match between Dumfries & County under 16’s and a select South of Scotland under 16’s. The event was aimed at giving sixteen of our Region’s up and coming golfers the opportunity to experience the team environment and the format of morning foursomes and afternoon singles.
The first match saw the home pairing of Mirren Fraser & Mitchell Cowie getting off to a good start and 2 up through 8 holes. The South pairing of Cameron Gray and Jamie Alison fought back to have the game all square through 15 and that is the way it finished after 18 holes, honours halved. The second game followed a similar pattern with the County pair of Corey Brown & Lewis Fraser being 1 up through 8 holes, only to be all square with Jamie Marchbank & Thomas Robinson going up the last. Two solid pars meant they also shared the point. David Sharp & Daniel Irving continued the home team’s quick start, being 3 up through 8 holes and despite the South’s Sam Mitchell driving the par 4 10th green and his partner Patrick Innes sinking the eagle putt, they couldn’t get back on terms and the County pairing won 5 & 4. The final foursome’s game saw the South pairing of Callum McMillan & Harry McCabe getting the flying start to be 5 up through 8 holes. The County’s Lewis Cheetham & Ben Robson never gave up and fought hard to take the game to the 16th green where they finally lost 3&2. This meant that after the morning session it was two points each and all to play for in the afternoon singles.
Mirren Fraser led the County team off in the singles and took the first point of the afternoon beating Cameron Gray 2&1. Mitchell Cowie, although down early to Jamie Alison, found his form on the back nine and took another point for County 4&3. With the South needing to get a point on the scoreboard up stepped Jamie Marchbank to beat Corey Brown 3&2. Three birdies in the first six holes left Thomas Robinson 3 down to Lewis Fraser but he showed great determination to get the game back to all square after 15, only to lose by 1 hole after 18. Game 5 proved to be extremely close between David Sharp and Sam Mitchell, with both boys evenly matched; Sam finally came out the winner 2&1. County player Daniel Irving started better than his South opponent being 2 up after 6 holes, but Patrick Innes responded to get the match all square through 8 and that’s the way it finished on the 18th green. Next out was Ben Robson against young Harry McCabe. Ben got up early and, as Harry tired, Ben stayed focused to finish the match early 7&6. Last out was Lewis Cheetham and Callum McMillan, another game that proved to be very close. Lewis had his nose in front through 6 holes but Callum turned it round to be 2 up through 16, but Lewis wasn’t finished and won the 17th to take the game down 18. Lewis couldn’t beat Callum’s par and lost 1 down.
County won the singles 4 ½ to 3 ½ and County won the match 6 ½ to South 5 ½.
The future of Junior golf in our area looks secure, with so much young talent on show.
Many thanks to everyone involved and especially to Dumfries & County Golf Club for hosting the day. We now look forward to the re-match in August at Kirkcudbright Golf Club.
County team; Mirren Fraser, Mitchell Cowie, Corey Brown, Lewis Fraser, David Sharp, Daniel Irving, Ben Robson, Lewis Cheetham.
South team ; Cameron Gray (Kbt) Jamie Alison (D&G) Jamie Marchbank (D&G) Thomas Robinson (D&G) Sam Mitchell (Portpatrick) Patrick Innes (Kbt) Harry McCabe (D&G) Callum McMillan (Kbt)