On Thursday 9 July, twenty two of the best boy golfers in the area turned up at Lochmaben Golf Club to compete in the 36 hole annual championships. On a beautiful summer’s day with only a slight breeze and on a course in exceptional condition the boys could not believe their good luck and knew that there would be no excuses for poor scores.

Duncan Moore, President of The South of Scotland Golfers’ Association, acted as official starter and his many funny descriptions and quips as he introduced the boys helped to reduce the nerves of the younger boys as they stood on the first tee. They all split the fairway with their first drive and their confidence grew as they marched purposely down the first fairway. Half of them would finish within their handicap buffer zone. The pre-tournament favourite, Angus Bendall (Castle Douglas), his confidence sky high after winning the scratch prize in the Albany Cup at Dumfries & County the previous day with a gross 67, played well from tee to green but was left to rue a number of putts which lipped out and could only finish with a score of 81. Fraser Hughes (Newton Stewart) and Nathan Watson (Kirkcudbright) also had putting troubles in their 78 and 76 respectively. Finlay Copland (D&G) had three birdies in his outward one-under-par 32 but could only manage four pars on the more difficult inward nine to sign for 75. The front nine also proved the scoring ground for Rowan Marchbank (D&G) and Dylan Cairnie (D&C) with  Rowan’s one-over par 34 (seven 4’s and two 3’s) being bettered by Dylan’s two-under 31 (four 4’s and five 3’s). On the back nine they both started to leak shots but Dylan was able to finish with a 72 against Rowan’s 74 to lead at lunch by 2 shots. There were two eagles – Corey Brown (D&C) holed his approach shot to the green from 87 yards at the par 5 eleventh hole and Nathan Watson his second shot at the par 4 fourth.

In the afternoon the highlight was a marvellous net 66 (78-12=66) by Lewis Fraser (D&C) one of the younger competitors. In the race for the championship Angus Bendall produced a first nine of 34 (one-over-par) but again over the back nine the putts failed to drop as he chased a low score to get back into contention and could only shoot 75. Neither Fraser Hughes nor Nathan Watson could find enough birdies and came off the eighteenth green disappointed to have shot 76 and 79. Again the back nine ruined the chances of fourteen year old Finlay Copland with too many bogeys in his 76. Surely a young lad with a bright future.  Rowan Marchbank and Dylan Cairnie were left to fight for the championship and they did not disappoint. Both were out in 35 (two over par) and it depended on whether Dylan could hold his nerve and his game together over the final nine holes. Rowan started by playing the first 6 holes better to shoot 26 against 29 by Dylan only to play the last three holes in two over par to Dylan’s level par and lose the competition by one shot. A wonderful rally by Dylan at the end to deny a valiant effort by Rowan. The CSS in the morning was 70 and 72 in the afternoon. A magnificent championship with some very impressive ball striking from all the boys. All are to be congratulated on their sportsmanship, friendly demeanour and camaraderie.

Results:-

148      D Cairnie (D&C) 72,76

149      R Marchbank (D&G) 74,75

151      F Copland (D&G) 75,76

154      F Hughes (Newton Stewart)  78,76

155      N Watson (Kirkcudbright)  76, 79

C Harkness (Lochmaben)  76, 79

156      A Bendall (Castle Douglas)  81, 75

160      C Gray (Kirkcudbright)  80, 80

G Rice (D&G)  78, 82

161      M Cowie (D&C) 80, 81

162      A Kennedy (D&G)  85, 77

W Squires (Kirkcudbright)  81, 81

163      L Fraser (D&C)  85, 78

167      D Robson (Lochmaben)  79,88

168      J Allison (D&G)  81,87

172      E Colthart (D&C) 86,86

175      J Marchbank (D&G)  90, 85

180      C Brown (D&C) 92, 88

191      D Sharp (D&C)  98, 93

NR      B Robson (Lochmaben) 94, NR

Retired                        G Hannah (Thornhill)

R Cano (Thornhill)

The photograph shows Duncan Moore, President of the South of Scotland Golfers’ Association, presenting Dylan Cairnie with the Junior Championship Trophy for 2015

The draw for the Match Play Championship to be played at Lochmaben Golf Club on Thursday 16 July is as follows:-

Rowan Marchbank      bye

9.00     G Rice v M Cowie

9.10     C Harkness v E Colthart

9.20     N Watson v J Marchbank

9.30     D Sharp v F Hughes

9.40     D Robson v A Bendall

9.50     W Squitres v C Gray

Finlay Copland           bye

The semi-finals and final will be played on Friday 17 July at Lochmaben Golf Club