The Ayrshire team came to Southerness Golf Club on Sunday 27 March to play for the Presidents’ Trophy. This match is arranged annually to give the Juniors practice in competitive golf, after the long winter lay-off, before the Scottish Boys Championships in the first week of April. The course was in superb condition after the very wet winter and on a cold blustery day with winds gusting to over 30 mph and heavy squally showers the boys set off for the morning round to beat not only their opponents but the unseasonal elements. This was not going to be a friendly match but a duel in the wind and rain.

In the morning foursomes all the South pairings except William Squires (Kirkcudbright) & Ross Whyte (D&G) got off to a very good start but slowly the Ayrshire boys fought back and the only South winners were Alex Chalk (Castle Douglas) & Rory Brunton (D&C) and Conor Harkness (D&G) & Ross Barbour (D&G). Ayrshire went into lunch with a lead of 4 games to 2.

This was not an unassailable lead and the South boys went out for the afternoon singles determined to claw back the deficit and although they did not win the session they certainly improved on their morning performance. After 9 holes South were up in 6, down in 5 and one game was all square and hopes were raised that a win was possible. But again Ayrshire fought back over the more difficult back nine.

Victories were achieved by Nathan Watson (Kirkcudbright), William Squires (Kirkcudbright), Rory Brunton (D&C) and Ross Barbour (D&G). Mitchell Cowie (D&C), Cameron Gray (Kirkcudbright) and Alex Chalk (Castle Douglas) all halved their games and it was good to see the boys had got rid of their winter rustiness and were starting to fire on all cylinders and display their true fighting qualities. Ayrshire won the singles matches by 6½ games to 5½ giving a match result of Ayrshire 10½ games to South 7½ games.  Unfortunately the President’s Trophy will again reside in the Ayrshire trophy cabinet for the coming year.

Match Results (South names first)

Morning Foursomes

Mitchell Cowie (D&C) and Harry Austin (D&C) lost to Ewan Milligan and Ruben Lindsay by 2 & 1

Cameron Gray (Kirkcudbright) and Callum McMillan (Kirkcudbright) lost to Sean Addie and Liam Kirkham by 4 & 3

William Squires (Kirkcudbright) and Ross Whyte (D&G) lost to Jordan Sweeney and Robbie Muir by 7 & 5

Nathan Watson (Kirkcudbright) and Ryan Cano (Thornhill) lost to Andrew Gordon and Calam Irvine by 3 & 1

Alex Chalk (Castle Douglas) and Rory Brunton (D&C) beat Jordan Fraser and Murray McCrone by 5 & 4

Conor Harkness (D&G) and Ross Brbour (D&G) beat Charlie Cameron and Shaun Hedger by 6 & 5

Foursomes Result                    South 2            Ayrshire 4

Afternoon Singles

Harry Austin lost to Ewan Milligan by 3 & 2

Mitchell Cowie halved with Ruben Lindsay

Cameron Gray halved with Sean Addie

Callum McMillan lost to Liam Kirkham by 7 & 5

Nathan Watson beat Jordan Sweeney by 4 & 3

William Squires beat Robbie Muir by 2 & 1

Ross Whyte lost to Andrew Gordon by 2 & 1

Ryan Cano lost to Calam Irvine by 5 & 4

Alex Chalk halved with Jordan Fraser

Rory Brunton beat Murray McCrone by 2 & 1

Ross Barbour beat Charlie Cameron by 3 & 2

Conor Harkness lost to Shaun Hedger by 2 holes

Singles Result             South 5½         Ayrshire 6½

Match Result               South  7½        Ayrshire 10½

The accompanying photograph shows the South team

Back row from the left  Conor Harkness, Ross Barbour, Ryan Cano, Nathan Watson, Rory Brunton, Alex Chalk

Front row  Callum McMillan, William Squires, Cameron Gray, Mitchell Cowie, Ross Whyte and Harry Austin.