Golf: Match-play lets Lothians down in quest for medal

LOTHIANS, the record 13-times winners, missed out on the bronze medal for the second year running in the new format for the Moneygate Scottish Area Team Championship.

After qualifying in second place from Saturday's stroke-play event at Prestwick and Prestwick St Nicholas, Mark Timmins' team saw their title hopes disappear in a 4-1 semi-final defeat to Fife.

They then lost the 3rd/4th place play-off to hosts Ayrshire, leaving Timmins feeling "very disappointed".

In the morning match, all but one of the five games went beyond the 16th, but only of them ended in a victory for the Lothians.

That came from former Scottish Boys' champion Grant Forrest, who beat South East District Open title holder Scott Stewart-Cation 4 and 3 at the bottom of the order.

Forrest won by the same margin again in the afternoon, this time against Jamie Mackay, as did last year's Lothians champion Allyn Dick.

Up against Ayrshire champion Michael Smyth, Dick was down at the turn but won the tenth, 12th and 13th to get his nose in front.

He lost the 17th but shut the door on his opponent by almost driving the last to win by two holes.

But the foursome pairing of Myles Cunningham and Stephen Simants lost on the home green, as did Graham Robertson against rising Ayrshire star Jack McDonald.

And, with left-hander Malcolm Campbell going down to John Haggarty by 2 and 1, it meant the Lothians missed out on a medal this time around.

"We did really well in the stroke-play qualifying but just didn't turn up today," added Timmins.

"For some reason we're not doing well when it comes to match-play at the moment.

"Having said that, I also felt there were times when we were a bit unlucky out there."

Cunningham was the star man in the qualifying, the former Lothians Boys' champion firing a 68 at Prestwick St Nicholas.

Coupled with a 74 at Prestwick, that earned him a share of top spot in the individual standings with North-East's Kris Nicol.

Fife lifted the title for the first time in the event's 34-year history, beating title holders North-East 3.5-1.5 in the final.