Midlothian v Duddingston

The Midlothian Squad took to Duddingston tonight in their annual match against the men. Wary of last year's trickery where the girls were informed that they would play from the yellow tees and would be given 3 shots only to find the yellow tees were as far back and the white tees as far forward as they could be, the Captain set out on a mission. It was agreed that the girls would play from the red tees and get 2 shots

Luckily, after the first match had teed off, the weather dried up, although it was fairly cold by the end. A few moans were heard on the 8th tee from Duddingston's Captain about their opponents hitting them with an albatross, some eagles and the likes but when he then announced that the Duddingston pair was in fact 1 up, all sympathy was lost and the girls were encouraged to carry on with their great scoring and fight back. Very kindly, the girls obliged and recorded a win. Gillian Simpson and Kate McIntosh played exceptionally well. Much to the delight of the rest of Duddingston's team, news spread around the course that the girls were 4 up on the 12th - Kate having putted like a dream. On the 13th, there was a glimmer of hope for the men but Gillian stepped to the fore with an excellent up and down to win the hole and advance to the 14th, 5 up. That game did not continue for too much longer! The other games, sad to say, did not go Midlothian's way. The second couple had a great battle. Their early 3 hole advantage was soon whittled down but they would not give up the fight that easily. A great tussle ensued but unfortunately the girls lost out on the final green. One of the 4th pairing was overjoyed at the 8th hole. Having been told how the previous partnerships had approached the tee shot with some laying up short of the burn and others going for gold, the decsion was made - go for it! And boy she did! A huge drive soared over the burn for miles - I think that might have been the hole she came in at in her game! So with the overall match standing a 2 games each, it was down to the 5th game. Another great tussle with Gabrielle Macdonald getting off to a great start and sinking some long putts on the 1st and 3rd holes. There was never much in it, with Midlothian being 1 down after 7 and going 2 down on the 13th. They got it back to 1 down but immediately lost the next and soon found themselves on the 17th hole, dormie 2 down. Only managing a par to half the hole, the game and the match were lost.

It was a great game which everyone enjoyed and the promised soup and sandwiches afterwards, which looked and tasted very much like chicken curry or stovies, was an excellent end to the day. Thank you to all who played and to Duncan Ireland and Gavin Clark who organised the match on behalf of Duddingston.

The results were:

Gavin Clark & David MacKinnon lost to Karen Marshall & Wendy Nicholson 1 down
David Graham & Neil Hamilton beat Noreen Fenton & Linda Caine by 1 up
Ian Stavert & Connor Scott lost to Gillian Simpson & Kate McIntosh 5&4
Colin McNeil & Dan Gilmore beat Sal Shepherd & Karen Ballantyne 4&3
Alistair Thomson & Ian Fraser beat Louise Fraser & Gabrielle Macdonald 2&1