Junior Autumn Meeting and Championship

The Junior Autumn Meeting and Championship is being played on Sunday 12th September at Glencorse Golf Club. The starting times are as follows:

12:00 Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe) & Emily Dalgetty (Glencorse)
12:10 Hannah Scott (Broomieknowe) & Jessica Dalgetty (Glencorse)
12:20 Heather Laing (Glencorse) & Katherine Fisher (Baberton)
12:30 Emma Morrison (Craigmillar Park), Julia Smith (Murrayfield) & Sophie Aitchison (Murrayfield)

Please remember proof of your handicap.

Please remember that MCLGA does not allow the use of Distance Measuring Devices (DMDs) in ANY of its competitions and, as such, these devices are not permitted for use in the Junior Autumn Meeting and Championship regardless of whether Glencorse has a local rule permitting their use or not. Penalty for breach of this rule will be disqualification.

Champion of Champions 2010

What a wonderful day it was today, blue skies, a course which was in fabulous condition and a band of supporters which made the rest of us all envious of the camaraderie which obviously prevails at Dundas Park. At one point there were 27 supporters - myself, 5 from Merchants and 21 from Dundas Park and the applause was as loud for the one competitor as it was for the other. But, you can imagine the cheer that went up on the 15th green when their competitor closed out the match!

Julie Douglas from Merchants was taking on Alyson Scrimgeour from Dundas Park in the final of the Champion of Champions. Both were nervous as they stood on the first tee. Alyson was first to take advantage with a par 4 at the 2nd hole and increased her lead when Julie overshot the green at the 5th and took another 3 to get down. But in fighting tradition, Julie immediately jumped back, winning the 6th with a birdie. But she was unable to get it back to all square and had to concede the 9th hole to reach the turn 2 down. Having lost the 10th, Alyson knuckled down to win the 11th, 12th and 13th, the 13th with a fabulous putt for a birdie 2. Julie was not about to give up and won the 14th to return to 3 down with 4 to play. But it was a little too late as Alyson, again, turned up the heat and, with Julie catching a bunker off the tee and then leaking her approach shot to the right, struck two lovely shots onto the green and, having left her first putt short, sank the next for a 4&3 victory. As the ball hit the bottom of the hole, the cheers from the supporters erupted and were heard all over the course.

Many congratulations to both competitors for a very good final and well done to Alyson.

2010 Greensomes Leauge

The 2010 Greensomes League has now reached a conclusion and many congratulations to the Prestonfield team which has romped home to victory with 12 points having won 6 of their 7 matches. Prestonfield's only loss was to Ravelston who finished in joint second place with Baberton on 7 points and with 11 game points.

Scottish Seniors

Congratulations to the Scottish Seniors who yesterday won the European Senior Women's Amateur Team Championship at Sporting Club, Berlin. Having won through to the final, the girls were due to play England, the no. 1 seeds who had led the Scots by 48 strokes after the qualifying stroke play. But the Scots were not to be fazed and brought home the gold medal for the first time by a 3-2 margin.

Many congratulations! A fantastic result and we can only imagine what the celebrations were like!

County Finals

The County finals are fast approaching and, in fact, in 2 weeks time the Midlothain Team will be tucked up in bed near Bothwell Castle Golf Club dreaming of that day's matches and the next day's fight!

Unfortunately, we are losing one of our team who got us to the finals but she is being replaced by another great player. Claire MacDonald heads off to America in the not too distant future for 9 months and so is missing the final. No amount of encouragement made her cancel or delay going or persuaded her to fly back for the weekend. But, I know the team and officials would like to join me in wishing her well for the next few months.

We are lucky that we had none other than Jane Turner sitting on the sidelines and she was both willing and able to make the dates. So, we are delighted with the team and are getting ready to knuckle down to business.

The team to play for Midlothian will be:

Kirsten Blackwood (Craigmillar Park)
Louise Fraser (Kingsknowe)
Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw)
Karen Marshall (Baberton)
Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe)
Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe)
Jane Turner (Craigielaw)
Rachael Watton (Mortonhall)

1st reserve: Hannah Scott (Broomieknowe)
2nd reserve: Sal Shepherd (Craigmillar Park)

The matches are being held at Bothwell Castle Golf Club from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th September. It would be not just GREAT but absolutely FANTASTIC to have some support for the team. So, if you're not doing anything those days, why not come over to Bothwell for a day out. Give us your support! It's very easy to find and is on the right side of Galsgow for Edinburgh!

Scottish Seniors

Good luck to Pamela Williamson and the Scottish Seniors Team who are playing in the final of the Senior Women's European Championships tomorrow against the "auld enemy" and top seed England.

The girls qualified for the match play stages in 6th position after the stroke play rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday and met the number 3 seeds, Germany, in the first round. They disposed of them by a very tight 3&2 margin, winning 2 of their 3 games on the 18th hole and the third by a more relaxing 4&3. That progressed them to the semi-finals where they met Ireland, the 7th qualifiers who had had a tremendous win against the no. 2 seeds, France. But that was not to phase the Scots who, playing in the same order as the previous day, recorded another 3&2 win. Midlothian member Fiona de Vries not only contributed both of her qualifying rounds to Scotland's score (contributing the lowest score on Tuesday), but has also won both of her singles matches.

Go girls go! We will all be eagerly awaiting tomorrow's result and you can do it!

MCLGA Autumn Meeting

Commiserations to Rita Dee! Rita played in the Autumn Meeting today at Swanston New Golf Course and was ecstatic after her round - not becuase she was in the winnings but because she had played out of her buffer and, with her handicap curently at 9.4, would go up 0.5 and would therefore be off a playing handicap of 10. However, on checking her card it was pointed out to her that she would be handicap corrected at one hole by 2 strokes which would take her into her buffer if the CSS were to remain unchanged. But there was still hope! A few good scores were already in and a few more could cause a reduction in the CSS. Well, apologies Rita, the good scores were not enough to affect the CSS and it remained unchanged at 70. Better luck in the next medal!

But back to the day. At 7.15 am your Captain approached Swanston New Golf Club to find it shrouded in mist. Panic ran through her - it was going to be postponed; it might even be cancelled; after the fiasco with the Summer Meeting this was all Midlothian needed! But no sooner had everything been unpacked from the car than the mist lifted and left one of the best days of the year - hardly a breath of wind and temperatures in the high teens - far better than either of the Summer Meeting days.

And so the players took to the course, being led by none other than County Champion Linda Caine. Playing to her handicap and returning a score of 75, she not only led the field on the course but she led the scratch scoring from start to finish and wins the Lady Ford Cup. Suzie Laughland was also an early starter and after a lot of discussion as to whether she was going to enter the 2's sweep or not and how she never ever has a 2 but today might just be the day and if she didn't enter............... she returned to the clubhouse, all smiles, not just because she was in the money for scoring a 2 but because she had had a tremendous score of net 65 which held all day to win best overall net. Two more sub-par rounds were recorded, one by Vivien Mitchell who wins best scratch in the bronze section (having done the same last week in the Summer Meeting) and the other by Fiona Findlay who wins 1st handicap in the silver section, both recording net 68s. A slight jump was then needed, but only to net 71 to find the the winner of the bronze handicap, Winnie Wilson, and the second best net overall, Gillian Pritchard, while a net 72 won Pat Meikle 2nd handicap in the silver division on a count back.

Well done to all 58 ladies who turned out to play. Yet again, there were 3 ladies who were non-shows. What happened to you? Where did you get to? Unfortunately the Captain, Vice-Captain and President did not take to the course but the general feeling was that everybody enjoyed themselves, the course and, need I add, the weather! Our thanks go to all at Swanston who made it a great day and who looked after us so well, to all who brought a prize for the raffle table and who bought raffle tickets. The raffle raised £91.50 which, as ever, will be put to good use with the County Juniors.

The results were as follows:

CSS 70

1st scratch and the Lady Ford Cup: Linda Caine (Dunbar) - 75

2nd scratch: Ruth Brown (Lothianburn) - 78

Best net overall and the McIntyre Trophy: Suzie Laughland (Royal Dornoch) - 79 less 14, net 65

2nd net overall: Gillian Pritchard (Ravelston): 87 less 16, net 71

Silver Division

1st handicap: Fiona Findlay (Lochend) - 88 less 20, net 68

2nd handicap: Pat Meikle (Lochend) - 88 less 16, net 72

Bronze Division

1st scratch: Vivien Mitchell (Prestonfield) - 91

1st handicap: Winnie Wilson (Ravelston) - 96 less 25, net 71

There were 6 2's today, each winning £9.00. The 14th proved the most popular hole with 2's by Muriel Gilligan (Swanston New), Diane Moncrieff (Lochend) and Lynda Taylor (Dalmahoy). Katy Gillies (Melville) got hers at the 5th, Coleen Derighetti (Lochend) at the 9th and Suzie Laughland (Royal Dornoch) at the 17th.