Junior News

Report from Sharon MacPherson on September 9 hole competition at Swanston:

It was a dry day to start but there was a bit of rain later on. Very wet under foot with some casual water on the course. Only one birdie on the day and it was Lucy Morrison with a great 2 at the 5th. Thanks to Ricky Morrison for collecting the cards as I had to leave sharp.

Results

1st Handicap Emma Morrison 35 (9) 26

2nd Caitlin Turner 46 (18) 28

1st Non handicap Alex Massey 34

2nd Non handicap Lucy Morrison 50

3rd Non handicap Lily Grieve 55

SLGA Adult and Girl Foursomes

Congratulations to Caitlin Turner and her Dad who finished 2nd in Category 3 (19 - 36 handicaps) at the SLGA Adult and Girl Foursomes at Auchterarder Golf Club. And to Lisa McPherson her uncle Douglas (Hunter) who finished 2nd in the pre-handicap section.

SLGA Academy Squad

Many congratulations to Emily Dalgetty (Glencorse) and Eilidh Crawford (Harburn) who have been selected for the SLGA Academy Squad - the national development programme for Scotland’s talented young golfers. Two of only 12 girls in Scotland who have been selected for the first year of this squad. Eilidh has reduced her handicap from 26 to 16 this year and Emily from 14 to 8. A fantastic achievement girls - good luck.

Wee Wonder!

Also belated congratulations to Annabel Thain aged 6, who went to Carnoustie in July to play in the regional qualifier of the Wee Wonders competition. She won her age group of 5-8 year, completing 8 holes of the Buddon Course in 58 shots (and beating her big sister!) Annabel therefore played in the Wee Wonders Grand Final in St Andrews on 27/28 August. She did really well - playing 2 rounds of the Balgove on the Saturday and another 9 holes on the Sunday morning. There were some lovely golfers there and Annabel played some super shots. She completed her 3 rounds in 157 which meant she was 6th overall in her age group. A star for the future!!

Update

There have been lots of things happening over the past week when the webmaster was at the Solheim cup in Ireland, along with quite a few Midlothian members. Congratulations to the European team who were obvioulsy inspired by the Midlothian win at the Scottish County Finals! Its certainly been the year for comebacks. I was lucky to get close enough for this photo of Alison Nicholas as she left the stage with the trophy.

Congratulations to:

Dee Williams (Craigmillar Park) on winning the Silver hole and hole, beating Ray Lynch (Murrayfield) in the final.

Rachael Watton who is now at Denver University, Colorado, making only her second competitive appearance since she moved across the Atlantic, finished T9 in a field of 93 at the Dick McGuire Invitational at the University of New Mexico.

Fiona Ford (Murrayfield) & Barbara McGregor (Mortonhall who finished 3rd in the Commonwealth Spoons finals and Barbara Duguid & Pat Forsyth (Ravelston) who finished 5th.

The winners of the Greensomes league will be announced soon as there is one re-arranged game still to play.

County Finals 2011 - the story in pictures

Noreeen is Scottish Vets Champion

Congratulations to Noreen Fenton (Dunbar)who won the Scottish Veteran Ladies Golf Association championship at Blairgowrie today. Having qualified as East Vets' Champion, Noreen beat the North champion, Linda Urquhart (Banchory), by 2 and 1 in this afternoon's final over the Lansdowne course, In this morning's semi-finals, Linda Urquhart beat Pitreavie's Linda Dyball (Midland) by 5 and 3 and Noreen Fenton beat Val McKean (Borders) by 4 and 2. Well done Noreen what a great year!

Scottish County Champions 2011

Well we woke up this morning and thought did that really happen? Its just starting to sink in - Midlothian are Scottish County Champions! It was a fantastic 3 days and a real team effort. The players were totally committed, everyone contributed and dug very deeply when it was needed. The caddies were brilliant and the team really appreciate their support, especially in all the inclement weather they had to cope with. The team spirit and commitment was next to none.

Thanks to Vice Captain Caroline who organised all the caddies and the captain, Secretary Agnes who did all the important things like organising all the meals and munchies, and selector Linda for her sound advice and sense of humour.

Thanks also to Lynne and Terry at the Huntingdon Hotel who looked after the team so well, charging batteries, drying out clothes and shoes, and even getting up to make us breakfast at 6.30 am on the final day! They were fantastic and come highly recommneded if you ever want a golfing break in Dumfries!

Results from day 3 v Perth & Kinross

Jane Turner beat Laura Walker 4&2
Kate McIntosh beat Fiona Ramsay 3&2
Wendy Nicholson halved with Steph Crolla
Sal Shepherd halved with Nicola Robertson
Linda Bain lost to Eilidh Watson 5&4
Gabrielle Macdonald halved with Jill Milne

Results from day 3 v Dumfries-shire

Jane Turner lost to Diane Macdonald 2&1
Kate McIntosh beat Jordanna Graham 5&3
Gabrielle Macdonald lost to Lindsay Kirkwood 3&2
Wendy Nicholson halved with Katie McCracken
Kirsten Blackwood lost to Emma Greenlees 3&2
Karen Marshall halved with Rachael Walker

Third time lucky!

We did it! Midlothian are Scottish County Champions 2011! It was a really tense affair. We finished the business against Perth & Kinross this morning by beating them 3.5 - 2.5 in the singles, to clinch the match 6.5 - 2.5. The final match against Dumfrieshire was reduced to six singles only due to the torrential rain and hailstones the day before.

Kate McIntosh had won her match against Jordana Graham but elsewhere things were not going well for most of the afternoon with Dumfrieshire up in 5 of the 6 matches with only a few holes remaining. We only needed one more half point to clinch the title. But Midlothian are made of stern stuff and Wendy Nicholson started her fightback from 5 down to be only 1 down standing on the 18th tee (her comeback including a run of 3 birdies from the 13th). Could we really do it? Memories of Dunfermline came flooding back and Joan Marshall confidently told the captain that Wendy was going to do it. And of course she did with an excellent par on the long par 4 18th and under unbelievable pressure. Karen Marshall, unaware of the situation, except for being told by her captain she needed a half, also came back from three down with 7 holes remaining to seal a second half point on the 18th. What a team!

Despite loosing to Dumfrieshire, this time the points count back went our way as the team had done enough in the previous matches.

Our motto of Yes we can, became Yes we will and then Yes we did!

More to follow and photos after some sleep! Well done girls - a true team effort.

County Finals Day 2

Day 2 started well. It was a nice crisp September morning. Everyone was focused and ready for action. Midlothian were always in control of the foursomes matches against Perth & Kinross. The results were as follows:

Karen Marshall & Wendy Nicholson beat Laura Walker 2&1
Kate McIntosh & Linda Bain beat Steph Crolla & Nicola Robertson 2 up
Gabrielle Macdonald & Kirsten Blackwood beat Jill Milne & Eve Muirhead 5&4

However, just as we were playing our last game on the last green the heavens opened and the Ayrshire and Dumfrieshire teams had to be called off the course. As we had our lunch and waited for the rain to stop, we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Large hailstones were now coming down and the greens had turned white.

The team of greens staff that had been out trying to clear the greens eventually came in as the greens they had just cleared of water were now covered in hailstones.


In the end, we left as our singles games were abandoned for the day. The green staff were trying to clear the last few holes to allow Ayrshire and Dumfrieshire to finish their foursomes games. The plan is to complete our singles games against Perth & Kinross in the morning. The final match against Dumfrieshire will be reduced to 6 singles games only. Its going to be an interesting day (if the course is in fact playable)