ESGGA Autumn Meeting

The East of Scotland Girls' Golfing Association held their Autumn Meeting at Craigielaw yesterday on a calm day - unheard of for Craigielaw! Many congratulations to Broomieknowe pair, Kate McIntosh and Hannah Scott who walked away with the leading scratch and best overall net scores respectively. Both scored gross 77s to a CSS of 72 but with Hannah playing off 11, her net 66 won her the best overall net score by 4 shots. Gabrielle MacDonald, playing on her home patch, won the Under 18 net prize with a 79, net 75. This result pushed Kate into an overall lead in the ESGGA Order of Merit Table and with only the individual County Junior Championships to come, it looks as though her lead is unassailable. Gabrielle is currently in second place with Hannah in fifth. Well done girls! A great result this weekend and best of luck for the Junior Championship.

MCLGA v Baberton Men

In preparation for the County Finals in a few weeks, tonight saw the County Team take on Baberton Men in a friendly greensomes match. Five of the team and the reserve were amongst those available to play and the evening gave the girls a valuable chance to not only play the course from different tees but also to get some top tips from the men. A big thank you to everyone who played and to all of the guidance on offer. Thank you also to the Baberton Board for agreeing to the match, to Norrie Robertson for organising the men's team and to Maggie MacPherson for being there to set everyone off.

It was a very windy night with the end of Hurricane Bill swirling around and it became bitterly cold by the end - even although the men insisted on playing round in shirt sleeves! In a very tight match, 2 games were decided on the 17th, while the other 2 went to the 18th. Unfortuantely the girls lost out by 2.5-1.5.

Kirsten Blackwood & Claire Hargan lost to Stephen Marshall & Andy Munro - 1 down
Gabrielle Macdonald & Kate McIntosh halved with Ron Bradly & Sandy McComish
Wendy Nicholson & Karen Marshall beat Colin Turner (who was partnerless) 2&1
Claire MacDonald & Sal Shepherd lost to Dougie Waugh & Ian Hunter 2&1

It should also be announced that the team for the County Finals will remain the same as that which played in the Inter-County Matches i.e.

Kirsten Blackwood (Craigmillar Park)
Louise Fraser (Kingsknowe)
Claire Hargan (Mortonhall)
Claire MacDonald (Gullane Ladies)
Karen Marshall (Baberton)
Wendy Nicholson (Broomieknowe)
Jane Turner (Craigielaw)
Rachael Watton (Mortonhall)

Reserve: Gabrielle Macdonald (Craigielaw)

The matches, which are being held at Baberton Golf Club from the 18th-20th September, will see:

Galloway v Midlothian, and Renfrewshire v Northern Counties on the Friday
Midlothian v Renfrewshire, and Galloway v Northern Counties on the Saturday
Renfrewshire v Galloway, and Northern Counties v Midlothian on the Sunday

PLEASE come along to support your team. The morning foursomes tee off at 9.30 am each day with the afternoon singles beginning at 1.30 pm. It promises to be a great 3 days of competition and Midlothian has a great chance of retaining the trophy for another year within the East Division.

European Senior Ladies' Team Championship

Good luck from all in Midlothian to the Scottish Team taking part next week in the European Ladies' Team Championship which is being held at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Dublin. As previously reported the team is captained by Pamela Williamson (Baberton) and includes Fiona de Vries (St Rule) and Fiona Hunter (Baberton), with Noreen Fenton (Dunbar) as 1st reserve.

We all hope you play well and enjoy the tournament.

Womens Home Internationals

Many congratulation to Jane Turner (Craigielaw) who has been named as one of the 8 members of the Scottish Team for the Women's Home Internationals. She is having a fantastic year, and this just caps it off! She is joined by Carly Booth (Comrie), Megan Briggs (Kilmacolm), Louise Kenney (Pitreavie), Kelsey MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), Laura Murray (Alford), Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle) and Kylie Walker (Buchanan Castle), in a team captained by Lesley Nicholson and managed by, Midlothian's, Claire Hargan.

The matches are being played from the 9th-11th September at Irvine (Bogside) Golf Course in Ayrshire and Scotland will play Ireland on day 1, England on day 2 and Wales on day 3. The format is the same as in the Inter-County matches with 3 foursomes being played in the morning and 6 singles in the afternoon.

Scotland have a very strong team and must have an excellent chance of winning the Home Internationals for the first time since 1991. As it is on home soil it would be great for the girls to win. Why not go along to support and cheer on your team? You are guaranteed to see some great golf and fantastic matches, into the bargain!

MCLGA Junior Championship

Just a reminder to all of our juniors with handicaps about the Junior Championship. This is being held on Sunday 13th September at Merchants Golf Club with tee-times starting from 12.30 pm. The closing date for entry, if you have not yet done so, is this coming Saturday i.e. 29th August. If you would like to enter, forms can be downloaded from the website by clicking on "Junior Entry Forms" on the left hand side of this page and then on "Competition Entry Forms". Please can you either e-mail your entries to Joan Simpson or post them to her at 4 Craigleith View, Edinburgh EH4 3JZ.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the Championship. The Junior Prizegiving will be held after the golf.

East of Scotland Championship 2009

The East of Scotland Championship is being held at Mortonhall Golf Club on Sunday 4 October 2009. The competition is 18 holes stroke play and is open to all County members. Tee times are available from 10am. The entry fee is £10 and cheques should be made payable to MCLGA. Click HERE for an entry form or email you entry to Agnes Leslie. Closing date is 11th September.

To download an information leaflet click HERE.

Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship

Congratulations to Jane Turner who qualified 18th equal for the final two rounds of the British Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club. On the first day, in horrendous conditions (winds of up to 30 mph), Jane shot an 85, 13 over the extremely testing par but only 6 over the CSS. Day 2 was even worse! Gales rising to 40 mph brought lashing rain with them. Somehow through it all, Jane held things together to shoot a very creditable 77, 5 over the par but 2 under the CSS - the 6th best score of the day. Good luck in the next 2 rounds Jane. Our fingers are crossed that the conditions improve ever so slightly!