Golf: Blaney and Fairburn will contest Lothian Boys final

LIBERTON'S Anthony Blaney stands between Simon Fairburn and a successful defence of the Golf Finance-sponsored Lothians Boys' Championship at the Braids.

In last night's semi-finals, Blaney squeezed past Fraser Thain of West Linton at the 19th, while Fairburn beat his Craigielaw clubmate Ewen Donaldson 3 and 2 in a match that was a lot closer than the score suggests.

One down with four to go, Thain won the 15th and 16th, both with birdies, to get his nose in front then holed a good five-footer for a half at the short 17th, where Blaney followed him in from slightly closer.

Thain then drove into 'The Graves' at the last and lost that to a par before he three-putted from 18 feet at the first extra hole, missing a three-footer for par to allow Blaney to go through.

Fairburn's home club is Torwoodlee in Galashiels but he's also a member at Craigielaw, allowing him to enter this event. Both he and Donaldson were out in 33 and, what's more, they were all square with five holes to play. Fairburn, who finished second in the Scottish Youths' Championship at Monifieth earlier in the year, then won the 14th with a birdie before a par-4 proved good enough for him to also take the 15th.

Piling the pressure on his opponent, Fairburn then hit his drive pin high at the 16th, where Donaldson found the whins on the right, took a drop and then thinned his pitch through the back.

Having already proven he can go the course and distance in this event, Fairburn is certainly the favourite for tonight's final, which tees-off at 5.15pm.

But Blaney is possibly the most improved young player in Capital golf over the past year or so and he'll certainly be no pushover.

Semi-finals: S Fairburn (Craigielaw) bt E Donaldson (Craigielaw) 3 and 2; A Blaney (Liberton) bt F Thain (West Linton) at 19th.