Golf: Flying finish for Fairburn at Monifieth

SIMON FAIRBURN, last year's Lothians Junior champion, produced a storming finish to secure a medal in the Golf Data Lab Scottish Youths' Championship behind a runaway winner at Monifieth.

Fairburn, who turned 18 on Saturday, bagged three birdies in his last four holes to close with a two-under-par 69 over the Angus course.

His 72-hole total of 289 earned him a share of second spot with fellow Scot Paul McPhee, the pair finishing ten shots behind German Maximillian Rottluff.

"The nerves got the better of me in the third round," said Fairburn of a 75 in the penultimate circuit. "But I hit the ball better off the tee in the last round and was delighted to finish so well."

Fairburn, whose home club is Torwoodlee but who is also a member at Craigielaw, is in action for Borders in this weekend's Scottish Area Men's Team Championship at Kinross.

Lothians warmed up for that event by maintaining their unbeaten record in 2010 with a crushing 10.5-4.5 win over Fife in a friendly at Ladybank.

Fielding four of the six players for the Kinross event, the visitors won the morning foursomes 3-2 before dominating the singles thanks to wins from newly-crowned champion Allyn Dick, Mark Hillson, Mark Timmins, Stephen Neilson, Stephen Simants, Tam Caldwell and Keith Nicholson.

Match details:

Foursomes (Fife names first): G Sharp and C Martin bt A Dick and M Hillson two holes; D Gould and K Blyth bt M Timmins and S Armstrong 2 and 1; K Anderson and F Sneddon lost to S Neilson and S Simants 4 and 3; C Steffen and L Clark lost to T Caldwell and G Robertson 4 and 3; D Mitchell and A Moir lost to K Nicholson and K Reilly 5 and 4.

Singles: Sharp lost to A Dick 2 and 1; Martin lost to Hillson one hole; Blyth lost to Timmins 5 and 3; Mitchell bt Armstrong 4 and 3; Gould lost to Neilson 4 and 3; Moir lost to Simants 3 and 2; Anderson lost to Caldwell 3 and 2; Clark bt Robertson one hole; Steffen halved with Reilly; Sneddon lost to Nicholson 6 and 5.