Golf: Law takes matters into own hands

UPHALL pro Gordon Law held his nerve to hole the winning putt as the East Alliance made a successful defence of the Uniroyal Trophy in the annual match against their West counterparts.

The visitors triumphed 12…-11… in a thrilling encounter at Lanark, where Craig Gordon claimed the scalp of Tartan Tour No.1 Stephen Gray in the singles.

For the second year running, East, who drafted in Ross Neill and Callum Nisbet as replacements for Stephen Lamb and Daniel Wood, trailed 4…-3… after the morning foursomes.

In the afternoon singles, the first four encounters in both the pro and amateur matches saw East jump ahead, winning both 3-1 to lead 9…-6… overall.

The home side fought back and levelled at 11-11 as the last two sets of singles boarded the 18th tee.

Only Law’s ball found the green on the par-3, with his East amateur colleague Andrew Wight in a bunker and the West duo, Fraser McKenna and Len Grindod, down in a deep swale.

As Wight and Grindod halved in 4s, McKenna chipped to 7ft and then rolled in the putt to pile the pressure on Law. But he eased his five-foot par putt into the hole to retain the trophy.

Other singles winners for East were Gordon, who beat Gray 3 and 2, Andy Marshall, Scott Catlin, Jamie Morris, Sean McGarvey, Colin Fraser and Andrew Rothney.