Golf: Malcolm Campbell out of the soup and into final

MALCOLM CAMPBELL survived calling a penalty on himself and then seeing his opponent hole two long putts to finish birdie-eagle to set up a title showdown with Brian Tait tomorrow night in the final of the Lothians Champion of Champions at North Berwick.

In last night's semi-finals, Swanston New star Campbell won at the 20th against Benn McLeod, the Royal Musselburgh and Thorntree title holder, while Tait, the Watsonians representative, beat Winterfield's Graham Davidson, the winner two years ago, by 4 and 2.

Campbell, a 25-year-old left-hander, was one up when, after after addressing his ball for a putt at the 11th, he noticed it move in the wind, as happened to top seed James Byrne a few miles along the coast in last week's Scottish Amateur Championship at Gullane.

Byrne had no hesitation in calling a penalty against himself on that occasion and neither did Campbell, who also lost the hole as a consequence of his honesty.

"It seems to be the in thing," he said afterwards. "The ball was on a bank and as soon as I put the putter down I saw the wind nudge the ball towards it.

"I called it straight away and even Benn said it was a good thing to do. That was nice of him but, at the end of the day, it's in the rules we adhere to in this game."

Earlier Campbell had got off to the worst possible start when he lost the first to par after three-putting.

He got it back straight away, though, and holed a 12-footer to win the fifth before knocking in one from a similar length for a half in 3s at the next.

The episode at the 11th squared matters again and it remained that way until Campbell went in front again thanks to a par-3 at the 15th, where McLeod went through the back and was unable to get up and down.

The writing looked to be on the wall for the cack-hander when he also lost the 16th to a par but the finish he conjured up had to be seen to be believed.

After Campbell had hit the hole with a birdie putt that would have won it at the 17th, McLeod rolled in a 20-footer that had more two feet of break in it to stay alive.

And he repeated the feat at the last, this time knocking in a 30-footer for an eagle-2 to take the tie into extra holes.

The momentum now looked to be with McLeod and he almost won it at the 19th, where an 18-foot birdie putt hung on the edge of the hole despite looking as though it was certain to drop with a little bit of wind assistance.

Campbell, who had been a lot further away with his approach, was faced with a six-footer to stay alive but, to his credit, he rolled that in.

After crossing over to the 18th for their second extra hole, McLeod could only manage a par this time and had the tables turned on him as Campbell knocked in a 20-footer for a match-winning birdie.

"I had a feeling Benn was going to hole that one at the 18th and I don't know how his birdie putt didn't drop at the first extra hole," admitted Campbell.

"However, my putting was really good, too, and I was delighted to knock that one in. Once again Swanston showed how good they are in terms of supporting players and it was great that a group of people came down to watch."

Tait, a 45-year-old chartered surveyor who plays his golf at Royal Burgess, broke off from a family holiday over in Elie to play his match against Davidson before heading back to Fife last night.

Making his first appearance in the semi-finals, Tait was never down but knew he had a fight on his hands when Davidson hit a superb iron shot to five feet to win the tenth with a birdie-2 and cut his opponent's lead to just one hole.

Tait then produced what he described as a "one-in-ten shot" by clipping the ball beautifully from a grassy lie to win the 11th with a birdie before rolling in a 12-footer for a birdie-3 at the 14th to go three up.

The next was halved in bogeys before Tait clinched his win when a par proved good enough at the 16th, where the pin was in an almost impossible position with the wind helping.

"I don't think I was the favourite as Graham is a pretty experienced campaigner," noted Tait. "But I played pretty well tonight, hitting a lot of good shots. My short game was also tidy."

A good example of that came at the seventh, where, after chopping out of the rough, Tait hit his next from 90 yards to about three feet to secure a half.

Tait will be back over tomorrow night for the final but revealed he won't be making the journey again for Sunday's Summer League semi-finals at Liberton.

In the handicap event, Standard Life's Mike Sinclair, the winner two years ago, is back in the final again.

The 13-handicapper at Duddingston beat Broomieknowe's James Ferguson by 4 and 2 in his semi-final and now meets Craigielaw's David Neilson, a one-hole winnner over David Brown of Niddry Castle in the other match.

Sinclair, 40, won all his ties away to reach the latter stages, while Neilson, a 51-year-old policeman in the Capital, made the most of home advantage to set up his title chance.

nPLACES are still available in the 36-hole Dalmahoy Junior Open on Monday. Entry is 10 for a round on the East and West Courses.

"My putting was really good, too, and I was delighted to knock that one in"

MALCOLM CAMPBELL