Golf: Mid edge out West to take top spot in Winter League

MID have moved into top spot in the Fife & Lothians Golf Associations Winter League after beating West in a closely-fought contest at Prestonfield.

Fife beat East in the other match at Drumoig, meaning both those teams are a point behind the leaders with two more rounds of matches to come.

David Miller, Graham Duncan, Mike Foley and Scott Johnston all delivered wins for Mid in their clash in the Capital, while halves from Allyn Dick, Malcolm Campbell and Scott Finlay proved just as valuable.

In the top match, Dick was two down early on thanks to Steven Armstrong's eagle and a birdie. However, the Scotland squad member dug deep as he managed to pull back the deficit and finish all square.

Over in Fife, the home team got off to a flyer, winning five of the first six matches but then had to wait on Kevin Blyth securing a half in the final match to clinch the two points.

In the first two matches, it was all square on the 18th tee but Fife secured wins through Stephen Simants putting his tee shot in the water and then Stephen Neilson taking three putts from 20 feet.

In the third match, Ross Noon displayed great fighting spirit winning five of the last six holes against Scott Crichton to record a victory from four down after playing 12. The boys' match was won by Tantallon's Calum Hill, playing his first game of the season for East, then youth Danny Kay and East stalwart Ben McLeod won matches eight and nine for the visitors.

In the final match, youth Scott Cunningham lost the par-3 16th after overshooting the green then halved the last two in par, just shaving the hole with his birdie attempt at the last.

Results:

Fife 5…, East 4…: Gary Sharp bt Stephen Simants one hole; Colin Martin bt Stephen Neilson one hole; Scott Chrichton lost to Ross Noon one hole; Alan Anderson bt Chris Wood 3 and 2; Cammy Mitchell bt Shaun Gordon 2 and 1; Ally Hain bt Michael Creasey 3 and 2; Andrew White lost to Calum Hill 3 and 2; Ewen Scott lost to Daniel Kay two holes; Martin Buchan lost to Ben McLeod 5 and 3; Kevin Blyth halved with Scott Cunningham.

Mid 5…, West 4…: A Dick halved with S Armstrong; D Miller bt M Timmins 4 and 3; M Campbell halved with G Corrigan; G Fraser lost to S Lockhart 7 and 5; M Riddell lost to L Gaughan 4 and 3; G Duncan bt R Boyle 3 and 2; D Johnston lost to A Loch 8 and 7; S Finlay halved with P Heggie; M Foley bt T Caldwell 2 and 1; S Johnson bt D Ewen 6 and 5.