Golf: Midlothian master their Inter-County rivals

MAJESTIC Midlothian are through to the Scottish County Finals later in the year after retaining their East Women's Inter-County title in style at Royal Musselburgh.

After beating Fife first and then Stirling & Clackmannan on the opening two days, Midlothian brought down the curtain on their campaign with a thumping 8-1 victory over closest rivals East Lothian.

In fairness to East Lothian, it was a closer affair than the scoreline suggests, with all three of the morning foursomes going to the 16th or beyond.

But, in the end, Midlothian won all of them through the combined efforts of Louise Fraser/Rachael Watton, Kirsten Blackwood/Gabrielle MacDonald and Karen Marshall/Wendy Nicholson.

Watton's victory saw her go into her final singles match with an outstanding record of five wins out of five but she had to settle for a halved match against Emma Fairnie, the East Lothian champion.

Clara Young also secured a half for East Lothian against Marshall, but wins from MacDonald, Blackwood, Fraser and Kate McIntosh rounded off a stunning campaign for Midlothian. Like Watton, Marshall finished the week with a splendid five-and-a-half points, while Fraser chipped in with five points.

Indeed, it was a real all-round team effort with Nicholson (3.5) and MacDonald (3) also making significant efforts and McIntosh, who had been a late replacement for Jane Turner, doing herself proud as well.

Fife secured second spot after rounding off their campaign with a 6-2 win over Stirling & Clackmannan, who were third, with East Lothian picking up the wooden spoon this time around.

This year's Scottish County Finals take place at Bothwell Castle on 17-19 September, when Midlothian will be hoping they can repeat this sort of form.

East Women's Inter-County Matches (at Royal Musselburgh):

Stirling & Clackmannan 2, Fife 6: Foursomes: K Burns and J Bryans lost to F Hastie and E Moffat 3 and 2; V Stevenson and L Allan lost to S Jackson and K Sharp 5 and 4; L MacGregor and A Goodwin lost to L Fury and L Dyball 4 and 2. Singles: Goodwin lost to Jackson 3 and 1; MacGregor bt Hastie 2 and 1; Stevenson lost to Rachael Hanlon 3 and 2; Burns bt Dorothy Ford 2 holes; Lesley Gibb lost to Moffat 4 and 2; Allan halved with Sharp.

East Lothian 1, Midlothian 8: Foursomes: E Fairnie and F Prior lost to L Fraser and R Watton 2 and 1; C Young and K Ward lost to K Blackwood and G MacDonald 3 and 2; J McNicoll and L Grieve lost to K Marshall and W Nicholson 4 and 2. Singles: Fairnie halved with Watton; R Carroll lost to MacDonald 2 and 1; Ward lost to Blackwood 5 and 4; McNicoll lost to K McIntosh 6 and 5; Grieve lost to Fraser 5 and 4; Young halved with Marshall.

Final placings: 1. Midlothian 3 wins; 2 Fife 2 wins; 3 Stirling and Clackmannan 1 win; 4 East Lothian 0 wins.