Golf: Midlothian's nap hand

MIDLOTHIAN'S exciting crop of girl golfers got their season off to a flying start by winning the Cuthbertson Cup for the fifth year in a row.

Played on this occasion at Ratho Park, the under-18s team event also features East Lothian, Fife and Stirling & Clackmannan but, at the moment at least, it's being dominated by Midlothian.

Represented this time around by Rachael Watton, Gabrielle Macdonald, Gillian Simpson and Kate McIntosh, the hosts beat Stirling & Clackmannan 4-0 in the semi-finals to set up a title showdown with Fife, who were 2-1 winners over East Lothian in the other match.

In the final, Watton had to settle for a half point in the top match against Rachel Hanlon but Macdonald (5 and 4 against Samantha Munro), Simpson (3 and 2 against Lauren Whyte) and McIntosh (5 and 3 against Shannen McGuire) all came out on top. East Lothian beat Stirling & Clackmannan 2-0 in the third place play-off but, once again, the day belonged to Midlothian and look out for the winning quartet picking up a lot more trophies over the coming weeks and months as they are all very talented young players. In a warm-up for the Cuthbertson Cup, the Midlothian squads played Lanarkshire at the Turnhouse club, the girls winning 3-1 and the juniors 1-.