Golf: Royal Burgess savour their latest Inter Cities success

ROYAL BURGESS got their hands back on the Inter Cities Cup after finishing off the job in style in their two-legged tie against Bishopbriggs.

"The Burgess side were simply too good for us," admitted the Glasgow club's captain Angus McIntosh after seeing his team lose by an aggregate of 13…-4….

The Edinburgh champions were 6-3 up after the first leg and caputured the trophy for the second time in three years with a 7…-1… home win thanks to a totally dominant display.

"It can be difficult sometimes defending a lead and we knew that Bishopbriggs would want to get early points on the board, so it was vital that we had the right attitude and not let them back in to the match," said winning team captain Richard Hughes.

"The players responded in their normal way with a fantastic performance and I could not be more proud of them."

In a repeat of the top match from the previous week, Stephen Buckley lost by 2 and 1 again to Graeme McDougall, the pair sharing 12 birdies in a cracking encounter.

But any hopes Bishopbriggs harboured of staging a fightback were soon dashed as Gordon Archibald, Ian Taylor and youngster Varun Varadharajan won the next three matches.

Grant Pollock maintained the home side's momentum before John Fraser had to settle for a half, but victories from Doug Ross, Fraser McCluskey and Sandy Gray at the bottom of the order rounded off a superb success for the Barton club.

"We are delighted to have brought this trophy back to Edinburgh and this sets us up nicely for the defence of our Summer League title starting next month," added Hughes.

"If successful, we will be the first side ever to be champions in four successive years and that is our target for this season."

Match details (Royal Burgess names first): S Buckley lost to G McDougall 2 and 1; G Archibald bt M Liddell 4 and 3; I Taylor bt S Rogerson 2 and 1; V Varadharajan bt A McPherson 2 and 1; G Pollock bt D Sargent 4 and 2; J Fraser halved with D McNeil; D Ross bt S McDougall 4 and 3; F McCluskey bt M McPhee 5 and 4; A Gray bt A McIntosh 5 and 4.