Golf: Shanks is flushed with pride as Glencorse tap team spirit

They triumped 4.5-3.5 at Prestonfield in their latest Section D outing to sit level on points with Mortonhall and Merchants after three games.

Keith Young did well to earn a half point against Scott Johnston in the top match, with Iain Melville, Justin Lamb, Colin Deans and Alastair Shanks then delivering the all-important wins for the visitors.

"This was a good victory for us, particularly as we had a number of our top players missing for the second match in a row," said team captain Shanks. "It is a nice feeling to know that we are now starting to get a bit of depth in the squad (that has been lacking over the years) and as normal the team spirit is as strong as ever."

Mortonhall and Merchants both won at home, against Musselburgh and Kingsknowe respectively.

Mark Dickson was Mortonhall's hero, coming back from one down with three to play against Ben McLeod to secure a vital half point.

"It was all going our way nicely at the turn, but, with some great golf and wonderful putting the Musselburgh boys pulled themselves right back into the game and it was a hard-fought victory in the end," said Mortonhall team manager Graeme Stark.

With just one point from their opening three games, Kingsknowe are bottom of the section and already face a tough task to make the knock-out phase. By contrast, Royal Burgess are well on course for the quarter-finals once again after moving on to seven points after a whitewash over Torphin Hill in their four match of the campaign.

Stephen Buckley and Varun Varadharajan, fresh from claiming silver medals on their Dispatch Trophy debuts with Barnton Hotel, were both among the winners for the Barton team.

Torphin's Ewan Smith bagged four birdies on the front nine against Buckley and was square at the turn. But the former Scottish Boys' champion eventually went on to win 4 and 3, covering the 15 holes played in four-under-par.

"We now have a couple of weeks off before our next two matches fall in the same week - Liberton away and Turnhouse away," said Royal Burgess team manager Richard Hughes. "The Turnhouse match will be a big one as they are pushing us in the section after winning away to Liberton."

Dalmahoy also won 8-0, against a young Ratho Park side in Section B.

"It was a bit of a trouncing from a very good Dalmahoy side," said Ratho Park team captain Colin Binnie. "A sign of things to come was when David Marshall birdied four out of the first five holes against Stuart Imrie and it all went downhill from there in the rest of the matches. Having said that, young Drew McIntosh put in a good performance losing on the last to Sandy Phillips in a close-fought encounter.

"Overall it was disappointing to lose all eight games but it's all part of the learning curve for our young team."

West Linton, Duddingston and Lothianburn all made home advantage count in their latest Section C matches.

In a close encounter - the bottom three matches all went up the last - West Linton maintained their strong start with a narrow win over a strong Bruntsfield Links side.

"This week is a big week for us as we have Duddingston at home on Tuesday and then Newbattle away on Thursday," said West Linton team captain Simon Mackenzie after his win over Lothians champion Alan Anderson at the top of the order.

Duddingston beat Silverknowes despite seeing David Miller lose to Keith Reilly, who had just eight putts in the first seven holes, in the top match,

Silverknowes, in fact, were 2.5-1.5 up after four matches but after a strong surge by the home team over the next three games saw them claim a 5-3 victory.

"As usual it was a competitive but friendly encounter and the return next month will be equally as competitive," said Duddingston team captain Steve Gilhooley.

Lothianburn were 5-3 winners as well against Newbattle.