The latest edition of the Cup Final was played out in ideal sunny conditions over a wonderfully prepared Dunbar links. The course was in fabulous condition, with true and fast running greens, all the bunkers in play, and a few challenging pins. An ideal setting for the league’s showpiece event.

It was Gullane that got off to a fast start, moving 4 up after four holes in the top tie, but Longniddry were able to hit back, reaching 3 up in the second tie at the same stage.

There wasn’t more than a hole in any of the bottom three ties early on.

And the pattern continued, with Gullane reaching seven up through just ten holes in the top tie, before Longniddry finally won the 11th. Gullane in fact missed a putt that could have finished the match on the long 12th, then Longniddry birdied the 13th to extend the match. That gesture turned out to be just a delay of the inevitable, however, and Gullane duly halved the 14th hole to end their match as 5/4 winners.

The second tie was perhaps the most intriguing, Tom Simmonds and Andrew Hendry for Gullane having clawed their way back to 1 down on the 9th tee. But they couldn’t quite do enough to draw level, and when James Gribben holed a good birdie putt on the 13th the margin was two holes once more. Gullane won the 14th, but Longniddry re-established their 2 hole advantage on the 16th, and duly hung on for a 2/1 win that levelled the match.

In the 3rd tie the power of the Longniddry youngsters was enough to forge an advantage over Gullane’s Graeme Clark and Kenny Wright – Dominic McGlinchey and Lewis Cheetham moving three up after 13 holes. In the end the Longniddry pair finished off their opponents on the 15th.

But it was the opposite story in the 4th tie, where experience prevailed over youth. Gullane’s veteran pairing Alan Smith and Duncan Low gave away distance off the tee throughout their match, but their steady play and solid putting saw them ease to a 4/3 victory over Scott Porteous and Kaylen Martin.

So that levelled the match once more, and everything was to hinge on the final tie between Gullane’s John Clelland and Ewan Gordon, and Longniddry’s Neil Canavan and Willie Campbell. The four boarded the 14th tee all square, but Gullane missed a chance to win the 14th when Clelland’s putt from seven fee slid past.
Then the usually reliable Clelland saw his drive to 15 slide right onto the beach. There was no such mistake from Canavan who sent his own drive straight towards the pin, and only a few yards short of the green. The Gullane pair found the green with their 3rd shot, but Campbell putted up to gimme range to secure a winning birdie for Longniddry. One up.

The 16th and 17th were halved in solid pars, to set up a dramatic last hole finish. Both sides managed straight drives at the last hole. Campbell’s drive for Longniddry being slightly shorter than Gordon’s, Canavan found the front of the green, some 30 feet from the hole, before Clelland hit a superb shot to within 12 feet of the pin. And it looked as though Clark would have that putt to take the match into overtime, before Campbell stepped up and showed nerves of steel, as he rolled his putt at the perfect pace, finding the bottom of the cup.

A fitting end to a match which was contested in the right spirit from the start, and with their youth policy prevailing, it looks as though Longniddry might be a force to be reckoned with for some time in the Winter League.

Gullane 2 Longniddry 3

Haddington signed off from a difficult League season by winning their Cup first round match away to the Glen.

In fact the win was the first of the season for relegated Haddington, and it sets up a Cup quarter-final match at home against Tantallon.

Glen 2 Haddington 3

Gifford presented no problems to Tantallon as the two teams met in the Cup at North Berwick West Links.

Kevin Mitchell & Duncan Searle led the way from the front, winning the top tie on the fourteenth, then veterans Neil Orr & Alan Herd repeated that feat in the second tie. And when Billy Aitken & Duncan Forbes won the third tie on the fifteenth green, the match was secure. For good measure Tantallon also won ties 4 & 5 to complete the rout and move forward to a quarter final away to either the Glen or Haddington on 10th March.

Tantallon 5 Gifford 0

Musselburgh Old dug deep this week in what was a crucial match for them in both league and Cup. Their match with Kilspindie (with rivals Royal Musselburgh not in action) represented a chance to move to the top of the league table, but as an added incentive this was also a Cup tie with a place in the quarter final at Gullane at stake.
And as it proved, the Old Course team were up to the task, with Ross Noon and Kieran Blyth leading the way with a 5/4 win at the top. But back came Kilspindie, with a 17th green win for Graeme White & Davie Watters. But by that time the Old Course team had secured a second point when Nathan Free & Colin Whoriskey won on the 14th.
Then it all became quite tense with the two remaining ties much closer. Kilspindie levelled when Martin Hay & Derek Thomson won on the 17th, but Musselburgh Old won the crucial deciding tie when David Reid & Graham Lovie prevailed, also on the 17th.

Gullane had no trouble dealing with the visit of Thorntree in the Cup.
In truth there was a huge gulf between these two sides, with Gullane (who started the match on top of Div 1) dominating all five ties against their opponents, who are just a point off bottom in Div 2. In the end none of the matches needed to go beyond the 14th green, with Gullane victorious in all of them.
Gullane 5 Thorntree 0