Our annual match against the Scottish Universities Golfing Association (SUGS) was held on Friday 26th down at Gullane No. 2.
SUGS was formed in 1906 and is a small society with around 200 members (all of whom played university golf while students). Our annual match, which started in 1930, is the longest standing match for both Associations.
Both Associations field 8 players for the foursomes matchplay with the Midlothian Team, all 2023 squad members this year. All players played from the yellow tees with 6 additional shots being allocated to us to even up play from the yellow tees. Andrew Thomson, the organiser, kindly did all the handicap calculations and this year saw more balanced matches with the exception of Match 1 where we received 11 shots!
The weather was stunning – it is rare to enjoy Gullane in full evening sunshine, warmth and no wind – a wonderful combination not just to play in, but also to spectate – no need for my duvet coat this year!
While this tends to be a sociable match, as with many matches, once players tee off, the focus is on seeking the point for a team win. It was great to have some of our young members playing for the Midlothian Team and demonstrating their talent against the experienced men. All the Team played some great golf and I’m delighted to advise we have regained the trophy with a 3-1, win for Midlothian 👏👏.
3-1 seems to be the magic number 🪄- in 2018 Midlothian won 3-1, in 2019 we retained it with a halved match, 2021 we won 3-1, and again this year (we let SUGS have the trophy temporarily last year 😉 but we now have it back 💪).
After all the matches finished the players some welcome refreshments and sandwiches.
Grateful thanks to Andrew Thomson for arranging the SUGS team and tee times and to the SUGS players – as always an enjoyable evening. We look forward to another sociable match next year. Grateful thanks also to all our players and to Karen who did the honours in my absence as I was unfortunately unable to stay after the matches.
The match results were as follows:
Wendy Nicholson (Baberton) & Katie Mackenzie (Craigmillar Park) v
Gordon Simmonds & Mark Kernaghan
MCLGA win 2/1
Lucy Morrison (Gullane) & Ailsa Cakcett (Broomieknowe) v
Alasdair McLeish & David Anderson
SUGS win 4/3
Karen Marshall (Baberton) & Grace Cannon (Prestonfield) v
Andrew Thomson & Richard Muckart
MCLGA win 2up
Fiona Wait (Deer Park) & Lucy Fraser (Murrayfield) v
Kenny McKay & Nigel Watt
MCLGA win 2up