SCOTLAND'S amateur golfers produced a final day singles rally to beat Wales in the Macdonald Home Internationals but it was in vain as Ireland claimed the title at Muirfield.
George Crawford's side, buoyed by a 10-5 win over defending champions England on Thursday, swept to a 9-5 victory over the Welsh but had to settle for the runners-up spot after Ireland triumphed 10-5 against the English to capture the Raymond Trophy
for the first time since 2003.
The Scots went into the closing day knowing they had to beat Wales by a hefty margin while hoping Ireland, with a vastly superior points difference, lost heavily to England but any ambitions the hosts harboured of taking command of the contest suffered an early blow when the Welsh won the morning foursomes 3-2.
Scotland upped the ante in the singles, winning six and halving three of the ten matches, to surge to victory but team captain Crawford was left rueing the heavy opening day defeat to the Irish which left his side with too much ground to make up. "It's a big disappointment as we came here to win but our defeat to Ireland really cost us," admitted Crawford, who skippered the Scots to Home Internationals success in 2005 and 2006 but will now step down from his role at the end of the year.
Perth's Gavin Dear spearheaded the Scottish singles assault, beating Rhys Enoch 5 and 3 as he emerged as the leading points scorer for the hosts with 4.5 from a possible six over the three days.
The full article contains 270 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
