ABERDEENSHIRE WIN COUNTBACK TO TAKE NORTHERN DIVISION TITLE

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Aberdeenshire's winnng team and officials after their remarkable victory in the Northern Division inter-county team championship. Image by courtesy of Mary Hayden (Tain Golf Club).

After a thrilling finish to the Northern Division women's inter-county team championship, Aberdeenshire emerged the title
winners after a holes-played countback with Angus.
Aberdeenshire, trailing 1-2 after the morning foursomes against the title favourites and hosts, Northern Counties,  won all six singles for an astonishing 7-2 victory which could not have been predicted at the start of the day, far less at lunchtime.
Angus, the defending champions who went on to win the Scottish title last year, beat Perth and Kinross 6-3.
So that meant a countback between Angus, Aberdeenshire and Northern Counties who all finished with 2 wins and 1 defeat apiece.
Perth and Kinross lost all three matches.
On a games-won tally it was:
Angus 15 pts, Aberdeenshire 15, Northern Counties 14, Perth and Kinross 10
The tie-breaker was a comparison of the total number of holes played by the two counties over the three days
Aberdeenshire  played 235 holes and Angus 238. It was as close as that/
Aberdeenshire will go to the Scottish county finals at Stirling Golf Club from September 20 to 22. It will be their first appearance as Northern Division champions since 2007.
Shire's most successful competitor at Tain was county champion Sammy (Samantha) Leslie (Aberdeen Ladies) who won four out of her six games, another excellent performance following her county title win and her brave fight over cancer.
Three Aberdeenshire players won three times - teenager Kimberley Beveridge (Aboyne), three wins out of five; Rachel Polson (Peterculter), three wins out of five, and Sara Mathieson (Murcar Links), three wins out of four.
Sheena Wood (Aberdeen Ladies) and teenager Tegan Seivwright (Deeside) won twice out of five outings.
A crumb of consolation for Angus was that they had in St Rule Trophy winner Ailsa Summers, the "player of the tournament."
Ailsa, who elected to play for the county at Tain rather than compete in the British women's amateur championship in South Wales, won all six of her matches.
Angus even had the second most successful individual - Heather Munro (Monifieth) who won five of her six outings.

DAY 1 RESULTS
Northern Counties 6, Angus 3
Aberdeenshire 5, Perth and Kinross 4

DAY 2 RESULTS
Angus 6, Aberdeenshire 3
Northern Counties 6, Perth and Kinross 3

DAY 3 RESULTS ABERDEENSHIRE 7, NORTHERN COUNTIES 2
Foursomes: Sammy Leslie, Rachel Polson bt Hannah McCook, Sammy Vass 4 and 2; Sara Mathieson, Tegan Seivwright lost to Claire Riddell, Alison Bartlett 4 and 3; Sheena Wood, Donna Pocock lost to Cara Thompson, Mary Smith 1 hole (1-2).
Singles: Leslie bt McCook 3 and 1, Polson bt Thompson 7 and 5, Beveridge bt Bartlett 3 and 1, Wood bt Ross 6 and 4, Seivwright bt Anne Ryan 2 and 1, Mathieson bt Smith 2 and 1 (0-6).

ANGUS 6, PERTH and KINROSS 3
Foursomes: Ailsa Summers, Heather Munro bt Laura Walker, Eilidh Watson 2 and 1; Ann Ramsay, Katie Reid lost to Emily Ogilvie, J Saxton 3 and 2; Claire Penman, Ashley Smith bt Jillian Milne, Steph Crolla 3 and 2 (2-1).
Singles: Summers bt Ogilvie 5 and 3, Munro bt Watson 1 hole, Chalmers lost to Saxton 3 and 2, Penman bt Nicola Robertson 2 and 1, Jackie Brown lost to Hannah Robb 4 and 3, Ramsay bt Walker 3 and 1 (4-2).

HOW THEY FINISHED
1 Aberdeenshire 2pt, games won 15 (won on fewer games played); 2 Angus 2pt, games won 15; 3 Northern Counties 2pt, games won 14; 4 Perth and Kinross 0pt, games won 10.