Top seed Emma Hale wins Ayrshire county 

title for first time at Prestwick

 Left to right: Prestwick GC captain Dr Paul Stevens, beaten finalist Lorna Ronnie, championship winner Emma Hale, Ayrshire LCGA captain Liz Keohone. Picture by courtesy of Alasdair Malcolm.

Emma Hale (Troon Ladies), top qualifier for the match-play stages, is the new Ayrshire women's champion after beating Lorna Ronnie (Kilmarnock Barassie) by 5 and 3 in this afternoon's final at Prestwick Golf Club.
It was a close match in the early stages with Emma edging ahead at the sixth after Lorna found bunker trouble with her second shot.  A birdie from Emma at the eighth put her two up at the turn, having halved the ninth in par
Halves followed at 10, 11 and 12.
Two up playing 13, Emma's tee shot found 'Willie Campbell's Grave', the fairway bunker between the 13th and 16th but she managed to salvage a par 5 to take the hole and go three up.
Hale then birdied 14 with a 5ft putt to go four up with four to play and finished the match off in style with another birdie at 15. It was the first time Hale had won her county championship.

Past champion Alex Glennie (Kilmarnock Barassie) was beaten in the semi-finals 6 and 5 by clubmate Ronnie, a past champion at Strathaven and a former Lanarkshire county player who moved to Ayrshire five years ago and recently became an Ayrshire county member.
Lorna was also the 1986 West of Scotland girls champion and, as a student, played for the Stirling University
In the other semi-final, Hale beat Louise Duncan (West Kilbride) by 2 and 1.  It was a closely fought match with both girls making birdies.  Emma went one hole up at 13 before halving 14, 15 and 16.  On 17 Louise played two fabulous shots but
faced a tricky chip shot onto the green.  
Having laid up, Emma played a nice shot onto the green and a 5 was good enough to win the match 

QUARTER-FINALS
Emma Hale (Troon Ladies) bt Pauline Patrick (Irvine) 8 and 7
Louise Duncan (West Kilbride) bt Debbie Watt (Ayr Belleisle) 7 and 6
Alex Glennie (Kilmarnock Barassie) bt Lesley Barker (Kilmarnock Barassie) 5 and 4
Lorna Ronnie (Kilmarnock Barassie) bt Audrey Thompson (Loudoun) 1 hole.

SEMI-FINALS
Ronnie bt Glennie 6 and 5.
Hale bt Duncan 2 and 1.
FINAL
Hale bt Ronnie 5 and 3.