Dumfriesshire beat Aberdeenshire to win the County Team Championship Title for the first time

Dumfriesshire -- 2016 County Team Champions

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Dumfriesshire unexpectedly beat Aberdeenshire 5-4 in the title decider between the two 100% winning sides on the third and final day at Aboyne Golf Club today.
And so a county with only 10 golf clubs from whom to choose their team were crowned Scottish women's county champions for the first time since the champions of the South Division were admitted to the finals in the 1972.
The Doonhamers gained what proved to be the decisive edge by taking the morning foursomes 2-1 when Sammy Leslie and Shannon McWilliam were the only home winners.
Aberdeenshire needed to take the afternoon's six singles by a two-point margin to overturn the deficit and win the title for the first time since 1986.
With three singles to finish, the overall score was level at 3-3 with Aberdeenshire ahead in two of the ties still to be settled. Aberdeenshire county champion Sammy Leslie, one up after 14 on Jordana Graham, could not hold her opponent at bay over the closing holes and Graham's one-hole victory tipped the sales in Dumfriesshire's favour.
Mirren Fraser, only 17, got the winning fifth point by beating Carol Wilson 4 and 2, and Dumfriesshire could afford to lose the last singles tie to finish, Donna Pocock beating Katie Malcolm by one hole.
The joint MVPs of the tournament with six wins out of six apiece were the Dumfriesshire pair of Gemma Batty and her foursomes partner Jordana Graham.
Mirren Fraser, only 17, was not far behind with 5.5pt out of six. All in all a splendid performance by the South of Scotland champions.
Midlothian finished third, thanks to a 5.5-3.5 win over Dunbartonshire and Argyll today. D and A did not win a match over the three days.

 Day 3 results 
ABERDEENSHIRE 4, DUMFRIESSHIRE 5 FOURSOMES (1-2)
S Leslie and S McWilliam bt E Greenlees and K McCracken 3 and 2
C Wilson and R Polson lost to G Batty and J Graham 4 and 3
D Pocock and J Mackintosh lost to D Macdonald and M Fraser 2 and 1
SINGLES (3-3)
Polson bt Greenlees 4 and 2.
L Anderson lost to Batty 4 and 2.
McWilliam bt Macdonald 3 and 2.
Leslie lost to Graham 1 hole.
Wilson lost to Fraser 4 and 2 Pocock bt K Malcolm 1 hole.

DUNBARTONSHIRE and ARGYLL 3.5, MIDLOTHIAN 5.5
 FOURSOMES (1.5-1.5)
A Laing and L McClymont lost to K McIntosh and K Marshall 6 and 5
F Rattray and L Macdonald halved with A McBride and C Steedman
C Hargan and J Farrell bt W Nicholson and H Scott 2 holes
SINGLES (2-4)
Farrell lost to McIntosh 2 and 1.
Rattray bt Marshall 2 holes
Hargan lost to K Ferguson-Snedden 1 hole
L Campbell lost to Nicholson 7 and 6
L McGeachy lost to McBride 6 and 5
Laing bt Fraser 4 and 3.

HOW THEY FINISHED 
Dumfriesshire P3 W3 D0 L0 18-9 3pt
Aberdeenshire P3 W2 D0 L1 16.5-10.5 2pt
Midlothian P3 W1 D0 L2 12-15 1pt
D and Argyll P3 W0 D0 L3 7.5-19.5 0pt

MOST SUCCESSFUL PLAYERS 
Dumfriesshire: 6 wins: Gemma Batty and Jordana Graham; 5.5pt Mirren Fraser; 4.5pt Diane Macdonald.
Aberdeenshire: 4 wins out of 4 games: Shannon McWilliam; 4 wins from 6 games: Sammy Leslie. Midlothian: 4 wins Karen Ferguson-Snedden; 3.5pt Katie Macintosh.
Dunbartonshire and Argyll: 2.5pt Fiona Rattray.

 Next year's Scottish county finals will be played at an East Division venue.

Runners-up Aberdeenshire won the E J Morrison Trophy. 

    Picture by Karen Stalker, the Aberdeenshire sec.