Royal Burgess stun Prestonfield in Summer League

Gavin Dear, who helped Scotland win the Eisenhower Trophy in 2008, suffered a rude introduction to the Edinburgh Summer League as Royal Burgess burst out of the blocks in their bid to land the title for the eighth time in nine years.

The tenth hole at Longniddry

Dear, who has been reinstated to the amateur ranks after a spell as a professional, and Jamie Binning, whose brother, Sam, plays on both the PGA EuroPro Tour and Tartan Tour, bolstered the Prestonfield ranks by joining the Capital club this year.

But they both tasted defeats on their debut, to Joe Lockie and Varun Varadharajan respectively as Prestonfield went down 8-0 at Barnton, where John Yuille signed off with an eagle-3 at the 16th to put the icing on the cake for the home side.

Ratho Park have made a flying start in their section by making home advantage count against both Swanston New and newcomers Craigielaw while both Turnhouse and Royal Musselburgh have already notched up away wins.

Turnhouse came out on top 5.5-2.5 at Glencorse, where Euan McIntosh, Steven 
Armstrong, Jack McVey, Colin Davidson and Mark Napier all won for the visitors after Lewis Bain finished all square with Sean McGarvey in the top match. “Glencorse were outplayed for the most part on a tricky course,” admitted Peter Lamb.

Royal Musselburgh, meanwhile, won 5-3 at the Merchants, where, on a blustery evening, three of the matches went the distance in a close contest. For long spells, it looked as though Duddingston might have to settle for a share of the spoils with Kingsknowe but Conor Scott managed to turn his game round, wining 3&2 after being two down, to secure a 5-3 home victory.

Craigmillar Park won by the same margin over Dalmahoy thanks to triumphs from Bryan Davies, Wes Mitchell, Paul Logan, Conor O’Toole and Andy Utterson.

With Colin Taylor, Paul Neil, Nick Barr and Scott Walker all coming out on top for the home side in the bottom four matches, West Linton triumped 5.5-2.5 over Liberton while Longniddry started their second campaign in the league with an impressive 6.-5-1.5 success over Silverknowes.

Scottish Boys champion Eric McIntosh was one of the Bruntsfield Links’ points scorers in a 4-3 draw at Broomieknowe while the spoils were also shared between Newbattle and Murrayfield after Cameron Whyte won two of the last three holes for the visitors.