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The annual match against the Highland Brigade GS was played on the rescheduled Wednesday 20th July at Panmure GC.  The weather on the day did not look promising.  The Senior Open Championship was on its final practice day on the nearby Carnoustie Championship course and the players were called in at 10 o’clock due to the imminence of lightning.  This duly arrived and was accompanied by torrential rain.

Much soul searching went on before the players in our match were told report as directed.

The weather pundits had been consulted and said that there was an outside chance that the lightning would pass by soon.  The head greenkeeper at Carnoustie was much more positive.  He said the rain would stop at 2 o’clock and would not return until the evening. He was right.  As we walked up the first tee at 2.15 the rain had stopped and the sun had reappeared!

The match was duly played and resulted in a win for the Society 3-1.  The first match, Dave Beveridge and Lachlan McIntosh, managed a half, having been 3 up after 4!  Match 2, Jock Smith and Jimmy Alexander, won on the 18th.  Match 3, Hamish McConkey and John Hewat were held to a draw and the final pairing, Peter May and Graeme Paton won on the 18th.

This match has been played since 1969 initially at Blairgowrie GC and since 1999 at Panmure GC.  The results to date are: wins for the Society 29, losses 9 and Halved Matches 4.  There was no match in 1997 as the Black Watch chose to hold a cocktail party on the same day and our opponents were unable to raise a team!  In 2004 the Tay estuary was subjected to four months worth of rain in the three days prior to our match and it continued to rain on the day.  As a result the match was abandoned, but the lunch was excellent as usual.