Bolton's route to the final included a narrow one-hole quarter-final victory over Rothesay Golf Club's George Reynolds, his long-time adversary for the club championship title at Canada Hill.
The Kingarth man's title defence began with a convinci
ng 5 and 3 victory over Lochgilphead's Matthew McAulay in the first round, victory setting up the quarter-final head-to-head with Reynolds, who had defeated Stuart Campbell from the host club by one hole in the first round.
After his quarter-final victory Bolton went on to defeat Allan McKie of Glencruitten by 2 and 1 in the last four, clearing the way for a comfortable win over Pirie in the final.
There were mixed fortunes for the other two island players in the 16-strong field - Port Bannatyne's Donald Standaloft lost out by 3 and 2 to Gordon Tyre of Cowal in the first round, while Rothesay's Chris Timms defeated Steven Kelly of Machrihanish 2 and 1 in his first round tie before losing out to McKie by the same score in the last eight.
Full results as follows (players from Machrihanish GC unless stated otherwise).
First round: Ross Currie bt Calum McMillan 3 and 2, Gordon Tyre (Cowal) bt Donald Standaloft (Port Bannatyne) 3 and 2; Ian McNab (Glencruitten) bt David Graham at 20th hole; Les Pirie (Millport) bt Greg Watson by 1 hole; Graham Bolton (Bute) bt Matthew McAulay (Lochgilphead) 5 and 3; George Reynolds (Rothesay) bt Stuart Campbell by 1 hole; Chris Timms (Rothesay) bt Steven Kelly 4 and 3; Allan McKie (Glencruitten) bt Michael Fraser (Glencruitten) 9 and 7.
Quarter-finals: Currie bt Tyre by 1 hole; Pirie bt McNab by 1 hole; Bolton bt Reynolds by 1 hole; McKie bt Timms 2 and 1.
Semi-finals: Pirie bt Currie 2 and 1; Bolton bt McKie 2 and 1. Final - Bolton bt Pirie 4 and 3.
The Argyll and Bute executive committee would like to thank Machrihanish Golf club for again hosting the event and commend them on its course and its impeccable condition.
The next area event is the spring meeting at Glencruitten on May 3. Entries should be submitted to area secretary Richard Biggart by today (Friday, April 25), though late entries on the day may be taken if space permits.
The full article contains 427 words and appears in The Buteman newspaper.
