Portlethen ended a 20-year wait to get their hands back on the Aberdeen and District Junior Pennant League.
Captain Murray Sinclair and his team upset the odds in the league final with an impressive 5-3 win over favourites Cruden Bay at Deeside Golf Club.
Portlethen qualified for the final by going unbeaten through Group B.
It proved to be a real team affair over the course of their winning run with skipper Sinclair and Evan Fulton leading the charge in the singles, while Mackenzie Mullen and Sam Leslie, joined Ross Burns and Greg Kirton to come together in the pairs.
It capped a dream run for Portlethen, who won the league for the first time in 2001.
Sinclair said: “I am delighted with my team winning the Pennant final.
“It is the perfect way for me to end my time as a junior at Portlethen Golf Club.
“I am delighted to see the benefits of all the hard work that my teammates and myself have put in over the past couple of years, since narrowly losing out in the last final.”
Pinnacle of junior programme
Portlethen have a strong junior section and have come close in recent years, losing the last final to Cruden Bay in 2019.
Murray added: “As junior club captain, I also want to highlight that this is the pinnacle of the throughput from the junior coaching programme that was started at the club 10 years ago, when I was only eight.
“On behalf of myself and the other players we would like to thank everyone who helped start and develop the programme and helped the team to win the Aberdeen and District Junior Pennant League.”
Captain Sinclair managed to dig deep in the final to come back and half the opening match.
Fulton then put the first win on the board for Portlethen, which was quickly followed by Mackenzie Mullen and Sam Leslie’s 2 and 1 win, which sealed the win.
The win was already in the bag, as Burns and Kirton narrowly lost their game on the final green.
It however was very much a team event as Kirton and Burns played a major part winning four of their six matches in the run, along with Fulton who had put the most points together in the run.
The right spirit
Portlethen junior convenor Scott Sinclair said: “I am absolutely delighted and immensely proud of the team’s overall performance and both myself and the whole of Portlethen Golf Club have been really impressed with the sporting spirit and exemplary behaviour that the Portlethen players had shown throughout all their matches.
“The performance of the junior section over recent years has been amazing, and the players have continually been striving to be part of the team and they have put this ahead of other activities.
“It was good to see the boys do so well in this season’s Pennant League and to win it is a great achievement for all the boys involved.”
The golfing season continues for both Portlethen and Cruden Bay as they have both qualified to represent the League in the Home Nations qualifiers later in the season.
The Portlethen youngsters who retained the Scottish Junior Team Championship Trophy in 2019, on the links of Kilmarnock Barassie, will also travel to Crail at the end of September to defend this title against teams from all over Scotland.
The Portlethen team pictured above are as follows: Back row (from left): Ross Burns, Evan Fulton, Murray Sinclair, Mackenzie Mullen. Front row: Jaxson Bills, Andrew Beattie, Scott Sinclair (junior convenor), Sam Leslie.