Sivewright Quaich

The event

The Sivewright Quaich was instigated by W A W Sivewright, one of a distinguished band of people who have been President of the Lothians Golf Association (1960-62) and of the Scottish Golf Union (1966-68). He also served as Secretary of the Lothians (1951-1958).

The idea for the event was in response to an increase in the subscriptions, by the SGU, for non-course owning clubs.

The format is a handicap version of the Dispatch Trophy where four-man teams play foursomes aggregate match play in a knock-out competition during the season.

The final has been traditionally played at Prestonfield, which was Bill Sivewright's home club.

The initial tournament was a great success with 32 teams taking part and Ethicon beating Standard Golf Club 4 and 3 in the final.

2018

SMARTS, the Prestonfield based team who joined the Lothians Golf Association for the first time in 2018, won the Sivewright Trophy at Prestonfield in September in a good final against Buckstone G C, the 2013 and 2016 champions. The SMARTS team of Alan Dickson, Craig Clarke, Scott Britee and James MacDonald had seen off Colinton Mains with a resounding 8 & 6 win in the morning semi-final before clinching the final 5 & 4. Buckstone had beaten Kingston by 3 & 2 in the other semi-final. This was the 50th anniversary of the playing of the event and all past winners were invited to take part even although some of them were no longer members of the association. This increased the entries from 22 to 28 including 4 previous members who we hope will be tempted back in the future.

2019

Encouraged by the extra teams in 2018 we are hoping the numbers will be sustained if not increased in 2019. Societies now also have the option of entering more than one team which is also helping to keep the numbers up. One issue has been the cost of green fees but with teams only having to pay once in the season (when they lose, or not at all if they reach the final) this can be contained especially if the host society adheres to the suggestions made in Rule 9 which is to speak to the host club secretary beforehand and try and get a reasonable deal especially as this is a foursomes event.

Our recent governance review highlighted the fact that we should do more for players in the higher handicap ranges. This competition caters for people with handicaps between 6 and 18 so it certainly addresses that issue.

The final will be played at Prestonfield on Sunday 15 September.