Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ross Laird rescues a draw for Scotland in Home International opener against Wales at Downfield

Cormac Sharpe had a key win for Scotland's juniors at Downfield.
Cormac Sharpe had a key win for Scotland's juniors at Downfield.

Glenbervie’s Ross Laird won the last three holes of his singles match to salvage a draw for Scotland’s boys and girls team against Wales at the R&A’s Junior Home Internationals at Downfield.

Laird was one down on the 16th tee to William Sandoz, but won the match and the point by two holes. Scotland’s team – playing combined for the first time – came away with a 10 ½-10 ½ draw on the opening day at the Dundee club.

The two Scots who returned full points on the first day were Royal Troon’s Freya Russell and Niall Shiels Donegan.

Russell combined with Jade Potter for a romping 6 and 5 win their foursomes against Emily James and Millie Cottrell, and then won her singles over Annabel Collis.

Shiels Donegan, who is based in the San Francisco Bay area but whose parents are Scots, won on the last green in foursomes with Daniel Bullen of Auchterarder.

The 16-year-old, who has enjoyed an outstanding last two summers playing on the Scottish circuit, then won his singles against Joe Jones 4 and 3.

The young Scots appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory with four and a half points from the top five matches in the singles draw.

But Wales came back strongly in the middle of the draw, only Blairgowrie’s Cormac Sharpe keeping them at bay with a 2 and 1 win over Dewi John.

Elliott’s half and Laird’s win ensure the draw

Things looked grim for the Scots down in the last five singles, but Summer Elliott rescued a half in her match and Laird turned his around.

The Scots’ junior team is missing three key players who have been selected for the seniors home internationals playing at Ballyliffin in Ireland, which starts on Wednesday.

The Graham brothers from Blairgowrie, Gregor and Connor – the R&A Junior Open champion – and North Berwick’s outstanding prospect Grace Crawford, who won the Scottish Women’s Amateur Open at just 15, have been selected for those matches.

Both senior and junior Home Internationals are being played with joint teams for the first time, each side featuring nine boys and seven girls. There are no mixed matches, but scores are combined.

The matches continue until Thursday and are free to spectators.

Conversation