37-year-old 'weekend golfer' wins East of Scotland Open for third time

James White is the East of Scotland Open champion for a third time after bridging a four-year gap in the Lundin Golf Club event on a second occasion.

White, a local man and member of the host club, landed the title for the first time in 2017 and has now added victories in both 2021 and 2025.

The 37-year-old’s latest win came in windy conditions at the Fife venue, where he was the only player to finish under par.

East of Scotland Open winner James White, second left, pictured with third-placed Cormac Sharpe, women’s winner Rachel Mathieson and runner-up Sam Mukherjee at Lundin Golf Club | Lundin Golf Club

“It was a bit of a surprise, to be honest,” said White, who works for ShotScope, the company now based in West Lothian that is one of the market leaders in golf shot tracking technology. “I spent most of last week down south with work and hadn’t played a deal of golf going into this event.

“I coped with the conditions quite well - it was brutally tough on Saturday with the wind - which I was happy about.”

The former Scottish Order of Merit winner - he was one of the country’s top amateurs during a spell at the University of Stirling - followed an opening 74 with a 69 before signing off with scores of 70-68 for a three-under-par total.

Loretto School pupil Sam Mukherjee (72-74-67-72) finished as his closest challenger, with Blairgowrie’s Cormac Sharpe, who, as was the case four years ago, played with White in the final two rounds, six shots further back in third place.

“I had a pretty poor start, sitting three over at the end of the first round and felt like I had squandered a lot of shots,” added White. “But I then had a good second round of 69, which doesn’t sound like a really good round but I think it was the lowest score by two or three shots.

‘Wins feel better when you get older’

“It definitely feels better landing a win like this when you get older and even more so when it was at my home club. It was a good day weather-wise on Sunday and there was a big crowd out for the last round. I had a four or five-shot lead with a few holes to go, so I was able to actually enjoy it after playing survival golf for the opening three rounds.

“I think having won it a couple of times before, it’s a familiar feeling and, yeah, it was really enjoyable. I definitely think I appreciate the wins more now than I did when I was younger.”

White won’t be entering the Scottish Amateur Championship at Gullane next month, with his next event likely to be the Leven Gold Medal at the end of August.

Events like Scottish Men’s Open are a ‘big step up’

“It’s great fun just to be able to compete with these young guys,” he said of beating a field that also included Bathgate’s James Wood and Archie Finnie from Royal Burgess. “I notice a big step up these days, as was the case when I played in the Scottish Men’s Open at North Berwick a few weeks back in a really strong field.

“I felt I played okay to shoot level par for two rounds and missed the cut. I guess that’s much easier to accept now that I’m a weekend golfer.”

Helped by posting a new women’s course record with a 67, Hazlehead’s Rachel Mathieson won the East of Scotland Open Women’s Trophy.