Scottish golfer's dream double as Fife girl becomes history-maker
Martin Dempster’s latest comprehensive round up of grass-roots Scottish golf stories
Scottish golfer’s dream double
Graeme Robertson is now the proud holder of two of the PGA in Scotland’s most-coveted titles after backing up his Loch Lomond Whiskies Scottish PGA Championship win last year by also landing the Northern Open.
Held at Cruden Bay as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations, the Grangemouth-attached player beat Joe Bryce (Gleneagles Hotel) in a play-off after the pair had tied on three under par after 36 holes.
“Yeah, delighted to win,” said Robertson, who picked up a cheque for £3200 but was equally pleased to pull off his notable double. “Now got the Scottish PGA trophy and the Northern Open trophy sitting on the shelf at home, which is a great feeling!” he added.
“It was my first time up at Cruden Bay and I loved playing it. I’d heard so much about it over the years, so it was great to play and win on that kind of course.”
Robertson, who does a lot of his coaching at Forthview Driving Range, is gearing up for another attempt to play in The Open after qualifying for last year’s Claret Jug event at Royal Liverpool.
“I’ve got Final Open Qualifying at Dundonald again, which I get straight into because of last year,” he said. I’m going to play pretty much all the events on the Tartan Pro Tour as well and try and get one of the two Challenge Tour Cards on offer through that.”
Scottish Golf make double national coach announcement
David Patrick has been reappointed in one of Scottish Golf’s key coaching roles while Colin Fraser is the new holder of another such position.
Patrick, the head PGA pro at Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh, is the women’s national coach once more, having already held that post from 2014 to 2020.
And, in a double appointment announced by the governing body, Great Western Golf-based Fraser has taken over as the girls’ national coach.
''We are so excited to have Colin and David join us at such an important time for women and girls’ participation,” said Clare Queen, Scottish Golf’s head of performance and pathways “They are hugely experienced coaches and I have no doubt they will bring energy and momentum to their roles.
“We identified some promising coaching talent in our candidate pool and are looking to develop our coach development programme. We are also developing plans to establish a female coach development programme to increase the opportunities available for female coaches to coach at national level.''
Strathmore successes for Brodie Cunningham and Abigail May
Bothwell Castle’s Brodie Cunningham successfully defended the boys’ title while Abigail May (St Regulus Ladies) pulled off a wire-to-wire win in the girls’ event as Strathmore once again staged the Barrie Douglas Scottish Junior Masters.
In an event sponsored by William Walker Transport, Cunningham beat Aidan Lawson (Bruntsfield Links) in a play-off to hold on to his crown. Cunningham closed with a 70 to make up three shots on 36-hole joint-leader Lawson as the pair ended up tied on three under, one shot ahead of Deeside’s Oli Blackadder.
May, meanwhile, opened with rounds of 73 and 72 to hold a seven-shot lead. A closing 77 for a three-over total then saw her finish four shots ahead of second-placed Melissa Keay after the Ralston player signed off with a best-of-the-day 70.
Blairgowire’s Tarah Simpson won the girls’ handicap event by 13 shots after carding net scores of 69-63-75 while Lawson topped the boys’ under-16 leaderboard.
The event is held in memory of one of the most popular figures across Scottish amateur golf and beyond following his death in 2017.
Fife girl earns place in record books
Sophia Honeyman earned a place in the record books as she became the first girl to be part of a title-winning team in the Fife Junior Team Championship.
In this year’s event at Balbirnie Park, Honeyman teamed up with Ben Horsburgh, Lucas Lloyd and Oliver Band to land the prize for Lundin Golf Club ahead of second-placed St Andrews. Horsburgh had the best scratch score on the day with a 73.
Won for the first five years by Aberdour, the championship was inaugurated in 1972 as a 'boys-only' event, but girls have been involved for a few years now.
Scottish spots secured for Royal Troon treat
Pairings from Blair Atholl, Mortonhall and Dunfermline will be Scotland’s representatives in this year’s R&A 9 Hole Challenge Final at Royal Troon.
The spots for an event taking place on the eve of the 152nd Open were secured through Scottish Golf’s qualifier at Dundas Park on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Blair Atholl pair Susan Graham and Tommy Struthers topped the leaderboard after 36 holes with 36 points, one point ahead of Mortonhall’s Pauline Walker and Lesley Machan while Dunfermline duo Andrew Graham and Alix Shepherd were the other qualifiers from a field of 63 teams on 34 points.
Dundas Park staged the event for the third year running and club captain Alan Farquharson said: “Our club has benefited enormously from the increased exposure of being able to hold this event and showcase the nine-hole format, which we believe is a great alternative for golfers with busy lives.”
Dalmahoy delight for Fraser Moore
Fraser Moore won the third event of the season on the Golf Breaks Get Back to Golf Tour after coming out on top in a keenly-contested affair at Dalmahoy.
The Mizuno Golf player carded an excellent five-under-par 68 on the East Course at the Kirknewton venue to pip both Graeme Robertson (Fairways Golf Studios) and Neil Henderson (The Renaissance Club) by a shot.
Helped by finishing eighth on this occasion, Panmure assistant pro Dominic Bradburn cemented top spot in the Golf Finance Ltd Order of Merit, which will see six pros and six amateurs qualify for the season-ending Grand Final at Dumbarnie Links in October.
The next event is already underway at Murrayshall in Perthshire and runs until 16 June.
Jordan Shaw shines in North Championship
Boat of Garten’s Jordan Shaw is the 2024 Scottish Golf North champion after claiming the crown at Kings Golf Club in Inverness.
With rounds of 72 and 68, Shaw finished a shot ahead of Brora’s Ross Naismith (72-69), with Tain’s Sean Kennedy pipping Michael Schinkel (Royal Dornoch) on a countback for third place after they both posted 143 totals.
In addition to those four, Inverness pair David Joel and Kieran MacKay, Chris Gaittens (Fortrose & Rosemarkie) and Fraser Fotheringham (Nairn) were the other qualifiers for the match-play championship.
Nairn’s Scott Brown claimed the Murray Watt Trophy as the leading under-21 player while the handicap honours went to Kieran Rorrison (Inverness) by a commanding nine shots.
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