Success for East Lothian Players!

July 2, 2021 By Dave Warren

Review of amazing performances in May and June 2021 by East Lothian Ladies and Girls! (Copy of Press Release issued 2nd July 2021)

Hannah Darling’s performance in recent weeks has been outstanding by winning the St Rule Trophy at St Andrews, by reaching the semi-finals of both the Scottish and British Women’s Amateur Championships at Gullane and Kilmarnock Barassie respectively, and by finishing tied 2nd, at 11 under par, in the 54 hole Helen Holm Scottish Womens’ Open at Royal Troon. These performances have lifted 17 year old Hannah to a position inside the top 50 of the Womens’ World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) Hannah is in the Scottish Golf National High-Performance Squad for whom Catriona Matthew, the Solheim Cup Captain, is now a mentor. Hannah is currently in the squad for the Curtis Cup match vs. the USA on the 26th August in Wales and has committed to attending the University of South Carolina later this year. Hannah’s current handicap is +7.3 and her home Club is Broomieknowe, a parkland course. But Hannah is also member at Gullane where she has been fine tuning her game on links turf as many UK Championship events are held on such courses. Understandably, Hannah, although registered with the League, has commitments which do not leave her much time to play in our League events.

Clara Young a former Scottish Internationalist and past Womens’ Champion, and past winner of the St Rule event, has had similar success this year by finishing 2nd at the St Rule, by reaching the semi finals of the Scottish Womens’ Championship, and by finishing T8 in the Helen Holm. Clara plans on now trying to qualify for the LPGA Tour. Clara’s current handicap is +5.5.

Tara Mactaggart also had good performances in some of these events, by reaching the final of the Scottish Womens’ Championship and by also winning the East Lothian Ladies’ County Championship at North Berwick West Links. Tara will soon be trying to qualify for the Ladies European Tour. Tara’s current handicap is +5.1.

Freya Constable, still only 16 years old, won the Midlothian Ladies’ Championship, and also made the cut in the Helen Holm event. Freya also won a Scottish Junior Tour event at Royal Musselburgh as well as finishing 9th in the Barrie Douglas Scottish Junior Masters. Freya’s current handicap is 4.

Grace Crawford’s results in making the cut in both the Scottish and British Women’s Championships as a 14 year old, and by recently winning the Stephen Gallacher Foundation Vase at Castle Park, and winning a Scottish Junior Tour event at Southerness, shows that she will be a strong contender for National Junior titles over the next 3 years. Grace is in the Scottish Golf National Performance Squad. Grace’s current handicap is +2.2.

There was a sensational match in the final of the 2020 North Berwick Ladies Club Championship which was delayed till May 2021. Clara, a 3-time winner of the East Lothian Junior League Girls’ Championship, played Grace, a winner of the same Championship in 2019. On a windy evening, they had 13 birdies and 1 eagle between them! Grace just pipped Clara by winning the 17th, 18th, and 19th holes, all with birdies!

We were hoping that some of these Players would be selected for upcoming International Team events especially for the 2021 Girls’ European Amateur Team Championships which were due to be held in Portugal in July. However, Scottish Golf has considered the latest Covid and travel information for these events and sadly the decision has been made not to send teams to any of the Boys’ Girls’ or Mens’ European Team events being held abroad. The Womens’ Team event however, which is in Northern Ireland at Royal County Down is going ahead on the 6th July, and Hannah is in the Scottish Team of 6 Players. The Girls’ and Womens’ Home Internationals are due to be held in England at Woodhall Spa on the 4th – 6th August and will likely still be going ahead. We hope that some of the above mentioned Players will be selected.

Grace recently enjoyed her first game at Muirfield, as a guest of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers during a practice round with the East Lothian and Edinburgh Junior Leagues’ Watson Cup Team. The Watson Cup is held in honour of Tom Watson and will next be played in July 2022 over the Royal Burgess, Muirfield and Gullane No.1 courses. Former European Tour Player and former Ryder Cup Vice-Captain David J. Russell is the Captain of the Team for 2022. David has the support of 4 Vice Captains, including David Rudd, a recent League Junior, who is now a Professional playing on mini-tours. The President for the Match is former Ryder Cup Captain, Bernard Gallacher.

Grace and Freya are still competing in our “Free to Enter” East Lothian Junior League events, and both of them were part of a recent trip in February 2020 to Pinehurst USA which the East Lothian Junior Golf League organises annually.

We look forward to that part of the season where we can report on success in Boys’ events by the many talented Players we currently have registered as League Players.

We follow all the progress being made in the game of golf by former Players in the League, of which European Tour Player Grant Forrest and Connor Wilson, who is in the Scottish Golf National High-Performance Squad, are probably the best known of the men. Many other former League Players are attending college or universities in the USA or in the UK, and are, or will soon be, employed in the Golf industry as Greenkeepers, or in Club Management, or as Club Professionals or Assistants, as Golf Journalists, or in the Media, or even as Golf Course architects and builders.

The League would like to thank all the past and present Convenors at our Member Clubs, who have voluntarily given up their time to organise Junior Competitions and manage Club Teams for our League events. We would also like to thank East Lothian and East of Scotland Ladies Golf, the Lothians Golf Association, the Stephen Gallacher Foundation, the Scottish Junior Tour, Scottish Golf and their Development Officers, East Lothian Council and their tireless Golf Development Officer Kate Green, the Golf Foundation, the R&A, local Golf Professionals, and many others, We are indebted to the East Lothian Council, and to those Edinburgh and East Lothian Clubs who provided funding and access to quality courses on Scotland’s Golf Coast for our League events and in Edinburgh for the Watson Cup, and to those who have made contributions of their time, and/or funding, to our “not-for-profit” League over the years to make success possible. We also thank those supporters who provided free accommodation in Pinehurst, to the host courses and tournament organisers there, for welcoming our Players into their winter events every February. Around 50 Players have now experienced such a trip, subsidised to a minor extent by the League.

We have many more young and capable Players coming into our League through the Golf Foundation’s GolfSixes initiative, but we still need more funding and/or Sponsors, to take our competitive League forward to even better things in future, and to organise the fairly new Scottish Junior Team Championship. If you can help with a donation, then please get in touch with me.

Dave Warren, East Lothian Junior League Secretary.

[email protected] Cell – 07595 301425.

“OOM” – SORTED!

18th Sept 2021 – I have corrected the errors in the set up for awarding OOM points and this resulted in significant changes. Thanks are due to GolfGenius for resolving these.

You can NOW view the Scratch and Handicap OOMs on your Golf Genius App under “Season Points.” If you click on your names, you can see your positions in all the MDs in which you have played. You can also see on the “Standings’ how many points behind you are and how you can quickly catch up!

For our 2021 season, the League is using a new system on “Golf Genius” for our Scratch and Handicap Orders of Merit. Previously, Players’ best 6 points scores in the fields at all 10 Match Days counted for both Scratch and Handicap OOMs. However, this year only, this will be relaxed to 5 out of 10 due to the shortened season and several fixture clashes. The new system, now awards OOM points only to the top 25 Players at each Match Day. The top 25 Players in each of the Scratch and Handicap OOMs will receive points for their placings in the field, as per the table below. The Player(s) finishing with the most Gross and Net Stableford points at each MD will receive a bonus of 5 points. Every Player attending will receive 5 additional points for competing. The finishing positions at the first 8 MDs have now been calculated and can be seen your Golf Genius App. Boys and Girls are all competing for the same OOM prizes. Players tied with the same Stableford points at any MD will receive the same points in the OOMs as no count-back will be applied to the MD placings. There are trophies for the 2 winners and prizes and prize vouchers for 1st to 5th placed players in each of the Gross and Net OOM categories. In addition, there will be some prizes for the top Girls, U14 and U12 Boys in the table. Players cannot win more than 1 prize, and they will be given the best prize they could be given should they feature at the top in both OOMs. The positions of Players in the OOMs, will have a bearing on who receives invites to go an any future trips that League Players make to Pinehurst, but consideration will be given to both age and handicaps at the time of any trip, and Covid vaccination status. Players who have been before may receive another invite if the size of the party allows.

Golf Sixes – final result!

There has been a lot of fun in the playing of these events, run by our Clubs in partnership with Scottish Golf, and other volunteers, so many thanks to them. All the earlier results can be seen on our Home Page at the “drop down” under “Golf Sixes 2021.” In the final fixture on the 5th September at the “Wee Course” at North Berwick West Links, home advantage paid off and West Links Juniors won the day with 141 points. Emilia and Aedan of WLJ were the high scoring pair with 50 points. The League however was won by The Glen with Gullane a close second. The Glen finished with 31 points and Gullane 27 points. It’s been a fantastic effort by all to run the league this year and very much hope it continues next year. The East Lothian Junior League donated prizes for all the Teams, and we hope to see these youngsters competing in our ELJG League events in future! A big thanks are due to Katy McNicholl and all the helpers throughout the year. Photos can be seen here.

Nearest the pin on the 1st – Aaron (Craigielaw)

Nearest the pin in two on the 8th – Tom (Gullane)

Nearest the pin (chip shot) 9th – Callum (Glen

Wee Wonders Grand Finals 2021!

The Grand Finals of the “Wee Wonders” have been held at the “Wee Course” at North Berwick and Gullane No.3, in which contestants as young as 5 years old and up to 12 years old from all over the UK competed in a scratch format. Gullane Player Stella Walters, with scores of 30 and 31 over “The Wee Course” at North Berwick, won the Girls 5-8 age group by 16 strokes! At Gullane’s No.3 course, Aidan Lawson of West Links Juniors was 2nd in the Boys 11-12 with a 36 hole score of 144 off the yellow tees. Stella’s brother Fraser was 5th. Ryan Killorn, pictured, also representing the West Links, was 2nd in the Boys 9-10 with a score of 143. Full results can be seen here.

Results ELJGL Champs 2021 + Photos!

Apologies! – Calculation and publication of the results of the annual League Championships at Royal Musselburgh took longer than expected due to a technical issue over the accuracy of handicaps on the Golf Genius system. I wanted to make sure that everything was in order first and that trophies, prizes and vouchers are going to the correct Players! The Boys U16/U18 36-hole event was shortened to 18 holes due to the danger of thundery showers, some of which did occur. The event was a qualifier for the Justin Rose and Daily Telegraph Junior Golf Championship to be held at Walton Heath. I will nominate our Boy and Girl Scratch winners Luke and Lucy, and our Net winners Daryl and Rebecca, but sadly, their scores in relation to par may not be low enough to receive an invite.

Our thanks are due to Royal Musselburgh for hosting the event. RMGC Captains Stevie Gough and Helen Findlay presented the prizes to the various age groups. Many thanks to the helpers on the day, John Anderson, Sue Warren, Steve Austin, Stuart Findlay, Shona Paton and Calum and Cammie in the Pro Shop. Our new gazebo was very useful in the rain!

Scores for handicaps were submitted through Golf Genius on the day and your Index should have been updated at midnight! There were 59 Players in total. Trophies have been retained and will be engraved as soon as possible before presentation to you. For Players who were unable to be at the prize-giving, I have retained your vouchers and will pass these to you when I next see you at one of our events. Congratulations to the Players on the following list:-

Photos below- Players receiving their trophies from Stevie Gough or from Helen Findlay, Captains of Royal Musselburgh, or from Dave Warren, League Secretary.

Luke Greig