There were many OOM positions and prizes to sort out after the final Match-Day at the West Links. Thanks are due to Stuart Martin, now a TV star, (see below) of the host Club for assisting with the compilation of these.

The OOM positions, with thanks to Golf Genius, are pasted in below the photographs and an analysis and the prize list. There were 130 Juniors who competed in at least 1 Match Day this year. The format is that Players count their best 5 placings at the 10 Match Days. The outright Scratch OOM winner was current Lothians Boys Champion Fergus Brown of Gullane who won by 9 OOM points from Luke Greig of Royal Musselburgh. Fergus’ 7 appearances in the 10 Match Days, resulted in these finishing positions (with T indicating a tied place) – 1, 1, 2, T2 and a T4. He was able to discard other finishes of T5 and T9. Fergus showed a consistently high standard all year and thoroughly deserved his voucher for £100 and an Open Championship woolly hat! His handicap was reduced from 0.5 at his first MD to +1.1 by the end of the season. Luke, the current East Lothian Junior League Champion, was placed T1, T2, T3, T4 and 4 in his best 5 placings from 7 appearances. The 3rd to 5th placed Players, who all received vouchers and prizes, were Jack Lucas of Gullane, Magnus Braby of Craigielaw, and Jack Collingswood of the West Links.

The winner of the Net OOM, and a voucher for £100 and an Open Championship woolly hat, was Connor Cook of Gifford, who was placed T1, T2, T4, T6 and T7 in his best 5 placings from 8 appearances. In the final Match Day of the season at West Links, Connor’s closest pursuer, Daryl Yuill of Craigielaw, could not make up the gap and improve on his worst placing of T13. During the season Connor reduced his handicap from 24 to 16! Other prizewinners were Adam McLean of Craigielaw, Jamie Barker of Royal Musselburgh and Harry Dunkinson who filled the next 3 places. Five players also received a prize for playing in all 10 MDs!

There were additional prizes for Girls and for for Age Groups U14 and U12. The winners in all categories can be seen in the table below. The top Girl in the Scratch section was Evie McCallum, and in the Net section it was Rebecca Wilson, both playing for the East Lothian Ladies Girls Team. They both received golf caps from the recent Solheim Cup which were both signed by the European Team Captain Catriona Matthew.  All the other players in the prize list below received prizes donated either by the League, the R&A, or by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Muirfield. Our thanks are due to all of them.

Photos of Evie McCallum, and Rebecca Wilson, winners of the Girls Scratch and Net OOMs respectively, with their prizes signed by Catriona Matthew.

Photos of the winners with League Secretary Dave Warren – Fergus Brown (top) and Connor Cook (below)

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

Lucy Morrison

Daryl Yuill

Brodie Cunningham

Gabriel Ridgeway

Finlay Langlands

Rebecca Wilson

Tom Watson has unveiled the beautiful new Trophy bearing his name at a ceremony at the U.S. Masters. Bob Gunning, Secretary at Longniddry, represented both the League and “Scotland’s Golf Coast.” Tom has signed two US Masters Flags, both faithfully delivered home by Bob. One is for the East Lothian League and one is for the Edinburgh League. Photo below. The Trophy has been specifically designed for bi-annual matches for a combined East Lothian and Edinburgh Junior League Team versus a Team of South Carolina Juniors. The trophy bears detail of Thistles and Palmettos, the State Tree of South Carolina. Please see this link to the Press release about the event. For the history involved – see this article.

Please see this message to Royal Burgess Members from their General Manager:-

Dear Member,

We are delighted to advise members that we have been selected to co-host the Watson Cup, a new trophy to be contested bi-annually between the best young golfers in East Lothian and Edinburgh, and their counterparts in South Carolina. Five time Open Champion Tom Watson has put his name to the event, the first staging of which will be at Kiawah Island in October 2018, with Muirfield and Royal Burgess co-hosting the first return match in 2020. RBGS Honorary Member Bernard Gallacher has agreed to be the Honorary President on that occasion.

Both matches will be played in a Walker Cup style format over 2 days, with players from both the East Lothian Junior League and the Edinburgh Junior League joining forces.

Exact dates and timings will be announced nearer the time but this is another fantastic opportunity for raising the profile of RBGS and demonstrates once again, the high esteem in which our club is held.

Graham Callander General Manager 12th April 2018

Players! The yardage books for both host courses have arrived and will be issued free of charge to our you! See photo samples below. Both courses look amazing! Jack Rogan has agreed to be Captain of the Team – so our Team is Jack, David Rudd, Jamie Duguid, Connor Wilson, Aaron Hall, Cameron Spencer, Andrew Scott, and Cammie Gallagher, some of whom are in great form at the moment. The League has organised a lunch at 1330 on the 22nd September at North Berwick GC at which Team equipment will be issued. You may be interested in the SCJGA fixture list here. Its packed!