Update – Hannah Darling sadly lost in the semi-finals of the Womens Amateur Championship which is underway at Hunstanton in Norfolk from 20-25th June. Grace Crawford was defeated in the round of 32.  There were 144 entrants who played 36 holes of strokeplay (results here) to try to qualify in the top 64 players who then compete in the matchplay section. Hannah Darling qualified in 6th place with a 72 and a 69, with Grace Crawford not far behind in 12th spot with a 73 and a 70, against the par of 73. The semi finals and final will be live on Sky Sports Golf on Friday and Saturday on the Red Button!

STOURBRIDGE, ENGLAND – APRIL 24: <> at Enville Golf Club on April 24, 2022 in Stourbridge, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

Please see this link to the announcement of the Scottish Golf Teams for the European Championships on the 5-9th July. Congratulations go to some of our current and recent Junior players – Freya Constable of Kilspindie in the Girls Team to play in Iceland! Grace Crawford, of West Links Juniors, is promoted to the Ladies’ Team and will play in Conwy in Wales alongside Hannah Darling of Gullane. Calum Kenneally of Dunbar, Oliver Mukherjee of Gullane, and Archie Finnie of Royal Burgess, have all been selected for the Boys Team to play in Germany. Well done to all of them! Sadly this means that Archie, (featured image) will miss the Watson Cup Match vs South Carolina, scheduled in the same week so he will now be replaced by Ryan Gallacher of Longniddry. Angus Carrick of Craigielaw is selected for the Mens Team. We wish them all great success. Photo below is off Grace Crawford with the Scottish Womens Open (Helen Holm) Trophy.

A list of the prizewinners, and prizes from previous MDs can be found here. A big thanks are due to Shona Paton, the Gifford Captain, Steve Austin and Ric Foulner for managing the event today. The course looked great, and the rough was long! But play was very slow. See below! We also had a visit from a new Golf Genius employee – Jenny Potter, who called in to see how it works at our end.

Gifford used their home advantage and came in with 155 points with their 4 best scores. That might be the first time they have won a MatchDay! Well done! They were 12 points ahead of Kilspindie and 15 ahead of Haddington. 

There was some great scoring by Alex Martin and Rory Leitch who each had 43 Stableford points. Alex won 1st prize on count back with 16 points on the last 6 holes, to Rory’s 13.  Owen Malcolm was 3rd with 42 points. In the scratch section, Magnus Braby won with 36 points, followed closely by Brodie Cunningham and Jack Collingswood on 35 points.

SLOW PLAY – CAUSE? – Some Players seem to be reluctant to play provisional balls when their shots MAY be lost. This happened today a few times when following groups had to be waved through after a search by Payers in front who had lost a ball. The Players whose balls were lost had to take the “walk of shame” because they had not played a provisional. There is no shame in playing a provisional ball, in fact it is of great credit to Players when they consider their partners and others playing behind them by playing a provisional. Tip – keep an older ball in your pocket as your provisional. Play it if there is any doubt that you might be lost. If you find your first ball, forget the provisional which might even involve yet another search!

Team and Individual scores below. League Table updated. Craigielaw maintain their 7 point lead over Gullane. The OOMs can now be seen on your Golf Genius Apps – go to MD5 – Members Portal – Season Standings. You cn see both Scratch and Handicap OOMs. Players scores submitted to WHS at 2230 hours. Prize list will be updated soon. 

Grace Crawford has won the R&A Girls U16 Championship at Enville GC. Her 2nd huge win in 2 weeks! The report on the R&A website can be seen here. See scores here.

STOURBRIDGE, ENGLAND – APRIL 24: <> at Enville Golf Club on April 24, 2022 in Stourbridge, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

Grace Crawford, representing West Links Juniors, has won the Scottish Womens’ Open, known as the “Helen Holm” at Troon Portland and Royal Troon, host course of many Open Championships. Grace spreadeagled the field in the final round at Royal Troon with 3 straight birdies to start, and completed the final round of the 54 hole event in 68. On behalf of the League I have congratulated Grace, and we are indebted to Scottish Golf for use of the photo of Grace with the Trophy. The leaderboard is also attached, with Grace’s 3 rounds detailed. A full report can be seen here on the Scottish Golf website. See scores here. Past and present League Players in the event included Freya Constable, Abi Nisbet and Carys Irvine. 

The R&A have issued this press release. We are hoping this means that Tom Watson will be able to visit the Watson Cup matches on the 5th, 6th and 7th July. We are presently seeking confirmation of this.

Some of the Players from the 2018 Watson Cup Match met up at North Berwick on the 4th January for a reunion game. Sadly some Players were unable to attend, Team Leader Gareth Jack and Connor Wilson were both unwell, and Andrew Scott, Cammie Gallagher and Aaron Hall were unavailable.  We managed to draft in Neil Canavan, to make up 2 three-balls comprising A – Dave Warren, Jamie Duguid and Neil, and B – Jack Rogan, David Rudd and Cammie Spencer. Despite the cold winds, the scoring, the best 2 gross scores on each hole, was excellent with Neil scoring 6 birdies on his own, to lead Team A to a 3 under par score. However Team B romped in with 6 under par to take the spoils. Jamie hit some notable downwind drives measuring 360-370 yards! L-R Jamie, Neil, Cammie, Jack, Dave and David. There are many great photos to remind us of the fantastic match at Kiawah Island in 2018, which can be seen on this website under the drop-down on the menu bar. Note Tom Watson and Dave Stockton being there! 

The Team of Players from the Edinburgh and East Lothian Junior Leagues who have been selected for the Watson Cup in July 2022 enjoyed a courtesy practice round over Muirfield on Tuesday the 21st December. The Match is to be played over Royal Burgess, Muirfield and Gullane No. 1 on the 5th, 6th and 7th of July. The Team of 8 whose handicaps are all plus (better than scratch) includes Sam Hall and Connor Currie but both were unable to attend, so one of the Reserves, Jake Johnston, and a Vice Captain, David Rudd, stepped up and made up the two groups. They played a modified format which challenged the Players who changed partners every 6 holes, and which incorporated varied formats of play – Greensomes, Four-ball, and Foursomes. Several pairs equalled or bettered par for 6 holes and one player, Cameron Adam, managed to be in 3 pairings who each managed that feat! Watson Cup Captain DJ Russell and Chairman Dave Warren walked round, despite the cold, and watched all the play! Vice President Douglas Connon was unable to attend but assisted with the organisation of the event. The Watson Cup organisers are very grateful to the Honourable Company for hosting our group. More practice events may be held at the other venues at Easter and again, shortly before the Match itself.

The Tom Watson Cup is a biennial match between a combined Team selected from Players who compete in either the East Lothian or the Edinburgh Junior Golf Leagues, and a Team from the South Carolina Junior Golf Association. The Match has been postponed from 2020. In 2022, the match will be played on the 5th, 6th and 7th of July over Royal Burgess (Fourballs), Muirfield (Foursomes) and Gullane (Singles) respectively. We are looking forward to welcoming the SCJGA Team which will contain some of the top Junior Golfers in the USA. We are extremely grateful to the host Clubs who have agreed to accommodate the Match. 

Some of our younger Players will be unavailable due to committing to play in the Scottish Boys U16s which is to be played in the same week, but they will still be eligible for selection for the 2024 Match in the USA. We may lose one or two Players from the Team should they be selected for Scotland in the Boys European Team Championships, which is also in the same week. Grace Crawford, currently at home after her first term at school in the Albany Club in The Bahamas, was also considered but after her performance with 5 wins from 6 in the Junior Home Internationals in 2021, it is a fair bet that Grace will be in the Girls Team for the Europeans, so she will also be considered for the Team in 2024. 

Four of the Players who qualified for our Team for the scheduled Match in 2020 have had to step down as they will no longer be age-eligible in 2022.  The Home Team will now consist of the following 8 Players, many of whom compete for Teams in both of the Leagues and all of them currently hold plus handicaps.-

Edinburgh League – Archie Finnie, Cameron Adam, Ciaran Paterson, (all Royal Burgess Members) and Connor Currie, (Turnhouse.)

East Lothian League – Harry Bent, Sam Hall, (both Gullane) Luke Greig (Royal Musselburgh) and Callum Waugh (Craigielaw).

There is also a pool of Players who are currently being informed of their selection as reserves. Their order of priority will be decided after performances in National and Order of Merit events in early 2022. Some practice rounds are currently being arranged for our Team and Reserves.