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.

In a thrilling climax to the season, four Teams were in the battle for the top 3 places. Going into our final Match Day, Craigielaw had a 2 point lead over Gullane and a 6 point lead over West Links. East Lothian Girls were well placed only 3 behind West Links. Paired with their rivals Gullane and West Links, the Craigielaw Team of Callum Waugh, Adam McLean, Lewis Russell, Alexander Yuill, Fraser Walters and Magnus Braby all stepped up their games to win maximum points for the 3rd time this season, to edge home 4 points ahead of Gullane, and 7 points ahead of West Links. The only other Team with 3 wins this season were the East Lothian Girls Team, and they finished in 4th place in the League table. Craigielaw used 15 Players in the season, Gullane, with their transition from two Teams into one part way through the season, used 21 Players, and West Links used 12 Players. All Players in these 3 squads received prizes which were donated by the R&A, and by Muirfield.  These were given to the Convenors on the day, for later distribution to their squads. The final League Table appears on the front page.  It has been a great season for Craigielaw, as they also won the Scottish Junior Team Championship recently. An article appeared in the East Lothian Courier recently. See the two photos below.

The photo below shows some of the Craigielaw squad. L-R back row: – Dave Warren (League Secretary,) Callum Waugh, Adam McLean, Alexander Yuill, Gordon Smith (Craigielaw Junior Convenor) and Magnus Braby. Front row – Fraser Walters, and Team Captain Daryl Yuill. Sadly, Lewis Russell had to leave before the prize-giving. 

Congratulations to the Craigielaw Team for their convincing win in the recent SJTC held at Crail. L-R in the photo – Gregor Thomson, Alexander Yuill, Junior Convenor Gordon Smith, Fraser Walters (with the trophy,) past SGU President Ian Howarth, Ryan Yuill, Daryl Yuill and Magnus Braby. Scores etc can be seen in another article on this website. Photos of all the Teams are in the Gallery of images in the “dropdown” menu under the SJTC heading.  East Lothian Courier article here.

The League Secretary Dave Warren was invited to take part in his first ever Pro-Am this week in Ian Woosnam’s Charity Pro-Am at Archerfield! He partnered football legend John Colquhoun and the “UK Golf Guy” David Jones. Much to Dave’s delight, the Team’s Pro on day 1 was Sandy Lyle, the former Open and Masters Champion. Sandy was a great partner and was very helpful with some swing tips. The format was the best 2 net scores from 4 players, for Stableford points. A very average total of 80 points was the result, which put the team in mid-table. Those points were carried over to day 2 when the Team joined Paul Eales, a Pro on the Legends Tour. Paul had 7 birdies of his own and he was ably support by his 3 Team-mates who as a Team, scored 90 points, and tied for 1st place on a total of 170. On a count back, our Team were declared as the winners, and we received some excellent prizes. A big thanks are due to DJ Russell for inviting me.  Main picture L-R  David Jones, Dave Warren, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Paul Eales, John Colquhoun, Dougie Donnelly. Sandy, Ian, and Catriona Matthew who was also playing in the event, signed some Masters, Solheim Cup and US Womens Open merchandise for prizes for Juniors.

The ELJGL held a Texas Scramble fun event at Royal Musselburgh GC on Thursday the 22nd October, the final event of the season. Details of Teams and scoring can be seen on the Golf Genius portal here and you can see the Leaderboard on the GG App on your mobile phone using the access code ELJGLTS. There were 9 Teams of 4, including 1 Team of Girls. The live scoring facility on the Golf Genius App was in use by every group, and as Teams could view the live leaderboard scoring in full during their round, this added some intrigue to the event. We first have to report a truly sensational round by the group comprising Samuel, Oliver and Cameron Mukherjee, and Joe MacPherson, aged 15, 15, 12 and 14 respectively. With very little run on the fairways, they birdied the first 15 holes, then collapsed with 2 pars, but finished with a birdie at the 18th for a gross 54, net 50.8. A certified copy of the scorecard appears below. They were not the winners of this handicap event though, as the team in the last group (pictured below) comprising Byron Archibald, Dylan Brown, Hugo Alderson and Andrew Irvine came in with a gross 60, net 50.5, finishing 0.2 strokes ahead of the team comprising Adam Nichol, Adam Macdonald, Ben Austin and Harris Munro who had a gross 59, net 50.7. Our thanks are due to Royal Musselburgh and their Secretary David Cummings, and to the Professional Callum Smith, for making their excellent and historic course available. The League were indebted also for the help in running the event, provided by the local Convenors, Stuart and Helen Findlay, and from Shona Paton and Colin Leishman. Prizes were given to the winning Team on the day, and prizes for the 2nd place Team, and for the winning scratch Team, will be presented at some time in the future.  This was the final trial of the newly acquired Golf Genius scoring system which was very successful, with the help of our account manager Nick Stocking, and the Golf Genius system will now be brought into use in full during next season.

If you click on the photos below of the Players with the Clubhouse behind, you can see a slideshow of all the Players in a “Gallery.”

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The winners – L-R Hugo Alderson, Dylan Brown, Byron Archibald, and Andrew Irvine, with their prizes.