James Byrne (Banchory) and Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) after this year's Scottish Under-18 boys' stroke-play championship play-off at Cardrona. James is now at Arizona State University and Michael will go to the States next autumn.

MICHAEL STEWART TO JOIN

JORDAN FINDLAY AT EAST
TENNESSEE STATE

UNIVERSITY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Another top Scottish boy prospect is bound for the United States.

Michael Stewart from Ayrshire - a member of Troon Welbeck Golf Club - has signed a Letter of Intent to enrol at East Tennessee State University at Johnson City, Tennessee next autumn.

Michael, who will be 18 on March 6, has been a leading performer in Under-18 events' over the past year or two.

In the Scottish boys' Under-18 open stroke-play championshi at Cardrona this year, Michael tied with James Byrne from Banchory after 72 holes and then lost a sudden death play-off at the third extra hole.

Byrne has just completed his first six months at Arizona State University.

Michael lost at the semi-final stage of the Scottish Under-18 boys' match-play championship at Southerness this year.=

Michael Stewart was also one of three Scots in the Great Britain & Ireland team who beat the Continent of Europe in this year's Jacques Leglise Trophy match at Notts Golf Club (James Byrne and Fraser Fotheringham from Nairn were the others).

In the 2007 Scottish Golf Union boys' Order of Merit, Stewart finished third behind Byrne and Scottish schoolboys' champion Neil Henderson (The Glen).

As he will still be Under-18 years on January 1, Stewart still has another season of boys' golf and he will be looking to win the Scottish junior titles he narrowly missed out on in 2007.

The recruitment of Stewart maintains East Tennesseee State University's policy of forming a squad of players from this side of the Atlantic.

Twice British boys' championship finalist Jordan Findlay, pictured above, from Fraserburgh is in his third year at East Tennessee State. Edinburgh-born Welsh Walker Cup player Rhys Davies graduated last spring after four highly successful years at ETU.

Jordan Findlay's current team-mates are Gareth Shaw from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Simon Doherty from belfast, Rhys Enoch from Cornwall, Cian McNamara from Limerick, Paul O'Kane from Castledown, Northern Ireland and Seamus Power from Waterford.

The East Tennessee State University women's team includes two-time Welsh girls' champion Lucy Gould from Bargoed and Irish international Sinead O'Sullivan from Galway.

A few weeks ago, Scottishgolfview.com revealed that Scottish boys' match-play champion Paul Ferrier (Baberton) and Ayrshire boys' title-holder Euan Brown had signed Letters of Intent for the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and St Mary's University of California respectively.

LORNE KELLY IS THE "MR FIX-IT" FOR US COLLEGE GOLF

Former Walker Cup player Lorne Kelly, who himself spent four years at an American college, Coastal Carolina, is the man who has made a highly successful business - ProDeamUSA - out of fixing up British (and European) teenagers with golf scholarships in the States.

"I had the best four years of my life in the US and I always wondered why so many departed to the US but came home early," says Lorne.

"I then looked into things in a bit more detail and saw some of the decisions they were making and also the colleges they were attending – it wasn’t always the best! America is like any other country … you have top flight academic and athletic universities at the top end and some Mickey Mouse ones at the bottom end.

"Unfortunately, a lot of youngsters have the mentality that everything will fine as soon as they step on that plane for the States. A lot of time and effort has to be put into selecting the correct environment, hence the reason I became involved.

"My profile as a player also helps not only to attract the attention of our young players but also the US coaches, i.e. they will come to me first. This will be the fourth year of ProDreamUSA and I have been doing this full time since I stopped competing five years ago.

"I do miss the buzz of competition but running ProDreamUSA is the next best thing because it means I still get to put something back and if I can put my experiences across to my clients, hopefully they can benefit from that."