Keir McNicoll only survivor from
last year's Scotland squad for
Euro team championship

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
With Euro 2008 well underway, Scotland’s golfing talent is getting set to tee up against their own continental counterparts when the European men's team championship gets underway next month.
The 26th hosting of the event which is now an annual fixture for the golfing Euro stars (previously a biennial event) will take place at the Royal Park Golf & Country Club in Turin, Italy from July 1 to 5.
The newly crowned St Andrews Links Trophy champion, Keir McNicoll from Carnoustie, the sole survivor from last year’s Scotland line-up in the "European", is one of the team’s front runners along with Bidwells Scottish stroke-play champion, Wallace Booth, who claimed the biggest title of his career just a week before McNicoll’s career highlight.
Scottish Golfer of the Year in 2007, Tulliallan’s Callum Macaulay – who like Booth helped to impose a convincing win for Europe over an Asia-Pacific Select at the Bollanack Trophy in Spain, will help Scotland to spearhead their campaign.
Macaulay, a semi finalist in last year’s Amateur Championship, is currently at Turnberry harbouring aspirations of going two steps further, and will provide experience within the team.
Eighteen-year-old Scottish boys champion, Michael Stewart, whose birdie-eagle finish at the St Andrews Links Trophy helped him to a tie for second place, has proven his worth and will be rewarded with his first men’s cap.
Providing fresh blood in the mix, the Ayrshire boy will join Scottish internationals Paul O’Hara and Gavin Dear, currently chasing SGU Order of Merit points on the domestic scene, lying in 5th and 6th place respectively.
Commenting on the team selection after the announcement, SGU National Coach Ian Rae said, “We have selected a strong team which will certainly be deemed to represent a strong overseas challenge to their European cousins. With our best ever result at the European Nations Cup (formerly known as the Grey Goose Cup) taking the team title and with three top ten individual performances, the players can be confident of their proven track record of competing in strong international fields and achieving good results.”
The six man team and two reserves - former Scottish amateur champion Glenn Campbell and former Scottish stroke play champion Scott Henry - will need to keep their game on par with some of the world’s leading golfing nations to progress from two stroke-play qualifying rounds for a much sought after place in the upper flight of the match play stages.
The title will be contested on the par 72 Trent Jones Senior Course, set in the Mandria Nature Park and the 6,218 meter long course, flanked by the Alps and an ancient forest,will provide a stark contrast to last year’s championship hosted on the stunning links at Western Gailes, in Ayrshire.
Scotland’s performances at their last two outings at the European Team Championship has seen a rise from 5th place in 2005 to a bronze medal finish last year, and this year’s line up will be keen to keep the momentum going for yet another improved result.
Scotland team for Turin is:
Wallace Booth (Comrie)
Gavin Dear (Murrayshall)
Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan)
Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie)
Paul O’Hara (Colville Park)
Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck)

Reserve 1: Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie)
Reserve 2: Scott Henry (Cardross)

Scotland last triumphed at the European Amateur Team Championship in 2001.
The tournament consists of 36 holes of qualifying stroke play over the first two days followed by three days of match play.