Scotland's squad at Hillside for the home internationals. Image by Tom Ward. Click on it to enlarge.

Scotland captain urges Home stars to

grab a piece of history at Hillside

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Scott Knowles is backing Scotland's amateur golf stars to earn a place in the record books this week – by becoming the first team to hold the World, European and Home International titles at the same time.
Two of those crowns are already in the bag and, especially on the back of the European triumph at Conwy in Wales earlier this summer, the Scots are surely the favourites for the Home Internationals, which tee off tomorrow at Hillside Golf Club, near Southport in Lancashire.
"We desperately want to add this title to complete the clean sweep, which I don't think has been done before," said Knowles, who got his captaincy off to a flying start with that European Championship success in North Wales.
Not surprisingly, all six members of that side – Gavin Dear, Wallace Booth, Ross Kellett, Paul O'Hara, Michael Stewart and Glenn Campbell – are in action again this week and Knowles is delighted with the players who've been added for the four-cornered event.
"We've got a new, young Scottish champion in David Law, a man who shoots 63s for fun in James Byrne and last year's Scottish Order of Merit winner, Steven McEwan," added the captain.
"Ably backing them up are an experienced internationalist in Keir McNicoll and another young up-and-coming player in James White and, all in all, I think we have a team that is more than capable of bringing home the Raymond Trophy."
Ireland won that piece of silverware at Muirfield last year but Knowles reckons England, Scotland's opening opponents on the Lancashire coast, will be the team to beat.
"It should be a great Home Internationals and one I'd certainly recommend all golf fans to attend," said the Kingsknowe man, who was hoping that his close friend Stephen Gallacher, out of action at the moment as he recovers from illness, could have cheered the Scots on this week but that is now unlikely due to a Callaway commitment.
"England, with their seven Walker Cup players, will be looking to do well on home turf, while Wales and Ireland will both be hurting from their performance in the Europeans and I am sure they will come out with all guns blazing.
"Our first game is against England which should be a fantastic game, especially as it's a repeat of the European final, but my guys have shown in the past that when required they can raise their game to the standards that are required.
"It should be a fantastic three days of golf and I hope we have a lot of supporters helping us to bring the trophy back home."
All ten Walker Cup men who will face the amateurs of the United States at Merion next month, will be in action at Hillside.
England include four new caps – Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale, Surrey), Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire), Chris Paisley (Stocksfield, Northumberland) and James Robinson (Southport & Ainsdale, Lancashire) – in an otherwise experienced side containing seven of the team that finished third last year.
England captain Colin Edwards said: "We have had a really good year with our teams and some great individual performances. But winning back the title won't be easy," he said. "I'm really excited about the week. We have four new faces and to have seven Walker Cup players in our side is unbelievable.
"That means the expectations are higher than before so meeting us will be everyone's big game. We play Scotland on the first day and having lost to them in the European final adds that extra edge. But this time there are ten players in action rather than six."
*The full article above appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.