Gavin Dear bowing out as Scotland's

Amateur Golf of the Year

RELEASE ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION
Murrayshall’s Gavin Dear goes into this weekend’s Walker Cup having been crowned the 2009 Scottish Golfer of the Year after finishing as the leading Scottish player in the R&A‘s World Amateur Golf Rankings.
The 25-year-old Perthshire player from the village of Scone has capped his final season as an amateur by claiming the coveted title from his World Cup team mate Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan) who has since joined the paid ranks on the European Tour, a feat that Dear also hopes to emulate in the coming weeks.
The World Champion began this year as the first Scottish winner of the 78th Dixie Men’s Amateur Championship, a prestigious title he claimed in December. Dear continued his red hot form into 2009 on the domestic front when he won the first SGU Order of Merit event, the Craigmillar Park Open in a sudden death play-off.
Leaving home shores once again, Dear added another title to his growing CV when he claimed the AIB Irish Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Royal Dublin. However, the plus 4 handicapper was pipped to the Bidwells Scottish Stroke Play Championship at Murcar Links, by his Walker Cup team-mate, England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
A busy schedule saw Dear claim top finishes at home and abroad, notably finishing third at the Spanish Amateur in claiming more valuable points as he climbed the rankings to 14th best amateur in the world.
Despite missing out on long runs at either The Amateur or Scottish Amateur Championships, victory in Wales when Scotland triumphed at the European Team Championship helped Dear
become just one of two Scots with his name on the prestigious Eisenhower and European Team Trophies.
Those achievements earned both Dear and Wallace Booth their call up to the Walker Cup as the only Scottish representatives in a GB&I side which are about to take on the US on home soil at Merion, Pennsylvania.
On the cusp of turning professional with the Walker Cup being his last competitive experience as an amateur, Dear had said it was a great honour to be selected and hopes are high that he can help bring this one more trophy home with him before he embarks on his transition to the pro ranks.
Dear finished his season with 1049.33 world ranking points, whilst European Amateur Championship runner up Ross Kellett finished with 923.94 points and ranked 52nd on the WAGR leaderboard. James Byrne finished just behind Kellett on 912.31 points, with SGU Order of Merit winner Paul O’Hara finishing on 866.67 points and ranked 96th in the world.
Previous winners of the Scottish Golfer of the Year title include Steven O’Hara and Richie Ramsay.