Focus on European Tour rookies
Jamieson and Murray

 NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE EUROPEAN TOUR

Scott Jamieson and George Murray are the focus in the first of our “Meet the Rookies” series featuring the Challenge Tour graduates who will make their debuts on The European Tour next season...
Scott Jamieson, pictured top right, and George Murray, pictured lower right, have long been friends, compatriots and room-mates, but now the Scottish duo can add grooms-to-be and – perhaps most importantly of all – European Tour Members to the growing list of shared attributes.
When the pair eventually call time on their respective careers and sit down to reminisce, they might just look back on 2010 as the year when it all began to happen for them.

As both are 27 it might be stretching a point to suggest that they have gone from boys to men in the space of the past 12 months, but on and off the course their careers and lives have changed almost beyond recognition.
Thanks chiefly to a runner-up finish at the money-spinning Kazakhstan Open and a victory on home soil at the Scottish Hydro Challenge respectively, Jamieson and Murray have both earned promotion to The European Tour for the first time.
The pair finished 14th and tenth in the final Challenge Tour Rankings with respective earnings of €67,413 and €92,339 – which is perhaps just as well, given that they both needed strong seasons in order to fund their impending matrimonials.
Murray will wed his fiancée Carrie at a ceremony in their native Scotland in February next year, shortly after the traditional stag do in Newcastle, which will be organised by his elder brother Walker.
By then, Murray – George, that is – is hoping to have the house in Dundee the couple recently bought together fully furnished, and is looking forward to finding space for one item in particular.
He explained: “I picked the keys up when I got back from Rome, but then I headed off to Egypt and then to the Grand Final, so I’ve hardly seen the place. The next few weeks and months will be spent looking for furniture and doing the place up. I’ll be doing most of the painting and decorating myself, and I’m quite looking forward to it – it’ll certainly make a nice change from playing golf!
"I’m not sure whether or not my fiancée knows it, but the signed Ryder Cup caps that Garry Houston got me from Celtic Manor are going to take pride of place in the new house, because Monty’s my absolute hero.”
Jamieson, on the other hand, still lives several thousand miles away from his fiancée Natalie, a charity worker in the States. The pair met during Jamieson’s four-year Business and Marketing scholarship at Augusta State University – where Oliver Wilson also studied – and the Scot popped the question on a recent trip to the States.
He said: “We went to Amelia Island, which is just north of Jacksonville. It’s a beautiful place. I didn’t get down on bended knee – we were lying on the beach underneath the stars, so I thought that was quite romantic enough! I was obviously delighted when she said ‘yes’, because she’s a great girl.
"She works for a charity which raises money for youngsters with life-threatening illnesses, so she’s a better person than me. That helps keeps things in perspective and means I tend not to moan about anything golf-related, because it’s pretty unimportant compared to what they have to go through.”
If there is a certain symmetry in their home lives the same could also be said for their fledgling careers, which have followed similar paths since the duo turned professional in 2006, almost immediately after representing their country alongside Richie Ramsay in the Eisenhower Trophy in South Africa.

Murray, who like many of his compatriots is coached by Ian Rae of the Scottish Golf Union, gained a head start on his friend when he made the cut at the 2006 Qualifying School – Final Stage to earn a category on the Challenge Tour in 2007. He finished in the top 40 of the Rankings in his debut season, before a loss of form and fitness – he suffered ongoing back problems – meant he slipped down to 56th and 55th in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

But after the pain subsided – thanks largely to the advice of Stuart Barton, the former British Lions and Scotland physiotherapist – and the penny dropped, he made his winning breakthrough this year.

Jamieson took a little longer to hit his stride in the professional ranks, as he returned to the States for a year and then played on the Satellite EuroPro Tour for two seasons, topping the Order of Merit in 2009 and earning enough money on his limited appearances on the Challenge Tour as a sponsors’ invitation to earn full playing privileges this year.

The pair can now look forward to traversing the globe together – starting in South Africa in December – as they bid to retain their European Tour cards.

Jamieson said: “It’s a big help that George got his card as well, so I won’t be on my own. In a way it’ll probably be quite similar to this year, with us rooming together and dining together, although obviously we’ll be playing for a lot more money so hopefully we’ll be staying in nicer hotels and eating in nicer restaurants! I might also have to buy a decent set of earplugs, because he snores like you wouldn’t believe!”
Perhaps the only other potential sources of friction are their differing football allegiances – Murray is an avid Celtic supporter, whilst Jamieson has a season ticket holder at Ibrox, home of their auld enemy Rangers – and the pros and cons of a college education in the States.
Murray left Alabama University after just three months – “I was homesick, and absolutely hated it” – whereas Jamieson has nothing but fond memories of the time he spent on the other side of the Atlantic.
He recalled: “It was a big change from the amateur scene back home in Scotland, because all of a sudden you’re playing on courses which are regularly over 7,000 yards, so instead of hitting wedges into the par fours, you’re now hitting five irons.
"At first, I didn’t think it would be possible to break par on courses like that but you have to adapt very soon, so it was a steep learning curve. It really improves your short game, because obviously you’re missing a lot more greens than you were before.
"Most of the guys out here are of fairly similar standards with their drivers and irons, but it’s often how you play on and around the greens that can mean the difference between success and failure.”
The pair are certain to sample success and failure next season, but at least they will have one another to experience them with.