Michael Lawrie and Tom Boyd meet in first
round of Scottish U18 boys' match-play
NEWS RELEASE FROM SCOTLAND GOLF
The
sons of two famous Scottish sporting stars will lock horns in the first
round of next week’s Scottish Under-18 boys' championship, as the nation’s
leading young talents set their sights on glory at Murcar Links.
By
a remarkable quirk of fate, Michael Lawrie, pictured right, – son of former Open
champion Paul – and Thomas Boyd, the son of ex-Scotland and Celtic
defender Tom, will go head-to-head among Monday’s opening ties over the
renowned north-east venue.
It’s
a knock-out event that always tends to throw up interesting stories and
this year is no different as Bothwell Castle’s Boyd, a four-handicapper,
seeks to spring a surprise against Lawrie (Deeside), a scratch player
who reached last
year’s quarter-finals at Dunbar.
“It’s
a nice story, the sons of an Open champion and a Scotland
international at football playing each other,” admitted Boyd Senior, the
72-capped player who played at three major finals.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have Paul’s
skills in being able to pass on knowledge to my son in the way that Paul
can do, but I’ve been there for a number of years now supporting Thomas
and I’ll be doing the same at Murcar. We actually have
five boys going up from our local course, Bothwell Castle, to play in
the tournament.
“It will be a tough task for Thomas,
who will certainly be the underdog, but it’s the same scenario as
football. When it comes to match-play it’s about who turns up on the day,
so all those football clichés you can use in golf too. Unlike
the game I used to play, you are on your own. There are no team-mates
to bail you out, like Henrik Larsson to score the goals when needed.”
“We’ve
never met, but obviously I know Tom was a very good footballer,” added
Paul. “You never know with match play. Michael hasn’t played much or
done much work on his game recently as he’s been studying hard for his
exams, but I know
he’s looking forward to this championship, as he always does.”
Murcar
Links stages the Scottish boys' championship for the fourth time, as the
testing par-71 lay-out builds on its reputation as a leading venue,
having hosted Lawrie’s European Tour match-play tournament only last year
and previously staged
a Challenge Tour event.
A field of 234 players, representing 129 clubs, will tee up in the 75th
staging of the Scottish boys' championship, seeking to emulate a list of past
champions who include Andrew Coltart, Scott Henry and David Law, as well
as GB and I Walker Cup
players Grant Forrest and Ewen Ferguson.
Peebles’
Craig Howie took the title when the Scottish boys' championship was last held at
Murcar in 2012 and his younger brother Darren - the reigning Scottish schools champion and a member of the victorious Scotland’s boys home internationals side last
season – will be out to emulate his sibling.
Lawrie junior is among a
strong North-east contingent who will bid to follow last year’s
champion, Will Porter, from Carnoustie, who is too old to defend his
title. However runner-up Ross Callan (Bathgate) will
travel north aiming to go one better.
In-form Scotland boys internationals
Sandy Scott (Nairn) and Rory Franssen (Inverness) also have their eyes
on the prize, with Scott claiming last weekend’s season curtain-raiser
on the Scottish Junior Tour while Franssen illustrated his
potential in topping the stroke-play qualifying at the South African
Amateur Championship in February.
Daniel Sommerville, Scottish Golf
Events Manager, said: “The Scottish boys' championship remains one of
our flagship events and we are looking forward to staging a fantastic
competition at Murcar Links. We have a really strong field of
Scotland's best young junior male golfers taking part, which we are
confident will produce some top class golf throughout the week.
“We
are working hard to ensure our national championships meet the needs of
golfers of all ages and abilities and they get a great experience by
taking part. Scottish Golf is very grateful to Murcar Links and all of
our host venues in 2016
for providing their courses for use in our championships, allowing us
to provide fantastic courses on which the players can test their skills
and showcase their talent.”
Follow all the latest scores and news from the Scottish Boys Championship at
www.scottishgolf.org, with regular updates on Twitter @ScottishGolf and on Scottish Golf Facebook.
To view the draw for the 2016 Scottish Boys Championship visit:
Labels: Boys
