FROM GEORGE SIM,
(Australian-based father of Aberdeen-born Michael Sim, pictured right, who will be playing on the US PGA Tour next year. He's meantime out of action with a back injury, Michael that is!)

"I can confirm that I did go to Aberdeen Grammar School with Derek Johnstone who was a better football player than a golfer.
I was a member of the Northern Golf Club as I was introduced to golf by my uncle Walter Brand who was a former Links Championship winner and Club Champion. I was junior champion twice at Northern GC and also won the Hands Across the Sea junior tournament though I am sure people look at the trophy now and say 'Who the hell was he?'
I do not play golf very often now due to business commitments. I am a Chartered Accountant and specialize in Corporate Finance. I have an office in Sydney as well as Perth and spend three weeks of every month in Sydney.
I have listed eight companies on the Australian Stock Exchange in the past three years. I also travel to Asia four times a year as we have investors in Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei.
Michael stayed with me recently in Sydney as he received the Rookie of the Year award from the Australian Golf Writers at their annual dinner. Also he received a similar award from the Australian Golf Digest magazine in Melbourne.
Sue and I plan to travel to the United States next year to watch Michael playing on the US PGA tour. And we will be at the Open at Carnoustie should Michael qualify. "

++The Sims, who lived at Westhill and then Cults, emigrated from Aberdeen to Perth, Western Australia in April, 1991. Michael had been born on October 23, 1984. Although he had been introduced to the game by his dad in Scotland, it was obviously with the sun on his back in Western Australia, that Master Sim developed quickly as a golfer.
++Before he turned professional in November, 2005, he was ranked the world's leading amateur in 2004-2005. Michael won an event on the US Nationwide Tour earlier this year and finished up 19th on their money list. The top 20 automatically qualified to play on the 2007 US PGA Tour.
++Michael Sim, who holds dual citizenship of Great Britain and Australia, has been back in the city of his birth - once! At the end of May 2004, after being eliminated in the British open amateur championship at St Andrews, he took the train up to Aberdeen and stayed with his granny, Audrey Reekie, for a few days before flying out to the United States. During his short visit to Aberdeen, Michael did manage to get a round at Balgownie.
=================================================================
Editor's note: My thanks to Graham Gordon's father for tipping me off a couple of months ago that a young man (Michael Sim) who was doing rather well on the US Nationwide Tour had "Aberdeen, Scotland" listed as his birthplace in the tour's website player biographies.